The Zapatista Interrogation

Your time among the living has run out and you have begun your journey to Mictlán, the Aztec underworld. The blindfolds over your eyes are the first tribute, for the dead need no light to find their destiny. You are trapped in the first level of the underworld, a desolate wasteland where souls that lose their way wander forever in oblivion.

A xolo —the hairless dog that, according to tradition, guides the dead— will lead you through the obstacles toward the land of Mictlantecuhtli, while a minion from another world tries to block your path. In the darkness you will find small pieces of corn masa, and by touch alone you must assemble the offerings needed to pass to the next level. The xolo will tell you with barks which ingredient or ingredients are correct at each step.

If your offerings are right, you will advance through each level. If not, you will remain stuck somewhere in the pre-Hispanic underworld.

The capital of the Aztec empire is collapsing. Outside, the echoes of battle and the clash of steel ring through the flooded streets of Tenochtitlan: you are about to live through La Noche Triste, the “Night of Sorrows” of 1520.

In a secret hideout, two unlikely allies who have defied their own sides are waiting for you: a Mexica princess, bearer of the blood and secrets of her lineage, and a Spanish soldier who has deserted, trading his loyalty to the crown for the promise of survival. Together they have recovered the legendary treasure of Moctezuma. To smuggle it out under the eyes of their pursuers, they have hidden it in the most unlikely place: the banquet about to be served before you.

Tonight you stop being a spectator and become an accomplice in the heist that will rewrite history. Your mission is to taste each dish and discover how many pieces of the treasure it contains.

You must sharpen your senses and keep an exact count of the gold pieces your palate finds, without saying a word to your tablemates. A single miscalculation could expose the whole operation. Can you recover the treasure?

You are in the middle of the Mexican Revolution. The constant clicking of the telegraph has suddenly gone silent. The federal army has cut the camp's power and you cannot see your own hand. You are surrounded; the ambush is imminent.

Only two people can help you escape the firing squad. One is La Adelita, the woman who leads the revolutionary operations from the shadows —her name is the one Mexico gave to the women who fought in the Revolution. Beside her is an ambushed General who desperately needs the final order to launch the counterattack before the federal troops wipe out everything and everyone.

The enemy is watching every move and has intercepted the usual lines, but the resistance has one last, undetectable channel. Tonight you are the troop's most vital spy network. The decisive message is not written on paper: it is masterfully encoded in the food before you.

Isolated in the darkness, your mission is to taste. Each course hides a message in Morse code that you can only decipher by chewing. You must translate the sensory pattern in your mind and, like a true secret cell, whisper the message across the table, link by link, until the exact order reaches the General.

If the chain breaks, if the message is distorted on your palate or the enemy hears your whispers, the camp will be massacred at dawn. Are you ready to chew on the rebellion, crack the code and give the order to fire?