Teacher note
Enter the teacher password to see the answers and testing tools.
How it runs
- Teams of 3 or 4 share one Chromebook. The game tells them to pass the mouse after every puzzle so everyone gets a turn to drive.
- Plan on 60 to 75 minutes (it can be split over two class periods with progress codes). Students explore 10 places on 3 levels of the underwater city of Atlantis plus the Tide Clock, help 9 sea creatures, collect 9 clues, find the hidden Moon Pearl, then set the rings of the Tide Clock.
- The city opens up as they go: Captain Barnacle's Shell Pass opens Level 2, Marina the Mermaid's Current Key opens Level 3, and Sir Stingray opens the Tide Clock.
- Skills: rounding to the nearest ten and hundred, reading a line graph, fractions of a set, number forms (word form, expanded form, place value words) and ocean zones, measuring when an object does not start at 0, a grid cipher (rows and columns), an addition number square (cage sums, like KenKen), planning moves (a sliding puzzle), shape attributes (parallel sides, right angles, equal sides), elimination from 10 clues (every clue is needed), and adding three numbers on rotating rings.
- Wrong answers lock that puzzle for a short wait (15 seconds, then 30, 45, 60) so teams talk instead of guessing. Captain Barnacle's locks and Dr. Lumi's zones clear after a wrong check, and Dash the dolphin starts over when the team runs out of moves or presses Start Over in the middle of a ride (both count as a try). A wrong search adds 2 minutes to the clock plus a wait that grows each time (1, 2, 3, then 5 minutes). A wrong Tide Clock try waits 20, 40, then 60 seconds. Hints: 3 per puzzle (the Tide Clock has 3 too), one every 45 seconds.
- Bonus: 11 sea stars are hidden in the rooms for teams that like to explore. The count prints on the award.
- Progress codes: after every puzzle the team gets a 10 letter code (like
KDHTM-7XQMP), also shown on the side. Have one student write the newest code on paper. If a browser resets or the team switches Chromebooks, they type it on the start screen and get back their crew name, every solved puzzle (in any order), open levels, items, the Moon Pearl, hints and time. Made-up codes do not work, and after 3 wrong tries the box makes them wait 20 seconds. Typing their own code again on the same computer keeps any wait that is still running, so reloading the page cannot skip a wrong answer wait. A code always brings its own crew name, and that name prints on the award. - The "Left this page" counter on the side goes up every time someone switches to another tab or window. It does not stop the game. A high number can mean someone went looking for answers, for example by taking a screenshot to an AI helper, so it is worth a quick check in.
- Everything in this room (the city, the characters and the story) is original, so it is safe to share. The ocean facts on the clickable spots are real.
Timer
Minutes until the bubble shrinks: (teams can keep playing in overtime; the award says "Finished in overtime")
Answers
- Crab Market, Captain Barnacle: Lock 1 453, Lock 2 247, Lock 3 951. Gives the Shell Pass, which opens Level 2.
- Tide Tower, Old Tortuga: high tide at 11:00, the water rose 5 feet from 7:00 to 10:00, and high tide (9) was 7 feet higher than low tide (2).
- Swim School, Coach Fin: School A: 6 blue, 4 yellow, 2 orange. School B: 2 blue, 4 yellow, 2 orange. Any fish can be any color as long as the counts match.
- Deep Sea Lab, Dr. Lumi: Sunlight: clownfish (15) and sea turtle (150). Twilight: hatchetfish (900) and lanternfish (575). Midnight: gulper eel (1,800) and anglerfish (2,300). Abyss: dumbo octopus (4,200) and tripod fish (4,604).
- Kelp Forest, Marina: A 7, B 8, C 5, D 6 inches. Gives the Current Key, which opens Level 3.
- Glow Library, Lantern: the password is TRIDENT.
- Training Arena, Sergeant Puff: rows from the top: 2 4 1 3 / 1 3 2 4 / 3 2 4 1 / 4 1 3 2.
- Current Tunnels, Dash: up, right, up, left, down (5 moves).
- Palace Gate, Sir Stingray: 1 rhombus, 2 trapezoid, 3 rectangle, 4 parallelogram. Opens the Tide Clock.
- The search: the Moon Pearl is in the Pink Clam (Kelp Forest). Every one of the 10 clues removes a different hiding spot.
- The Tide Clock: every spoke must add to 15. Starting from the top and going clockwise, the spokes read: 4 + 2 + 9, 6 + 3 + 6, 7 + 4 + 4, 3 + 9 + 3, 4 + 4 + 7, 1 + 7 + 7. From the start, that is the middle ring turned 1 step to the right and the inner ring turned 2 steps to the left (or 4 to the right).