Mouse and Cheese captcha/puzzle - is there a secret door (Cluedo-like secret passage) or hidden cheese?? Please advise to save my sanity

[Nicole3373]

I can see that one other person had a similar issue to the following, but surely there are more people...issue as follows.

For some reason my Chrome Airbnb session on my PC has been logged out, and I have been asked to complete a Mouse and Cheese CAPTCHA/puzzle security test to ensure that I am not a robot. 

The beauty of this captcha is that it not only keeps robots out, but also humans. This security test is one of the most painful login experiences I have come across. For starters, I simply do not have time to mess around with a puzzle that takes 5 mins to complete (7 puzzles each with a 12 options slider to choose from that works with arrows only). Importantly, I don't have time to get to the end of this ordeal to be told that I was not solving the problem in the correct manner. OK, if that is the case prove to me that my puzzle solving was not correct...where did I fail?? There is simply a screen saying that was not quite right and telling me next time to make sure the rat had a clear path to the cheese.

 (NOTE: Reaching the above image more than 5 times is enough to make you want to sit down and cry)

That being said, I accepted that perhaps my effort was incorrect on the first run through, as I did not really read the instructions (who does?? life is too busy to read instructions when you just want to log in). Anyway, on the second run through I followed the rules by ensuring that the mouse had to have a clear path to the cheese (which I assume means no jumping walls), and that it had to be the exact amount as indicated in the left panel, I completed the puzzle. On the second attempt, I was again advised that I needed to give Ratty a clear path to the cheese. I tried 3 more times (at 5 mins a pop). I even tried the audio version with the noisy room, and that also failed.

So I then decided to screen capture the puzzle (only took around 30 mins haha), just to make sure I was not accidentally making an error. On this occasion whilst screen capturing the puzzle, I could see at puzzle 5 from 7 that I was destined to lose again (see attached). When I got to puzzle 5 from 7, I was completely stumped as there was no option with 5 pieces of cheese for poor ratty to eat. 

Can someone from @Airbnb (security team who put this ridiculous captcha in) please advise:

- is there a secret passage (like they have in Cluedo*)? If so, how do I find it?

OR

- is there hidden cheese? If so, how do I find it?

OR

- is the rat sitting on a piece of cheese? If so, is there a way to tell whether Ratty is doing that?

I suspect I will be told that it is my PC. So, for reference, I am on a high def monitor, using the latest Chrome browser update.

* Cluedo reference is because I am old. For anyone who is not of my generation, it is a great murder mystery board game with secret passages.

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The image below shows my screen shots of puzzle pages. I actually saved every page but ran out of steam putting them into one image, so here is the gist of things. Each row shows all the options. In row one (of 7), I was asked to find 2 pieces of cheese that rat could reach. In row 2 (of 7) I was asked for 3...etc.

The issue is row 5 (of 7). In these options, the rat cannot get to 5 pieces of cheese. 

[Robin4]

@Nicole3373 

Tell me you are kidding Nicole, you are trying to solve a puzzle someone you know sent to you for help!

If this is for real, God help all of us! The idea of a 'captcha' is to require a human decision in order to proceed. It seems to work perfectly well for EBay and other organisations to pick how many bees are displayed in a 6 flower photos sequence.....you can do it in 10 seconds max.

Nicole as you are in Australia,  phone Airbnb on 02 8520 3333 and get a support person to bypass this log -on verification nonsense.

I am seriously wondering how much further Airbnb can proceed down this lack of host support nonsense. There must be programmers laughing their heads off at the nonsense they have created.....it must be a badge of honour to them!

Cheers........Rob 

[Bhumika]

Hi @Nicole3373 ! I couldn't help but chuckle a bit reading your feedback and wonder if you managed to get past the cheese by now 😆. Keep us posted!😋

One of our wonderful Host @Patricia2526 has shared a plausible explanation here on this thread : 
here , if it helps (although not navigating through the maze but about the 2 factor authentication part).

In the meantime, I have also shared both the threads about captcha puzzle with the team as well. Thank you so much for detailing your concerns for us with clear screen grabs🌻.

[Ricardo1898]

I was also NOT able to finsih the  mouse cheese puzzle. I did it so many times, so carefully and I'm sure I was answering correctly but it just never accepted me. I then tried the sound captch which I thought was a lot easier because it plays three different sounds and you need to identify the "human crowd" or something like that, but it also said I failed that... It's the site, I think someone is trying to sabotage Airbnb from the inside. Add the unnecessary Plaid verification step and now you have a site with trouble signing in and also paying, how useless. I literally had to find the same property on Booking.com and make the reservation through them because nothing works on Airbnb.

[Peter4026]

You are not alone! It must be the most stupid, infuriating, useless,  'captcha' test ever invented!