Template:Timeline

• A mysterious ad on the IE Blog leads to a countdown timer
• The Countdown page asks for keys.
  • Several Keys have been found by using any of five cipher keys, either posted online or sent to bloggers.
  • Several keys were solved by using the contents of a Puzzle Box Package, mailed to various people. The contents include a video.
  • These keys have frequently been accompanied by extravagant gifts (laptops, media center computers, etc.) from Loki, the "Enigma Director", and all come from Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, WA.
• The countdown expires Jan 8th 2007 at 6:30PM PST. A decompile of the Flash app on the main page reveals the location as the fountains in front of the Bellagio. This time and location coincides with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It is expected that this is when the game will officially start.
• Several new countdowns are behind a particular key, listing various cities and times of additional live events.
• A new video from lokivanishes is discovered on YouTube, giving a new key.
• Scattered reports are arriving that the Microsoft CES Keynote includes more details about prizes.
• Registration available and rules and prizes posted. There's also a [FAQ][1] with more hints.
• The rules page lists a secret Meta Puzzle with an instant-win prize for the first to solve it. The prize is their name inscribed on each of a new AMD processor model to be released soon. Several clues in the puzzles, events, and in the original video could relate to the Meta Puzzle.
• Another clue from Loki surfaces at the bell desk of The Orleans hotel in Vegas, pointing to the location the event at the Bellagio Fountains.
• All of the events now have GPS coordinates. They are noted here on the Countdowns page.
• Jan 8th 2007: The Las Vegas Event has occurred, giving us a Video and Puzzle Box 1 has been unlocked. After all the puzzles are solved, Loki gives us a video: loki_time [2]. At the end of the video a url is flashed on the screen pointing to a side contest to get your name printed on AMD Athlon 64 FX processors. Thus begins the Meta Puzzle.
• Jan 13th. 2007: The first of the two multi-city events occurred today, leaving us with Puzzle Box 2, clues written in the sky [3], and a new video (magicweb) after solving them all. The White Box Phenomenon has been connected to the Meta Puzzle through the Collection Plate directory.
• Jan 20th. 2007: The second of the two multi-city events occurs today, leaving us with Puzzle Box 3 and clues projected on buildings.[4]
• Solving all of the puzzles gives yet another video. At its end, the words "/more_answers" flashes. Going to http://www.vanishingpointgame.com/more_answers, one finds a tracker of the puzzles completed.
• Jan 27th 2007: A special VIP party is being held for the last clue. To go you must be 18 or older and be able to get to the Seattle, WA event. The invitation was presented on the website.Media:SeattleInvite.jpg It gave instructions to RSVP via e-mail to vanish@vanishingpointgame.com with "yes" in the body. A reply email was received.Media:SeattleInviteReply.JPG
• Jan 27th 2007: Identity of Loki: Finally evidence on who loki really is. Real name is Minae Noji. She is an actress at General Hospital. I guess this means everything she told us has a meaning. Here is a link to her myspace profile. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=54234975
• Jan 27th 2007: The fourth box opens and all puzzles are now available to be solved and all white boxes to be identified.
• After clicking on all the white boxes and returning to the 'collectionplate' page, you are faced with a scrambled image, which when reassembled gives the coat of arms of the Odessa Oblast.
• After solving all the puzzles and returning to the 'more answers' page, you are faced with a word search puzzle. When all the words are found, only 6B617261 is left. Screenshots Media:cross1.jpg, Media:cross2.jpg, Media:cross3.jpg, Media:cross4.jpg
• At the end of the video for solving puzzle box four the link '/roamingroaming' is given. The page is a clue to some place if you follow the distances from an unknown source. The word "TANLI" is at the bottom of the page, which I assume is "LATIN". Maybe the starting place is ROME?
• The video for solving puzzle box four asks you to visit '/lokiv'. This provides a video for the final part of the meta puzzle. Four Lokis sit in four directors' chairs and ask you to find their name(s). See lokiv for further information.
• Jan 29th 2007: New video appeared on Soapbox. It is a release video for Windows Vista that also shows Loki's office at Microsoft headquarters. http://www.geocities.com/xtwilightx89
• UPDATE!! The roamingroaming page has been updated to say "Mystery Spot, CA". Previously the 'CA' wasn't there. Here is the website of the mystery spot. Mystery Spot
• Use Google EARTH! I have found that all the miles are Islands...
• Since these are are Islands, could TANLI then be the navigation waypoint of off Tunisia...

http://www.fallingrain.com/waypoint/TS/TANLI.html

• The game is over!
• The final answer to the Meta Puzzle is "Lorelei, Odessa, Kara, Ivy" ...if you type this in you will then get a message from LOKI about the game.

You are not the first to guess our identity, but because you solved our puzzle, we want to tell you our secret.

There is no such person as Loki—or rather, she is four sisters who decided to be one extraordinary person.

Each of us has a unique talent:

Lorelei is our tinkerer. Clocks and counting, space and time: she is our genius.

Odessa is our performer, our actress and magician, the girl we send in to dazzle and charm. Odessa goes to meetings: Loki gets promoted. It’s very convenient.

Kara is our reader. With a love of history and a photographic memory, she gives us access to any fact, figure, or event at a moment’s notice.

Ivy is our spy. She’s the girl you don’t notice, the face you don’t remember, and vanishing is what she does best. Ivy has gotten us out of more than one impossible situation.

Together, we have presented L.O.K.I. to the world. Our mask and super-hero, LOKI has allowed us each to be bigger than ourselves.

When we heard Microsoft and AMD were looking to give extraordinary prizes to exceptional people, we knew LOKI could never find a more perfect job. This, Odessa said, would be a trick we could never top. O, how we wanted this job! (And what clever, unfair, underhanded things we did to the other applicants to make sure we got it! But that’s another story.) And once we got the job, we all agreed that Loki’s greatest triumph would be her last.

We created the Vanishing Point to reward the smartest minds (and communities) on the planet – and still we underestimated you. We used our smarts and our guile, not to mention money and connections and countless hours of time—and still you humbled us. We knew the terrain and barely gave you a map—and that didn’t stop you. We built puzzles that should have taken you days and you solved them in hours.

“Loki” is a genius: but you were far more brilliant. You were thought made fire. You were lightning.

Thank you for your work, your talent, and your dedication. It has been a privilege to witness: an honor and a delight.

For each of us to live, Loki had to die. Thank you, thank you beyond words for taking her to the Vanishing Point.

Lorelei Odessa Kara Ivy

• WHOS GOING TO WIN??? The Grand Prize drawing was Jan 31st, and the winner will be contacted February 1st! On February 1st, the 1st-4th prizes will be drawn, and winners will be contacted in the following days... Good luck everyone! If a regular on this site wins, they should post their success story!