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So here's my first puzzle for you!

A late casino owner leaves his descendants this letter:

Dear my beloved sons Francis and Owen, dear my beloved wife Uma,

The dice are rolled. You finally made it and as law requires, all of you will get their split of the jackpot. The only thing standing in between you and your lawfully acquired wealth is a four-inch wall of ferro-concrete. To open the door to the safe a four digit number is required that you can derive from the below code. Let's see if you are worth your legacy and settle it once and for all.

Your loving dad/husband Richard

3 4 6 A 3 2 5 J 3 1 3 Q 5 K 3 A A 1 2 5 3 6 5 J 2 3 Q 1

Find the combination!

Hint 1:

Can you make a sequence of numbers only from it?

Hint 2:

You can derive all information needed from the letter.

Hint 3:

No knowledge of specific games is required!

Hint 4:

Some restructuring is required in the process. (Hint 2 applies for that, too)

Hint 5:

How many splits are there?

EDIT: I updated the description, added a letter to provide better hints to the solution and updated all hints.

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    $\begingroup$ If I solve this, do I also get a cut? I'm not helping a bunch of rich kids get their inheritance for free. $\endgroup$
    – Ian MacDonald
    Mar 30, 2015 at 13:49
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    $\begingroup$ @IanMacDonald It's role-playing game. Imagine you are one of them, craving for more :P $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Mar 30, 2015 at 13:53
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    $\begingroup$ Blackjack! I guess the combination is the dealer's hand? $\endgroup$
    – Aravind
    Mar 30, 2015 at 14:20
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    $\begingroup$ @Aravind Good idea, but no, no knowledge of specific games is required. $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Mar 30, 2015 at 14:41
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    $\begingroup$ @ProGlockner pips ? Im also thinking blackjack because you chose to use tha a as an a (11) or 1, i dont know much else games where the 1 and a are both an option for the a card. $\endgroup$
    – user9543
    Apr 1, 2015 at 23:31

4 Answers 4

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Here is my second answer, but I must admit that this is, most probably, not "the canonical answer", but instead is an attempt of the descendants to figure out the right combinations =)

The four digit combination is generated by rolling four dice, and those four digits are hidden in the sequence given, where the sequence is based on the numbers on the cards of a card game (I apologise if I'm using the wrong terms, I'm not native). We can take the sequence of numbers as either 3 4 6 1 3 2 5 11 3 1 3 12 5 13 3 1 1 1 2 5 3 6 5 11 2 3 12 1 or 3 4 6 14 3 2 5 11 3 1 3 12 5 13 3 14 14 1 2 5 3 6 5 11 2 3 12 1 depending on if Ace is high or low (thank you @Engineer Toast). As there are numbers greater than 6 we could apply 'mod 6' on all numbers. Then, we brute force the right sequence out!

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    $\begingroup$ Well, your conclusion in the first part was quite right. :) Though, the way the combination is hidden is different. $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Apr 20, 2015 at 6:52
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, and since there's this ambiguity with the ace: its value in this case is 14. $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Apr 20, 2015 at 9:11
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    $\begingroup$ If you mean the order of the cards I have to confuse you completely: for some of them it does matter, for the most it doesn't $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Apr 20, 2015 at 12:47
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    $\begingroup$ Well, that's something for you to figure out. Maybe you should start by getting the four dice into play. $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Apr 21, 2015 at 6:07
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    $\begingroup$ Nope :P Not his easy $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Apr 21, 2015 at 9:47
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I don't have much, but I did find an interesting rearrangement of the numbers. It may be relevant, it may just be coincidence.

3 4 6 A
3 2 5 J
3 1 3 Q
5 K 3 A A 1
2 5 3
6 5 J 2 3 Q 1

All I did was take the first digit (3) as a count, then put the next three characters after it. Then the next free character became the next count, and so on. Notice how it works out to exactly use up every character, and there's never a card where the count needs to be. Also noteworthy is that all three 3 columns go Die-Die-Card, and the 6 is an inverse of the pattern from the 5.

I have no idea whether there's anything to it, though.

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    $\begingroup$ Wow, appreciate the effort you put into this. Seriously good stuff, but just coincidence. $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Apr 24, 2015 at 14:12
  • $\begingroup$ @ProGlockner - I tried several different ways to split it up, looking for patterns. Four columns, four rows, on each 1, on each letter, etc. This was, by far, the most interesting result, although that doesn't mean that one of the others wasn't the right one. $\endgroup$
    – Bobson
    Apr 24, 2015 at 14:39
  • $\begingroup$ Maybe you concentrate on the number four too much. $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Apr 24, 2015 at 16:00
  • $\begingroup$ @ProGlockner - Hmm. Good point. A four digit code could consist of 2 two digit numbers, or a two and two ones. I'll keep playing with arrangements. $\endgroup$
    – Bobson
    Apr 26, 2015 at 3:28
  • $\begingroup$ Take hint 5 into consideration :) $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Apr 27, 2015 at 12:44
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Here's another guess, based on splitting on the 1's:

3 4 6 A 3 2 5 J 3 1
3 Q 5 K 3 A A 1
2 5 3 6 5 J 2 3 Q 1

This can be rearranged:

3 4 6 A 3
2 5 J 3 1
3 Q 5 K
3 A A 1
2 5 3 6 5
J 2 3 Q 1

Both of these arrangements would both produce

the code 3K5 (or 3135) by taking the center number of each grouping, which is also the number directly above each 1 in the second arrangement.

Alternatively, after splitting the lines, convert all letters to numbers as Switch did in his answer (J => 11, Q => 12, K => 13, A => 14)

3 4 6 14 3 2 5 11 3 1
3 12 5 13 3 14 14 1
2 5 3 6 5 11 2 3 12 1

Then, split all two-digit numbers into individual digits

346143251131
312513314141
253651123121

Note how each line ends on a 1.

An alternative split (going A B C A B C instead of A A A... B B B...) from the original would produce

312135312611
445311145522
631123413131

I'm not sure where to go from here, though. Profit?

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  • $\begingroup$ Wow, you come up with ideas I would have never thought of. But as I already said, you really should take a look at Switch's answer. The first step should not be rearranging the sequence but replacing letters with numbers. THEN some restructuring is necessary. $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Apr 29, 2015 at 6:49
  • $\begingroup$ Some "simple" restructuring I might add... $\endgroup$
    – ProGlockner
    Apr 29, 2015 at 6:54
  • $\begingroup$ @ProGlockner - Ah! That's what you meant by looking at his answer. $\endgroup$
    – Bobson
    Apr 29, 2015 at 14:25
  • $\begingroup$ @ProGlockner i gues he is right about the spliting. There are 3 splits, one for each of his sons and his wife. The splits were done with 1s in the end cuz 1s are umportant in the end. Right? $\endgroup$
    – user5871
    May 12, 2015 at 20:14
  • $\begingroup$ @Switch - That comment just inspired me, but I only get further, not to an answer... $\endgroup$
    – Bobson
    May 12, 2015 at 21:43
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My guess:

3135, 5313, or 1353

Here's why:

Here's the sequence:

3 4 6 A 3 2 5 J 3 1 3 Q 5 K 3 A A 1 2 5 3 6 5 J 2 3 Q 1

Now lets assume this is cyclical. So the sequence could be written as:

... 1 3 4 6 A 3 2 5 J 3 1 3 Q 5 K 3 A A 1 2 5 3 6 5 J 2 3 Q 1 3 4 6 A 3 2 5 J 3...

Notice how it just repeats. Now, let's find the dice (values rolled from dice to create the combination) that split the once (ones)

... 1 3 4 6 A 3 2 5 J 3 1 3 Q 5 K 3 A A 1 2 5 3 6 5 J 2 3 Q 1 3 4 6 A 3 2 5 J 3...

Now, the K would be 13, and there isn't a 13 on standard casino dice, so it be becomes 1,3

It's possible the code could be any of the three given, depending on how you interpret the cycle. But testing three codes shouldn't be that hard

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