*Please note this guide is for Palace of Destiny and does not pertain to any of the Jewel Palace games or other premium Virtual Escape Palace offerings.*

PALACE OF DESTINY COLLABORATIVE PLAY GUIDE

Welcome to the Palace of Destiny – an untimed, unfolding series of puzzles to engage and challenge your puzzle solving prowess!

Palace of Destiny can be played individually, or collaboratively. While every Palace of Destiny account on PALACESPHERE is independent of other accounts (the games are not linked or synchronized), players can still form partnerships or teams to play collaboratively. Here are some tips on how to set up a multiplayer puzzle team. 

 *Please note this guide is for Palace of Destiny and does not pertain to any of the Jewel Palace games or other premium Virtual Escape Palace offerings.*

TEAM SIZE

The Palace of Destiny is very linear – only one puzzle to complete at a time. We recommend playing the Palace of Destiny alone or in a group of 2 to 4 players.

COLLABORATING (REMOTELY)

Connect with team members: video chat is the best for collaboration, possibly augmented with direct messaging, online chats, phone calls, and shared docs.

Explorer Mode:  Everyone logs in to their own account and plays at the same time.

Each person creates their own account to play on their own device and collaborates with the people on their team to solve each puzzle together. Each person can click around freely and will have to input answers on their own device. This version allows teams to divide and conquer puzzle elements. Recommended for teams trying for speed.

Navigator Mode: One player “drives” the game through screen share. 

An assigned “Navigator” logs in to the game and shares the screen with the others using a video chat / screen sharing program (like Zoom). The Navigator takes direction from the team while clicking through the game and putting in answers. This mode is great for fostering collaboration, communication, and consensus. 

COMPETING

Because the game itself is untimed and is designed to unfold over weeks, there is no defined end point. If you want to compete with friends, you have a couple of options:

1. 1. Play all the currently available puzzles to the end. Fastest time wins. (*This could end up being several hours as more and more puzzles are added.)
2. 2. Agree upon a # of puzzles to complete. Fastest time wins.
3. 3. Set a time limit and see who gets the farthest. 

HINTS: Each puzzle has 3 in-game hints that are progressively more explicit. Hint use is NOT cheating and may be necessary! Competing teams should agree on how to use hints so their finishing times are comparable.

There are various options for hint usage with competitive play (we recommend option 1):

1. 1. Timed hint release: Hint #1 is available after 5 minutes, Hint #2 after 10 minutes, Hint #3 after 15 minutes.
2. 2. Fixed time penalty: Each hint opened adds a set amount of time - for example 1 minute per hint.
3. 3. Scaled time penalty: Using Hint #1 adds 1 minute, Hint #2 adds 3 minutes, Hint #3 adds 5 minutes (for example).
4. 4. No restrictions on hints: Consider them as tools to help you move through the puzzles faster.
5. 5. No hints at all: This is VERY difficult and probably not practical. We'd recommend having one of the other ones pre-agreed on in case this doesn't work out!

ESTIMATED PUZZLE TIME:

Puzzle times vary by team and by puzzle. Some may take only 5 minutes. Others may take some people over an hour. An average team should plan for about 5 puzzles an hour.

PUZZLE PREPARATION:

• - You'll want a pen and paper. In addition, other people have used shared online docs and spreadsheets for a collaborative workspace that is updated in real time.
• - You are expected to use the internet as a resource. Don't be shy about searching for things. Some puzzles will require some internet sleuthing!
• - Check out our FAQ for more info!