Final Results

The quizzes are in and the winner has been determined!

If you could not make the live finale, you can check out the final results here!

Thanks to everyone for their support of Online Mole Challenge 5!

Bonus post-game content will continue to be published in the coming weeks, stay tuned!

Online Mole Challenge 5 Live Finale

Attention players, alumni, panelists, and guests!

The final quizzes have been submitted and the winner has been revealed, to myself at least. After several months of play, the time to reveal the outcome of the game has come.

The Online Mole Challenge 5 finale will be held Monday, May 21 at 8 PM EST.

The finale will be live and open to the public. All finalists, executed players, mini moles, and members of the ORG community are more than welcome to attend. The finale will take place in an AIM chat room at the designated time. If you wish to attend, simply send an instant message to omc5ryanm at the time of the finale (preferably a few minutes before the scheduled start time) indicating you would like to do so and I will send the necessary invite. You are welcome to spread the word and invite your friends.

In just a couple of days, the mole will be revealed and a champion named! Be there to see things as they unfold!

Episode 8 Challenges: Pt 2 Debriefing

Yes! We finally found time in everyone's schedules to complete the final challenge of the game!

The debriefing will be posted tomorrow, Monday.

The quiz will be sent out Tuesday evening, due Wednesday evening. In the meantime, players get those confessionals in, guests and viewers, head over to the forums to request a time for the live finale that works for you. I am planning on having it this coming weekend or early next week.

Episode 8 Challenges: Pt 1 Debriefing

Challenge 8.1: Three Questions

Objective: Earn as much money as possible by correctly identifying how a third player answered questions in this classic mole final three challenge.

Each of the player pairings met on AIM this week to complete their rounds. In order to "find" the third missing player, they had to correctly guess how the third player completed a survey of personal and ethical questions. Here's how the rounds broke down:

Fred and Padraig:

1. Who would Andy rather have speak at his funeral?
• Players' Answer: Fred
• Andy's Answer: Padraig
  
2. Who does Andy think is less likely to pick up the tab in a restaurant?
• Players' Answer: Fred
  
• Andy's Answer: Padraig
  
3. Who does Andy think is more likely to commit a federal crime?
• Players' Answer: Padraig
• Andy's Answer: Padraig

• Correct: 1/3

Fred and Andy:

1. Who does Padraig think is more likely to have a loved one cheat on them?
• Players' Answer: Fred
• Padraig's Answer: Fred
  
2. Who does Padraig think is more likely to hire a hitman?
• Players' Answer: Andy
  
• Padraig's Answer: Andy
  
3. Who does Padraig think is more likely to lie to his face?
• Players' Answer: Andy
  
• Padraig's Answer: Fred

• Correct: 2/3

Andy and Padraig:

1. If Martians came down and abducted one person, who does Fred think it would it be?
• Players' Answer: Padraig
• Fred's Answer: Padraig
  
2. Who does Fred think is more likely to become world famous?
• Players' Answer: Andy
  
• Fred's Answer: Padraig
  
3. Who does Fred think is more likely to sleep with someone to get what they want?
• Players' Answer: Andy
• Fred's Answer: Andy

• Correct: 2/3

No pairing could correctly answer their three questions and none of the missing players were found. No money is added to the pot.

(PS: I apologize for the length of this challenge, this was a busy week for all of us and it was a nightmare to get the necessary players online at the same time.)

Earned: $0.00

Reward: None

Episode 8 Challenges: Pt 1

Challenge 8.1: Three Questions

Objective: Earn as much money as possible by correctly identifying how a third player answered questions in this classic mole final three challenge.

Each player has been sent a survey. The questions were made to be embarrassing, ethical, or maybe offensive. Each player must respond to the questions with the name of one of the other two agents.

In the task, the players will meet in a web-based chat room. Players will not be allowed to be on AIM under any screen name that other players in the game may know of. Communication between myself and the players outside of the chatroom will be conducted by email.

When the task begins, one at a time, a player will be taken from the group and be "hidden", this player will leave the chat room. This player will be hidden at the end of a branching trail. To navigate the trail, the other two players will have to guess how the hidden player responded to a series of three questions. Each guess will lead them down a different path, so even one wrong guess will result in failure that round. If the hidden player is found $1.00 will be added to the pot. There will be three rounds, each player will have a turn being hidden. Please keep the game moving, I will cut you off if you take longer than 30 minutes to complete all three rounds. Anything not completed by the time limit will be considered lost. If all three players are found, an additional $1.00 will be added to the pot.

The following things are forbidden for this task:
- Logging onto AIM
- Communication between players by any other means outside of the chatroom
- Sharing answers in any way
Doing any of the above will result in any combination of mission failure, money penalties, and/or quiz penalties at my discretion. If you report another player doing one of these things, report it, you will be compensated.

Time: 04/22 @ 8:00 PM EST
Estimated to last up to 45 mins.

Worth: $4.00

Reward: None

Episode 7 Execution Results

The execution interface has been updated, click the link in the sidebar to discover the final three!

(Sorry guys I updated the page last night, but just noticed I forgot to update the link)

Episode 7 Challenge Debriefing

Challenge 7.1: Wall Street

Objective: Earn as much money for the pot as possible.

Here is the trading the players engaged in over the four days of this challenge (Note: There were a lot of calculations involved in this challenge so I would not be surprised if I mucked something up, just let me know if you find any errors):

Day 1

• Andy bought 2557 shares of T at $39.10 per share for a total cost of $99,978.70
• Evin bought 500 shares of CPB at $39.24 per share, 63 shares of GOOG at 463.55 per share, and 1418 shares of DIS at $35.00 per share for a total cost of $98,453.65
• Fred bought 2860 shares of EBAY at $33.15 per share for a total cost of $94,809.00
• Padraig bought 14 shares of GDAXI at $6,838.32 per share for a total cost of $95,736.48
  
  
• Andy sold 2557 shares of T at $39.44 per share for a profit of $869.38
  

Day 2

• Andy bought 12820 shares of F at $7.84 per share for a total cost of $100,508.80
  
  
• Fred sold 2860 shares of EBAY at $33.11 per share for a loss of $114.40
• Padriag sold 2557 shares of GDAXI at $6,816.89 per share for a loss of $300.02

Day 3

• Fred bought 1762 shares of AXP at $56.30 per share for a total cost of $99,200.60
• Padraig bought 3100 shares of HAL at $31.38 per share for a total cost of $97,278.00

Day 4

• Andy sold 12820 shares of F at $7.89 per share for a profit of $641.00
• Evin sold 500 shares of CPB at $38.95 per share, 63 shares of GOOG at 458.16 per share, and 1418 shares of DIS at $34.43 per share for a loss of $1,292.83
• Fred sold 1762 shares of AXP at $56.40 per share for a profit of $176.20
• Padraig sold 3100 shares of HAL at $31.74 per share for a profit of $1,116.00

There were a couple of violations, however. Day 1, Fred only invested $94,809.00 of his allotted $100,000, which is below the $95,000 minimum. In addition, Padraig invested in GDAXI, a German market index, which is neither a stock or on a US market. Therefore, as per the rules, both Fred and Padraig's $100,000 were forfeited and a $1.00 pot penalty was issued for each offense.

At the end of the challenge, Andy had a net worth of $100,980.28. Evin had a net worth of $98,707.17. Rounded up to the nearest cent, Andy was worth $1.01 to be added to the pot, while Evin was worth $0.99 to be added to the pot. A total of $2.00 was earned, while $2.00 in penalties was issued.

Earned: $2.00, $2.00 Deducted

Reward: None

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Challenge 7.2: Minesweeper

Objective: Successfully Uncover 10 Mines.

This challenge played out fairly straight forward, players took turns making selections and flagging grid spaces on the forums. With time running out, Fred and Padraig contacted me about finishing the challenge over AIM and I arranged a chatroom. The two of them alternated their turns back and forth and managed to successfully flag all ten mines. You can see Fred and Padraig's gameplay here.

Here is the completed gameboard.

The challenge was completed successfully and $3.50 was added to the pot.

Earned: $3.50

Reward: None

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Challenge 7.3: In the Dark

Objective: Gather keys to unlock a vault filled with money.

Andy, Evin, Fred and Padraig attended this challenge. Yes, you heard me right, 100% attendance, and only seven episodes to get there! Andy, Fred, and Padraig were on AIM when I made the chatroom at the time of the challenge, Evin showed up a bit later. Nonetheless, the turn order was Andy, Fred, Padraig, Evin.

Fred and Padraig each found a safe right away. After a couple turns had gone by they had both correctly guessed the safe combinations and possessed one key each. A little later, Evin found a safe and guessed the correct combination on his first attempt, obtaining a key. Later, Evin found the last safe and once again cracked it on his first attempt, obtaining a second key.

All the while, the guard was scrambling about battling the players, and doing a poor job at it. The guard challenged Evin four times, losing three times, battled and lost to Padraig once, and battled and lost to Fred once. The guard never battled Andy. The guard's sole victory came in his fourth encounter with Evin, at a very inopportune time for the group. The guard defeated Evin, taking his two keys, with less than ten minutes remaining in the challenge. The group simply ran out of time to reclaim the keys.

No player obtained all four keys and the vault was not opened. No money was earned and no exemption won.

Earned: $0.00

Reward: None

Episode 7 Challenges

Challenge 7.1: Wall Street

Objective: Earn as much money for the pot as possible.

It's no secret that the group's performance up to this point has been less than spectacular. So I'm giving you an opportunity to redeem yourself and earn some of your lost money back.

In order to do this, you will be investing in the stock market in real time. I am giving each player an imaginary $100,000 with which to invest. If you do not know how the stock market works, then I suggest you look into it online. On the most basic level, you buy what are known as shares of a corporation. The values of these shares rise and fall due to the basic premise of supply and demand in the market. The object is to sell your shares at a higher value than what you bought, hence earning money.

You will have four full trading days to play with for this challenge. Beginning Tuesday, March 27, each player will use their allotted imaginary $100,000 to buy shares of at least one company (no more than ten at any given time). Each player must have all, or at least $95,000, of their money invested at all times. At no time may a player have more than $100,000 invested. You may invest in any stock on a US market. If a player does not meet these requirements when the trading floor opens on any given day, that player may no longer participate in the challenge, all of their money is lost, in addition to a $1.00 penalty from the pot.

You may buy and sell shares once per day, when the market is not open. Trading hours are from 9:30 AM EST until 4:00 PM EST. Therefore, all buying of shares will be conducted using that day's opening price and all selling of shares will be conducted using that day's closing price. To buy or sell a number of shares make a post in the forums in the following format:
I would like to buy/sell ## shares of ABCD at $###.## per share.
Where ABCD is the stock symbol. You may buy any stock that trades on the US market.

After close Friday afternoon, this challenge is over. I will take whatever money you earned or lost and divide it by 100,000 and that amount will be added or deducted from the pot. If you earn more than $50,000 you will be compensated by an additional $0.10 for every additional 50% increase. (For example, if you have $300,000 at the end of the challenge you will have increased your money by 200%. You would earn $1.5 + $0.30 = $1.80).

Deadline: 03/30 @ 4:00 PM Eastern

Worth: Unlimited

Reward: None

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Challenge 7.2: Minesweeper

Objective: Successfully Uncover 10 Mines

For this challenge, you will be playing a turn based game of Minesweeper. If you are unfamiliar with the game, you can find it installed on almost any PC. The game consists of a grid of unlabeled squares, in this challenge a 10x10 grid. "Mines" are hidden randomly throughout the grid. The object is to flag all of the mines without uncovering any of them.

The game is played by selecting a square on the grid. If a mine is hidden in that square, it is uncovered and the game is over. If no mines are hidden in the selected square but one or more mines are located in a square that borders (including diagonally adjacent) the selected square, the number of mines that border that square is displayed in the selected square. If no mines are hidden in the selected square or any bordering square, the square is simply cleared, and all adjoining squares that don't have mines hidden in them are also cleared.

When you think you know where a mine is hidden, you can "flag" that square. You can also unflag a square at any time. If all ten mines are uncovered without any being uncovered, the challenge is a success and $3.50 will be added to the pot. If a mine is uncovered, no money will be earned. If the deadline is reached before all ten mines are flagged, but no mines have been uncovered, $0.10 will be added to the pot for every successfully flagged mine. However, $0.10 will be deducted for every flagged square that does not have a mine hidden in it.

Select and flag squares using the appropriate thread on the forums. You can find the gameboard, which I will update as often as possible, here. You are allowed to select or flag up to two squares in a row. You must wait for two other players to take a turn before making additional selections or flags of your own.

Deadline: 03/31 @ 11:59 PM Eastern

Worth: $3.50

Reward: None

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Challenge 7.3: In the Dark

Objective: Gather keys to unlock a vault filled with money.

The agency has received intel regarding a suspicious research facility that is believed to be a threat to national security. The CIA has assigned our taskforce to investigate and retrieve a significant sum of cash from the operation's headquarters. We have found a note with some information about the location of a few things inside the building. We know there are four entrances to the building, and that there is some kind of safe area in the building. In this safe area no player can be attacked by a guard or other player (more on that later), but only one player may be in this space at one time and a player can only occupy this space for one turn (more on that later also). However, there is some bad news. We were unable to retrieve the pinch and it has unfortunately been activated, disabling all electronics in the area, including this headquarters. The entire building will be in pitch black during the mission. Also, due to the agency's recent lack of success, has only enough funding to bring along a box of 16 matches to illuminate the area.

Each player will be equipped with four matches, because that’s how the 16 matches are equally shared.

In order to navigate through this dark space, the group will use the floor plan which depicts a 4x4 grid:

As the group makes their final preparations to enter the building, another note is found. This note is not smudged and is easy to read. It talks of 4 keys obtained by accessing 4 combination safes located around the building which are needed to unlock a vault and gain access to the cash. The location of these safes are unknown. The note also tells the group the safes can be accessed using some 3-letter combination of the letters O, M and C. (Letters will not be used more than once in a combination.) Inside of each safe is a key that will be used to unlock the vault. Once all four keys are acquired by a single player, the vault panel must be found and all four keys must be put into it.

In addition, the notes tells the players that there will be a guard patrolling this building to foil any plans to retrieve the cash. If a player encounters him, you must fend off this guard. If you defeat the guard they will be forced to immediately retreat to the safety area specified on the map, and they will be forced to surrender everything in their inventory (if any) so they can make a quick get away. If you encounter the guard and lose the battle with them, they will take all of the items in your inventory and you will be forced to return to the entry point you came in at. But if you are defeated by the guard three times, you will be unable to continue to try and retrieve the cash.

Turn order will be selected by the order that players enter the live challenge. The players will be able to choose their entry point, but it will be first come first serve. Players get 1 turn each per round. Every two turns, the guard gets a turn (unless there is only one player left in the game, in which case that player and the guard will alternate turns back-and-forth).

At the beginning of your turn, you may perform ONE of the following actions:

• Strike a match and see everything bordering your space
• Move one space N, E, S or W (no moving diagonally)
• Stay put and do nothing
  

After that, I will tell you whether you are able to perform one or more context-sensitive actions. If a context-sensitive action is available to you, you may perform that context-sensitive action at that time. If more than one context-sensitive action is available, you may only perform one of those actions, but you get to choose which one.

• If you are in a space with a safe, guess the safe combination
• If you are in a space with another player, exchange matches and/or keys with that player (both players must agree to the terms of the exchange)
• If you are in a space with another player, throw one of your matches into that player's face, forcing that player to surrender to you all of the KEYS (not matches) in his inventory and forcing him to run back to his original entrance point to receive medical attention
• If you are in a space with the vault panel & have all 4 keys, open the vault
• If you are in a space with the guard, you must engage in combat. This combat is in the form of Rock, Paper, Scissors. If a RPS tie occurs, another round of RPS will commence until there is a winner.

NOTES:

• Whenever you enter a space with a safe, fellow player, guard, safety sink and/or vault panel, Ryan will immediately inform you.
• At any time, you may ask Ryan the coordinates of the space you are in.
• If a player is not present at the challenge except for emergency or other good reason (since everyone agreed on the time), or players are not trying their very best for any reason, they will be punished in a way I'll decide later.
• I recommend copying down the floor plan and adding stuff to it as we go along so you can keep track of where you, other players, the guard, safes, and vault are located as you learn their locations. Also keeping track of tried combinations would be helpful. There will be a task tracker on the site for your convenience, but there may be other things you may want to take note of that aren't on the tracker.

The guard will be a third party that has absolutely no inside information relating to the game, players, or special roles, in fact their knowledge of the game as a whole will be minimal at best.

The mission is a success if a player can acquire all 4 keys and open the vault. It is a failure if all of the players are eliminated before the vault is opened. The player who opens the vault will win the last exemption of the game.

Time: To be decided, please check forums or emailed schedule for details.

Worth: $4.00

Reward: Exemption

Episode 6 Execution Results

The execution interface has been updated, click the link in the sidebar to discover the sixth agent to be executed!

Episode 6 Challenge Debriefing

Challenge 6.1: Mole Idol 2

Objective: Create an original music video.

Evin was the first to post claiming the role of producer. Evin then assigned the rest of the roles as follows:

• Writer: Fred
• Band: Andy
• Director: Ryan
• Editor: Padraig

As the writer, Fred chose the song "Believe Me" by Fort Minor to use for the video, but made no plans for the premise of the video. Andy, the band, was able to track down a copy of the song. Meanwhile, Ryan found a video of a band screaming some song, I can only assume its a version of the same song.

These elements were sent to the editor, Padraig, who was supposed to assemble them into a single music video file. There appeared to be some file type issues and the pieces gathered by Andy and Ryan were not assembled in any single file that I am aware of. Evin, the producer ended up sending me only the video file that Ryan found.

Three of the five tasks were completed, earning $0.60 to be added to the pot. However, the final product submitted to me was lacking the band's audio file, and since Fred made no video premise specifications, the video could not follow any premise. These offenses deduct $0.25 each for a total penalty of $0.50.

Earned: $0.10

Reward: None

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Challenge 6.2: Ryan's Funhouse

Objective: Have all players escape the maniacal funhouse.

Four players dared to enter my funhouse, Evin, Fred, Padraig, and Ryan. Andy mistakenly showed up at 6 PM EST not realizing that US DST threw off the time differential.

After some further details about the intricate workings of the challenge, the front door of the funhouse was opened. Ryan and Fred were able to answer riddles correctly and got out of the first room and proceeded throughout the funhouse. Ryan was the first to get out of the funhouse, Ryan got the chest at the exit. While in the funhouse, Fred found a chest as well. Fred then managed to get out of the funhouse as well. Meanwhile, Evin and Padraig found two of the doors out of the first room locked when they tried to get through them. Not long thereafter, the third door was locked by an incorrect answer and the two were stuck. This meant the entire group could not escape the funhouse and no money was won.

However, the challenge was not over. Prior to starting the challenge, I told the group that one of the chests held something special, but did not disclose any details. Following the challenge, I informed the players that one of the chests held an exemption (remember that there were three chests, one was not found by the players and remained in the funhouse). The catch, however, was that I would not tell Ryan and Fred (the players with chests) if their chest had the exemption. I told them that they would have to pay $0.50 from the pot money in order to open their chest and see if they had exemption, if they left their chest closed they couldn't earn exemption even if they did have it. Both Fred and Ryan took this offer and opened their chest. Fred's chest was empty. Ryan's chest was also empty. The exemption lied in the chest left inside the funhouse.

Earned: $1.00 Deducted

Reward: None