Where is this place?

May 12, 2006 9:31 AM

Need help with a Google Earth based puzzle game...

So Mazda is running this ad campaign/game which is a nifty treasure hunt style game mash-up using Google Earth.

You watch a short video clip of their new SUV going by some landmark on Earth. Then you use Google Earth to zoom in and locate a big X at that location (visible only below the 5000ft zoom level). Succcesfully clicking on the marker opens up the next puzzle.

I'm stuck at the 4th puzzle location and need some hints. Here's a screenshot (alternate link) of the flash video that plays showing the clue. The clip opens with some band playing on a stage; the camera slowly pans right and up to a video monitor showing the SUV driving across the screen, revealing what looks like an upside down brown alligator shown in the screenshot, then the video fades out. The hint given for this puzzle appears on the screen capture: "Ever since War and Peace took place, angelic voices are heard."

My first thought was "angelic voices" => opera, "War and Peace" => Russia. So I zoom into the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Nope not there. I also looked around in Kiev and St Petersburg and didn't find anything.

Anyone have any other ideas? And what's up with that video clue of an upside down alligator?

posted by jaimev to grab bag (3 answers total)

Sydney opera house?
Crocodile Dundee = crocodiles = (sorta) alligators = "Down under" = upside down

?

I have no idea about the War and Peace part, though.
posted by ruby.aftermath at 9:55 AM on May 12, 2006

D'oh...you're right. It was the Sydney Opera House! I had completely discounted that initially since it didn't seem to have anything to do with War and Peace, but it certainly fit the upside down croc' clue. Thanks!
posted by jaimev at 10:14 AM on May 12, 2006

War and Peace was the first performance at the Sydney Opera House. It's in the Wikipedia article...
posted by whatzit at 10:15 AM on May 12, 2006