On Apr 1, 2004, four mushes (M*U*S*H, BrazilMux, Rhostshyl, and Chicago
MUSH) each changed their port numbers just after midnight. On their
old ports, each was to display a clue to help players find the new
port number.  (Chicago MUSH actually experienced some difficulties,
so what's described below is what should have happened - in fact,
Chicago's clues appeared on the BrazilMux and Rhostshyl connect screens).

Here's what appeared on each game's connect screens:

M*U*S*H:

  The Devil's Number, less the Lords
  The number of beings in a trinity.
  Add The Answer; then three nines less
  Then multiply the days of a bitch's ordeal.

  Four by four, to get some more, you'd best go to the land of cafezinho

Brazil:

  First and last come a snake's hiss
  plus the age when contracts are real.
  Toss a penny to the well.
  Finally, the letters in the word.

  Four by four, to get some more, you'd best go to Zara's Silverglass MUSH

Rhost:

  Number in the garden when Eve ate the fig
  My middle's two round eggs
  Add the first two, you have my third,
  And if you must, add up to hell.

  Four by four, to get some more, you'd best go where the city is windy.

Chicago:

  The number of horns in a symphony,
  Include the time of the Ford.
  Don't forget einundzwanzig.
  And a set of spider's legs

  Four by four, to get some more, you'd best go where the name's in stars.


The "Four by four" clues suggested the next game to look at for
another clue, and that there were four sets of four lines involved.

Once all the clues were obtained, players had to shuffle the lines
between the four clues to form four rhyming quatrain-riddles.
Below are listed each quatrain and its solution:


3	Number in the garden when Eve ate the fig
18	plus the age when contracts are real.
21	Don't forget einundzwanzig.
63	Then multiply the days of a bitch's ordeal.

63(21+3+18) = 2646  (BrazilMux port)

The most common obstacle was the gestation period of dogs, which
some web sites had from 60-63 days.


5	The number of horns in a symphony,
3	The number of beings in a trinity.
8 (3+5)	Add the first two, you have my third,
7	Finally, the letters in the word.		('the word')

5387 was the (intended) Chicago MUSH port. The most common obstacle
in solving was to use the number of french horns (4) instead of
the number of different horn instruments (french horn, bass trombone,
trombone, trumpet, tuba).


666-777	The Devil's Number, less the Lords
1908	Include the time of the Ford.
1	Toss a penny to the well.
4311	And if you must, add up to hell.

666-777+1908+1+4311 = 6109 (Rhostshyl port)

This was probably the most difficult one. There are many different
"Lord's number"'s, and a few ways to spell 'hell' on a calculator.


5__5	First and last come a snake's hiss
_00_	My middle's two round eggs
42-27	Add The Answer; then three nines less
8	And a set of spider's legs

5005+ 42-27+8=5028 (M*U*S*H's port)

The most common obstacle on this one appears to have been the first
line or two. Several people thought 6 made sense for a snake's hiss.
Javelin actually had M*U*S*H up on port 5082, because he added 27 instead
of subtracting, but fortunately Walker quickly and confidently solved the
riddle and asked why 5028 wasn't right, and Javelin fixed his foolishness
before anyone else was troubled by it.

Ashen-Shugar, Brazil, and Javelin each put up $15 in Amazon gift
certificates for a prize pool. First prize ($30) was awarded to
Poi@BrazilMux for being the first player to connect to any of the
three mushes. Second prize ($15) was awarded to Zebranky@M*U*S*H
for being the first player to connect to either of the other two
mushes.

At about 2pm on Apr 1, the mushes switched back to their usual ports.