Hi again, Fellows! :)

A couple of days ago I was looking for something on the internet and, as pretty often happens, I ended up reading of a completely different subject.
A journey that started probably in the ancient Greece, passing through Caesar and Vigenère, and led me to ENIGMA.

And so, this very idea was born.

Thus I decided to do this ONE-TIME experiment 1st, to know if I can re-use it in the future.

You have about 9 days to, hopefully, give me some feedback on the difficulty level.
Everyone can try. Again, everyone. For sure, noone is excluded.
Of course there's a bundled game waiting for you at the end, so don't quit if you don't succeed at first :)

So here we go, hope you have fun solving it.

Check the remaining time here


HINT TIME!

First of all, if you have absolutely no idea of what's going on here, take a look at zelghadis magic guide to basic sg puzzling, it will help you find something in this message (only above the line) that will take you to somewhere in/on the internet.
After you solve the first step, you should have something that makes no sense to you - but worry not! you don't have to do any hard cracking or similar.. look at the image it's almost impossible to do by hand but you have a computer in front of you, use it!
I'd say a 3rd part software is required (once you find that something, their extensions should clearly tell you which type of software you need) but almost all the solvers so far did it another way (read: by accident) so I won't say that =P


SOLUTION

I've been requested to post the solution, so here it is.

  • Hidden in the post there are two codes, one obtained from all the characters in italic and the other one from those in bold.
  • Those code do not lead to ItsTooHard as many of you thought but to imgur. So not itstoohard.com/puzzle/code-here but http://imgur.com/code-here.
    zelghadis' magic guide says that not every code is for ITH and also mention imgur as an alternative; I've given even bolder hints for this in the comments below.
  • Those links give you two images. Both work only when together, can't be used on their own.
    This was the real experiment, as I had taken for grant that people knew what to do with the codes.
    The ancient Greece, Caesar, Vigenère and ENIGMA were hints about what to do to crack it and so was the word στεγανός, which reads "steganos", can be translated with "covered/hidden" and it's the first part of the word "steganography".
    Another hint was the image itself, which shows two parts merging in one.
  • Open both images into a graphic editor as layers, put one onto the other and select an option to see through the top layer.
    I thought this was a required step but, as already stated, many players solved it "by accident", like having both images open and quickly switching between them. So you could do it even without external program (btw, there's GIMP which is free, and some even solved it with Paint).
    Or you could have printed both images on transparent sheets to see the results =P
  • The mix shows the 5 chars needed to land you on the GA's page: steamgifts.com/giveaway/code-here

tl;dr

  • Find imgur codes
  • Get images
  • Mix them
  • Get GA code
  • ???
  • Profit!
View attached image.
8 years ago*

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Need hints?

8 years ago
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I need answers. xD

8 years ago
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everyone does =P

maybe looking at zelghadis magic guide to basic sg puzzling could give you some. ;)

8 years ago
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HINT TIME!

First of all, if you have absolutely no idea of what's going on here, take a look at zelghadis magic guide to basic sg puzzling, it will help you find something in the text above that will take you to somewhere in/on the internet.
After you solve the first step, you should have something that makes no sense to you - but worry not! you don't have to do any hard cracking or similar.. look at the image it's almost impossible to do by hand but you have a computer in front of you, use it!
I'd say a 3rd part software is required (once you find that something, their extensions should clearly tell you which type of software you need) but almost all the solvers so far did it another way (read: by accident) so I won't say that =P

View attached image.
8 years ago
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Smells like decoding.
I hate decoding.
Thanks for a try.

8 years ago
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Well, more or less..
Not hard as it sound, ihmo.

Thanks for passing by :)

8 years ago
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Tried, failed.

8 years ago
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I don't know if this method has already been used, that's why I'm testing.
Obviously there are already a couple of hints in the post but I don't know if they'll be enough.

8 years ago
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Posted the solution.

mandrill told me that you made a similar puzzle a while ago, so it would have been easy for you :(

8 years ago
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There is no finishing without a start :P
I never got to the images, otherwise yea, I would have known what to do :)
Maybe next time when it's clearer to me where to begin :)

8 years ago
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I assumed everyone would think of imgur, as I keep seeing more and more puzzles with images hosted there.

Big miscalculation of mine -_-
Well, I'll keep that in mind next time..

8 years ago
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Yea, it's also the most overlooked thing :)
People try SG, ITH, sometimes venture to pastebin and then they move one to different tactics. I used big hints to imgur in mine to make sure they got there. And as you see, I knew that and still forgot to check imgur myself...shame on me :P

8 years ago
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lol :D our brain is strange =P

8 years ago
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Can i check my answer?

8 years ago
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Hi :)
There's no need to check them. Once you solve the puzzle you get the code to access the giveaway.

If you are new to the puzzles on the forum, have a look at zelghadis magic guide to basic sg puzzling ;)

8 years ago
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I have a guess.
Where to answer?

8 years ago
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If you have solved it, you have now a code that links you to the giveaway, just http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/put-code-here/

If you are new to the puzzles on the forum, have a look at zelghadis magic guide to basic sg puzzling, it can surely explain things better than me :)

8 years ago
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I thought it is really a quiz.
And I was going to say cypher :)
Now I understand what it is about.
Unfortunatelly my link is not correct. :(

8 years ago
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I started checking princeples of enigma.
They have wheels and i thought 9 in the beginning might have something to do with it.
Problem is it has more wheels than 9 but when you also count ETW, and UKW, wheels.
Am I on the right track?

8 years ago
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It's not that difficult.
Let's say those (ENIGMA &co.) are exmples I put there to let you know what the "field" of the puzzle is.

That guide I've linked before could give you an hint on what to search and how to use it.
After you "solve" this first part you'll get something that will give you the code, once cracked (this is what I'm testing: if this last step is doable.. oh, and someone alredy managed to arrive to the GA, so it's possible) :)

8 years ago
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Looking for test subjects :)

8 years ago
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Bump!

8 years ago
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got ¼0ÒN»7 so i think i'm in the right way. lol
im going gamming, thanks for the chance

8 years ago
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I can't say if you're doing right.
I'd say no but maybe you're going there via another way. Try a bit more, I'll add some hints starting tomorrow I think :)

8 years ago
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Bump for solved! :P

8 years ago
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Tried it.
Found 7 isn't a useful number, not even twice.
Tried not to cry...

8 years ago
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well, it can be.. maybe the zelghadis magic guide to basic sg puzzling could tell you how.. ;)

8 years ago
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I did look at that and used various decoding methods. Generally they don't change the number of characters though, which means it doesn't match up with the amount of characters for ITH or a GA

and fried chicken. Because chicken. And because fried.

8 years ago
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The "decoding" arrives only after you have something you found thanks to this thread..
except it's not hard decoding, just an easier version :)

8 years ago
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Same thing, either 7 or 10 letters. I suppose those 7 are from ITH ID and I have to figure out the last, but I'm kinda lazy to bruteforce it.

8 years ago
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you know, in this forum are being given links not only/exclusively leading to ITH..

8 years ago
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Experiment not completed, search for hints.

8 years ago
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some basic hints can be found in the zelghadis magic guide to basic sg puzzling.. more coming later ;)

8 years ago
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Bump for solved. Nicely done :P

8 years ago
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Too hard for me. Bump

8 years ago
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Some hints have been added. Both in the main post and in aswers.. maybe you can do it now ;)

8 years ago
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Bump

8 years ago
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Hmm. Bump!
Nice puzzle.

8 years ago
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Bump for solved!

8 years ago
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bump for solved.

8 years ago
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Choose one!

View attached image.
8 years ago
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hmm, think I'll go with right one =P

8 years ago
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bump for solved. :D

8 years ago
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for me the intro is to hard :(

  • the first try i find only 7 letters F....instead of 8 --> thought it could lead to ITH
  • the second try i find also 7 letters 9..... instead of 5 --> so also no steamgift link
  • also i found the hint with caesar - but with no idea what to do with it
8 years ago*
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Not all roads lead to ITH =P

imagination: use your

View attached image.
8 years ago
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i used my brain but cant find any other logical code :)

8 years ago
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imagine your .com/

View attached image.
View attached image.
8 years ago
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Okay - thanks - found part 1
But i dont have any expensive photo-program to get further

8 years ago
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It's not required, most of solvers solved it without.
Anyway, you could always use GIMP, which is free. Heck, a solver even told me he solved it with Paint! :)

8 years ago
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Ups - it would be kind if a solution would be posted after end.
I use "harrys filter in irfanveiw" but cant find anything
Now i have tryed gimp - but i´m not using this program normaly so i dont know what to do

8 years ago*
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Ok then, I'll post the solution once it ends :)

8 years ago
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Solution posted ^_^

8 years ago
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bump for solved

8 years ago
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bump

View attached image.
8 years ago
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does the fusion dance

8 years ago
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welp sorry but im not getting it T-T

8 years ago
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I see you're pretty new here. First of all, welcome ^_^

Hidden giveaways are a common thing here in the forum, so you should totally check zelghadis magic guide to basic sg puzzling, since it gives you many hints on how find them :)

Also, other than the hints I've given in the main post, there are others given as answers to other users in this thread :)

8 years ago
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Im sorry, I did, I tried and I failed.
But thx for the warm welcome

8 years ago
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Posted the solution, if you're interested.
Don't worry, it'll get better in time, as you face more and more puzzles ;)

8 years ago
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Experiment successful

8 years ago
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Closed 7 years ago by malabagaa.