Flash Train: You have till midnight PST.... Today!
Prizes: Lots of bundle stuff
GAs Start: 6:00 am PST
GAs End: 11:59 pm PST
Clues: There is no "fifth"
Rules: No working together, please.
Difficulty: Beginning Intermediate
Note: I am putting this together a little rushed. I promise I'll make a real challenge later.



Hey, So I have no real reason to run this train. Besides accidentally hitting level 3.

Easier than expected. I didn't really mean to. I just kinda ran a train for my birthday, and looked up and there it was.

Xolani! Anyways, things you need to know... I think the train costs 64 points... no wait... it has 142 points. 16 cars!


Solution

You needed to view the source of the post. Doing so, would reveal four sets of encoded characters.

2466254333667144 - mIgNT
IZXXK4TUNA - gNmU=
5468697264 - UgNzI
0100011001101001011100100111001101110100 - NzIgN

Apparently plenty of people tried to use the 5 character sets as giveaways links. Yet another bit of misdirection.

The first set of each one, told you what position the second set of characters belonged in.

For example:

2466254333667144 Oct Decode to Second Paired Set: mIgNT
IZXXK4TUNA Base32 Decode to Fourth Paired Set: gNmU=
5468697264 Hex Decode to Third Paired Set: UgNzI
0100011001101001011100100111001101110100 Bin Decodes to First Paired Set: NzIgN

This confused many a soul, as they were sure I had hidden a "Fifth" somewhere but couldn't find it.
In fact, that was just a bit of misdirection. There was no Fifth set. Interesting fact, if you're familiar with Xlate, I used the First type of encryption on the first half of the first set. I used the second type of encryption on the first half of the second set, etc.

Next, you needed to arrange the paired sets according to the key.

NzIgN
mIgNT
UgNzI
gNmU=

or

NzIgNmIgNTUgNzIgNmU=

Now what to do with this mess? Decode it according to the NEXT encryption method on Xlate... Base64
I even gave a hint to this, by saying the train would cost 64 points, no 142...
Further, another way you could have figured it out, was through the ending character in the set being =.
Apparently a dead giveaway for Base64, but hey, I didn't know that, but now that I do... I might use it in the future.

Decoding this would give you: 72 6b 55 72 6e

Typically this is what Hex Looks like, but who knows, you could have gotten it wrong...
But I purposely started the first three and only three sentences with:

Hey
Easier
Xolani

Or... HEX - You know, just in case you needed another hint.

When 72 6b 55 72 6e was decoded with HEX, you ended up with: rkUrn

At that point, all you needed to do was craft the URL: http://steamgifts.com/giveaway/rkUrn/

Thanks for playing.
Come Back Soon!

-Keo

9 years ago*

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Tired of Puzzles?

View Results
Potatoes are Puzzles, right?
I live for puzzles
You call this a puzzle?
Staph...........I don't want any more....
Abracadabra.... Why didn't it open!?

Bump for solved. It was a fun puzzle.

9 years ago
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Glad you got there. :D

9 years ago
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Bump :D

9 years ago
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Bump for thank you

9 years ago
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You're welcome :D

9 years ago
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bump na oum.

9 years ago
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bump for solved c:

It was indeed easier than expected :)

9 years ago
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I think it depends on how caught up you get in certain predisposed ideas. :D
Some people find it fairly easy, some find it a little rough... Some find it impossible...

9 years ago
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Let's say I had my problems at first but one little detail gave the correct... thing away and as soon as I realised that, it I found the solution pretty easily :)

9 years ago
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Solved. Today I have logged in late

9 years ago
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Bump

Solved
Solved
Solved
Solved

9 years ago
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Yay! I'm in :)

9 years ago
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Ninja BUMP! Thanks for puzzle. :)

9 years ago
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You're welcome

9 years ago
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Bump for solved :D
That was fun :D

9 years ago
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Glad you enjoyed it :D

9 years ago
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Bump for solved! (Finally)

The first real one from /puzzle section too ^^

Danke für den kleinen Rätselspass :-)

9 years ago*
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ok Rätselspass is my favourite german word from now on. it just sounds too cool...

9 years ago
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Have fun with ^^

9 years ago
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Bitte, es ist nur einen kleinen Raetselpass. I'm sure I screwed up the ein/klein part... Damn Akk!

Glad you enjoyed it. :D

9 years ago
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99% fine :)) (its "kleiner" but rest is fine)

Ya, i usually don't see the light @ the end of the tunnel - of those riddles i attempted so far ... for instance mushclone298's puzzle is well like a well armoed fortress for me :)

9 years ago
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Ach! Ich hab' nicht fuer ein Jahr Deutsch gesprochen.
Ich vermisse Deutschland. :/ (Though if I remember correctly, vermissen isn't the correct verb for what I'm trying to get across... but it's stuck in my head.)

9 years ago
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bump

I'm too stupid for the last part :D

9 years ago
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Probably not stupid, just stuck in an idea. Don't worry, I'll gloat about the misdirection later when I post the solution. :)
You still have about 6 hours left.

9 years ago
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Bump for solved :)

9 years ago
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Puzzles make me sad, never know how to do them, even looking at the link for help with puzzles...

View attached image.
9 years ago
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To solve the puzzle read the linked "howto" again. Then check every nook and crany as you would for a treasure hunt :)

9 years ago
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Well, if you don't succeed (And I would suggest that you read the linked howto) you can always come back after midnight, I will be posting the solution.

9 years ago
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Yeah I'll have a read of it, I'll just wait for midnight! Although thats 8am where I live... So yeah I'll check it out tomorrow at some point! Why do I have to be so bad at puzzles?! xD

9 years ago
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It's okay, I haven't been succeeding very much at puzzles myself lately.

9 years ago
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Yeah but I fail on these easy puzzles! I'll blame it on being new here(the 7 months doesn't mean anything) I've used the site for like 2-3 weeks now xD

9 years ago
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I probably wouldn't have even lasted a month, let alone 7 if I hadn't won something in the first week or two of my existence here... but then I did... and then again. That caused me to want to be a giver cause well it wasn't a scam
Then I found the puzzles section and got really interested... Heh. Now I don't even know what to do with myself.
I'm constantly thinking of new ways to hide things based off of that guide.
And I'm constantly trying and failing sometimes succeeding at other people's puzzles.
It's just practice.

9 years ago
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Yeah after 3 weeks I haven't won anything, and honestly I'm not bothered! I have plenty of games anyway, I just love doing giveaways and making people happy(when I can afford to)

Hopefully I can see some solutions to puzzles and I'll start to see all the different ways of making and solving them! :D

9 years ago
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Did you try my first one? That one is online and has a full solution posted with it if you're interested in getting at least a glimpse into how I think for puzzles. Here

9 years ago
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Thank you so much :O

9 years ago
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You're welcome. Hope it's enlightening. :D

9 years ago
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have a bump!

9 years ago
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Thanks :D

9 years ago
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Bumping for solved, nice little puzzle and a long train.
Thank you again! :)

9 years ago
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Glad you enjoyed it :D

9 years ago
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Bump for solved. Thanks for the fun puzzle and the awesome train!

9 years ago
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You're welcome :D

9 years ago
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Boomp for soolved.

Unfortunately the only games I would have wanted, I already have! D: Thanks for the train anyway!

9 years ago
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Sorry about that... I tried to have a nice mix of genre's and types of games. At least you got to enjoy the puzzle. :D

9 years ago
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bump

9 years ago
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Bump for solved! Thanks! GZ on accidentally hitting 3? :P

9 years ago
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Hahaha. Right? ;)

9 years ago
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Whoa I solved it.
Obligatory bump for you!

9 years ago
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Congratz! :D

9 years ago
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Solved the puzzle and rode the train

9 years ago
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Gratz :D

9 years ago
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Um, My comment disappeared. I'll try again.
Thank you for the fun puzzle. I enjoyed it. :-)

9 years ago
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Your comment didn't disappear. It's in the last car :D

9 years ago
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I meant my comment here. I wonder if you changing the title while I was commenting was a factor.

9 years ago
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Oh, Huh, that's interesting. Possibly.

9 years ago
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Bump for Solved

I almost had given up after getting the correct order. i noticed the hint but didn't get the code for the first GA

9 years ago
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Congratz. :D

9 years ago
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Thanks, it was the first "programming" puzzle that i solved, the other was at itstoohard.com

there are pretty much classics

I have entered for Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians. i would enter for Collisions, but i am almost certain that if i win, this game will end in my backlog

9 years ago
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Collisions is already in my backlog...
And I don't even have Beatbuddy for myself... lol

9 years ago
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Thank you and bump!

9 years ago
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You're welcome :D

9 years ago
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Closed 8 years ago by Keohookalani.