ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize, Game Over - page 11.

cryptozim

full member

Activity: 183

Merit: 100

Quote from: Remember remember the 5th of November on July 06, 2014, 06:43:27 PM

Quote from: rock_collector on July 06, 2014, 06:42:21 PM

How do you know Gatekeeper isn't going to share the winnings with those who contributed to solving the puzzle? Instead of bashing him, why don't you post your addresses and see what happens....

Because he shouldn't have attempted to win this, he has 1510btc, in one address(which is bad), and he claimed ANOTHER prize. I say somebody else should have gotten this, I mean the dude has millions of $ from BTC, yet he also got 3.5btc more

I say let him have it. Nothing about this game was made specifically for the Bitcoin-poor. I bet he didn't get 1510BTC by not taking opportunities to get BTC when they were presented to him.

arg-sidekick

newbie

Activity: 28

Merit: 0

Quote from: Remember remember the 5th of November on July 06, 2014, 06:37:47 PM

I don't think so, some people have solved Cicada 3301 puzzles way more complex without anybody's help.

Yes, but we've had the explicit information to NOT brute force it. I agree that the last stage wouldn't have been obtained without OP's hints but it's over now. Nothing you can do but do something else. It's the internet, after all.

Thank you to all the guys and girls that helped solve each step of the way. It's been a great game of cat and mouse even if the source material could do with some polish.

I look forward to playing again. Under a different handle, of course.

Love, sidekick.

Remember remember the 5th of November

legendary

Activity: 1862

Merit: 1011

Reverse engineer from time to time

Quote from: rock_collector on July 06, 2014, 06:42:21 PM

How do you know Gatekeeper isn't going to share the winnings with those who contributed to solving the puzzle? Instead of bashing him, why don't you post your addresses and see what happens....

Because he shouldn't have attempted to win this, he has 1510btc, in one address(which is bad), and he claimed ANOTHER prize. I say somebody else should have gotten this, I mean the dude has almost a million $ from BTC, yet he also got 3.5btc more

rock_collector

member

Activity: 67

Merit: 11

How do you know Gatekeeper isn't going to share the winnings with those who contributed to solving the puzzle? Instead of bashing him, why don't you post your addresses and see what happens....

Remember remember the 5th of November

legendary

Activity: 1862

Merit: 1011

Reverse engineer from time to time

Quote from: cryptozim on July 06, 2014, 06:35:43 PM

Quote from: itod on July 06, 2014, 06:06:01 PM

I also think the solution is idiotic. No way could anyone find it without not one but two hints:
- "One small now is tall."
- Picture with Alice with letter "W" marked all over it.

What's the point of a puzzle that can not sustain itself, and relies on numerous hints to be solved?

I agree with this. This was terrible, and there were many points in the puzzle that relied on incredibly arbitrary leaps of logic, and therefore, clues from OP. I'm not a genius at puzzles, but who would've swapped the 'W' case without being told about it? I think the answer is obviously: nobody.

I don't think so, some people have solved Cicada 3301 puzzles way more complex without anybody's help.

cryptozim

full member

Activity: 183

Merit: 100

Quote from: itod on July 06, 2014, 06:06:01 PM

I also think the solution is idiotic. No way could anyone find it without not one but two hints:
- "One small now is tall."
- Picture with Alice with letter "W" marked all over it.

What's the point of a puzzle that can not sustain itself, and relies on numerous hints to be solved?

I agree with this. This was terrible, and there were many points in the puzzle that relied on incredibly arbitrary leaps of logic, and therefore, clues from OP. I'm not a genius at puzzles, but who would've swapped the 'W' case without being told about it? I think the answer is obviously: nobody.

Remember remember the 5th of November

legendary

Activity: 1862

Merit: 1011

Reverse engineer from time to time

Quote from: rock_collector on July 06, 2014, 06:32:42 PM

Friends, I can't tell you how impressed I am with all of you. I have been following since the start, but had nothing to add. This was way out of my league, yet I have followed obsessively. I have learned so much from all of you. Such brilliance! And great collaboration. Please don't bash the OP. She's an uber-talented, multifaceted woman--an artist, a coder, a puzzler--Wow Wink

! She generously donated her brilliance, her time, and her btc. We all were intellectually stimulated and entertained for 2 weeks. The experience was its own reward. Nice job, everyone!

I was out of it's league as well, but the end result is that somebody with 1500 btc got the prize, that was not only anticlimactic, but greedy.

rock_collector

member

Activity: 67

Merit: 11

Friends, I can't tell you how impressed I am with all of you. I have been following since the start, but had nothing to add. This was way out of my league, yet I have followed obsessively. I have learned so much from all of you. Such brilliance! And great collaboration. Please don't bash the OP. She's an uber-talented, multifaceted woman--an artist, a coder, a puzzler--Wow Wink

! She generously donated her brilliance, her time, and her btc. We all were intellectually stimulated and entertained for 2 weeks. The experience was its own reward. Nice job, everyone!

jc01480

hero member

Activity: 854

Merit: 500

Nope..

Good game, ladies.

ooxtcoo

sr. member

Activity: 644

Merit: 250

no...
if you read the WOW SIGNAL website, you can see how the wow signal is decoded...
if you check back some pages, you see, we already have decoded it since days...

my converter tool which i have posted already did it based on the wow signal website...

Remember remember the 5th of November

legendary

Activity: 1862

Merit: 1011

Reverse engineer from time to time

Woah, somebody with over 1k btc got the prize? That's pretty...pathetic.

arg

newbie

Activity: 14

Merit: 0

Quote from: shorena on July 06, 2014, 06:16:40 PM

Quote from: ?? on ??

Quote from: ooxtcoo on July 06, 2014, 05:57:56 PM

btw... the solution is.... one small now is tall... so exchange w with W in the 51 character string...

That's fucking stupid. It's unrelated to any of the information given. Why was the shit on the right of the image then? The OP made a typo in the given key and somehow that's supposed to be part of the ARG?

I dont even get it...

z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P switch(w,W)
-> z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zeWEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P
and then what? shift 6EQUJ5 times?
...
5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kke8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp

Where is the palindrome hint? I am confused and go to sleep maybe someone is nice and write a "for dummies" how to solve the last step so I can finish the pdf.

You get "6EQUJ5", turn it into integers using the pattern in Crops.jpg.

Code:

6EQUJ5 = (decoded) = 6,14,26,30,19,5

You change the w to a W in the string (who the would have thought of that?)

Code:

z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1ze[W]EeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P

You shift the key in Wow.jpg by the numbers sequentially, looping once you run out

Code:

5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kAe8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp

You then add 0.35% more to your horde of BTC like Gatekeeper did.

http://mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw7567-tumblr_m8rf1eEzb41r84295o1_500.gif

ooxtcoo

sr. member

Activity: 644

Merit: 250

the palidrome hint was for the "WoW" ( but i added W6EQUJ5W, instead of the 51 char string )

once small now tall tells that you need something switch upper case... ( i tryed so mutch different thing )

the last hint with post number showed that the algo is correct...
and the picture again with highlighted "W" was maybe the last thing what gatekeeper needed, cause
that was the one what me telled to switch that w to W...

itod

legendary

Activity: 1974

Merit: 1077

^ Will code for Bitcoins

Quote from: shorena on July 06, 2014, 06:16:40 PM

I dont even get it...

z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P switch(w,W)
-> z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zeWEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P
and then what? shift 6EQUJ5 times?
...
5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kke8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp

Where is the palindrome hint? I am confused and go to sleep maybe someone is nice and write a "for dummies" how to solve the last step so I can finish the pdf.

Run this and you'll get the private key:

Code:

#include 
#include 

char* alph = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";

int idxof(char c, char* alphabet) {
    int i;
    for (i=0;i        if (alphabet[i] == c) { return i; }
    }
    return -1;
}

main()
{
    char* s = "z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zeWEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P";
    char* p = "6EQUJ5";

    int i =0;
    int n;
    while (i < strlen(s)) {
        int n = idxof(s[i],alph);
        int v = idxof(p[i%strlen(p)],alph);
        v=(v+n) % 62;
        printf ("%c",alph[v]);
        i++;
    }
    printf ("\n");
}

Private key is the string "z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zeWEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P", where each character is shifted within the charset "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz", where the amount of shift is given by the signals from outer space.

shorena

copper member

Activity: 1498

Merit: 1528

No I dont escrow anymore.

Quote from: ?? on ??

Quote from: ooxtcoo on July 06, 2014, 05:57:56 PM

btw... the solution is.... one small now is tall... so exchange w with W in the 51 character string...

That's fucking stupid. It's unrelated to any of the information given. Why was the shit on the right of the image then? The OP made a typo in the given key and somehow that's supposed to be part of the ARG?

I dont even get it...

z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P switch(w,W)
-> z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zeWEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P
and then what? shift 6EQUJ5 times?
...
5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kke8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp

Where is the palindrome hint? I am confused and go to sleep maybe someone is nice and write a "for dummies" how to solve the last step so I can finish the pdf.

Yemmster

newbie

Activity: 14

Merit: 0

I've taken a short walk. Downed a glass of water and had time to get a new, non frustr.. well almost non frustrated, view on the entire thing.

I've come to realise that in the last few days I've learned more about quite a few things than I'd have learned in atleast a few months. Coming away from an experience like this with new knowledge is in my honest oppinion worth more than any bitcoin, even though it would have been nice to grab a bit of the booty.

Congratulations Gatekeeper!

... and Op; Thanks for making the past few days more interesting. I could've done without the headache though.

ooxtcoo

sr. member

Activity: 644

Merit: 250

and it was a "O" not a ZERO

Code:

Self Test: OK!
______________________________________________________________________________
Str: z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zeWEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P
Wow: 6EQUJ5

5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kke8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp

hoba

newbie

Activity: 15

Merit: 0

Well it was nice to play, although it was a really, really bad prepared game, that needs additionally hints most of the times.

itod

legendary

Activity: 1974

Merit: 1077

^ Will code for Bitcoins

Quote from: ?? on ??

Quote from: itod on July 06, 2014, 06:02:49 PM

Quote from: ?? on ??

Ohhh crap!
That was a well set up puzzle.
So much collaboration...
teamwork...
hype...
PATIENCE...
And after about 10 days, we are left with nothing.
Many people contibuted to this.
The winner used the findings of other people to get there.
That makes it unfair. Angry

In fact, it is likely we'll never know who won.
I am desperate to see he is a bitcoin millionaire.
MESSAGE TO HIM: Great work mr.Smart. You proved that you're a greedy bitch who doesn't care
for anyone. You din't even post about your find. Now you own roughly 1500 btc.
3.53 btc doesn't mean anything to you. Please donate some penies to other people who contibuted on this,
or I wish your hdd or ssd melts from fire, and the worms eat your paper wallet.

I was a bit harsh, I know it, but this is how I feel now...

What are you talking about? Gatekeeper found the solution. Why are you insulting him, for having 1500 BTC?!?

Yeah pretty much. It's like the bully in the playground who has their own lunch, but still takes yours anyway.

That's low.

He didn't do it for the money, he played with finer motivation: To play and compete. Kudos to him for being smart and quick.

Kangaderoo

member

Activity: 89

Merit: 11

Congrats to the winner.....

I learned a lot and slept little..... Grin

Topic: ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize, Game Over - page 11. (Read 99503 times)