Author

Topic: [CLOSED] ►►► 2016 Bitcoin halving tribute puzzle ◄◄◄ **SOLVED** (Read 1744 times)

legendary
Activity: 1722
Merit: 1000
Thanks for the explanation, me too I wasn't anywhere near getting started but it's good learning Smiley
copper member
Activity: 686
Merit: 603
Electricity is really just organized lightning
Wow I've been watching this... Well done to Took for the idea and to the winner!

This was a really cool puzzle! Thanks for making it Took!  Smiley Maybe I'll get the next one  Grin

Thank you very much Smiley
Feel free to post feedback, if the puzzle was too hard/easy/unfiar/fair etc.

Wow, been watching this with interest, and I'm no way near smart enough to solve these cryptographic puzzles. Awesome job with creating these TookDk, and congrats to the winner!

Personally, these are way too hard - for me that is. I didn't get anywhere near solving this.
donator
Activity: 2352
Merit: 1060
between a rock and a block!
Solved it!



"420000 pages of history!"
LOL Congrats! you beat me to it... I took too long to post Smiley

Sorry CITM, looks like pawnshop770 beat you with 4 minutes.
I would like to give you a 2nd place prize, even thought it was not defined in the rules, I will send you a PM.

WTF 4 minutes? He just reposted Sad
Besides it was impossible to solve this with pen and paper.
If plane was big (A5) and dots where small (ball pen) no way anything
could read that QR. I know because I tried.
Not true.
I did solve it independently.  Just took too long to post the message, got distracted.  The last clue made this too obvious.
Use this:  http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/SimplePlot/
copy and paste these pairs:
22   11
1   1
1   12
24   19
7   1
14   20
16   16
4   21
5   19
13   24
9   24
4   17
22   21
25   14
3   12
20   10
9   1
14   12
8   17
1   9
5   23
1   23
18   4
2   17
19   24
11   6
17   6
23   22
19   13
12   2
18   12
3   11
24   16
8   16
7   3
22   5
19   7
15   3
17   9
16   12
3   21
18   3
25   2
21   19
25   3
16   8
1   3
10   8
22   19
23   19
15   12
20   13
7   24
2   14
12   24
19   23
25   20
14   2
17   9
3   5
5   15
12   13
24   6
15   25
10   17
15   19
15   5
1   17
21   22
3   14
18   13
13   15
11   20
15   11
23   21
4   1
19   5
12   23
11   11
17   7
8   12
15   17
3   25
25   1
9   3
15   6
18   10
3   10
13   5
22   12
19   14
12   22
5   21
4   3
25   19
1   24
9   22
24   1
17   13
25   24
12   5
5   16
1   4
10   25
9   2
2   25
5   7
12   1
20   9
24   9
6   19
23   12
19   25
19   3
6   15
24   17
4   4
20   19
2   7
12   14
22   25
18   17
15   4
21   21
4   19
22   4
10   24
11   23
17   17
21   7
10   14
23   23
17   19
1   25
25   22
20   25
3   3
22   23
17   8
14   14
5   11
9   17
13   11
24   8
14   21
19   10
22   10
7   20
5   17
20   12
11   7
7   15
13   9
1   2
14   4
3   23
13   17
17   20
9   15
7   19
16   21
6   10
14   25
22   6
11   19
7   9
5   13
6   13
5   4
4   22
3   7
16   4
17   16
6   14
22   9
16   24
25   23
6   7
15   13
9   5
8   9
7   22
10   6
9   10
1   7
7   11
7   13
23   25
10   13
21   23
21   5
16   10
1   19
15   8
16   23
3   22
17   15
1   20
15   16
18   16
1   22
22   16
14   24
13   12
14   8
9   7
7   2
20   2
12   15
13   3
19   16
19   21
25   21
25   15
1   10
13   18
9   4
3   17
9   8
22   8
18   5
17   3
19   12
25   7
7   21
1   13
16   18
13   7
2   19
10   23
11   17
22   22
3   19
11   14
9   20
5   5
13   6
17   5
25   9
7   17
7   7
4   14
22   15
25   4
20   17
7   6
23   11
24   25
13   19
21   25
7   5
4   25
19   19
13   21
2   16
21   9
7   23
5   12
5   1
23   2
3   4
10   16
19   7
8   10
2   1
11   21
5   14
19   1
16   11
13   10
16   7
8   11
6   1
20   14
19   9
1   5
4   5
7   4
22   2
5   3
4   10
1   11
25   13
25   11
7   25
5   25
16   25
25   25
20   5
22   7
25   6
21   14
6   25
15   15
14   16
19   20
21   5
22   3
1   21
5   22
18   1
21   8
3   1
10   22
8   13
17   5
21   9
9   19
5   10
11   12
15   10
15   21
25   10
19   22
4   7
22   17
14   6
14   7
1   6
21   6
10   15
4   23
13   13
18   9
25   5

Select "Scatter" on plot type.  I chose Light Grid Lines but you don't need to.
the resulting image is "too large" to scan, but it's obviously a QR code, so we need to reduce the scale and make it scanable, to do so, click the "-" on the top right of the graph pic.  now, use an app like  QRReader and scan the image, and you get the message.
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
BTC part of the prize has been sent to the winner:
e250d9371d18e58dd8a9dfe9329e872558c69bab3aec6f99525ed4791167ec94

The coin will be shipped tomorrow.
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
Wow I've been watching this... Well done to Took for the idea and to the winner!

This was a really cool puzzle! Thanks for making it Took!  Smiley Maybe I'll get the next one  Grin

Thank you very much Smiley
Feel free to post feedback, if the puzzle was too hard/easy/unfiar/fair etc.
Puzzle was very hard. And that's OK. Nice challenge, had fun with this, THX
But Your hints where misleading. Last one and hint nr4. It said that order
of pairs was without significance for solution. Now I do understand what you meant,
when solution is known. But earlier...ignored those coordinates.
Any way, Im sure that wasn't on purpose. Congratulations for the winner.

Thank you for participating and taking time to write some feedback.
It was not my intention to mislead, my idea was to start with very vague hints, and then later make them more clear and precise.
I did also realize that the use of famous "quotes" was properly not the best idea, I should have just have stated the facts and/or the pictures.
hero member
Activity: 1638
Merit: 756
Bobby Fischer was right
Wow I've been watching this... Well done to Took for the idea and to the winner!

This was a really cool puzzle! Thanks for making it Took!  Smiley Maybe I'll get the next one  Grin

Thank you very much Smiley
Feel free to post feedback, if the puzzle was too hard/easy/unfiar/fair etc.
Puzzle was very hard. And that's OK. Nice challenge, had fun with this, THX
But Your hints where misleading. Last one and hint nr4. It said that order
of pairs was without significance for solution. Now I do understand what you meant,
when solution is known. But earlier...ignored those coordinates.
Any way, Im sure that wasn't on purpose. Congratulations for the winner.
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
Explanation to the hints:
1. All the information needed to synthesize the phrase are in the data matrix. Obviously at this point you do not know how to approach the problem. The data pairs could have been presented in any form, the squared arrangement could be the first hint that you need to generate a QR code.  There are 26 column and 25 rows, this asymmetry is the first hint that the data should be read as pairs.

2. This hint reveal that the data are read in pairs, the picture of the couple reveal a coordinate set 22 and 11 (on their shoes), at this point do you not know what is x and what is y, the first pair is (22,11) suggesting x=22 and y=11, the fact that the males have a Y chromosome and females only have X chromosome could help confirming this.

3. The range of the data is revealed, at this point can you more or less rule out hexadecimal and you know that 01 = 1. The pictures is the first solid hint that the pairs are X and Y coordinates,  the X and Y has the exact same colour as the male and female from above, from here is it reasonable to assume that x=22 and y=11.

4. This hint reveals that the pairs are coordinate sets and rule out most decipher scenarios, since the randomization will limit the information to be present in the pairs and not the matrix as a whole. The pictures gives a valuable hint  as it is a prototype of the solution, the side of the rubrics cube  has 3x3 squares (or pixels) the coordinate set of the first pixel is shown as (01;01).

5. The purpose of this hint is to lead the thoughts patterns to a graphical solution in a 2 dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. At this point should there be enough information to start plotting the data points and realize that the solution is a QR code. However this is tricky since you have to plot a large amount of the data points blindly of what the result might be.

6. This hint is designed to convince the contester to plot the data, blindly of what the result might be. The idea is create a sensation of realization in the process of the plotting, since you obviously do not need all the points to realize that the result is a QR. Once you have realized that it is a QR then would it be easy to make the QR code with Excel, Matlab etc.

How to generate the data matrix.
I had to find a phrase that would not be too long to fit a 25x25 QR code, else would it take too long to work with.
Once I found a phrase then did I map the point in a coordinate system (from 1 to 25) in two columns using excel, I would dublicate some of the points to end up with 26x25 numbers in total (so it would look like a matrix) and randomize all pairs. The two columns was exported to an txt file and read into Matlab:

Code:
clear
clc
fileName1 = 'puzzle.txt';
fileID1 = fopen(fileName1,'r');

%Define file formate, integers seperated by \t
formatSpec = '%i %i';
%Read file into matrix A
A = fscanf(fileID1,formatSpec);
fclose(fileID1);

%Convert matrix into x and y vector
xvector=A(1:2:length(A)-1);
yvector=A(2:2:length(A));

%Plot the solution
scatter(xvector, yvector,'filled')

%Create/open file for SMF code output
fileID2 = fopen('puzzle_smf.txt','wt');

%Table start
fprintf(fileID2,'[table]\n');

%Row start
fprintf(fileID2,'[tr]\n');

%Run index loop
index = 1;
for row=1:25;
    %Start row code
    fprintf(fileID2,'[td][/td]');
    for col=1:26;
        %print as two digit format with leading zero
        formatSpec = '[td]%02d[/td]';
        %Write a col value
        fprintf(fileID2,formatSpec,A(index));
        index = index +1;
    end
    %End row code
    fprintf(fileID2,'\n[/tr]\n');
end

%table end
fprintf(fileID2,'[/table]');

fclose(fileID2);

The matlab code generates a plot so I could test QR code and it prints out the data in a format understood my the SMF based forum.
sr. member
Activity: 292
Merit: 251
Telegram: @Adriandmen
Wow I've been watching this... Well done to Took for the idea and to the winner!

This was a really cool puzzle! Thanks for making it Took!  Smiley Maybe I'll get the next one  Grin

Thank you very much Smiley
Feel free to post feedback, if the puzzle was too hard/easy/unfiar/fair etc.

It's a very challenging and creative puzzle. Nice job!
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
Wow I've been watching this... Well done to Took for the idea and to the winner!

This was a really cool puzzle! Thanks for making it Took!  Smiley Maybe I'll get the next one  Grin

Thank you very much Smiley
Feel free to post feedback, if the puzzle was too hard/easy/unfiar/fair etc.
legendary
Activity: 1904
Merit: 1005
PGP ID: 78B7B84D
This was a really cool puzzle! Thanks for making it Took!  Smiley Maybe I'll get the next one  Grin
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
Solved it!



"420000 pages of history!"
LOL Congrats! you beat me to it... I took too long to post Smiley

Sorry CITM, looks like pawnshop770 beat you with 4 minutes.
I would like to give you a 2nd place prize, even thought it was not defined in the rules, I will send you a PM.

WTF 4 minutes? He just reposted Sad
Besides it was impossible to solve this with pen and paper.
If plane was big (A5) and dots where small (ball pen) no way anything
could read that QR. I know because I tried.

You are correct, the dots in hint 6 would not be large enough to actually scan the solution.
However, the idea is that once you start plotting the points, then would you quickly realized that it was a QR, and then would you shift to another medium.
If you made squares on the paper instead, then would it scan, but that would have been slightly easier if I have used squares instead.
legendary
Activity: 1722
Merit: 1000
Any more info on how it was plotted?
Or url where to learn more about these things?

There is also an unsolved puzzle from Coinartist here: New Bitcoin Puzzle.



hero member
Activity: 1638
Merit: 756
Bobby Fischer was right
Solved it!



"420000 pages of history!"
LOL Congrats! you beat me to it... I took too long to post Smiley

Sorry CITM, looks like pawnshop770 beat you with 4 minutes.
I would like to give you a 2nd place prize, even thought it was not defined in the rules, I will send you a PM.

WTF 4 minutes? He just reposted Sad
Besides it was impossible to solve this with pen and paper.
If plane was big (A5) and dots where small (ball pen) no way anything
could read that QR. I know because I tried.
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
Solved it!



"420000 pages of history!"
LOL Congrats! you beat me to it... I took too long to post Smiley

Sorry CITM, looks like pawnshop770 beat you with 4 minutes.
I would like to give you a 2nd place prize, even though it was not defined in the rules, I will send you a PM.
member
Activity: 79
Merit: 10
Yep its was a QR code once it was plotted
legendary
Activity: 1722
Merit: 1000
Wow I've been watching this... Well done to Took for the idea and to the winner!

donator
Activity: 2352
Merit: 1060
between a rock and a block!
Solved it!



"420000 pages of history!"
LOL Congrats! you beat me to it... I took too long to post Smiley
donator
Activity: 2352
Merit: 1060
between a rock and a block!
Solved it!



"420000 pages of history!"

Congratulations - Well done!  Cheesy

Feel free to post how you found the solution!
donator
Activity: 2352
Merit: 1060
between a rock and a block!
420000 pages of history!
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
Solved it!



"420000 pages of history!"

Congratulations - Well done!  Cheesy

Feel free to post how you found the solution!
member
Activity: 79
Merit: 10
Solved it!



"420000 pages of history!"
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
6. Hint:
"The pen is mightier than the sword" - Pen and paper can be a powerfull tool.

legendary
Activity: 1904
Merit: 1005
PGP ID: 78B7B84D
I was thinking, maybe it has to do with the cartesian product? It makes pairs from sets and the way the pairs are arranged in any set doesn't matter.
legendary
Activity: 1120
Merit: 1002
5. Hint:
"Cogito ergo sum" - A particular idea from the gentleman below can help you solve the puzzle.


 Descartes : "i think so i am.."

XY : 24 - 25

but rubiks cube have :  01 . 01 on a face ( what suggest binary .. )

pweww... that's will drive me crazy..
legendary
Activity: 1534
Merit: 1133
derp
YIKES! Is the phrase letters only? Any punctuation or space?  Wink
donator
Activity: 2352
Merit: 1060
between a rock and a block!
Hell this is hard. Took me like 3 hours already, since yesterday  
cant stop thinking about this Smiley its not about the reward any more.
Anyway I came up with this: Cartesian three-dimensional coordinate system.
But its not matching hash...  
The last hint that was just provided points to a Cartesian coordinate system, but 2 dimensional due to a prior hint pointing to pairs of X and Y coordinates.  It's probably a sum? The only monkey wrench is numbers are only up to 25.
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
Hell this is hard. Took me like 3 hours already since yesterday. 
Cant stop thinking about this Smiley its not about the reward any more.
Anyway I came up with this: Euclidean three-dimensional coordinate system.
But its not matching hash... 

Thank you for the feedback poptok1 Smiley

As mentioned in OP the contest will be over at halving day, we are only 1450 blocks away.
The last hint will more or less give the solution directly, so I really hope someone solves it before Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1904
Merit: 1005
PGP ID: 78B7B84D
Hell this is hard. Took me like 3 hours already since yesterday.  
Cant stop thinking about this Smiley its not about the reward any more.
Anyway I came up with this: Cartesian three-dimensional coordinate system.
But its not matching hash...  

Why three dimensional? Smiley
hero member
Activity: 1638
Merit: 756
Bobby Fischer was right
Hell this is hard. Took me like 3 hours already, since yesterday  
cant stop thinking about this Smiley its not about the reward any more.
Anyway I came up with this: Cartesian three-dimensional coordinate system.
But its not matching hash...  
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
5. Hint:
"Cogito ergo sum" - A particular idea from the gentleman below can help you solve the puzzle.

legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
4. Hint:
"Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our mind" - the order of pairs is randomized and has no significance for the solution.

sr. member
Activity: 292
Merit: 251
Telegram: @Adriandmen
This is a really nice and fun puzzle! I'll try to figure it out. Tongue
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
I am happy too see that people are having fun trying to solve the puzzle  Smiley

Keep in mind that all the information needed to generate the solution is present in 1.Hint. The challenge is how to approach the data. The following hints are meant as guides how to approach the problem.
legendary
Activity: 1120
Merit: 1002
3. Hint:
"Impossible only means that you haven't found the solution yet" - numbers go from 1 to 25.



humm.. OK : let's give it a try:

as we have only 25 chars, that's so mean we are in presence of 3 potentials cyphers ( 1 of these 3 ):

playfair, foursquare or bifid.....   Cool

i will now keep to explore .. Wink

hum..

Where and when did man first notice smog? Seneca complained heartily about air pollution in Rome in the year sixty one.
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
3. Hint:
"Impossible only means that you haven't found the solution yet" - numbers go from 1 to 25.

legendary
Activity: 2254
Merit: 1140
So maybe it's not a shift cipher at all?


Pairs of letters would possibly indicate a playfair type cipher of four square cipher.   So now we just need to figure out the key. 
legendary
Activity: 1904
Merit: 1005
PGP ID: 78B7B84D
So maybe it's not a shift cipher at all?
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
2. Hint:
"It takes two to tango" - numbers are in pairs.

legendary
Activity: 2254
Merit: 1140
Yeah, we might need another hint.   I'm like 99% sure it's a cipher but I can't tell which kind. 
legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
I am very happy to see that there is interest for this puzzle and you think it is a fun idea.
I decided to raise the stakes to keep the motivation high, the prize will now also include 10 satoshi for each block mined since last halving, that will be paid out directly to the winner:

Prize:
2012 Casascius blank (DIY style - no digital value)
+ 0.021 BTC (10 satoshi for each block mined since last halving)
legendary
Activity: 2828
Merit: 1222
Just looking for peace
legendary
Activity: 2254
Merit: 1140
I'll try and script something tonight if I have time to make it easier to try different ciphers on the numeral to letter conversion. 
legendary
Activity: 1904
Merit: 1005
PGP ID: 78B7B84D
Great work took! I'll definitely keep trying to solve this  Grin

Edit: so it doesn't seem like a shift cipher of any kind. I'll look over it again when the next hint is out Smiley
donator
Activity: 2352
Merit: 1060
between a rock and a block!
hero member
Activity: 578
Merit: 554
Love this idea... Already lost 30 minutes of my life!  Grin
legendary
Activity: 3570
Merit: 1959
Now this... is a really cool idea, thanks!  Cool

Edit - I think I got your hint 1 already, but I could just be nuts... We'll see where this goes.  Cheesy

Edit 2 - People can verify the hash of their phrase(s) here - http://hash.online-convert.com/sha256-generator

legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
1. Hint:
2211010101122419070114201616042105191324092404172221
2514031220100901141208170109052301231804021719241106
1706232219131202181203112416081607032205190715031709
1612032118032502211925031608010310082219231915122013
0724021412241923252014021709030505151213240615251017
1519150501172122031418131315112015112321040119051223
1111170708121517032525010903150618100310130522121914
1222052104032519012409222401171325241205051601041025
0902022505071201200924090619231219251903061524170404
2019020712142225181715042121041922041024112317172107
1014232317190125252220250303222317081414051109171311
2408142119102210072005172012110707151309010214040323
1317172009150719162106101425220611190709051306130504
0422030716041716061422091624252306071513090508090722
1006091001070711071323251013212321051610011915081623
0322171501201516181601222216142413121408090707022002
1215130319161921252125150110131809040317090822081805
1703191225070721011316181307021910231117222203191114
0920050513061705250907170707041422152504201707062311
2425131921250705042519191321021621090723051205012302
0304101619070810020111210514190116111310160708110601
2014190901050405070422020503041001112513251107250525
1625252520052207250621140625151514161920210522030121
0522180121080301102208131705210909190510111215101521
2510192204072217140614070106210610150423131318092505

2. Hint:
"It takes two to tango" - numbers are in pairs.



3. Hint:
"Impossible only means that you haven't found the solution yet" - numbers go from 1 to 25.



4. Hint:
"Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our mind" - the order of pairs is randomized and has no significance for the solution.



5. Hint:
"Cogito ergo sum" - A particular idea from the gentleman below can help you solve the puzzle.



6. Hint:
"The pen is mightier than the sword" - Pen and paper can be a powerfull tool.


legendary
Activity: 1960
Merit: 1062
One coin to rule them all
The contest is over - pawnshop770 is the winner!

Dear Forum members,
This contest is a tribute to the upcoming 2016 bitcoin reward halving. In my opinion is the block halving one of the corner stones in the bitcoin design - as it implements the finite supply of bitcoins. The winner of the contest will get a collectible coin.

Prize:
2012 Casascius blank (DIY style - no digital value)
+ 0.021 BTC (10 satoshi for each block mined since last halving)



Generate your own private key and seal it behind the included sticker, load the coin with BTC and you will have a special self-assembled halving coin.

How to solve the puzzle:
The goal is to find a specific phrase; the first person to post the correct phrase in this thread wins.

I will publish a series of hints at random times until someone solves the puzzle; it is indeed possible to solve the puzzle using the first hint alone. The duration of the contest is from now and until halving day, the last and final hint that more or of less gives the solution directly will be published on halving day.

The solution:
The sha256 sum of the winning phrase is:
Code:
f0deae019b5273e2a9b309486a7c0da50da279c28bc3bac43caf6a5eb51ad237

Rules:
  • Entry is free - anybody can participate.
  • Spamming random guesses in the thread is not allowed (check the sha256sum of your guess instead).
  • Signature spam will be reported.
  • Free discussion on how to solve the puzzle is allowed, if you are a serious contender.
  • The winning phrase must be posted in a new unedited post to be valid.
  • The coin will be shipped free of charge to winner with a regular untracked letter, I assume no liability if the letter is lost, however tracked shipping will be available at cost on the winners expense.
  • The BTC part of the prize will be paid directly to any address the winner specify and the tx id will be published in the thread.

In case problems arise with the rule set, then will I do my best to choose a fair solution, keep in mind that I am using my own time and means to do this contest and my intention is only to do something fun for our community.
  
Good luck, have fun!

Kind regards,
TookDk
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