As you step over the final skeleton before the castle doors, you glance up at the large fortress before you. An enormous mess of towers and keeps, you find it difficult to believe this can be the home of only one person. Admittedly this one person is an evil wizard, but there must be a point where even the most wicked of evil overlords realise that any further showing off is just a waste of resources.
But this is Castle Conundrum, home to Lord Enigma. The entire fortress is one large puzzle designed to stop even the greatest of adventurers. Entire armies have fallen to the Castles traps, and countless heroes have never returned from their quest to defeat Lord Enigma.
You don’t let this stop your optimism though. They say there’s a one in a million chance of defeating the castle, but a million people must have died trying by this point, so the odds are probably in your favour. When you told your friends and family what it was you were planning on doing they said you had to be either brave or stupid. You hope it’s the former, because being stupid would probably make the puzzles somewhat more difficult.
"Ah, contestant number nine thousand three hundred and seventy four, I've been waiting for you." The voice booms out from everywhere and nowhere. You spin around in an attempt to see the source of the voice, but the overwhelming emptiness of the surrounding area remains. The realisation that you aren't in fact the millionth adventurer, or "contestant" as he called you, makes your optimism waver slightly, but you're here now, so you may as well continue.
"Where are you?" you yell back at the voice. "And are you including armies in that number or just individual heroes?" You still remain hopeful that you can make the odds work in your favour.
"Look at the gate in front of you," the omnipresent voice continues, ignoring the questions. "To open it, you merely have to enter the correct four digit code. I've already told you the numbers you need, so you shouldn't find this too difficult." Deafening silence resumes after the voice stops.
Looking in front of you, you see ten buttons at the bottom of the castle gates, each with a corresponding number. You assume you just need to press the correct buttons in the correct order to open the gate. You're not sure what happens if you press the wrong button, but judging by the skeletons you passed it can't be anything good.
Which button do you want to push first?