Almost 80 people sent in submissions for Operation: Mark Moonbase Mk. III, which I’m pretty sure is a new record for us. Thank you, everyone who entered!
Many people guessed locations very close to the actual place where we built Moonbase Mk. III, but ultimately only one person was able to pinpoint the correct building site. Before revealing the winner, I’d like to share a couple of the closer attempts. These people are the Runners Up of the operation.
For the results, with images and details, click the link:
Ciaran Maxey came close, identifying this arrangement of ridges and craters which bears the shape of PacMan eating a pill:
Dylan “WartJr2373″ Mead noticed something strange: the words “Loading Ready Runners” can be used as an anagram to spell “Lodygin: Area Nerds Run,” and naturally, he took that as a clue that the Lodygin crater was the location of the Moonbase. Very clever, but in the end, not quite correct!
Vigafre resorted to some subtle trickery, but in so doing he chanced upon something very close to the truth:
A lot of people found constellations of craters that they thought looked like the LoadingReadyRun logo, but not were quite so similar as what reptile found:
You can click the image for a link to the location on Google Moon.
So thank you, reptile, Vigafre, wartjr2373, and Ciaran Maxey, and congratulations!
In the end, the person who got it right was none other than RobotHero, who was forced to resort to a semi-creative interpretation for the greatest level of accuracy. Here is where he found us:
Click the image for a full-size version.
Again, thank you to everyone who entered! I look forward to hearing from you all again for the next Runners Operation.
of course! the undermoon. pulled the ol’ bait and switch on us!
Comment by Mike Lunsford — April 4, 2010 @ 7:39 pm
Aww. I thought for sure the moonbase was underneath the “missing” large dot.
(Congratulations to RobotHero!)
Comment by reptile — April 4, 2010 @ 7:46 pm
Just to clarify, the anagram is for Loading Ready Runners, not Loading Ready Run.
Comment by wartjr2373 — April 4, 2010 @ 7:56 pm
Wow I didnt expect that.
Thanks guys.
Comment by Ciaran Maxey — April 5, 2010 @ 8:05 am
Wow. The Runners-up were awfully clever deductions, but that winning entry is a world-beater. Never would have guessed that myself, though in retrospect it seems so obvious – naturally Lord Timothy Sevenhuysen, in his travels, will have visited the Kingdom of Esnesnon, from whence he would have observed “Das Unter-mond” quite clearly (albeit strongly backlit). Hopefully we get to hear more of that story someday.
Comment by Charles Gaulke — April 5, 2010 @ 10:13 am
Huh, I wasn’t expecting my doctored image to show up here, considering it wasn’t the actual image I entered. But none-the-less, thanks for the recognition!
Also, congrats to RobotHero, as that is one of the most awesome pictures I have ever seen.
Comment by Vigafre — April 5, 2010 @ 3:37 pm
Oho, thanks.
I was raised in Flin Flon, founded by the intrepid explorer, and not far from one of the discovered entrances to the Earth’s hollow core, so I had a bit of an advantage in knowing what’s down there.
Comment by RobotHero — April 6, 2010 @ 12:55 am
Have you stopped recruiting for the Runners?
Comment by addeB — April 6, 2010 @ 4:54 am
@addeB: The Runners are less of a “thing”, now. We’re phasing them out. As far as I’m concerned, everyone who comes to this website (or at least, everyone who posts on the forums or participates in community events, etc.) is a Runner.
Comment by Tim — April 8, 2010 @ 9:16 am
@Tim but competition winners will still get shiny medals right? Also, does this mean runners site might be shutting down?
Comment by Sk8sheep — April 9, 2010 @ 2:59 pm