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 travel to 9 times in history, help one person in each time, and collect 9 clues about WHEN each lost science fair invention landed (Professor Sprocket gives a 10th clue at the start). The finale is the Time Dial: put the 9 inventions in order from oldest to newest.
- The map opens up as they go: Livia's Time Crystal opens the Middle Ages, Maestra Lucia's Flux Gear opens Modern Times, and Commander Rae charges the Time Machine.
- Skills: Egyptian number symbols (place value without zero), Maya numbers (dots, bars, shell, and a second floor that counts 20s), Roman numerals both ways, adding, multiplying and subtracting on an abacus, centuries (the 13th century is 1201 to 1300), a logic grid, elapsed time on a train timetable (crossing noon), elapsed years, and a BC and AD timeline.
- The Time Dial: the inventions show no dates. Teams must use the clues: two are plain BC years, one is a Roman numeral (LXXX AD), one is a century (the 13th century), three are plain AD years, and two are elapsed years (34 years before and 66 years after the Glider's 1903). There are 362,880 possible orders, so guessing does not work.
- Wrong answers lock that puzzle for a short wait (15 seconds, then 30, 45, 60) so teams talk instead of guessing. A wrong Time Dial waits 20, 40, then 60 seconds and never says which spot is wrong. Hints: 3 per puzzle (the Time Dial has 3 too), one every 45 seconds.
- The Time Notes button on the side lets teams pencil in their thinking any time (mark each invention old, middle or new). The real Time Dial opens in the Time Machine once all 9 clues are found.
- Bonus: 11 gold gears 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 team name, every solved puzzle (in any order), open areas, items, 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 team 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.
- The story and characters are original. The history facts on the clickable spots and in Commander Rae's timeline are real (dates marked "about" are the usual estimates). The inventions' landing years are part of the story.
Timer
Minutes until the judges arrive: (teams can keep playing in overtime; the award says "Solved in overtime")
Answers
- Ancient Egypt, Nefer: 2,413 = 2 lotus flowers, 4 coils, 1 heel bone, 3 strokes. 305 = 3 coils, 0 heel bones, 5 strokes. 1,040 = 1 lotus flower, 0 coils, 4 heel bones, 0 strokes.
- Maya City, Itzel: the stones are 14, 20, 37 and 85.
- Ancient Rome, Livia: XIV = 14, XLIX = 49, CCXC = 290, MDCCC = 1800. 9 = IX, 44 = XLIV, 2026 = MMXXVI. Gives the Time Crystal (opens the Middle Ages).
- Old China, Mei: total 375 + 96 = 471; change 1,000 − 471 = 529. On the abacus, 471 is: hundreds rod 4 bottom beads; tens rod the top bead and 2 bottom beads; ones rod 1 bottom bead. 529 is: hundreds rod the top bead; tens rod 2 bottom beads; ones rod the top bead and 4 bottom beads. The thousands rods stay empty.
- The Castle, Lady Rowena: 1066 = 11th, 1201 = 13th, 1250 = 13th, 1300 = 13th, 1301 = 14th, 1492 = 15th, 800 = 8th.
- Inventor Workshop, Maestra Lucia: Ava = Rain Alarm, Ben = Solar Oven, Cora = Kite Camera, Dev = Robot Broom. Gives the Flux Gear (opens Modern Times).
- Railroad Station, Conductor Hank: 1) 12:15 PM, 2) 2 hours 45 minutes, 3) 1:45 PM.
- The Airfield, Orla: 34, 66, 123, 1976.
- Mission Control, Commander Rae: Great Pyramid (about 2560 BC) between 3000 BC and 2500 BC; Tutankhamun (about 1332 BC) between 1500 BC and 1000 BC; first Olympics (776 BC) between 1000 BC and 500 BC; paper (about AD 105) between AD 1 and AD 500; printing press (about AD 1440) between AD 1000 and AD 1500; first airplane flight (1903) between AD 1500 and AD 2000. Charges the Time Machine.
- The Time Dial: 1 Solar Oven (2500 BC), 2 Rain Alarm (300 BC), 3 Robot Broom (LXXX = 80 AD), 4 Bubble Machine (13th century, the 1200s), 5 Kite Camera (1400), 6 Paper Plane Launcher (1500), 7 Pocket Robot (1903 − 34 = 1869), 8 Glider (1903), 9 Moon Rover (1903 + 66 = 1969).