Branden Hall (with assistance from his son, Kai!) has created a story-driven interactive installation for the Constellation regional Burning Man event.

Inspired by narratives like Carl Sagan’s Contact and The Last Starfighter, the Sidereal hexagonal shard is presented as an artifact of unknown origin. Warning signs prevent access to the artifact during the day, with accompanying fictional logs of a local university’s discovery and investigation of the relic. At night, however, the device begins glowing and playing melodies, and a “missing” poster that reveals the mysterious disappearance of the investigation’s lead scientist is “discovered.” Visitors then attempt to unlock the puzzle contained within by observing the results of their interactions with the device, and the “truth” about its origin is revealed to those who complete all six stages.

Source code for the Teensy 3.6-powered enigma can be found on GitHub.