ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize, Game Over

[mirth23]

Going way back here.... I never understood how the clue 'Contra' related the link [Suspicious link removed]/mindthecraft  , can someone explain that one to me or is Contra still a clue?

I think we short-circuited the solution of that one. The solver said something like "I removed the yellow letters and dots and then figured out an anagram." It's been the only unsatisfying step of the puzzle, IMO.

edit: Here's a guess. The famous konami cheat code (used in the game Contra) is a directional sequence followed by B-A. The letters that the solver removed are B and A. So that might have been the idea behind the Contra clue.

What about the minecraft riddle? Did it get solved?

We found the QR code inside the minecraft server. Not sure if there was any sort of used solution to the clue/riddle that OP had posted.

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[jc01480]

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[davida]

Ah ok... The riddle was also removed from the OP so I'd assume it was solved or no longer needed too!  I guess we will just have to live with no clues until tomorrow!  

Looking at the bridge theory it is pretty clear you are on to something.  

I was thinking the only way you could get that curved stone arch (the bit that looks like a smile) to appear above the two smaller arches and the correct way up is if you have printed the image on both sides of a sheet of paper and fold it in a specific way.   Maybe someone wants to play with that idea.



EDIT: Same poster also mentioned stone henge.. I had also thought about this.  Stone henge has some significance with summer/winter solstice, ie longest/shortest day of the year... and as someone else already pointed out, week 51, day 7 is 21st December which could be what the 7:51 signifies .

[e1ghtSpace]

I think this is a stereogram.

I saw how the background repeated so I assumed it was a stereogram. I can't see a 3D image though, only a flat wall. But, I think the blue face spells out something.

It looks like 2919 or something. Actually, the eyes look a bit like two two's.

Almost half off topic: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cjXmoPGH2uo/T1eRegLPAMI/AAAAAAAAFcw/nK26hAVL8Yo/s655/mona-lisa-ponte-buriano.jpg

[davellolzz]

Update 6/28:

Do not rely solely on Users for solves, double check solves for user errors: #checkuser404

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"

Update 6/29

- Message decoder has been discovered.

Moving forward: old blockchain hints are no longer relevant.

Update 6/30

- Contra code has been solved.

- IP address has been discovered.

- Server has been accessed.

- MC QR code challenge has been solved.

- "Onion.7z" has been discovered and unlocked.

7/1

New hint will be released within 24 hrs

Wow! that was a huge price. But its so hard just like other promos out there.
Btw good luck to all of you guys.

[davida]

I think this is a stereogram.
I saw how the background repeated so I assumed it was a stereogram. I can't see a 3D image though, only a flat wall. But, I think the blue face spells out something.
It looks like 2919 or something. Actually, the eyes look a bit like two two's.

I'm not so sure about the stereogram idea.  The fact that a full image was behind the pattern would suggest to me that it couldn't be a stereogram (also i did just try crossing my eyes at it and nothing stood out) The overlaid pattern image seems to repeat itself perfectly so I would assume it is just the same image tiled..


EDIT:  I rotated the image on it's side then ran it through http://magiceye.ecksdee.co.uk/  ... So, although it doesn't show anything 3d it did actually reveal the background image.  idk what to make of it!

EDIT 2: thinking about it more, if this was just a tiled pattern this stereograph solver would just completely remove the noise when it is doubled up as it has done.... So i'm still pretty sure it isnt a stereogram image.

Here is the outputted image. http://imgur.com/aXUBeFr

[alphabetacanary]

If you flip the image (unmodified) horizontally, you can see there are two or three rows of what look like letters and numbers.

To me, the top row looks like B 5 B 5 B 5 B (or maybe B 3 B 3 B 3 B)

I can't make out what the next two (or one) are.  

Anyone else see this?

[jc01480]

Just out of dumb curiosity, what time is "tea" time in the UK?  I can't help but think of the damn cat staring at the "clock" (time) and I can't move beyond it.

[Mister S]

Pixel by pixel analysis of the Hint image shows only one oddball. pixel 11 down, 29 across, is red. No other pixel in this image matches that color.

Other than that. I'm like a tree cut down. Stumped.

[alphabetacanary]

Hmmm...If you shift characters in 'bit' back one position and reverse, you get 'sha'.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
 1      2          3
6      5          4 

[mirth23]

Nothing new, but more tips for image fun:

The tiled background is 200x200. Create a duplicate layer then making it a "difference" with the underlying layer. shift it sideways or vertically by 200 px at a time, and you'll see some interesting stuff, all of which has already been posted here. zzzz.

Hmmm...If you shift characters in 'bit' back one position and reverse, you get 'sha'.

huh, cool!

[S4VV4S]

IMHO this means OP concluded she messed-up something, probably being slightly vague with 'Hint.jpg'. I think we concluded too few things from the 'Bit Sha' phrase and she is going to give us some hint what does it refer to. Actually, we concluded 0 things from it, with everybody concentrating on the 7:51 part. My gut feeling it has something to do with cryptography. If you look at the retrospect we had used no knowledge of cryptography, which is a bit odd for a Bitcoin-related puzzle.

I don't think OP messed anything up.

I will agree with this.

Maybe she thought it was easy enough for us to find so didn't give more clues, so now she has to think of something...

[S4VV4S]

Hmmm...If you shift characters in 'bit' back one position and reverse, you get 'sha'.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
 1      2          3
6      5          4 

Nice catch!

[S4VV4S]

Guys the OP said: Moving forward: old blockchain hints are no longer relevant.

She never said the original start point is no longer relevant.

EDIT: What do you know.... 7 is the 7th square.....
Also, second row the 5 is followed by 1 after the dots.

[Kprawn]

Ok.. Back, I had 4 hours sleep. 

"shared start point" - Has that been used? If not, my interpretation is, that we have 1 point where it starts, but it's branches off to different things, which will come together at the end.

So we might be following one path, but there might be more than one path, coming together at the end?

Does that make sense?

[S4VV4S]

Ok.. Back, I had 4 hours sleep.  

"shared start point" - Has that been used? If not, my interpretation is, that we have 1 point where it starts, but it's branches off to different things, which will come together at the end.

So we might be following one path, but there might be more than one path, coming together at the end?

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

And I have followed the 51st square after the 7 and ended up on 2.
2 guys in the picture,
2 words in the new hint,
2 numbers, 7 and 51....

Could be irrelevant though

[jc01480]

Hmmm...If you shift characters in 'bit' back one position and reverse, you get 'sha'.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
 1      2          3
6      5          4 

Very interesting.  Could provide some meaning to the 7:51 if you take the alphabet and go forward, then backward again (52 characters total).

Abcdefghijknopqrstuvwxyzzyxwvutsrqponkjihgfedcba
  1         2           3                       4           5         6
       7(g)                                                      :51(b)

Anyone see anything special.  I'm braindead, as if other posts weren't clear enough.  Lol
  
1g2345b6 hash it first, if not try it as is.

Then maybe take characters 7 through 51 as a hash?

Someone wanna try that?  I'm on the mobile leash tonite.

[S4VV4S]

Hmmm...If you shift characters in 'bit' back one position and reverse, you get 'sha'.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
 1      2          3
6      5          4 

Very interesting.  Could provide some meaning to the 7:51 if you take the alphabet and go forward, then backward again (52 characters total).

Abcdefghijknopqrstuvwxyzzyxwvutsrqponkjihgfedcba
  1         2           3                       4           5         6
       7(g)                                                      :51(b)

Anyone see anything special.  I'm braindead, as if other posts weren't clear enough.  Lol
  
1g2345b6

Someone wanna try that?  I'm on the mobile leash tonite.

Converted to SHA-256 didn't work as the pass 

[Coinkle]

should we be looking at multisig options?

lookin forward to seeing the progress after what I hope is a good nights sleep. but this fever isn't helping.
Good night from California.
12:18pm

[S4VV4S]

should we be looking at multisig options?

Right now we should be looking for the password to the next clue I think