# Evangeline's Lost Ledger: Auction Night (proposal)

Proposal for discussion, October 4, 2026. Plain-text version of
https://immersive-events-7f76db.pages.dev/Halloween%202026/games/evangelines-lost-ledger/proposal-auction-night
for AI readers. Image descriptions are included in place of the pictures.

## TL;DR

- **The change:** the auction stand stops being a bidding contest. It replays the auction night, and the player investigates what became of the lot.
- **Why:** as written, credit is "not consumed" and always refilled, so the best play is always to bid the maximum. There is no real choice.
- **How it works:** the player finds their lot number and goes to that lot's easel. The easel shows and speaks a paddle code: three colored buttons in a set order. At any auction stand the code plays that lot's ghostly auction scene, then each of its 3 colored buttons belongs to one ghost witness: press a ghost's button to hear their account. One of them lies.
- **The solve:** back at the same easel, a questionnaire that needs what they heard at the stand, plus paper clues and the lot's ledger. Wrong answers get a hint saying what to go and find. The player names the fate (sold, returned, refused, withdrawn, missing).
- **One lot, deeper:** instead of three lots per player and deducing which one matters, each easel is one lot and the game goes deeper on it.
- **What stays:** Brett's flow, the gold / silver / copper colors of the auction coins (now on the stand's buttons), the 5 countdown lights, the auctioneer and ghost bidders, 8 ledgers, never a dead end, a closed story.
- **Hardware:** nothing new. The easel already has UP/DOWN/CONFIRM for the fates, and the stands as specced have 3 buttons, 5 lights and a speaker. No network needed.
- **Needed from Brett:** answers to the 9 questions at the bottom, especially the fate list, stand count, sound bleed between stands, and how loose the paper clues can be.

About the pictures: the easel screens are rendered by the real easel software
(`platform/tools/lost_ledger_easel_v2`: its art, IM Fell English font and layout). The paddle-code, fate and payoff
screens are new screens drawn with that app's own screen code. The auction stand, witnesses and props are mock-ups in
the same palette. Lot names, lines and props are sample content (Lot 1, "The Captain's Pocket Watch", is the easel's
placeholder lot), not proposed canon.

## Why change the auction step

In the current version (Brett's 2026-09-30 gameplay overview) the coins are "digital credit and are not consumed," and
running low on credit is always fixed by a quick recovery question. Together, those two rules mean the player never
has a real choice:

- If credit can't run out for good, the best move is always to bid the maximum. Copper and Silver never matter.
- If credit is spent, players have to keep a running balance in their heads from audio alone, under a countdown, and the recovery question refills it anyway.
- Credit only creates tension if losing it hurts, and the never-a-dead-end rule says it can't.

The auction is really the gate between the easel and the ledger, and the best part of the game is discovering what
happened to the lot. So the auction stand gets a better job: it's where the player hears what happened that night,
from the ghosts who were there. Every fate on the list (sold, returned, refused, withdrawn, missing) is something that
happens at an auction.

## The player's journey

### 1. Find your lot number, go to that lot's easel
The player receives a case slip and finds their lot number in the Library portraits, then goes to the easel with that
lot number.

**An intended change from Brett's document:** instead of each player getting three lots and deducing which one matters,
each easel is one lot, and the game goes deeper on that one lot: its story, its auction night, its witnesses, its clues
and its questionnaire.

### 2. The easel tells the story (unchanged, the easel as it exists today)
- [Image: real easel attract screen. "Evangeline's Lost Ledger", a gold ring with LOT 1, "The Captain's Pocket Watch", two candles, "Ring the doorbell to begin". Button legend: Doorbell = begin the story, Begin = answer the questions.]
- [Image: real easel story frame. A portrait silhouette and a pocket watch, the time 11:15 in gold, caption "The watch stopped at a quarter past eleven, and no one ever wound it again."]

### 3. New: the story ends with a paddle code
The last screen gives the lot's paddle code: the three colored buttons in a particular order. The easel shows the code on screen
and says it aloud several times. Nothing is printed or handed out: the easel giving you the code is the point.
Pressing each button exactly once gives exactly six orders, one for each of the six stories, so every auction stand is
identical and can play any lot. Any stand can be used, and the stands will be clearly marked as auction stands so
players know where to go.

- [Image: new easel screen in the real style. "Your paddle for Lot 1, The Captain's Pocket Watch". Panel: "At any auction stand, press each coin once, in this order:" Gold 1st, Copper 2nd, Silver 3rd. Below: "Then listen to what the room remembers. Come back to Lot 1 when you know what became of the watch." Legend: Doorbell = hear the story again, Begin = give your answer.]

Example assignment of the six orders:

| Story | Code |
|---|---|
| 1 | Gold, Copper, Silver |
| 2 | Gold, Silver, Copper |
| 3 | Silver, Copper, Gold |
| 4 | Silver, Gold, Copper |
| 5 | Copper, Silver, Gold |
| 6 | Copper, Gold, Silver |

### 4. The auction stand: standby, then séance
A stand waits in standby, ready for a code. The player presses their paddle code. A wrong or partial code gets "There
is no such lot in my book. Try again." A valid code switches the stand to séance mode: it plays that lot's moment from
the auction night as a short ghostly audio scene (the auctioneer, the two ghost bidders, the room) while the five
lights count down green, green, yellow, yellow, red ("going once, going twice…"). The scene breaks off before the hammer
falls. Then the voice explains whose button is whose: each button flashes as its ghost is introduced ("the gold button
is the Auctioneer…"). Press a ghost's button once to select them, again to hear their account. After an idle timeout the stand returns to standby for the next group.

- [Image: the auction stand in six panels. Standby 1, ready for a code: buttons pulse, "Present your paddle, if you please." Standby 2, paddle code entered: Gold, Copper, Silver lit in order; a valid code switches to séance mode. No such lot: a wrong or partial code gets "There is no such lot in my book. Try again." Séance 3, the auction replays: green, green, yellow lights on. Séance 4, whose button is whose: the silver button flashes while the Bidder is introduced. Séance 5, select then confirm: the gold button stays lit after one press; a second press plays the Auctioneer.]

### 5. Question the witnesses
Each of the three buttons belongs to one ghost: the Auctioneer (gold), a Bidder (silver) and the Porter (copper). Press
a ghost's button to hear their account. Each tells part of what happened, and one of them is lying. The stand finishes by naming the lot's ledger number, so the player
knows which physical ledger to find. Audio only is a strength: it's a séance, and the player is eavesdropping on the dead.

Sample (audio, shown as text):
- **The Auctioneer (gold), lying:** "Withdrawn, I tell you. That watch never crossed my block. Look in my day book if you doubt me."
- **The Bidder (silver):** "I bid nine guineas. A lady in the back row said eleven, and the hammer fell before I could answer."
- **The Porter (copper):** "I wrapped it for the lady myself. She signed for it with one letter. Ask the clerk's desk in the study."

### 6. Paper clues and the ledger settle it
The witnesses point to places in the house. Printed props hidden around the venue (a bill of sale, the auctioneer's day
book, a pawn ticket, a telegram) and the lot's physical ledger show who lied. Some props belong to other lots, so
players read carefully. This brings back the paper clues from the earlier version and spreads groups across the venue.

Sample props:
- **Bill of sale** (found in the clerk's desk, Study): Lot 1, a gentleman's pocket watch; purchaser "E."; eleven guineas; porter T. Ames; December 1893.
- **Auctioneer's day book** (found in the Library, by the stand): "Lot 1: pocket watch … ~~sold, 11 gns~~ *withdrawn*" (changed in fresh ink); Lot 2 silver key sold, 4 gns; Lot 3 writing slope returned.
- **Pawn ticket**, Holloway & Sons No. 1187: one silver key (Lot 2). A clue for a different lot.

The signed bill of sale and the altered day book expose the Auctioneer.

### 7. Back to the easel: name the fate, close the case
The player returns to the same easel and presses BEGIN to start the interactive questionnaire, on the easel's existing
question screen (UP/DOWN to choose, CONFIRM to answer). Many of the questions use information they can only get by
listening at the auction stand; that is the point of the stand. The questionnaire ends with what became of the lot
(the five fates), then the case-slip mystery.

After a wrong answer the easel gives a hint that tells them what they need to go and get: for example "Ask the Porter
where the watch went" or "Find the bill of sale in the Study". They can go, come back and try again: never a dead end.
Staff are also walking the room to help anyone who is stuck.

- [Image: real easel question screen with new content. "What became of the Captain's pocket watch?" Choices A Sold, B Returned, C Refused, D Withdrawn, E Missing; A highlighted. Legend: Up/Down = choose, Confirm = answer.]
- [Image: the same screen after answering. A Sold turns green, "Correct!", "Sold, to a buyer who signed only E." Legend: Confirm = continue.]
- [Image: payoff screen in the easel style. "Case closed." Gold-edged plate: "Lot 1, The Captain's Pocket Watch: SOLD". Evangeline's closing line: "He asked me to wait for him. So I bought back the one thing he left, and I wound it every night until the key wore thin." Legend: Doorbell = new story.]

## A lighter option, if the bidding should stay
At the key moment the scene pauses: "Do I hear more for Lot One?" The player answers with a button, and that choice
decides which witness speaks first, or which part of the story they hear next. The bidding steers the investigation,
but the player can't lose and there's no balance to track.

## What stays from Brett's design

Kept:
- Case slip, portrait hunt, easel, auction, back to the easel, in the same order
- Copper / Silver / Gold, now the colors of the stand's three buttons
- Five countdown lights: green, green, yellow, yellow, red
- The auctioneer and two ghost bidders
- Eight physical ledgers, one per lot
- Never a dead end
- Every playthrough ends with a closed story

Changed:
- There are no coins or credit. The stand has three colored buttons: they take the paddle code, then each belongs to one ghost.
- The auction replays the night the lot's fate was decided, instead of being a bidding contest.
- Each easel is one lot, explored in depth, instead of three lots per player and deducing which one matters.
- Recovery questions are replaced by the questionnaire's hints (what to go and find), plus staff in the room.
- Printed paper clues return, placed around the venue.

## Hardware: nothing new

| Station | What it needs |
|---|---|
| Easel | The Raspberry Pi easel as it is today: portrait screen, speaker, doorbell, BEGIN, UP, DOWN, CONFIRM. New content only: the paddle-code screen and the fate question. |
| Auction stand | The painted stands, as specced: 3 colored buttons (gold, silver, copper), 5 lights, speaker. Every stand is the same and holds every lot's audio. |
| Clues | Printed props plus the 8 physical ledgers. No electronics. |

Every station runs on its own. Nothing needs the venue Wi-Fi, nothing is written to a tag, and no station has to
remember a player. The code the player carries in their head is the only link between stations.

## Questions for Brett

1. Are the five fates still Sold / Returned / Refused / Withdrawn / Missing, and is it the same list for every lot?
2. At the final easel, is it two answers (the fate, then the case-slip mystery) or one combined answer?
3. Is choosing with UP/DOWN and CONFIRM on the easel (as it works today) fine for the fates, or do you want a button per fate?
4. How many auction stands are built and painted?
5. Can the paper clues be loose props that staff reset between groups, or do they need to be mounted or framed so nothing walks off?
6. Roughly how long should one playthrough take, and how large is a typical group?
7. Are the eight physical ledgers still being made as written books? Should they carry part of each lot's evidence?
8. Full witness version, or the lighter bidding-steers-the-story version?
9. Six stands playing audio in one room will bleed into each other. How should we handle it: speaker placement and spacing, handsets players hold to their ear, headphones, or directional speakers? Where will the stands sit in the room?