Traces
The Bureau says
Applicants do not meet. The Bureau cannot prevent them from noticing one another.
In plain language
The game is single player. You never meet another Applicant, and there is no chat. But other Applicants have been here, and the building shows it.
- The Bureau's remark sometimes says how many times a thing has been done today, or ever, by everybody.
- Sometimes it says who did it last, by number or alias.
- At a door, you may find you are behind somebody in the queue for the room.
- A few places in the building hold one thing for whoever comes next. What you find there may have been left by somebody else, and what you leave may be taken.
- Things other Applicants have lost turn up on Floor B1, Lost Property, with their numbers on them.
- On at least one floor, things pass from one Applicant to another.
A trace is told to you after you have done the same thing yourself, or is something left behind, so it never gives away an answer.
The building also counts what everybody does together. See Shared goals and world certificates.
If you would rather not be named in anybody else's game, see Leave no trace.