Bitcoin Puzzle

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

Contents 1 Disclaimer

2

2 Introduction

2

3 Clues and solves chronologically 3.1 ARG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 The address . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 The morse code . . . . . . . . . 3.4 The Endercode . . . . . . . . . 3.5 The Minecraft Server . . . . . . 3.6 Onions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7 The cheshire Cat? . . . . . . . 3.8 Roll your dice on search . . . . 3.9 Play it Again, Sam . . . . . . . 3.10 Everywhere at once . . . . . . . 3.11 The game within the game . . 3.12 We are going to the moon . . . 3.13 ROTARY file . . . . . . . . . . 3.14 I want to believe . . . . . . . . 3.15 Such wow! . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.16 ...or is it? . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3 3 3 4 5 8 13 14 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 25 29

4 The very short version

29

5 My personal synopsis

31

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

1

Disclaimer

I as a person believe that human beings are the dominating species because we are able to cooperate. Every great person in history had the support needed to perform that great task. Today1 this ARG was spoiled by a selfish individual. My first intention was to form a private group to solve the riddles hidden from the public. This however -as I soon realized- would make me no better. Thus I decided to help as many people as possible to contribute to the solution of the riddles given to us. Cooperating is the only way.

2

Introduction

2014.06.23: the user ytcoinartist23 posted the following picture on bitcointalk as well as reddit, cryptocointalk and possibly other sites. From that day onward a search for the private key has begun. This key currently gives access to 3.5 BTC

Link: https://i.imgur.com/Uc6VAnV.jpg 1 2014.07.02 2 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=346881 3 aka

OP, @coin artist

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

3 3.1

Clues and solves chronologically ARG

This first hint posted by OP was this picture:

Link: http://www.unfiction.com/dev/tutorial/10com.jpe

3.2

The address

Probably even before the first hint was posted the address 1HXUobwcB19cGDrghuh42HDdJdJvrJUEra was found within the picture. It starts from the 1 in the 3rd line from the top and ends with the a above the head of Cody Wilson in line 6, row 13. This was posted on reddit IIRC by the user moinen.[citation needed]

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

3.3

The morse code

Very early4 the user S4VV4S suggested that the red and green dots might be morse code. Sadly the idea was quickly dissmissed. Most likely because the breaks between the individual morsecodes had not been guessed correct. There have been several clues from OP via the blockchain which increased the prize in BTC constantly. They are not part of this trail, because it is speculation which clues are from OP and which are just trolls. If this is of intrest to you, take the address from the section before and view it with your favorite blockchain explorer. Several days passed without anyone getting closer to the solution. I had even made a model of the picture in Java to be able to test possible ideas very fast. While this resulted in plenty code, strings, hashes, we did not come any closer to the solution. On day 3 the user zonkism posted a google doc model of the picture 5 while this was viewed at times by 5 and more people simultaneously, we did not come any closer to the solution. Since the two guys in the picture coded the dark wallet and the symbol below them (the upside down all seeing eye) people where also searching for a 12 word seed to restore a possible wallet. The yellow and blue dots in the picture caused several sleepless nights, because noone understood their meaning. The user jc01480 even found the code ’FBI’ within the source of the picture. The converter tool from brainwallet.org was used and misused for every possible conversion we could think of, we did not come any closer to the solution. On day 4 while I had a slow day at work I turned the picture upside down and tried to interpret the letters anew. It gave me a new code, but we did not come any closer to the solution. User eldinhadz suggested 3D glasses, it got us nowhere. User mirth23 made the first summary on day 4. While it was good and probably got more people involved, we did not get any closer to the solution. The picture was analysed from every possible and impossible angle. We did not . . . you know the rest. On day 5 the user ryanAC posted several versions of the picture with isolated dots. The users mirth23 and moinen came up with the idea that the dots are guidposts in a maze. The user rock collector started to post other pictures from OP. The user Coinkle revealed hidden clues from OP which had been received via Twitter DM. • Remember - steganography is so effective bc of the volume of noise • there’s more than meets the eye I tried Fibonacci code as well as ITA2 TELEX and any other code I could find, I even tried to brute force the picture with stegbreak. Finally rgm108 drew the right conclusions from the blockchain hints and brought back the morsecode 6 . Prospero build on that idea7 and decoded: talehackevilyokerodeactnestnoontimeapextilttrikekacetratcsekeywisshashaimtecest mthitechoyoutiidetsiioteenetoetthtipsetetherentistopemordstlwgnyaefdmhthmetnytw tewtpkeuealenedla Sadly this had errors in it. But later that day the User moinen decoded: tale hack evil yoke rode act nest noon time apex tilt trick ace catch key wish hash aim tech to hi techo youth dash one net oath tip set ether ent is top words and nonsense after that. A little later the user mirth23 confirmed an almost identical morsecode which lead to mirth23 and me almost simultaneously posting: “THEY CAN NOT ATTACK WHAT THEY CAN NOT SEE” 4 2014.06.23

in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7467968#msg7467968

5 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EPARfiJ-Fw140N8Jg5QTgJdp10GsgepcHD -7DWPmKg/edit?pli=1#gid=1931897256 6 2014.06.27 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7544058#msg7544058 7 2014.06.27

in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7546724#msg7546724

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

which was later corrected by the user xELx8 to the final solution: “THEY CAN NOT ATTACK WHAT THEY DO NOT SEE”

3.4

The Endercode

With the new hint “They can not attack what they do not see” we went on. We where still confused though, not sure if the clue was from OP if we got it right. I posted a summary of the blockchain hints9 it did not make the clue any clearer. The main problem with the hints was that it was impossible to tell which hint came from OP. Some addresses where considered to be from OP just by the amount of BTC invested. The user micaman hurt his head while trying to understand the color spectrum on a nuclear level.10 On day 5 DobZombie hurt his head as well.11 We still tried to work the picture, to fold it, to invert the colors, run filters over it. The user elh40257 even tried to listen to the picture. 12 Then OP updated the 1st post: Update 6/28: Do not rely solely on Users for solves, double check solves for user errors. OP made no mistakes. Portrait is a "shared start point". Google is your friend. confirmed: - Public Address has been solved: 1HXUobwcB19cGDrghuh42HDdJdJvrJUEra - Embedded morse code has been solved: "They cannot attack what they do not see’’ The user w0lverine suggested that the artifacts at the pictures borders might be of relevance. On day 6 the user cozk had enough13 and the user Justin00 felt so stupid a hug was needed14 . Later that day xavier46930 had the idea to google the shit out of our last clue15 , which apparently was what OP wanted from us. The user codenomnom was the first to behave shady. The post has been deleted, yet with the update from OP Update 6/29 - Message decoded has been discovered and the cached versions of the post from bitcointa.lk I16 figured the Enderman might be our next clue. Yet I was unable to find anything in the wiki. The user micaman however found the clue an hour later.17 .

8 2014.06.27

in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7551188#msg7551188 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7552956#msg7552956 10 2014.06.27 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7554257#msg7554257 11 2014.06.28 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7564366#msg7564366 12 2014-06.28 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7565618#msg7565618 13 2014.06.29 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7574074#msg7574074 14 2014.06.29 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7577504#msg7577504 15 2014.06.29 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7585085#msg7585085 16 2014.06.30 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7588801#msg7588801 17 2014.06.30 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7589796#msg7589796 9 2014.06.27

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

This picture:

While I had bad dreams about Enderman and other creatures like the weeping angels from doctor who, the user moinen posted an improved overlay. 18

18 2014.06.30

in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7591534#msg7591534

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

The word contra on the top was immediatly found and later linked to the video game classic contra by the user xavier46930. OP also posted new hints: ‘‘Moving forward: old blockchain hints are no longer relevant. Current hint: ask a classic, avid gamer’’ The user S4VV4S thought we might be looking for a shortened bit.ly URL19 . and Gatekeeper found the solution beeing bit.ly/mindthecraft20 . The link lead us to a page with a QR code that lead us to http://qr.w69b.com/g/mCPqjdJx6 where we found a binary code: 00110110=54 ˆ 11001001=201 ˆ 01101101=109 ˆ 10100010=162 ˆ I figured out that this was the IP of an Amazon server with port 22 (ssh) open. But I didnt configure nmap correctly and missed out on the port 25565. The user mtgox555 however found the port and the minecraft server running on it21 . OP confirmed this with: Update 6/30 - Contra code has been solved. - IP address has been discovered. While the Server quickly filled, those left behind on the board complained about the next step. OP confirmed... - Server has been accessed.

19 2014.06.30

in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7596547#msg7596547 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7600867#msg7600867 21 2014.06.30 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7602352#msg7602352 20 2014.06.30

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

3.5

The Minecraft Server

The Minecraft Server presented us with a new set of challanges. It was set to readonly and would reset every hour. That way we could not easily modifiy blocks. The spawnroom looked like this:

It had a single hole down which lead to the next room.

In this room was some equipment. Weapons and armor which where usually gone within seconds after a reset. From there you could enter a tiny room with this map:

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

Right next to it was the exit out of our initial rabbit hole. From there we could see a pyramid made of stone:

Note that this has been modified by a player, I will soon explain how this was possible.

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

And a big golden Bitcoin B with a Lavafall

Some of the more experienced minecraft players soon figured out that while we are unable to modify the world, the famous creeper is not. It was lured around the map to make it blow up at certain places. This became more and more difficult as the server was laggy und 10 people ran around the map. But even if unsuccessful a blown creeper would give us blocks to place. This gave us plenty opportunity to mess with the map, as the modified pyramid in the picture earlier. It was soon clear that we either had to find 3 wither skulls or somehow use creepers to pass the blocked passage in the first room. To put 3 wither skulls on the soulsand that was placed there in the correct shape would spawn a wither and free the passage for those that survive one of

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

the hardest mobs in minecraft. The user cephl tried to spawn a creeper directly in this room, which required a lot of dicipline from the other players. To stay alive! To my knowledge this was not successful. A portal to the end was found and explored. Yet none that made the hard way to and through the portal came back. If they had not been eaten by Zombies, shot by Skeletons or burned by Lava along the way the Enderdragon got them in the End. Also very early in the game the room behind the Wither was entered by an unknown player. Meanwhile on the board the bitching about OPs decisions kept going. Yet there where also voiced that understood us as a team22 . Soon the waiting paid off as the user newuser01 posted the first pictures from beyond the Wither and the overview or maproom23 . Others summoned their kids to pick their brains about Minecraft and shared the results on the board. The wall of dirt with Redstone was soon identified as part of a QR code. Yet it was only 1 of 4 parts and most on the Server had no idea about this post yet. I only figured this out when I went on the board to update the others about our hunt for the 3 Skulls and to safe the positions of those we found. The user Yemmster soon posted a clean black and white version of the QR code24 . Cryptozim had the idea the make an overlay25 yet it only served to pass the time for those unable to join us on the Server. Meanwhile on the Minecraft Server the player GIGANTOR89 found a platforming game which lead to this Skull over the Lava:

22 2014.06.30

in in 24 2014.06.30 in 25 2014.06.30 in 23 2014.06.30

this this this this

post post post post

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7603292#msg7603292 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7603642#msg7603642 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7604327#msg7604327 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7604564#msg7604564

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

Only later did we realize that we allready had another part of the QR code in this cave:

OP even placed a very convienient glasblock to take a pictures from. A little earlier the first skull was found close to a waterfall. While this was the first skull it was also the last QR code to be found. I have never been there thus I have no screenshot of it, but Yemmster said that you had to look up in order to see the code. On the board OP gave us this hint: MC Hint: Falling through the rabbit hole, the end is surely nigh. I turn to take a final glance, a distant fading sky. While its a nice poem I dont think anyone really worked on that. Or maybe this was what lead so many placers to go to the End. With that much progress in a very short time I had the feeling that this was the final step. Yet I had to leave. When I came back, sure that someone had allready claimed the bitcoin, I found a very chaotic Server with frustrated players. The Server was instable at this point and we had to endure regular disconnects. I was able to organize a little group to finally get something done. One of the first and easiest things to do was to get the QR code from the lava platform. The player k0rr3 revealed that the 3rd skull was in some sort of underground watermaze. While players died like flies in an atempt to find a QR code within the puzzle, yemmster scanned the maze with an plugin. The hope was that the maze itself was the QR code. I made a post that I updated several times with clues from other players in order to keep track of the current status26 . While those left on the board tried to work with parts of the QR code and players still drowned in a attempt to map the maze, newuser01 posted the water QR code27 . The user Yemmster kept an updated a collection of the codes on imgur28 . Yet we still missed the crucial final part. While we had a working group I suggested we spawn the Wither. I hoped that it would not only guard the room behind it but also trigger other changes on the Server, start some sort of plugin maybe. For those not playing minecraft the Wither is no joke if you only have a sword. It can explode at will (while still beeing alive) and its projectiles remove blocks. While we managed to spawn it and sneak a player behind its back, I did result in nothing but chaos. The pyramid was completly trashed, the wither roamed free around the world and most players ran away. Those that tried to fight, died within seconds. 26 2014.06.30

in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7605747#msg7605747 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7607201#msg7607201 28 link: https://imgur.com/a/i2Njp 27 2014.06.30

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

At this point it was clear that we had to search for QR code and the forum was eager for an answer. The next idea was to kill an Enderman in order to get an Enderpearl to get into a certain room that we believed was not accessible otherwise. The final group was very small and the server was running more stable, yet we where unable to to kill one. Yemmster however figured out the pattern. One part of the code with each skull and the final part behind the Wither they help to spawn. He was shown the entrance to the cave where the first skull was found and took a final glance at the sky to reveal the last part of the QR code. The Server was quickly abandoned for the next step ahead of us.

3.6

Onions

The now completed QR code was posted moinen29 which lead to another shortened URL bit.ly/1juqeCj which redirected to http://www.mediafire.com/download/nfcc5pwdiyp8io3/Onion.7z where we got the file Onion.7z. Even though the file was protected by a password the user Yemmster quickly revealed the password to be the know bitcoi address 1HXUobwcB19cGDrghuh42HDdJdJvrJUEra30 . 29 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7607769#msg7607769 30 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7607866#msg7607866

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

3.7

The cheshire Cat?

Within the Onion.7z was another password protected file named 1.7z and this picture Hint.jpg

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

Yemmster also found the In the top left corner 7:51 and in the bottom left corner Bit Sha. Some users where thinking about bible or quran codes, while others focused on the picture itself. Several manipulated versions of the picture where posted. To me it looked like the face of Boe, to others it looked like the Cheshire Cat, like a skull, a jack-olantern, cursive writing, Dr. Robotnik or an indian totem pole. Searches with the image revealed that the pattern resembles structures of the moon or carpets other results included the “perfect girlfriend activation system” or “guess which monster you will become in a click”.

clues

hidden

within

the

picture.

The user xELx reserched that the first Alice in Wonderland movie premiered in July 1951 as in 7:5131 Following this hint several versions of Alice in Wonderland where whecked for clues at 7 minutes 51 seconds. The user moinen posted the clearest version of the picture we ever got.32 More sleepless nights. Biblequotes, RFC1751, apparently the 751 leads to New York, in chapter 7 of Alice in Wonderland she is a guest at the mad tee party and Alice has to solve many riddles, there is a cat doormat for day 751, etc. I even wrapped saran wrap around my laptop in order to draw the lines of the picture on it. No, it did not lead to any more clues, but to a tip for the nice lady at the university cafeteria, who helped me without even asking what I needed it for. S4VV4S researched OPs book collection from a youtube video in order to get a hint which books to check next33 . As we will see later, this will be of relevance. Apparently the Cheshire Cat is imprisoned in Area 51 as protokol researched for us34 . It was also S4VV4S who found two 31 2014.07.01

in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7610624#msg7610624 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7612190#msg7612190 33 2014.07.01 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7615541#msg7615541 and the one following directly after 34 2014.07.01 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7619202#msg7619202 32 2014.07.01

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

fighting figures in the bottom center of the picture moinen had posted earlier35 . So the Cheshire Cats and the Skulls and the faces of whatnot where out of the question. We looked at a landscape. But of what? Another videogame? Minds had been fucked36 . Memories of old games came back37 38 , S4VV4S found squares in the picture39 and more manipulated versions where posted, yet it seemed we where stuck again40 . But OP promissed us an update within 24 hours41 . At the end of day 9, over 1000 posts after the first, still new people joined us42 . Day 10, OP posted a clue. A clue was missed, JUST before this... followed by a Serverlog. Apparently we had missed something. Messages at 7:51 in various time zone where analysed. Apparently at that time I talked about the waterfall where the 1st Skull was hidden. So the idea of waterfall hashing came up43 . It took some time off log reading and complaining about revealed IP addresses until Timmmaahh understood that we missed something before we the Server was entered44 . More heads where hurt 45 but OP once again pushed us in the correct direction46 . Yemmster remembered the name of the Server as “Ready Player”47 and linked it to one of the books S4VV4s had researched earlier. Mtgox555 found it somewhere and posted chapter 748 which lead to the D&D book “Tomb of Horrors”49 and thus the source of the picture. Another hint by OP50 "Bit Sha" https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol\_specification and the user Timmmaahh quickly understood that we had to use SHA-256(SHA-256(Tomb of Horrors)) to get the password51 5ef4621b7af0ee409e569e53377fa2513270b4a7e08ec09888f2146f4a194b9a and the next step was revealed...

35 2014.07.01

in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7622883#msg7622883 in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7623014#msg7623014 37 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7623198#msg7623198 38 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7624607#msg7624607 39 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7623661#msg7623661 40 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7625861#msg7625861 41 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7627225#msg7627225 42 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7627633#msg7627633 43 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7634843#msg7634843 44 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7636252#msg7636252 45 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7636657#msg7636657 46 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7636745#msg7636745 47 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7636850#msg7636850 48 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7637030#msg7637030 49 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7637279#msg7637279 50 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7637493#msg7637493 51 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7637497#msg7637497 36 2014.07.01

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

3.8

Roll your dice on search

The extraction of the files in 1.7z revealed another encrypted file 2.7z and the picture Elements.jpg:

Those familiar with pen and paper will immediatly see, we had to deal with dice, but not with all dice. Only with those that are platonic shapes as mtgox55552 quickly posted. While Gatekeeper was still a bit frustrated the someone else had posted the solution seconds to soon, Yemmster allready took the picture apart53 . Rgm108 remembered that crystals are also somehow related to platonic solids 54 while Yemmster allready had a connection between the word Elements in the picture and the platonic solids 55 . The ancient Greek belief in five basic elements, these being earth, water, air, fire and aether, dates from pre-Socratic times and persisted throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, deeply influencing European thought and culture. These five elements are sometimes associated with the five platonic solids. Mtgox555 tried to get a password out of these clues, but had no success56 . Gatekeeper used the mathmatical names of the dice, but had no success either.57 While both mtgox555 and Timmmaahh tried several combinations of the five elements, their hashes as well as their hashes hashes, they had no success58 either. In between all the hashes, Kprawn enlightened use with some dice trivia59 . Apparently the dices now used in pen and paper where not invented for games, but to teach students platonic solids. Since the classic elements seemed to fail I worked on those in the periodic table. I even found a D12 shaped crystal60 . No, I did not lead to a solution, so I researched the possible elements in D&D and found way more than we could ever want. Did you know that ooze was an element? Me neither61 . As it was revealed later the user arg found the solution, but did not share it62 . As I allready mentioned in the disclaimer, this made me consider63 forming a secret group. The user uvwvj also revealed that should he/she find the solution nothing would be shared.64 So much for the work that had been done at this point. So many people contributed their solutions and ideas, yet a few apparently had no respect for that. But as we will see later, for arg this might be just a form of bragging and arg’s way to spur us to new solutions. After some 30 minutes of bitching and cursing the solution was revealed by arg. 52 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7637575#msg7637575 53 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7637599#msg7637599 54 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7637676#msg7637676 55 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7637715#msg7637715 56 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7638022#msg7638022 57 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7638231#msg7638231 58 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7638369#msg7638369 59 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7638445#msg7638445 60 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7638519#msg7638519 61 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7638932#msg7638932 62 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7639045#msg7639045 63 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7639268#msg7639268 64 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7639358#msg7639358

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

Within the EXIF data of Elements.jpg had been a hidden QR code. If you upload the original picture to http://regex.info/exif.cgi the QR code can be found as micaman pointed out later 65 . This QR code lead to http://qr.w69b.com/g/t2lFujr0I where a quote and another link was found66 . "Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time-rich and cash-poor." http://bit.ly/1rWkJl7 The shortened link lead to a file named Again.7z.

3.9

Play it Again, Sam

Escrow.ms revealed the content of Again.7z67 . A textfile within the number “2147129” and a video space.mp468 . Together with the quote “Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time-rich and cash-poor.” Those where the clues we had to work now. Yet as S4VV4S pointed out this did not extract the 2.7z which will be important as we will see later.69 Prospero pointed out the videofile is from 1980.70 Jul 2nd, 1980, 00:02:18, 331369338 unixtime to be precice.71 Its a video of a rocket flying through space. To me it looked a bit like one of these USB-Sticks with a display to play MP3s. The rockets display shows “ODYSSEY” and “8081VA015” as well as some other symbols72 that we never figured out AFAIK. OP gave us another hint73 : Match the identified platonic shapes to their designated elements in the correct order. Always apply Bitcoin protocol. and the almost forgotten riddle of 2.7z was solved by mtgox55574 . sha[sha[fireearthairetherwater]] a175b1d5f92f57acc6920f3e73869e0b154b8dd97249c84224eefbdd6bde2f77

65 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7640007#msg7640007 66 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7639743#msg7639743 67 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7640136#msg7640136 68 http://8081netlabel.ru/news/8081

va015 odyssey/2014-02-25-119

69 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7640177#msg7640177 70 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7640681#msg7640681 71 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7641016#msg7641016 72 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7640845#msg7640845 73 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7641803#msg7641803 74 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7641905#msg7641905

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

3.10

Everywhere at once

The riddle of Again.7z was not yet solved when the next came up. 3.7z was revealed along with another picture named Algo.jpg

A discussion started wether 214712975 is a triangular number or not. Lets do the test, shall we? The number to test is x in the formular below. In order for it to pass the test n must be an integer. √ √ √ 8x + 1 − 1 8 · 2147129 + 1 − 1 17177033 − 1 n= ⇒ = 2 2 2 √ 17177033 − 1 ⇒ n ≈ 2071.76 test failed = 2 At the same time some where pissed about the fact that the hashes for the elements riddle should have been binary and not hex since bitcoin protocol does it binary.76 People are confused which path to follow, two riddles at once, clues from both mixed all over the thread. OP gave us another hint77 . - **New Hint: Continuing on from "Elements," keep thinking "Greek geek speak."’’ This hint however was removed quickly78 . This, as we found out soon, would be OPs way to communicate with us from thereon. Post a hint, wait for it to be quoted and remove it. The madness spreads, files that should be are not square, dots the should be are not aligned.79 Yet another hint by OP80 : "- File "Onion" or file "Again," choose a path. Which one leads to bitcoin? *...Perhaps they both lead to bitcoin..." Or was it? We had to choose, but as it turned out later both lead us further and throughout the thread people worked on both riddles. 75 In

case you forgot: thats the number we got in the textfile from Again.7z

76 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7642115#msg7642115 77 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7642919#msg7642919 78 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643116#msg7643116 79 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643313#msg7643313 80 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643619#msg7643619

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

Micaman soon encoded the password for 3.7z81 SHA(SHA(Tetractys))82 = cac911c02d8a37ffd20fb99aa21166160bc8f8c3c23ed119cabf36330bb35671 which brought us another step forward, gave us another riddle to solve.

3.11

The game within the game

The 3.7z had the 1982 game Dungeons of Daggorath in it, or better the windows port with Coin Artist listed under contributors83 . After checking for viruses84 bitcoininformation tried to start the game and failed85 . Apparently Timmmaahh didnt even both to get the game running, but focused on the readme.txt in the license folder which revealed more hidden clues86 . Allways handy to know which license you are dealing with. 2009 And then there was Bitcoin Rick Hunerlach November 14, 2002 Satoshi was here Yemmster revealed that howtoplay.txt, readme.txt and uninst.exe had been edited on June 27th 201487 as well as some of the .wav files in the sound folder88 . Timmmaahh confirms that the .wav files are those that stay if you run the uninst.exe89 . Not a second played, allready uninstalled. Thats what you get when you make a game part of a riddle. Protokol soon found QR codes hidden in the audio files90 . Gatekeeper revealed the words that where edited in the text files91 . Coin_Artist: A secret 2009 And then there was Bitcoin Monsters! space more words Muhahahhaa Satoshi was here That’s all there is to it! Such Wow! While I remember a discussion about this, the list above should be complete. Arg shares the QR code from the sound files which lead us to Again.7z again92 . By now the first people can not take it anymore.93 Afterwards the game was abandoned and we focused on Again.7z94 as apparently all 5 sound files contained the same QR code95 . 81 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643739#msg7643739 82 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetractys 83 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643833#msg7643833 84 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643816#msg7643816 85 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643855#msg7643855 86 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643874#msg7643874 87 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643890#msg7643890 88 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643979#msg7643979 89 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7643996#msg7643996 90 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7644076#msg7644076 91 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7644116#msg7644116 92 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7644279#msg7644279 93 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7644412#msg7644412 94 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7644748#msg7644748 95 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7644928#msg7644928

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

3.12

We are going to the moon

Totally unrelated: while we tried to solve this riddle the price of bitcoin has rissen by ∼ 8% and fallen by ∼ 10%. Yeah I will not keep this updated anymore. Bitcoininformation gave us a nice summary96 : • Always apply Bitcoin protocol - ”Bitcoin hash is the hash of the hash, so two SHA256 rounds are needed” • ”Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time-rich and cash-poor.” • 2147129 (from Number.txt) • 8081-VA015 ODYSSEY (characters in the video from Space.mp4, also the album title this video is from) • Jul 2, 1980 00:02:18, unix timestamp: 331369338 (timestamp of again files - thanks Prospero) • Space.mp4 itself Meanwhile OP removed all the hints but these97 : • Portrait is a ”shared start point.” Google is your friend. • Public Address: 1HXUobwcB19cGDrghuh42HDdJdJvrJUEra • ”Bitcoin hash is the hash of the hash, so two SHA256 rounds are needed” Day 10, people started to halucinate,98 confusion spreaded99 , but OP got us back to reality.100 I tried to upload the first version of this, 101 but the post was taken down by the mods. Probably because I did not introduce the file properly. Micaman came up with the first good suggestion in a long time102 . The video might be a hidden truecrypt container. For this the filesize must be a multible of 512 byte, which sadly was not the case. But as Timmmaahh pointed out there is more data than the bitrate suggests, which might be due to variable bitrate as Prospero argued103 . Prospero also searched all the possible combinations of our number (2147129)104 and got nothing. The user Voyager posted some proof that the video indeed contained 2147129 additional bytes information105 . Voyager got the original video from youtube OP used - sha256sum matched and compared the two files to figure this out. Apparently arg knew about this allready, but decided not to share106 until now. Arg also shared a link to the part of the file split from the video. Mirth23 however did not let go of the game and found another hidden QR code. It pointed towards the same Again.7z we allready knew though.107 Alphabetacanary revealed that the hidden bytes in the video are another 7z file108 . The data was rotated as was explained here109 . 96 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7645347#msg7645347 97 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7645492#msg7645492 98 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7645650#msg7645650 99 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7645831#msg7645831 100 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7645917#msg7645917 101 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7646505#msg7646505 102 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7646678#msg7646678 103 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7647134#msg7647134 104 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7647275#msg7647275 105 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7647458#msg7647458 106 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7647511#msg7647511 107 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7648079#msg7648079 108 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7648196#msg7648196 109 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7648301#msg7648301

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

3.13

ROTARY file

The new file had to be encrypted, a password or passphrase was needed or as OP used to tell us a double sha256. Mirth23 did some research on the game and found that “2009” and “That’s all there is to it!” are from the original files and had not been added by OP. Apparently there is also a hidden song if you speed up 16 kaboom.wav by 225%110 . To my knowledge noone figured out what song this is. OP posted111 the hint ***mirth2E 2E as exponential or the hex representation of an ASCII period? Maybe mirth23 was close to something? Several attempts to basically bruteforce the password where started. Day 11 (2014.07.03): The user mirth23 gave us a summary112 of the current status: • Again File: – weird timestamp (331369338) – Unaltered Laffe the Fox video – password-encrypted .7z padding from video file (of length from Number.txt) • From 3.7/DoD – unidentified music in 16 kaboom.wav – the following inserted text strings: ∗ Monsters! ∗ Such Wow! ∗ Muhahahhaa ∗ Satoshi was here ∗ Coin Artist: A secret ∗ 2009 ∗ And then there was Bitcoin ∗ space ∗ more words The bruteforcing attempts to get the password failed113 . OP gave us another hint:114 "Bitcoin hash is the hash of the hash, so two SHA256 rounds are needed" *PA55WORD which -again- disappeared right after it was quoted. Arg posted another hash115 and as it turned out later116 arg was 30 minutes ahead of the pack. 110 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7650136#msg7650136 111 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7650478#msg7650478 112 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7655956#msg7655956 113 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7656629#msg7656629 114 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7657251#msg7657251 115 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7657463#msg7657463 116 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658157#msg7658157

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

xELx just posted the solution117 . ODY55EY 8081-VA015 Sha’d twice: d58891ce74bc465116cd8dd7a0b082a2f9dfff1960535a71df90619ea5ba6e42 The file Crops.jpg was inside the hidden data.

3.14

I want to believe

The picture had a hidden file inside it as was revealed by bitcoininformation118 . The picture itself shows a known crop circle119120 . Both the date the picture was taken (1601.03.24)121 and the date the picture was last modified (1980.07.02) had been changed122 . People started to leave123 , 117 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658038#msg7658038 118 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658204#msg7658204 119 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658207#msg7658207 120

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/time2007o.html

121 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658561#msg7658561 122 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658269#msg7658269 123 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658605#msg7658605

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

gotten angry124 , but others kept going, kept sharing125

126 127 128

:

"Beware the bearers of FALSE gifts & their BROKEN PROMISES. Much PAIN but still time. There is GOOD out there. We Oppose DECEPTION. Conduit CLOSING." http://regex.info/exif.cgi gives the real name of the photo: crabwood5.tif When you morse-code translate what is different you get: ----- -...- ----- .- -...- .---- ----- -... .- -... -.-- .- -...- ...--.... .-- --- .-- ..--. 0=0A=10BABYA=36WOW? Crops.jpg image part has the creation time 1601:03:24 20:18:26.00 The empty spaces represent the binary number of ZERO and the blocks represent the binary number ONE. Using this cipher we get the following message: "Beware the bearers of false gifts and their broken promises. Much pain, but still time. Believe there is good out there. We oppose deception. Conduit closing. 0x07" The binary code of 0x07 at the end of the message would produced a bell sound xELx suggested that one of the clues might be the code we should be looking for129 . As in 0 is 0, A is 10 and a is 36, so Base62 with the uppercase letters in the middle. Arg-sidekick130 gave us the quote from above with the correct capitalization: A conversion to binary however reveals: Beware the bearers of FALSE gifts & their BROKEN PROMISES. Much PAIN but still time. BELIEVE: There is GOOD out there. We OPpose DECEPTION. Conduit CLOSING? As we found out later arg and arg-sidekick were working together on this riddle. Itod suggested that the captialisation of the sentence is a clue or message131 (B) FALSE BROKEN PROMISES (M) PAIN BELIEVE (T) GOOD (W) OP DECEPTION CLOSING Itod also noticed the space before the question-mark and pondered its meaning. Prospero suggests that maybe the wow! signal132 is a clue133 and 10 minutes later xELx got it134 . shax2 Wow! = 807779b76e88b7aa9abc84a126822f76c0f24a28b5eb2ea1baa435eb09f5c155 This was later135 corrected to the double hash of ’6EQUJ5’. The posted hash however was correct. Too much excitement? 124 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658674#msg7658674 125 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658706#msg7658706 126 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658727#msg7658727 127 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658807#msg7658807 128 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7658841#msg7658841 129 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7662195#msg7662195 130 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7662736#msg7662736 131 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7663217#msg7663217 132 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wow

signal.jpg

133 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7664201#msg7664201 134 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7664303#msg7664303 135 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7666829#msg7666829

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

3.15

Such wow!

This however lead us to a new file Wow.JPG

The fist two lines on the left read: CHANNEL NUMBER, (TWO DIGITS, WRITTEN VERTICALLY). z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmV0lP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P Sha-256 found a hidden xmp packet in the picture136 which cryptozim plotted137 a while later hoba gave us a nice overlay of both pictures138 . LtPaxIV posted meta information about the picture.139 ooxtcoo pointed out that the picture apparently was created the same time as the original 1977.08.15 - 20:09140 . Micaman thought we should keep it simple and just ask aliens for assistance141 . As arg142 pointed out the filesize seemed to big. I have 2070436 bytes on mine for 3600x2974 px mostly black and white. When I copy pasta’d the picture and safed it, it actually got bigger. Not sure what GIMP was doing there and as it turned out there was nothing more inside the picture. This was the last step, or was it143 ? xELx cought one of OPs hints144 : a 136 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7665097#msg7665097 137 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7665359#msg7665359 138 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7672724#msg7672724 139 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7665232#msg7665232 140 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7665723#msg7665723 141 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7665963#msg7665963 142 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7666545#msg7666545 143 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=683366.0 144 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7666977#msg7666977

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

link145 to a Just Dance 4 version of the final countdown. A foreshadowing of the end? Or was OP on her way to venus allready146 , Saying goodbye? Yemmster gave us a dump of the data behind 0xFFD9147148 People were allready preparing their bitcoin wallets for the private key to come149 and arg helped out the newbies150 . Apparently with an iPhones the picture was some form of zip file151 according to Timmmaahh. But since noone else can confirm this152 153 154 , sha-256 suggests we all get iPhones to check155 . Velkro thought its all fake and arg and arg-sidekick just wanted it to be over156 . I dont know if you had been with this from the start. On day 13157 I pulled back to write this summary because I just cant search for clues anymore. The first week I did nothing but this riddle. Well more about that later in my personal synopsis. Most resigned to waiting for clues158 and since apparently159 in the past S4VV4S allways got clues when he asked for them he was send ahead160 . Arg-sidekick gave another good summary161 . Ill just quote it whole162 : 1. We have one wow.jpg that used to be a tiff. It doesn’t open as a tiff anymore, saved as a jpeg. 2. Inside the jpg it holds some xmp data 3. It seemingly corresponds with the image. Although not 100% 4. Made with photoshop elements, not photoshop as the originals were. 5. There is only two points of change in the image. The title which was replaced with the original text and a 51 char string and the first header which was moved up a few pixels. 6. We have 6EQUJ5 / 6 / 6 / 5 / 7, which is from the OG but still a possible data point 7. 6EQUJ5 was the password to it’s container though, I don’t think it’s going to be used twice 8. The file was, again, dated to 1980. Aug 15 1977 or 05 15 1977 9. Everything so far has been double sha and that still remains as a hint 10. We have two unsolved/unrelated hints. "wow + crops" and one youtube video of the final countdown acted out in dance central by "AverageAsianDude". 11. And finally the portrait that hasn’t been used since the beginning. It was labeled as a starting point, so discountable. 12. Original wow.jpg was edited 5 times in Photoshop Elements. Previous hints/images were worked on in Photoshop. Mirth23 (w/o the rambling): 1) 0=0A=10BABYA=36WOW?S 2) CHANNEL NUMBER, (TWO DIGITS, WRITTEN VERTICALLY). z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P 3) the XMP data in Wow.JPG tl;dr: I think the real key is to correctly interpret 0=0A=10BABYA=36WOW?S 145 http://youtu.be/4JFmQNuG7AY?t=28s 146 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7685500#msg7685500 147 JPG

EOF

148 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7669368#msg7669368 149 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7669387#msg7669387 150 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7672117#msg7672117 151 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7670498#msg7670498 152 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7670480#msg7670480 153 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7670548#msg7670548 154 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7670556#msg7670556 155 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7670604#msg7670604 156 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7673835#msg7673835 157 2014.07.05 158 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7684849#msg7684849 159 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7685237#msg7685237 160 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7684943#msg7684943 161 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7686276#msg7686276 162 full

disclosure: its missing pony gifs

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

and z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P . Note: ? = D Ip669163 thought we should just stalk OP and knock her out, while arg argued164 that this is probably not part of the ARG. Mirth23 gave us some additional info165 I build into the list above. Op gave another “clue”166 : a gif of Neo beeing asked What truth? It probably was a reference to someone saying we had been spoonfeed anyway. For some reason we were talking about the blockchain.info hints again167 . How do astronomers do coordinates168 ? Jc01480 got kittens and was about to get even more169 . Another hint170 by OP: - 6EQUJ5 - No sha or hash needed and quickly after171 another: the prize awaits you the final palindrome is key once small is now tall Its day 14, over 2000 posts had been written, the end was near. It was questioned whether we are looking for a private key or maybe some form of code that would result in OP giving the key away172 . Dagi reminds us what the prevailing opinion regarding the Base62 code is173 . Ooxtcoo174 , arg175 and alphabetacanary176 apparently had running (or almost running) code to crack the final step, yet the key did not match. Is that a 0 or an O in the picture177 . Arg gave us a nice gif178 to show us that we are indeed talking about a 0 (’ZERO’) here. Gatekeeper allready understood that179 ’6EQUJ5’ would give no valid code in base58, but did not know how this would come into play yet. Arg-sidekick180 figured out which exact font OP used. No this was no part of the solution. Mirth23 gave us one last summary181 , OP killed Timmmaahh ’s sleep182 as well as everyone elses sleep183 and posted the final hint184 : the prize awaits you the final palindrome is key once small is now tall 163 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7686594#msg7686594 164 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7686627#msg7686627 165 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7688941#msg7688941 166 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7692553#msg7692553 167 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7694149#msg7694149 168 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7698755#msg7698755 169 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7698409#msg7698409 170 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7703331#msg7703331 171 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7705931#msg7705931 172 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7706233#msg7706233 173 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7706383#msg7706383 174 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7706963#msg7706963 175 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7707023#msg7707023 176 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7707057#msg7707057 177 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7707075#msg7707075 178 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7707158#msg7707158 179 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7707284#msg7707284 180 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7707479#msg7707479 181 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7707789#msg7707789 182 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7708026#msg7708026 183 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7708043#msg7708043 184 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7708233#msg7708233

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

#2103 Gatekeeper quickly understood that #2103 was refering to this post185 . Note that the number of posts is now off, because some were deleted. It was the post where alphabetacanary shared his/her c-code earlier. 40 Minutes later the coins were on the move186 . It is believed that Gatekeeper solved the final step, but AFAIK this was never confirmed. Afterwards there was a lot bitching about the amount of coins the winner allready had, while others appreciated the learning effect the puzzle had187 . Im not going to get into this, but will try to explain how the final step worked. Ooxtcoo was 2nd in place and posted the private key188 . 5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kke8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp

185 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7708242#msg7708242 186 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7708690#msg7708690 187 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7709250#msg7709250 188 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7708964#msg7708964

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

The way I understand the final step, thanks to the help of itod189 arg192 .

190

, ooxtcoo191 and espcially

• take the string z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P from Wow.jpg • The ’zero’ is the letter O (upercase o) • Change the w to W because sadly OP made a misstake here to get the intended code: z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zeWEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P • the used Alphabet is Base62 (0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz) • The Base62 decodes 6EQUJ5 to the numbers 6,14,26,30,19,5 • Shift this code by the numbers above sequentially and you get: 5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kAe8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp the final private key. Arg and arg-sidekick take their hooves193 and go. The riddle is solved the coins are spend. The game that was none is over.

3.16

...or is it?

According to S4VV4S194 the game ended to soon. I dont want to make this part of this pdf, because I read his post only once and I dont understand it entirely. Apparently there is more to find.

4

The very short version

Yo, Shorena! Yo, Stop the slobber! Just gimme the short version damit! Since mirth23195 agreed to help me. . . List of Puzzles: • Portrait of Cody Wilson and Amir Taaki http://imgur.com/Uc6VAnV • Contra Puzzle http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:InvisibleEndermen.jpg • mindthecraft bit.ly/mindthecraft • Minecraft Server Puzzle • Onion.7z - bit.ly/1juqeCj • File 0 / Hint.jpg • File 1 / Elements.jpg • File 2 / Algo.jpg • Dungeons of Daggorath • Again.7z / Space.mp4 - bit.ly/1rWkJl7 189 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7709137#msg7709137 190 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7709378#msg7709378 191 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7709217#msg7709217 192 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7709419#msg7709419 193 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7709644#msg7709644 194 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=683366.0 195 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7693023#msg7693023

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

• Crops.jpg • Wow.jpg List of solves: • Bitcoin Address in the Portrait: 1HXUobwcB19cGDrghuh42HDdJdJvrJUEra • Red/Green dots in the Portrait, read from top to bottom and from right to left tale hack evil yoke rode act nest noon time apex tilt trick ace catch key wish hash aim tech to hit echo youth dash one net oath tip set ether enti stop words Take the first letter of each word till stop words and you get: THEY CAN NOT ATTACK WHAT THEY DO NOT SEE. • “Search engine of your choice” the fuck out of that phrase and you will find the Minecraft wiki for the Enderman where OP left a picture • Lay the Enderman picture over the Portrait to get the code: otaCNrDIMnLith.byeTCraAB..Ft (1st dot is blue, other 2 are yellow) Remove Contra (top part of the picture) and BA (part of a cheatcode for the game Contra) to get bit.ly/mindthecraft • This leads you to an QR code → scan it → http://qr.w69b.com/mCPqjdJx6 where you find a binary code that converts to an IP address for a Minecraft server that is no longer online. IP: 54.201.109.162 • Find 4 quadrants of a QR hidden in Minecraft server → bit.ly/1juqeCj • Download file Onion.7z and extrat with bitcoin address (1HXUobwcB19cGDrghuh42HDdJdJvrJUEra as password) → File 0 • Strip repeating texture from hint.jpg, turn to cyan, image is from Tomb of Horrors D&D module. Password is sha256(sha256(Tomb of Horrors)) → File 1 • Elements.jpg shows dice as platonic solids, corresponding with 5 greek elements. Password is sha256(sha256(fireearthairetherwater)). → File 2 Shortcut! Hidden QR Code in Photoshop Thumbnail to leads directly to Again.7z • One of the words for what is shown on the Algo.jpg is Tetractys. Password is sha256(sha256(Tetractys)) → DoD • Some soundfiles were added with a spectrally encoded QR code. → http://qr.w69b.com/g/t2lFujr0I → Cory Doctorow quote and another link to Again.7z (bit.ly/1rWkJl7) • The videofile is padded with 2147129 extra bytes of data → extract → shift by 100 → hidden.7z. Password is based on the text shown in the video sha256(sha256(ODY55EY 8081-VA015)) • hidden.7z gives you Crops.jpg → compare against original image (http://kodczasu.pl/files/crabwood5 163.jpg) → inner rings have been modified → interpret as morsecode → 0=0A=10BABYA=36WOWDS196 → search wow alien to get Wow! Signal → intensity 6EQUJ5 → hidden 7z within crops.jpg, just rename to crops.jpg.7z password is → sha256(sha256(6EQUJ5)) • 196 D

– take the string z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P from Wow.jpg as the symbol for dogecoin, S might be O instead, at least thats what I got

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

– The ’zero’ is the letter O (upercase o); change the w to W because sadly OP made a misstake here to get the intended string: z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zeWEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P – use Base62 to decode 6EQUJ5 to the numbers 6,14,26,30,19,5 – Shift the string by the numbers above sequentially and you get: 5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kAe8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp the final private key.

5

My personal synopsis

This puzzle changed two weeks of my life. The first few days I did nothing but write down things from the picture and to search for patterns. I did this at home, at work, at the university, while I went from one place to another, on the floor of the subway, on the bus, everywhere. On day 1 I had an appointment to learn with someone. The first question that blurred out of my mouth when the door opened was: Would you like to earn money instead of learning today? I still had my running laptop in my hand. I thought I could crack the code within a day or maybe two. But even though I did nothing but read up codes and share failed attempts, we didnt get anywhere. On day 2 I asked the same question again, I canceled another learning appointment. This would result in a very rushed homework paper one week later. We spend the whole day to write Javacode that would represent the picture. 749 lines of code just to get the information out of the picture and ∼100 more lines to rotate it if needed. fields.add(new Field(FieldType.LETTER, FrontColor.GREEN, BackgroundColor.YELLOW, ’j’)); line after line after. We doublechecked, we tripplechecked. People came and contributed their interpretation of string. I will forever see s7ovY8tcakz as soviet cakes when I watch the picture. Days came and went, I worked, I slept, I ate, I took my kids to daycare, allways Cody and Amirs Portrait in my head. I remember one day I had to go to work, so I charged my laptop, told git to pull the latest Javacode and opened it in the subway. But that was not what we talked about. No changes. So I send a message to my friend: did you push? Answer: Done. My mind: FUCK, I am on my way to work it will be a slow day because everyone else is watching football and I dont have the code I need. I should probably say that the security at the place I work is very strict. So I though I had no way to get the code, when I realized the phone in my hand. No cable though, but maybe I can use it as hotspot. A few seconds later I had the slowest pull of code in my life. It was a very slow day at work. I was able to get several 100 possible keys. Sadly none was correct. While the first days I allways was sure I was close, the first week I allways felt the next step is near. I was never frustrated. I was tired, I woke up at night to test something I came up with while I slept, I was absent, yet never frustrated. And I get easily frustrated, espcially when supporting Windows. Well, maybe thats Windows fault, not mine ;) I learned plenty new ways to encrypt something. I used a QR code for the first time in my life. I dont think I will use those more often in the future though. I still cant get over the idea that it feeds data I cant check into my phone. I realized that I have a deep trust in the good of humans, while this makes me naive sometimes and even can throw me off the track I understand this better now. The picture, this riddle, this journey was a mirror for me. What I do not know is how I would have handled the victory. It was discussed early on and I posted that Id share with everyone that contributed, take 2 shares for myself and 2 shares for OP or another artist. Yet when I saw the list of contributors197 I did a quick calculation in my head. I want to make this calculation again, in detail: 197 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7729671#msg7729671

· ARG Puzzle · 3.5 BTC private key price · effective: 06.07.2014 22:00 ·

Individual contributors excluding myself, according to this list: S4VV4S, moinen, mirth23, codenomnom, mtgox555, micaman, Gatekeeper, newuser01, Yemmster, Timmmaahh, arg, arg-sidekick, Prospero, protokol, tsoPANos, Voyager, alphabetacanary, xELx. 18 people, so a total of 22 shares. 3.5BTC ≈ 0.16 per share. Would I have done this? Or would I have taken the coins and buy a new 22 machine, buy nice dinner for my family? I dont know. Would you have shared it, with strangers you met online?