It occurs to me that that’s an 8-digit number, like the ones in the previous puzzle…
Wow. Somebody went through a LOT of trouble for this puzzle.
Well, it’s not a single someone, unless they’re really good at languages and voice imitation :p; plus, distributing those dollars (provided that’s what one would find at the other locations as well) seems unlikely to be doable by just one person working alone; I mean, those locations cover practically all of the continental US! Unfortunately, this most likely means a big corporation or something like that, just for the necessary resources…
Some random thoughts: there’s got to be some degree of redundancy in this part of the puzzle; whoever set this up can’t have counted on somebody actually getting their hands on all the dollars, plus, going through all that trouble just to risk some noisy cashier making off with the extra dollar/the cleaning crew throwing out the trash/the envelope simply getting lost seems unlikely.
Also, there’s probably some backwards-reference in the dollar note(s) puzzle, otherwise somebody accidentally coming across and opening the envelope and working from there could have circumvented going through all those previous hoops, and if you set up a thing like that, you’d want people to do all the steps; perhaps that math puzzle will have to be actually solved yet…
Okay, I tried entering it on Where’s George and it had no prior entries. So, a good thought but no result.
Perhaps we’ll have to make an anagram from the letters in the serial numbers of the bills? I don’t know american money, is there much variation in those serial numbers? i.e. is it possible to get many different letters?
Anyone near any of the other clue locations?
Here Come Dots,
What did you ask for when you got there and what kind of answer did you get. Did the cashier have any idea about this or just pass it over?
It will be interesting to see whats in some of the other ones.
Well, the first bit, with the CDs in newspaper boxes, kind of fell through - the SF one was empty - so they posted them online. I wouldn’t assume too much foresight on the part of the planner. I’d also wager on some online community being the organizers. If you asked, I think you could get dopers all over the US to stash $1 bills at coffeeshops if you made it interesting enough.
The conversation basically went like this:
Me: Hi, this might be an odd question, but a clue to this big puzzle referenced…
She: (Pulling an envelope from behind the cash register) You mean this?
Me: (Stunned) Um, yeah, I guess so. How long has this been here?
She: I don’t know. A while.
Me: Who put it here?
She: I don’t know.
At that point, it was obvious I’d taken up all the time she was willing to give me, so I walked out the door and opened the envelope.
Hehe, love the Alexandrian solution. Anyway, I think that the dollar bill links back to the image puzzle. Like badlyburnttoast mentions, the file name ‘www._____.com’ implies that the clues can be decoded into a url. So some encoding on the dollar (just the serial? something else?) should lead to a related website.
Can anyone separate and upload the individual audio tracks? Maybe someone will recognize the mystery languages.
I believe both tracks are in Russian. I don’t really speak Russian, but triangulating through other Slavic languages I have knowledge of, #6 says something like “to Building 88, 5069 154th Place Northeast, Remond, Washington” (and looking online, it seems Microsoft Building 88 is indeed there, so I venture my guess is close.)
#8 I’m having difficulty with the speech preceding the address. The address is 5700 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles.
#10 sounds like English in some sort of Ubbi Dubbi type code language.
I’ll try to figure out how to extract the audio, but I have to run some errands for the next few hours, so if anyone else wants to get to it first.
And the French one (#4), I believe, says “The reception at 1143 Stoneridge Drive, Bozeman, Montana.”
edit: And I think the Russian I can’t quite get on #8 is also directing you to some sort of help desk or reception desk.
Just wanted to chime in and say great work all!
Alas, I’m too busy with work to join in, but what a great puzzle. I love the power of the internet when used in this manner. So cool.
Keep up the great work, interested to see where it all goes. (but usually these sorts of things are about the journey…)
Ha, ha! Almost spent the dollar by accident.
I just looked at it again and noticed something I missed the first time: The second T in the word States at the top of the bill has been cut out.
I see that now in the picture (it’s hard to notice in that picture unless you’re looking for it).
Great. So now we just need to find 8 or 9 more people around the country to pick up envelopes, huh? How in the hell did anyone think this would ever get solved this way–with CDs scattered in public places and strange envelopes all over the place that say CLUE-PLEASE DON’T OPEN?
EDIT: By the way, I’m going to Seattle in September, so I suppose I could certainly TRY to stroll up to some Microsoft building and ask weird questions of the receptionists while I’m up there. Have to wait a few months, though.
And the www.__________.com filename has ten blanks in it (by my count.) With 10 audio tracks and presumably ten clues it looks like we’re looking at collecting one letter at each site.
All this needs now is 9 dopers or their buddies in 9 cities to volunteer 
.
If the T was cut out of the dollar bill, maybe that’s the letter for the first clue?
Here’s a link to the foreign language and ubbi dubbi/Double Dutch (or whatever it is) audio files: Enigmatic audio tracks
Let’s get some Spanish, Russian, and French speakers in here to translate with a little greater certainty. (There appears to be more information before the address in the Russian Track 8 that I just can’t quite catch.)
I agree. I transcribe what she says as:
“La reception onze-quarant-trois du Stoneridge Drive, Bozeman, Montana.”
I looked up that address, and there are two businesses at that address:
CTA Architects and Yellowstone Business Partnership
So, does anyone want to volunteer to call those places and ask? Maybe the building has a separate reception - a phone call could sort that out.