So... It's my birthday today, which of course means I have to give you folks some presents. But as I'm a grumpy old sod, you'll have to work for it.

That's right, it's puzzle time.

The Puzzle

There are 3 giveaways to be found with contributor values ranging from $0.99 to $14.99. They end on Saturday 20th, 13:00 GMT.

It shouldn't be too difficult as long as you figure out where to channel your attention.


Solution

The puzzle link leads you to a picture that is 5 pixels wide (the height was irrelevant, I just made it 100 so people could actually see it), consisting of coloured bars down the length of each of the 5 pixels.

This is the only part that might trip up new members to the site as it should indicate to anyone who knows the usual puzzle format here, that this will probably somehow map to the 5 character code found in a giveaway URL.

The next couple of hints were that there are 3 giveaways and a veiled mention of the word 'channel', referring to the colour channels of the image. These were designed to direct your attention to both the colour values of the pixels and more specifically the individual red, green and blue channels.

The next step you had to work out entirely alone, except for my very obscure hint near the end in reply to a comment requesting hints: "A secret chant is involved", which has the acronym ASCII. So here you were supposed to work out that you now have a 3 rows of 5 colour values, one for each RGB channel, and you want to have 3 sets of 5 characters for the giveaway codes. It is as simple as taking the decimal values you find for each pixel (or hexadecimal or any other equivalent numerical representation, though I only tested standard base 10), easily discovered using colour picking tools in such programs as MSPaint or GIMP, translating them into ASCII characters, and arranging them by channel.

The red channel would lead you to: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/uPcyA
The green channel to: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/iwVOt
And the blue channel: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/u5Eut

Congratulations to all solvers and the giveaway winners.

12 years ago*

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Oh yes, I also have a couple of beta gifts for Airmech. So I'll add the first two people to reply to this comment saying they want one and give it to them.

Edit: All gone!

12 years ago
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I'd really like one please!

12 years ago
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id like one

12 years ago
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Happy Birthday!

and I need hints >.<

12 years ago
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Happy Birthday! Sadly I don't think I can solve the puzzle, but I'll keep trying (For a while)

I'd appreciate if you could tell me if I already have all of the games? :3

12 years ago
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Looks like you do indeed have all the games.

12 years ago
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That's awesome :D

12 years ago
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It's just that time of a year when I'm freaking busy with discourse analysis.

12 years ago
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Just looked 'discourse analysis' up on Wikipedia. What manner of dark wizardry is this?! O_O

12 years ago
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I've been asking myself that question for quite some time now and have to say: no answer :(

12 years ago
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Happy belated birthday. Nice puzzle too.

12 years ago
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Happy birthday, Moo. I had a little something more than well-wishing in mind, but that kind of got spoiled. Have a good one, nonetheless!

12 years ago
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Do I have any of the games?

12 years ago
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I think you are missing the $14.99 contributor one.

12 years ago
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Yeah, if you're telling people whether or not they have the games, that'd be great :)

Cause I'm driving myself crazy with this one!

12 years ago
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Same as above. Seems you are missing the $14.99 contributor one.

12 years ago
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Solved. Nice puzzle, thanks and happy birthday Moo!
Bump and need more souls... :P

12 years ago
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Gaaaaaaaaawh so close to solving but ... not really :P Can you please tell me if I have any of the games from your giveaway? :D

Happy Birthday, EvilMoo! (mooahahaha!)

12 years ago
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You actually have none of the games from what I can see.

12 years ago
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Damn, must solve puzzle!!!

12 years ago
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rainbowz

12 years ago
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do I have any of those games?

12 years ago
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You don't have all of them.

12 years ago
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Do I have to think about the puzzle as an IMAGE or as a FILE? :->

12 years ago
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I love it! Great puzzle.

12 years ago
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happy late birthday! :P

12 years ago
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can't solve, can u tell me if i own any game?

12 years ago
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You already own all the games.

12 years ago
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Can you let me know if I have the games?

12 years ago
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You have them all too.

12 years ago
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So let me ask too: do I have any of the games? :3 ♥~~

12 years ago
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You own them all.

12 years ago
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Uff, thank you ^^ So I'll just wait to see the solution to this sneaky giveaway :D

12 years ago
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Do I have any of them? Also I wish I joined SG sooner, much sooner, can't really figure this one out.

12 years ago
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Doesn't look like you have any of them.

12 years ago
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Okay, must try harder!

EDIT: Ah I forgot to wish you Happy B-Day EvilMoo, so Happy B-Day!

12 years ago
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Oh, Moo, you are evil indeed you old sod! There was a long comment here about something something but it was deleted. Was that a hint? :D

12 years ago
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Explain that "something something" please, I'm just kidding :P

12 years ago
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_>

<_<

I saw nothing!

12 years ago
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_>
<_<
You saw nothing!

12 years ago
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_>

<_<

I saw nothing!

12 years ago
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Actually saw something but probably understood nothing :(

12 years ago
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I think I'm too fresh on SG to figure this one out, I'll have to wait to see hits/solution :<

12 years ago
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you stop! :'< dang, evil moo

12 years ago
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I think i figured it out, im still new to this site so how do i contact you with the answer?

12 years ago
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The answer should lead you to the giveaway pages, no need to contact me.

12 years ago
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hmm

12 years ago
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Sorry, I'm sure you're sick of doing this, but could you please tell me if I have any of the games of you have time? It'd be greatly appreciated. I doubt I have any, but just to check. Cheers Mr. Moo!

12 years ago
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No problem, though I am starting to think I should just say what the games are next time. :P
Despite your doubts it seems that you have all of them.

12 years ago
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Shpankyou!

12 years ago
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About 19 hours remaining...

12 years ago
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Hints! :D

12 years ago
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A secret chant is involved.

12 years ago
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Finished! Solution posted.

12 years ago
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I knew what you were hinting at as soon as I saw the "channel" hint and I was doing colour picking in Photoshop, but had absolutely no idea how to convert that into a 5 character giveaway code.

Dammit, I'd have liked to have Portal 2 as well. Veeerry clever puzzle.

Oh well, happy (late) birthday! :)

12 years ago
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Closed 12 years ago by EvilMoo.