2 days ago
Man Baffled by Keychain Puzzle Spotted in Class, Turns to Internet for Help
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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A man had internet viewers collectively scratching their heads after sharing a picture of a keychain puzzle he spotted that left him similarly baffled.
In a post shared to Reddit under the handle u/forebyfour, a university student based in Singapore, who requested that his name be omitted from this story, shared a snapshot of the math-based puzzle. A caption asked: "Keychain I spotted in class, what does the numbers mean?"
The poster told Newsweek: "I was in class walking to my seat, and it caught my eye as I was passing, I'd initially thought it was a pattern of some sort, but I couldn't spot one so I posted it."
Number puzzles have enjoyed an enduring level of popularity with players both young and old, buoyed by the successful migration of games such as Sudoku to smartphone devices.
Engaging in number puzzles is something that should be encouraged from an early age though, given the benefits that could be reaped in later life.
In 2019, a study from the journal Geriatic Psychiatry concluded that adults aged 50 and over who regularly played puzzles like crosswords and Sudoku benefited from better brain function than those who chose not to.
That conclusion came from a study involving over 19,000 healthy volunteers aged from 50 to 93 who were evaluated using a series of tests designed to assess their cognitive function.
The fests focused on reasoning, attention, information processing, executive function, working memory, and episodic memory.
Researchers found that participants who reported engaging in number puzzles more than once a day had superior cognitive performance.
The puzzle posted to Reddit by /uforebyfour certainly proved popular, earning over 26,000 upvotes. He puts this down to the level the puzzle was pitched at.
"I think it was popular because it wasn't too niche or complex, just a bunch of numbers," the poster said.
There were nevertheless a wide range of answers. Some seemed logical; others less so. "I got a few responses saying it was a bad game of Sudoku," ForeByFour said.
One wrote: "That's a magic square. The numbers add up to 33 in every row and column. That mathematical formula is supposed to channel some magic energy."
Another posted: "It's a keychain from Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Gaudi dabbled in numerology and this is in the architecture of the building. You can look up the history and meaning online."
Others, meanwhile, appeared simply out to cause chaos, with the comments section on the post dogged by users writing "The numbers Mason, what do they mean?" in reference to the video game Call of Duty.
"A lot of people replied with the Call of Duty reference, which was confusing at first until I Googled it," the poster said.
The phrase refers to a key sequence in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops, where a series of encrypted orders are broadcast in the form of a numbered code designed to activate sleeper agents. An agent named Alex Mason, who is a key character in the game, is among them.
Ultimately, the correct answer ended up being somewhere between a magic square and an ode to Barcelona's Basílica de la Sagrada Familia.
One user commented: "This is a cryptograph. They all add up to 33 because that's the age Jesus was when he was crucified. It's a Catholic relic. There is one of these carved into the Familia Sagrada in Spain."
Though most people commenting on Reddit struggled to get the correct answer, the poster said it "wasn't surprising" to discover what the answer was. "I've heard of magic squares before; this one just happened to be specifically designed for the number 33," he said.
The man is glad to have posted it on Reddit, though. Not only did it go viral, but also someone was able to uncover the correct answer.
