A Christmas scripture hunt for grown-ups · 12 stations · 90 minutes
A census scroll was cut into twelve fragments and scattered. You are the scribe team sent to recover it. Each station hides one fragment — solve it, then find the marked card and scan it. When the twelve are gathered, the scroll speaks for itself.
A decree went out. The letters of it have been shifted three places forward, as a courier would hide a message from bandits. Turn each letter back three and read what the herald cried.
Who issued the decree that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem? (Luke 2:1)
Five prophecies, five fulfilments. Pair each foretelling with the event that answered it.
TAP ONE PROPHECY ON THE LEFT, THEN ITS FULFILMENT ON THE RIGHT:
The scribe numbered every word of the verse before the scroll was cut. Take the words at the positions given — in order — and you will have the place the child was laid.
Type the place.
The Magi read the sky as a chart. Eight stars carry a letter each. Read the four marked coordinates in the order given and you will have the quarter of the sky they watched.
Type the direction.
On the hillside the watch was kept by sound, not sight. A pipe carries five letters. A full Morse key is printed below — you will need it.
Type the word the pipe carried.
Three travellers came from the east and opened their treasures. The record of who gave what is damaged — three lines survive. Recover the order.
1. The second traveller did not bring gold.
2. Myrrh was brought by the third.
3. The first did not bring frankincense.
ASSIGN ONE GIFT TO EACH TRAVELLER IN THE 3×3 LEDGER:
Which gift was opened first?
A scribe wrote five lines for the season and hid a word down the left margin. Read only the first letter of each line.
Type the word in the margin.
The census was taken in numbers, and the law of Moses counted days. Four questions, four digits.
Or enter the complete four-digit census code:
Nine letters survived the fire, out of order. One town is hidden in them.
TAP LETTERS TO ASSEMBLE THE TOWN (TAP A PLACED TILE TO RETURN IT):
The innkeeper could not write, so he kept his ledger in pictures. Three lines, one word missing from the last.
The first line is the one that matters. ‘No room at the ___’ — type the missing word.
The codicil was written in two rows and then read straight across, which is how the town's name was lost. Eight letters, split into pairs. Rebuild it.
Rebuild the eight-letter town name (Luke 2:4):
Three questions close the scroll. Answer all three, then name the man who was troubled by the news — the shadow across the whole account.
Now name the king who was troubled, and who sought the young child to destroy him.
Consult the handwritten location clue on your physical card, proceed to that spot, and scan the next station card.
Point your camera at the QR seal on the station card.
Twelve fragments, one announcement. You have finished The Bethlehem Cipher.