ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize, Game Over

[ooxtcoo]

Well I hope one of the savants at Unfiction solved it as punishment for this not being a real ARG (they said that when I linked this topic in #unfiction). I look forward to the next bullshit bitcoin "game" that nobody but savants can solve.

gatekeeper solved it! (thats what everyone says)

[Izerian]

Yes, but we've had the explicit information to NOT brute force it.

I don't remember seeing explicit OP info not to, just a post or two about a general rule. I stopped myself a few times because of those postings... error on my part

Actually she did. The OP posted a picture that said "DO NOT BRUTE FORCE" as one of the rules of the ARG so it's pretty insufferable to make brute forcing one of the key goals of a task.

Ahh thanks. I saw this a few days late.

[TheButterZone]

Remember, non-savants, whenever you play a bitcoin "game"...
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=the+cake+is+a+lie

[mirth23]

It makes no sense to fucking anybody that wasn't force fed the solution by the OP.

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

Code:

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

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

Code:

z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1ze[W]EeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P

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

Code:

5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kAe8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp

...

Well that's an underwhelming solution.

IMO, OP made an error in the string then fixed it with hints. There was nothing in the puzzle to indicate that we should make that one letter uppercase. I was expecting an error might to happen during a step or two along the way due to complexity of some of the puzzles... but for us to get an error in the string that led to the private key? Wow indeed.

Several of us would have had this within an hour of it being posted if it had been correct. I used the correct cypher shifts (and a lot of wrong ones), I just didn't magically intuit to make one letter upper case.

All that said, I had a lot of fun during most of the run. It's had its ups and downs, but mostly ups.

See you on the flip side.

[alphabetacanary]

Well that's an underwhelming solution.

IMO, OP made an error in the string then fixed it with hints. There was nothing in the puzzle to indicate that we should make that one letter uppercase. I was expecting an error might to happen during a step or two along the way due to complexity of some of the puzzles... but for us to get an error in the string that led to the private key? Wow indeed.

Several of us would have had this within an hour of it being posted if it had been correct. I used the correct cypher shifts (and a lot of wrong ones), I just didn't magically intuit to make one letter upper case.

All that said, I had a lot of fun during most of the run. It's had its ups and downs, but mostly ups.

See you on the flip side.

I agree.  It looks like an error to me.  I think the puzzle should be solvable without the lowercase to uppercase clue.  In any case, we can all sleep now.

[Mister S]

Well for those of us who worked day and night, whether we unlocked something or not.


In case of generosity, Break Glass [ 1FfgWkzXHiCJ7k6HxuzK7Uu85PX3WThPFV ]

[TheButterZone]

Now that this is over I wanted to remind people that there's a treasure hunt at mathgate.info:
http://mathgate.info/treasurehunt.php
There are a lot of treasures ranging from 1 mbit to 1 bitcoin, so it's less winner-take-all.

I know a lot of people worked very hard on this puzzle and are disappointed that they didn't get the treasure, or even part of it. I thought of a way to alleviate this a little while also helping me out with a little market research as well.

It's clear to me from this monster thread that the idea of a treasure hunt that leads to a bitcoin private key can be a popular idea. This is also what's happening at mathgate.info, but the "search" simply involves finding a certain formal mathematical proof. I'm happy for the OP that her treasure hunt went so well, but I'm wondering why there's not more action in the mathgate.info treasure hunt. It seems to me that you are the people to ask.

I have 0.4 bitcoins to give away. The first 4 users who have at least 3 posts in this thread will get 0.1 bitcoins if you post a reason that you are not taking part in the mathgate.info treasure hunt. (If you are taking part in the mathgate.info treasure hunt, then you've probably already found 0.1 bitcoins there anyway.) I'll skip responses that are clearly intended as jokes. It's the first 4 users with reasonable responses that will get 0.1 bitcoins each.

Not taking part because...

A child psychologist said I had a "genius" IQ when I was in elementary school (according to my mom; I have partial childhood amnesia), but I could not hack honors maths in middle school despite having spent the previous grade in GATE. After getting my only non-A up til then because of honors, I transferred to "regular math" second semester and stayed there until I graduated HS a year early (independent study) with 3.85 GPA. Was it the teacher? Despite him transferring to an alternative education school in the district the next year, I doubt it was his teaching style entirely; at least some of my peers got As, IIRC, and they weren't savants. My final independent study teacher specialized in math, and very patiently tutored me so I could legitimately score As (while other subjects required little to no discussion).

I opted out of any college degrees (with concomitant general ed requirements) in favor of certification, in part because I can't hack the most low-level college maths.

I took an online IQ test when I was in high school and got 126 (according to my saved text file from back then), but when it comes to maths, I feel retarded.

[xELx]

Now that this is over I wanted to remind people that there's a treasure hunt at mathgate.info:
http://mathgate.info/treasurehunt.php
There are a lot of treasures ranging from 1 mbit to 1 bitcoin, so it's less winner-take-all.

I know a lot of people worked very hard on this puzzle and are disappointed that they didn't get the treasure, or even part of it. I thought of a way to alleviate this a little while also helping me out with a little market research as well.

It's clear to me from this monster thread that the idea of a treasure hunt that leads to a bitcoin private key can be a popular idea. This is also what's happening at mathgate.info, but the "search" simply involves finding a certain formal mathematical proof. I'm happy for the OP that her treasure hunt went so well, but I'm wondering why there's not more action in the mathgate.info treasure hunt. It seems to me that you are the people to ask.

I have 0.4 bitcoins to give away. The first 4 users who have at least 3 posts in this thread will get 0.1 bitcoins if you post a reason that you are not taking part in the mathgate.info treasure hunt. (If you are taking part in the mathgate.info treasure hunt, then you've probably already found 0.1 bitcoins there anyway.) I'll skip responses that are clearly intended as jokes. It's the first 4 users with reasonable responses that will get 0.1 bitcoins each.

I find the website in general isn't that well designed. It's difficult on my eyes to properly read the large amount of text displayed without them feeling strained due to how everything is formatted. Having yellow as a background doesn't help either. Navigating it properly as well isn't that easy either .

[pongo]

I'm not taking part because the math lingo is too intimidating.

address: 187dAwrLyuaoVHG7aTk6zjNRi3f8xVMH2j

[erikforfreedom]

Now that this is over I wanted to remind people that there's a treasure hunt at mathgate.info:
http://mathgate.info/treasurehunt.php
There are a lot of treasures ranging from 1 mbit to 1 bitcoin, so it's less winner-take-all.

I know a lot of people worked very hard on this puzzle and are disappointed that they didn't get the treasure, or even part of it. I thought of a way to alleviate this a little while also helping me out with a little market research as well.

It's clear to me from this monster thread that the idea of a treasure hunt that leads to a bitcoin private key can be a popular idea. This is also what's happening at mathgate.info, but the "search" simply involves finding a certain formal mathematical proof. I'm happy for the OP that her treasure hunt went so well, but I'm wondering why there's not more action in the mathgate.info treasure hunt. It seems to me that you are the people to ask.

I have 0.4 bitcoins to give away. The first 4 users who have at least 3 posts in this thread will get 0.1 bitcoins if you post a reason that you are not taking part in the mathgate.info treasure hunt. (If you are taking part in the mathgate.info treasure hunt, then you've probably already found 0.1 bitcoins there anyway.) I'll skip responses that are clearly intended as jokes. It's the first 4 users with reasonable responses that will get 0.1 bitcoins each.

I generally enjoy the mathematical problems, but the site is just a pain to navigate through. It gives me a bad impression.

-erik

[arg-sidekick]

I have 0.4 bitcoins to give away. The first 4 users who have at least 3 posts in this thread will get 0.1 bitcoins if you post a reason that you are not taking part in the mathgate.info treasure hunt. (If you are taking part in the mathgate.info treasure hunt, then you've probably already found 0.1 bitcoins there anyway.) I'll skip responses that are clearly intended as jokes. It's the first 4 users with reasonable responses that will get 0.1 bitcoins each.

I'm not taking part because I wasn't aware of it, nor do I have the energy at 4am to do anything other than say blerg. Blerg.

I had a lot of fun here. And I do enjoy thought experiments

Time to move on and get some sleep!

[cryptozim]

Now that this is over I wanted to remind people that there's a treasure hunt at mathgate.info:
http://mathgate.info/treasurehunt.php
There are a lot of treasures ranging from 1 mbit to 1 bitcoin, so it's less winner-take-all.

I know a lot of people worked very hard on this puzzle and are disappointed that they didn't get the treasure, or even part of it. I thought of a way to alleviate this a little while also helping me out with a little market research as well.

It's clear to me from this monster thread that the idea of a treasure hunt that leads to a bitcoin private key can be a popular idea. This is also what's happening at mathgate.info, but the "search" simply involves finding a certain formal mathematical proof. I'm happy for the OP that her treasure hunt went so well, but I'm wondering why there's not more action in the mathgate.info treasure hunt. It seems to me that you are the people to ask.

I have 0.4 bitcoins to give away. The first 4 users who have at least 3 posts in this thread will get 0.1 bitcoins if you post a reason that you are not taking part in the mathgate.info treasure hunt. (If you are taking part in the mathgate.info treasure hunt, then you've probably already found 0.1 bitcoins there anyway.) I'll skip responses that are clearly intended as jokes. It's the first 4 users with reasonable responses that will get 0.1 bitcoins each.

I am not taking part because I was unaware that it was happening.

Edit: I clicked on the link and my eyes exploded. Add that to the list of reasons I'm not participating.

[Timmmaahh]

gg awesome game

congratz to Gatekeeper.

any sharings appreciated

1MxQX4MsF3N3oGpawfgM72K5vzEPeLjTyR

had a lot of fun but need sleep now

[erikforfreedom]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

@gadsden76 and @erikforfreedom: I didn't see a bitcoin address for you.

here it is, oops 14zFKyXoK6bCAtSqz4eBQ7sFMSVGpqTVcq

[rgm108]

lol.
The answer was 'fairly' simple afterall 

Well done to all from the very start and thank you very much for what I've learned along the way.

I do have one small request for OP though. Would you be so kind as to give a short summary of how you thought up all of this with the steps taken? This is just for my own sanity but not a must have.

.
.
.

Congrats Gatekeeper. hodl, spend, treat it well

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

Thanks again for the comments everyone. The 0.1 payouts are done now, so any more comments about mathgate.info will be for free.  

It is good to have gotten this feedback. We'll make use of it.

Perfect. We are in 2014, your layout looks like it was done in 1999, no joke there. There are dozens of free templates out there(that could kill a Core2Duo). Honestly, the website is painful to look at.

[Mitchell]

Well, congrats to the one that solved it. I hope you are happy with a little bit extra BTC for your huge shitpile.

[dagi]

Gatekeeper congratulation!!!

[Swordsoffreedom]

Wow this thread went intense
Also its amazing that someone well technically a whole army worked together to solve this puzzle congrats all around and especially to Gatekeeper

[Kprawn]

WoW - Congratulations Gatekeeper and all the people who helped in solving the puzzle.

It was a incredible journey, with 3 days without sleep. This is my first time doing this, and I found it very rewarding.

I HAVE never done so much speed reading in my whole life. I must admit, at times, I felt like giving up, and going to sleep.

Even my kids got into the action at one stage. {Minecraft} Giving tips and inputs.

Thank you to OP for creating a great puzzle, just a pity, the team could not be rewarded. {Mby in the next puzzle}

Looking forward to the next one.

If you want to donate, drop it in here --->  19k8q8SdW8KSiuBDY3PnY8J9HccHoVa6ET