PUZZLE POTLUCK 2
Solution - Country Club
ANSWER – LUXURY
by Bradley Wu

Each of the images contains a location and a pokemon silhouette. After identifying some of the locations, the solver may notice that each location corresponds to a Monopoly board game property based on its address or surrounding area. The solver may also realize that there is a Pokemon version of Monopoly, and that each of the pokemon found in this puzzle is also a property in that version.

Counting the number of squares between each pokemon’s original location in Pokemon Monopoly and the corresponding location at which the pokemon was found as clued in this puzzle will give the clue phrase BALL OR EDITION.

ImageLocation NameMonopoly PropertyPokemon# SpacesLetter
The White HousePennsylvaniaPonyta2B
The Woman's Club of Chevy ChaseConnecticutStarmie1A
Private Presidio Golf & Concordia ClubPacificVileplume12L
Charleston Light Opera GuildTennesseeStaryu12L
Sailor Bar ParkIllinoisHorsea15O
Neptune's KingdomBoardwalkKadabra18R
United States Postal ServiceVermontOnix5E
William H Rumsey Aquatic CenterNorth CarolinaArticuno4D
Dunbar ParkIndianaRaichu9I
Pacific International Rice MillsKentuckyGeodude20T
Margate Dairy Bar & BurgerVentnorTangela9I
John C Howell ParkVirginiaNidoking15O
W.T. Cooke Elementary SchoolMediterraneanMuk14N

The solver must now look for a word that describes both a type of Pokeball and an edition of Monopoly. The only word that exactly fits both is LUXURY, which is the final solution.

Author's Notes

  • The original name of this puzzle was ‘Penthouse’ and, with an answer of ‘LUXURY’, led to a Monopoly theme. We made some last minute puzzle name changes Penthouse -> Tennis Court -> Country Club to better fit the story text. However, this removed the potential Penthouse -> Monopoly property connection, which meant solvers had to get the aha from noticing the street addresses.
  • Being an avid Pokemon fan, I had also thought of the Luxury Ball from the Pokemon games. I had also owned the Pokemon version of Monopoly as a kid growing up. So I was excited to try and fit these two themes together.
  • There are so many different versions of Monopoly and quite a few different types of Pokeballs. So it was pretty fortuitous that there was exactly one Monopoly version that matched the name of a Pokeball. (At the time of writing the puzzle)
  • All locations in this puzzle were actually real Pokemon Go pokestop locations except for two of them. It turned out to be hard to find pokestops with easily uniquely identifiable images for Kentucky and Mediterranean.
  • The BALLOREDITION clue phrase ended up being far more ambiguous than anticipated, with less than a 5% guess accuracy.
  • Best Wrong Answers:
    Wrong AnswerSubmitted by:
    SANITARY SEWERBlair Puzzle Lords
    BALLOTPEDIANishmel
    MALLOFAMERICAJabberwocky
    WALUIGI WITH THE LAMP IN THE COUNTRY CLUBeATME
    TOLERABLE OHIOlessachu
    GOVERNMENT ENFORCED MONOPOLYdeupbap

Stats

  • 182 solves
  • 3533 incorrect guesses
  • Most common incorrect guess: BALLOREDITION (guessed 148 times)
  • First solve: SweetPotatoes in 1 hours, 34 minutes, and 7 seconds
PUZZLE POTLUCK 2