The Five Portals
NOTE: THIS IS A MYSTERIOUS AND PERPLEXING BADGE.
There's more to the Night at the Library Badges than you know. It seems that each library has become a strange attractor, pulling mysterious forces and random periodicals into a swirling content maelstrom called A PORTAL. Each Library has its own Portal, and each Portal has a Portal code, and if you can find the code for all five Portals, you'll earn this badge!
Information about the Portals is scarce. But some intrepid PORTAL EXPLORER has managed to RETRO-EMBED some critical portal data in a place that's survived the ravages of time virtually untouched. This place isn't pulp. This place isn't play. It's not found in any catalog. It contains only truly oldnews. Yes, the only place that you can find these critical RETRO-EMBEDS is ancienthistory.
Each image in the Night at the Library Badge series contains a path fragment. Fragments always begin with a slash and are nearly vertical. They can be very tiny, so you'll definitely need to click to zoom in to read them. Assemble the three path fragments for each library in order... they'll lead you to a PORTAL DATA RETRO-EMBED hidden in our Ancient History. There you'll find that Portal's code.
BUT! Only the truly dedicated will use the Portal Codes to enter the Portals when they open. If you enter all five Portals and retrieve the codes glowing deeply within, you'll unlock the hidden PORTAL EXPLORER badge.
UPDATE 3/31/2021! THE RETRO-EMBEDS HAVE BEEN UPDATED! CHECK TO DISCOVER WHEN ALL 5 PORTALS WILL OPEN!
(Please note, for your puzzling convenience, at each portal opening, you'll be able to obtain the codes from the previous portal openings. So don't worry about missing some.)
This badge has been awarded to 332 players
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Badge Series
Winter Game's Night at the Library
Winter Game's Solve
Game
SummerGame2021
Difficulty
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Super Tricky
3 of out 4 difficulty
Badge Points
200
Comments
Found all clues for Mallet…
Found all clues for Mallet creek but when I added them at end of ancienthistory.aadl.org and searched it on new page, it didn't work. I am confused about exactly what I need to do once I find all clues.
so am I
so am I
At first I got a 404 Not…
At first I got a 404 Not Found, but then I realized I had accidentally flipped the position of a couple letters when I was typing everything in. Once I fixed that I got to the right page no problem. Maybe double check for unintentional typos?
Same. I found them and put…
Same. I found them and put them in behind ancienthistory.AADL.org but still it said code not found.
You're on the right track;…
You're on the right track; know that game codes don't have slashes or punctuation. But you know what things do have slashes and punctuation? URLs. If it looks like a URL and has slashes and .htm and such like a URL, it's probably a URL! Make sure you have it exactly right or you'll get a 404 error.... about 25 players have found the two available game codes for this badge, so it's definitely solvable....
Wow, you really need to pay…
Wow, you really need to pay attention, I found clues but I read 2 letters wrong in Malletcreek Library clues and used html instead of htm !! After reading all comments checked all clues and found my mistake,finally got two codes :)
Is the Westgate Branch…
Is the Westgate Branch portal open?
I've entered the 3 codes and it returns a 404 code.
watch out! URLS are Case…
The portal isn't open yet, but the retro-embed is there... but watch out! URLS are Case Sensitive! Make sure you've got the Capital letters that appear in the path fragments!
Where I got stuck: There is…
Where I got stuck: There is one Westgate fragment that I was sure started with lowercase "c", but I was wrong!
thanks looked like lowercase…
thanks looked like lowercase to me too.
Thank you. Your hint…
Thank you. Your hint helped me out. :)
Thank you, valeriemates!…
Thank you, valeriemates! This comment was very helpful! I was stuck on the Westgate one for awhile.
Thank you so much! I was…
Thank you so much! I was stuck on that one for days!
I have to bring the screen…
I have to bring the screen so close to my eyes (after zooming in as far as I can) to be able to read them. Might not be able to read them if my eyes were worse...
Be sure you're clicking on…
Be sure you're clicking on the photo, and then clicking on it again so you're starting with the full resolution. The code is actually hidden in another place where it should be machine-readable for people with vision impairments using special browsers.
Is Pittsfield open yet?
Is Pittsfield open yet?
You mean the library itself?…
You mean the library itself? No, sorry, all AADL locations are only open for pickup appointments right now. But if you're asking about the Pittsfield Night at the Library badge, it's right here: https://aadl.org/node/576039
I am having trouble finding…
I am having trouble finding the path fragment in the Mallett's Creek fish tank image. I have looked at it SO many times, but it's just not popping out at me. Any hints on where to look??
This is a tough one! check…
This is a tough one! check the bottom left corner of the tank.
Wow, thank you so much! I…
Wow, thank you so much! I've been struggling with that one for many weeks now. I turn off all the lights in the room, at night, and search the screen every day without seeing it. I really tried. Thank you so much for the clue! I appreciate it very much! Yay, feeling relieved!!
Thank you!!
Thank you!!
Thank you! That was the…
Thank you! That was the hardest one for me (I haven't done downtown yet though)! Even with your hint, I still had a hard time. But eventually I found it!!
Do we need to use the…
Do we need to use the slashes when typing the codes
There are no slashes in…
There are no slashes in gamecodes; but you'll need the slashes right where they are to put the path fragments together into a working ancient history url.
Im having trouble finding…
Im having trouble finding the clues for the last downtown picture any hints? I have looked at it for SO long.
Im having trouble finding…
Im having trouble finding the clues for the last downtown picture any hints? I have looked at it for SO long.
Wait FOUND IT!!!!!
Wait FOUND IT!!!!!
WOW. The portal from the…
WOW. The portal from the Downtown hotel is CLASSIC. "Google is a new and very popular search engine that pulls up the most relevant sites". Thanks for the walk through memory lane.
I've been checking the…
I've been checking the portals nearly weekly (1/20/21 1/30 2/5 2/15 2/20 2/27 3/3) and only ever gotten this message on all 5:
PORTAL OPENINGS: NOT DETECTED
~~ No Openings Detected in the next 7 days ~~
Am I missing something further I need to do to open the portals?
Thanks for asking about this…
Thanks for asking about this and checking so thoroughly! Plans on this changed a bit and now it will be a little something to fill the gap when Winter Game badge drops stop on March 12. Shortly after that the retro-embeds will all update and you won't need to check them. Our apologies for leaving you hanging; we have something special planned but it has been tricky to schedule.
So, check those retro-embeds in late March for portal openings in April and May.
Thanks again for asking about this, and thanks for playing!
Hello! I just happened to…
Hello! I just happened to look at this link for the first time since the games ended and realized I missed two portals. Is there any chance to make these up/will they reopen again or is that just it? (I totally understand if that's it, just figured I'd ask :) ) Thank you!
Hi there, thanks for asking!…
Hi there, thanks for asking! Each time a portal opens you can get its code, and the codes from prior portal openings too. So you can catch up, but don't miss the last one!
Okay, thank you!
Okay, thank you!
i am confused on where to…
i am confused on where to type the the slash code thing
like found the slash code…
like found the slash code but i don't know where to type it
actually i know where to…
actually i know where to search it's just i find the slash and type in the ancient history thing and it says error 404 SO CONFUSED ON WHAT TO DO! :(
these URLs are case…
these URLs are case-sensitive; be sure you're putting in the part after each slash exactly as it appears including punctuation and capital letters... and be sure to use all three path fragments! There's one in each image!
OK, I found the portal…
OK, I found the portal information, but the opening time is already past. Are the portals going to re-open?
We're sorry, but this was a…
We're sorry, but this was a winter game activity that won't be continuing now that we're open. (The portals allowed you to visit the computers staff used to oversee the pickup lobbies via zoom, and they're not there anymore!) You can still earn this badge though. Thanks for your patience, and thanks for playing!
-eli
I found both the first and…
I found both the first and last one for Traverwood, but may I have a hint for the second one?
Make sure to stair at the…
Well, when we're looking for something at the library, and it's not where it's supposed to be, it's a good idea to check any book carts you can see.
The badges should not…
The badges should not require one to have a 24"+ screen
They don't. You can click on…
They don't. You can click on the image to enlarge, and then in most browsers you can click again to make them truly huge. Thanks for playing!