Speaking of ... PingRay's Issue 4

Mystery Park

"Vector Park," the “Alternate Worlds” selection in PingRay's Issue 4, balances the rewards of patient exploration against the imperatives of how-does-this-work frustration, like objects hanging in the Park’s levers game.

The near-anonymity of the Park’s creator—Brooklyn, NY resident Patrick Smith, who appears to want to remain far in the background, as silent as his creation—adds to the mysterious position this Park enjoys on the Net. Dozens of bulletin board and blog comments exclaim its virtues, wonder about its meanings and its author, and exchange tips as to its workings. Most react as if they’d stumbled across a wondrous but anonymous object from another world.

For instance, this reaction from PingRay Guest Commentator Hugh Osborn, an educational consultant who claims to have  solved the first "Myst" without one crib note:

“Try the middle activity of the three with the mobile that you must make yourself out of strange elements. What is the purpose? Is it a game? If so, what is the solution, or even what might a solution look like? This is a fascinating puzzle, game, and work of art. I have built something live that needs improving and looks like my own Calder, but the birds are agitated and my five-legged squid really doesn’t seem happy – I’m off to balance them all better. God just dropped in and now I have to weigh Him off against a bowling ball and a submarine – a very new experience for me.

“Finding the hidden world in the Moon-Telescope-Junkpile game was magical. Whoops! I can’t visit it again – a one-time experience. But the creatures in this world seem to be hinting at something new. What could it be?  The eggs on bicycles in the right-hand work seem to like my cursor – I must find out what they want.

“I think Fellini will be directing my dreams tonight.”

And, for those of you who would like some assistance with the levers game, try this crib note from someone who thinks he broke the code of that section of the park.