Optimal Route + Answers + Speed Words

"How did you come up with this route?"
For each of the (5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1) ^ 3 = 1728000 possible routes, I added up all the turns you'd have to make with the time machine's location and digits. This route is faster than every other route by at least two full turns.

"Have you considered the time it takes to walk from the door to the first artifact in museums 2 and 3?"
Yes. It turns out running from the left artifact even to the far right one is faster than a turn. So even if there were a route that started museums 2 and 3 with the far left artifact and is only two turns slower than this route (which there isn't), it still wouldn't be faster than this route. In fact, there's only one route that's exactly two turns slower than this one that starts either museum to the left of this route (museum 2 starts with the third instead of the fourth artifact; obviously, this doesn't justify the two turn difference).

"Have you considered saving two A.D.-B.C. switches by ending museum 2 in Athens and starting museum 3 in Alexandria?"
Yes. Switching from A.D. to B.C. or vice versa takes very little time, much less than a turn. There are no such routes that, even when combined with starting museum 2 closer to the left, would save anywhere near enough time to justify the turn difference.

"Have you considered any other considerations?"
Air vs ground speed, exiting levels in the air, not having to move to the final digit(s). Nothing seems to make any other route faster than this one.

"Have you considered clipping and zipping and flipping and tripping?"
No.

-------------
THE ROUTE
-------------

Start (Menlo Park, 1993)

Music (Up/Down 7 to Vienna, 1824, 12 turns)
----------
Vienna
1770
piano
Mozart
deaf
composer
palace
symphony
1824

Document (Up 1 to Philadelphia, 1776, 9 turns)
----------
Thomas Jefferson
Burgesses
British
voluntary
speaker
Independence
1776
President
Monticello
farmer

Apple (Down 5 to Cambridge, 1687, 8 turns)
----------
Christmas Day
Cambridge
Black
gravitation
Motion
astronomy
spectrum
reflecting
30
Principia

Book (Up 1 to Florence, 1505, 6 turns)
----------
Vinci
1452
Renaissance
Florence
patrons
architect
Renaissance
backward
fresco
Mona Lisa

Shield (Down 5 to Orleans, 1429, 12 turns)
----------
Joan
3
English
Saint Catherine
4000
Orleans
Dauphin
Charles VII
heresy

Crown (Down 1 to London, 1595, 9 turns)
----------
England
Queen Elizabeth I
Good
Philip II
Spanish Armada
Queen of Scots
confined
treason
Sir Francis Drake

Tile (Up/Down 7 to Gobi Desert, 1292, 13 turns)
----------
Venice
Niccolo
Kublai Khan
17
3
Gobi
Cambuluc
Asia
paper
fireworks
1295
Persia
Book
500

Scroll (Down 3 to Athens, 369 B.C., 11 turns)
----------
Greece
387 B.C.
university
900
Socratic
Socrates
Aristotle
truth
government
24
Republic
meritocracy
philosophers

Filament (Down 2 to Menlo Park, 1879, 9 turns)
----------
Thomas Alva Edison
Wizard
gas
Europe
200
filament
bamboo
light bulb
alkaline
patents
1000
perspiration

Flag (Down 4 to Calcutta, 1947, 10 turns)
----------
Britain
satyagraha
1915
1757
Mahatma
death
World War II
Mountbatten
passive

Staff (Up 1 to Alexandria, 47 B.C., 3 turns)
----------
Egypt
Ptolemy XII
Alexandria
Julius Caesar
guardian
coronation
47 B.C.
Caesarion
Marc Antony

G (Down 2 to Mainz, 1455, 10 turns)
----------
Germany
scribe
read
inherited
print
crooked
30
printing
metal
1455
Bibles

Sextant (Down 3 to The Pacific, 1521, 11 turns)
----------
India
1519
Spice
eastern
Tierra del Fuego
39
Pacific
scurvy
Del Cano
globe
oceans

Chisel (Down 2 to Florence, 1503, 6 turns)
----------
Caprese
1475
stonecutters
Ghirlandaio
Lorenzo de' Medici
David
Sistine Chapel
Julius II

Skull (Down 3 to Stratford, 1601, 6 turns)
----------
playwright
English
play
actor
37
histories
tragedies
Globe
weather
Stratford

Total: 135 turns + 4 A.D.-B.C. switches

---
At this point one might be tempted to start memorizing these lists of answers, or at least to have these in front of them while playing. I personally have a different method that I believe is faster, especially when the words are far down in the list of options. Instead of having a general sense of where the answer is alphabetically, I find it easier to instead look for the word that would be on the top of the display (i.e. the word that's eight places above the correct answer). Then you can time your A press with when that word reaches the top. Below is a list not of the answers, but of the words that need to be on the top of the list when you press A. Words in italics are on the first page, and they are preceded by a number that indicates how far down you'll need to go to reach the word on that page.

Music (Up/Down 7 to Vienna, 1824)
----------
India
6 *1770*
English
Joan
astronomy
8 *composer*
histories
Republic
8 *1824*

Document (Up 1 to Philadelphia, 1776)
----------
Philip II
6 *Burgesses*
3 *British*
passive
President
fresco
7 *1776*
oceans
Egypt
Book

Apple (Down 5 to Cambridge, 1687)
----------
7 *Christmas Day*
3 *Cambridge*
2 *Black*
death
guardian
2 *astronomy*
Principia
Globe
5 *30*
palace

Book (Up 1 to Florence, 1505)
----------
Monticello
1 *1452*
patents
Asia
Independence
1 *architect*
Good
1 *backward*
composer
Del Cano

Shield (Down 5 to Orleans, 1429)
----------
7 *Joan*
4 *3*
Bibles
Mona Lisa
8 *4000*
England
3 *Dauphin*
2 *Charles VII*
farmer

Crown (Down 1 to London, 1595)
----------
7 *England*
Lorenzo de' Medici
backward
Julius II
playwright
Marc Antory
0 *confined*
scribe
Mountbatten

Tile (Up/Down 7 to Gobi Desert, 1292)
----------
Greece
Julius Caesar
Charles VII
1 *17*
4 *3*
Cambridge
4 *Cambuluc*
1 *Asia*
crooked
Christmas Day
0 *1295*
Europe
5 *Book*
17

Scroll (Down 3 to Athens, 369 B.C.)
----------
Cambuluc
1455
Spanish Armada
200
Pacific
Mozart
0 *Aristotle*
scurvy
deaf
3 *24*
patrons
gravitation
Mahatma

Filament (Down 2 to Menlo Park, 1879)
----------
Niccolo
spectrum
7 *gas*
8 *Europe*
2 *200*
Burgesses
3 *bamboo*
globe
0 *alkaline*
History
0 *1000*
light bulb

Flag (Down 4 to Calcutta, 1947)
----------
2 *Britain*
perspiration
1452
5 *1757*
government
bamboo
stonecutters
Ghirlandaio
eastern

Staff (Up 1 to Alexandria, 47 B.C.)
----------
6 *Egypt*
Kublai Khan
0 *Alexandria*
8 *Julius Caesar*
English
architect
1475
1 *Caesarion*
David

G (Down 2 to Mainz, 1455)
----------
Britain
philosophers
3 *read*
1 *inherited*
2 *print*
4 *crooked*
5 *30*
gas
Black
2 *1455*
4 *Bibles*

Sextant (Down 3 to The Pacific, 1521)
----------
Caprese
4 *1519*
paper
5 *eastern*
Gobi
7 *39*
British
play
5 *Del Cano*
coronation
heresy

Chisel (Down 2 to Florence, 1503)
----------
5 *Caprese*
3 *1475*
Renaissance
6 *Ghirlandaio*
Dauphin
4 *David*
Florence
Caesarion

Skull (Down 3 to Stratford, 1601)
----------
Motion
6 *English*
meritocracy
0 *actor*
6 *37*
filament
satyagraha
8 *Globe*
speaker
Germany

Good luck!

thu_ox

Mario's Time Machine

Super Nintendo

MS-DOS

swordsmankirby

ookthelibrarian

USA / NTSC

Mario (Misc)

Educational Mario Games Discord

seckswrecks

Picante

buffalax