Original message:

I keep trying, but all my puzzles suck. Too lazy, not clever enough, you decide. :)

Still no hints, and also trying the suggestion of Noctis149 so won't even say if you already own it this time. Sorry! :)


Various edits:

Edit 1: by the way, I was falling asleep while working on some of the puzzles, so there's a good chance they don't work at all, or point into outer space. If you find a broken one let me know (without spoiling anything) and I'll try to fix it. Except in those cases where it's not broken and you're just being trolled, that is. :)

Edit 2: Remember the amazing Puzzle Guide if you've never tried solving one before. Also read it if you have solved one before, you may have overlooked something simple.

Edit 3: So far I don't think anyone's found a broken puzzle, but they may have found some very simple puzzles camouflaged by a bunch of extraneous stuff. :)

Edit 4: If someone casually says you will probably want K, that's not nearly stating it strongly enough. If you're stuck on Part 1 of something, you will absolutely need K to solve many of these puzzles, no man cometh unto the Giveaways, but by me.:)

Edit 5: Made the puzzle hints more hinty. Go back and read all the hints, even if you've already solved one. Any more hinty and I'd be typing the answers for you. :)

Edit 6: Some clever people have solved "H" and "V" (in spite of all the monkey business) but nobody's solved "L" yet (in spite of the lack of monkey business) - don't let me keep it! :) Actually "V" was the only one I might have wanted to keep, but that chance has gone. Oh well. :)

Now it wouldn't be fair to say precisely where, but for both Bundle Chain H and Bundle Chain V imagine a sign "CAUTION: MISDIRECTION/TROLL PUZZLE WITHIN. IF YOU'RE STUCK THAT LONG ON IT, YOU'RE PROBABLY DOING IT WRONG." Good luck! :)


Explanations, up to "Part 3" - giving you a chance to suffer for a bit longer... :) Will put "Part 4" later. :)

First of all, read the Puzzle Guide because I'm not clever enough to create an original puzzle idea. Whatever nonsense I might dream up, someone else has done it earlier (and better!)

So, the first part is reached via the link in the smiley - but that hardly counts as a puzzle.

"Keep in mind that every GA code on SG is 5-characters long, and every quiz code on ITH is 8-characters long. So if you find 5 or 8 letters first try those. Creator may also hide code for different site (like for example imgur), but he will usually hint it somehow telling you which site you should go to."

Before we start, take a look at the edits:

it's not broken and you're just being trolled
Also read it if you have solved one before, you may have overlooked something simple
extraneous stuff
you will probably want K and no man cometh unto the Giveaways, but by me
read all the hints
CAUTION: MISDIRECTION/TROLL PUZZLE WITHIN. IF YOU'RE STUCK THAT LONG ON IT, YOU'RE PROBABLY DOING IT WRONG.

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but unsurprisingly there was a broken piece! madmonarch found some broken numbers in "Bundle Chain L, Part 4" but we'll get to that one eventually...

Hopefully a link to www.i-forgot-to-block-the-bundlemans-so-you-still-have-a-chance-with-one-of-the-puzzle-giveaways-but-dont-get-excited-because-they-suck-this-time.com/rbLFf leads to your trying http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/rbLFf/ - where you find all the bundle junk, one giveaway at a time. Contents are:

PuzzleQuest: Challenge of the Warlords
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
A Valley Without Wind 1 and 2 Dual Pack
Aztaka
Bridge It plus
Dungeon Hearts
Hacker Evolution
Naval Warfare
Tropico 4: Steam Special Edition

The Tropico 4 giveaway giveaway states:

"H L V
and you will probably want K.

edit 1: Ok, maybe you don't want K, but you're not getting anywhere without it... :)

edit 2: If you managed to get this far without reading, time to stop. :) You need K for these puzzles, use it or get nothing. :)"

As the Puzzle Guide suggests, these www.sorry-these-puzzles-really-suck-i-was-too-lazy-and-they-are-probably-broken.com urls should lead to your finding

Bundle Chain H, Part 1
Bundle Chain L, Part 1
Bundle Chain V, Part 1

"K" is http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10 = The King James Version of the Bible. I suggest keeping it open in a separate window if possible so you don't waste a lot of time switching tabs back and forth.

Now, remembering the Puzzle Guide, the hints and the edits, let's take a look at these puzzles, starting with the one I wanted to keep. Keep? So these aren't bundle games? No, that was a lie. There is a lot of lying in these puzzles, as you'll see.



Bundle Chain V, Part 1

The Third Book of Moses: Called Leviticus

The title has "Boold" in italics only because I couldn't find a way to italicise "Blood" - close enough. :)

HINT: No, the answer isn't "blood."
HINT: You Need "K" for this one.
HINT: Find the correct next verse.

Find the Book of Leviticus and try to spot the pattern. If those are the first three verses, what is the fourth? Blood is italicised, so you may think to search for "blood." There's "blood" in 1:5, 1:11, 1:15 - hey, that's an interesting coincidence! Is it really that simple? The next verse with "blood" is

ANSWER: 3:2 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.

And when we try it, it works. Hooray!

RESULT: link to Bundle Chain V, Part 2


Bundle Chain V, Part 2

The First Book of Samuel

HINT: No, the answer still isn't "Blood."
HINT: You Need "K" for this one.
HINT: Find the correct next verse.

Again "Blood" is italicised, but this time it's just a small taste of the trolling to come... Sadly this is one of those "either you see it or you don't" situations. If I were good at making puzzles, I would have hinted at the next step in some fashion - but I'm not so I didn't. Sorry.

If you don't notice the significance of 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and you don't get lucky with a google search you could be stuck trying verses here for a very long time. But hopefully despite the lack of a hint you recognise the Fibonacci numbers, the next two of which are 13, 21 - and so try

ANSWER: 13:21 Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.

which works. Hooray!

RESULT: link to Bundle Chain V, Part 3


Bundle Chain V, Part 3

(It's a wall of digits, 2600 if you counted them. This is relevant, but not the way you might think at first.)

plus

26:12 The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour were two thousand and six hundred.

(2600 again? It must mean something.)

and ten verses.

The words in boldface are "counteth to twenty seven forty one multiply nine five seven." which as everyone knows signifies...

Well, I don't know what it signifies. But there's a lot of numbers to play with, why not try something? Anything at all, just get the hint timer ticking and then either keep experimenting or come back in two hours. Spoiler: you should just come back in two hours.

HINT: The answer still isn't "Blood" but at least this time you're getting warm.
HINT: You don't need "K" for this one.
HINT: Actually you don't need anything for this "puzzle." YHBT. :)

Wait a minute, YHBT? Yes, the numbers, the boldface gibberish, all of it is a giant troll meant to distract you from the ridiculously simple puzzle. If you want to know, the numbers are 2600 digits of pi I grabbed off the internet somewhere. If there's a secret message inside them, I didn't put it there. :) The verses aren't random - I wanted to give everyone something numbery to play with while you wait for the hint. The main purpose they serve can be found in the Puzzle Guide. Take the first letter of each verse and you get

ANSWER: BLOODLINES

Yes, it really is that simple. Sorry. :)

This puzzle also contains a bonus hint: the number 2600. There's no reason you would check it, but store.steampowered.com/app/2600/ = Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Hooray!

RESULT: link to Bundle Chain V, Part 4


Bundle Chain V, Part 4

Google, your memory, the hint or maybe just a good guess will tell you this is an extract from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, chosen because it's in the public domain, because there's a vampire in it, and of course because I could hide the next link inside it somehow. :) The

QUESTION: Do you have the password?

is borrowed from Umberto Eco's novel "Foucault's Pendulum" - and after a few tries you should find the

ANSWER: NO

which leads to:

RESULT: Well, that was unexpectedly simple. I wonder if I've overlooked something.

Oh, goody. Trolled again. Let's hope that whatever we overlooked, the hint will explain it.

HINT: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/345

Why would I bother to give that hint if I've already pasted a big chunk of the book inside the puzzle? Maybe we should grab http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/345 and find out. Now you could read the story if you're tired of reading this puzzle nonsense, but remember there's a giveaway to find - let's not get distracted! :)

Let's hope you didn't try this next part by eye, and instead compared the text I copied with the original text from Project Gutenberg using your computer. You will hopefully discover that somehow eight characters from the original didn't appear in my copy, "yTDSwHD2" - and with eight characters you know to try:

REAL RESULT: Bundle Chain V, Part 5 (END)


Bundle Chain V, Part 5 (END)

QUESTION: Was all that really necessary?

ANSWER: NO

RESULT: the Bundle Chain V giveaway, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.

Hooray! Solved it! :)



Next is one I couldn't keep for myself, since I already owned all of it.

Bundle Chain H, Part 1

Psalm 47

Just guess anything to get the hint timer started, then either keep guessing or wait for the hint. Hint: Most people waited for the hint.

HINT: You Need "K" for this one.
HINT: For this question, first find the correct next verse. Then give the correct word from that verse. You can get it by random guessing, but if you understand why that word is correct, you will have a much simpler time solving some of the other puzzles. HINT HINT HINT.

So find Psalm 47, making sure I didn't change anything (no, they are identical.) The next verse is

47:9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.

Which words are italicised? If you solve this with brute-force, you won't need to find the pattern and will instead miss an important clue for later. And sadly nothing hints at the correct word, because I'm terrible at making puzzles. Sorry! :( Hopefully you notice the pattern, which involves counting from the end of each verse. Counting from the end of each verse, the italicised words are #4, #7, #4, #7, #4, #7, #4, #7. So try word #4 from the next verse,

ANSWER: HE

Hooray? More likely, bleah. I suspect at this point some people already know the prize at the end of this bundle chain, but let's not get ahead of ourselves! :)

This is one puzzle I would redo if possible, since a "Part 1" shouldn't require either brute force or a random brainwave. Next time I'll remember to hint "right" or "end" somewhere to get you started. :)

RESULT: Bundle Chain H, Part 2


Bundle Chain H, Part 2

The Fourth Book of Moses: Called Numbers

A bunch of verses, and in boldface you find "numbered five thirty five into four hundred fifty" which means... Oh, I don't know what it means. Let's just get the hint timer moving and find out what we're supposed to do with this thing.

HINT: Those aren't the Numbers you're looking for.
HINT: You Need "K" for this one.
HINT: You don't need to do anything with it, just give the correct next verse. And if you wonder what all that other stuff was for, some of these puzzles are less YHVH and more YHBT...

Well, if you need "K" for this one, let's take a look at it. Find those verses in the Book of Numbers:

1:47 But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them.
3:47 Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take them: (the shekel is twenty gerahs:)
4:47 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that came to do the service of the ministry, and the service of the burden in the tabernacle of the congregation.
7:47 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel.
16:47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.
26:47 These are the families of the sons of Asher according to those that were numbered of them; who were fifty and three thousand and four hundred.
31:47 Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.

Now that's quite a coincidence. Search for the next occurence of ":47" which is

ANSWER: 33:47 And they removed from Almondiblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.

Hooray! Did you guess the game yet? No? Well, let's keep going!

RESULT: Bundle Chain H, Part 3


Bundle Chain H, Part 3

The First Book of Moses: Called Genesis

Great, a bunch of numbers and some verses with things in boldface. Let's see where we stand:

Two groups of numbers, and two groups of verses. The first group of numbers is six lines, with sixty numbers each, divided into six groups of ten. The second group of numbers is ten lines, with sixty numbers each, divided into six groups of ten. The first group of verses is six lines, and the second group of verses is ten lines.

The things in boldface look promising. Some letters have been replaced by numbers, we have "19 multiply 20 9 7 9 4 7 14 9 18 18 5 8 4 divided 5 18" which of course means... ???

At this point, you probably try a few random guesses, fool around with the numbers, look for patterns, fail fail fail and give up. Let's move on to a different puzzle, and (hopefully) remember to check the hint in two hours.

(Bonus early hint which at least one person found: If, before you give up you happen to get a lucky brainwave and switch those numbers back to letters you get "s(multiply)tigidgnirrehd(divided)er" - which of course means... Well, backwards it says "re(divided)dherringdigit(multiply)s" or "red herring digits." Yes, it's a troll puzzle again. Sorry!)

So, either you noticed the backwards message, or you waited for the hint:

HINT: 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
HINT: You don't need "K" for this one.
HINT: Actually you don't need anything for this "puzzle." Two words. YHBT. :)

Yes, all this stuff is another giant troll. The digits are more random digits of pi, but "last" is a genuine hint. And apparently we're looking for two words.

Well, if the digits are a red herring, what's not? Let's try the solution from "Bundle Chain V, Part 3" - remember, a bunch of nonsense distracting you from "BLOODLINES"? So let's see "AAAAAA BAAABWAAAI" - seems this is nonsense too. Instead, if you remember starting from the end of the verses in "Bundle Chain H, Part 1," or you notice "last" in the hint, or if you've simply seen this sort of thing before - you may think to look at the last letter of these verses. And there you will find the solution.

ANSWER: HITMAN COLLECTION

Hooray! Agent 47, see?

RESULT: Bundle Chain H, Part 4


Bundle Chain H, Part 4

Psalm 119

Nothing has been changed in these verses, unlike with "Bundle Chain V, Part 4" - but if you solved that one first, you will probably check. Good job, you need to keep those puzzle makers honest! :)

Since there's nothing at all to suggest the next step, let's just guess something and wait for the hint.

HINT: 7:15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
HINT: -->
HINT: Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.

Find that verse somewhere in "K" - according to the hint, somehow

7:15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.

is supposed to lead to

Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.

So, which verse was that again? 119:22. Hopefully you notice 7 + 15 (from the hint's question) = 22 (the hint's answer) and the rest is simple. If not, well, maybe you can brute force it, there are only so many verses to try... :)

102:19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
102 + 19 = Verse 122
ANSWER: I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.

79:5 How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
79 + 5 = Verse 84
ANSWER: How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?

49:19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
49 + 19 = Verse 68
ANSWER: Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.

66:17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
66 + 17 = Verse 83
ANSWER: I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.

78:41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
78 + 41 = Verse 119
ANSWER: Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.

59:13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
59 + 13 = Verse 72
ANSWER: The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
51 + 17 = Verse 68
ANSWER: Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.

37:13 The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.
37 + 13 = Verse 50
ANSWER: This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

Solving these questions gives:

RESULT: Well, what was that all about?

Oh, one of those? Yes, the answer doesn't point to the next part of the puzzle. However, the numbers we use to get that useless answer should make puzzle people think of ASCII ENCODING. If not, the Puzzle Guide mentions it. In fact, blackfyre solved this without troubling to enter the verses - briefly I thought I'd screwed up and posted a link to the giveaway somewhere. No, he was just a step ahead of the amateur troll puzzlemaker. :)

So ASCII 121 84 68 83 119 72 68 50 becomes yTDSwHD2. Finally! :)

REAL RESULT: Bundle Chain H, Part 5 (END)


Bundle Chain H, Part 5 (END)

QUESTION: Was all that really necessary?

ANSWER: NO

RESULT: the Bundle Chain H giveaway, Hitman Collection.

Hooray! Solved one more! :)



Ok, here's the one nobody managed to finish. This was completely my fault: people needed to notice too many random things, without any hints, well, hinting at them. Will try to do better next time!

Bundle Chain L, Part 1

The First Book of Moses: Called Genesis

Well, there's a "to" in italics. Maybe the answer is "to" - nope. At this point most people quit to look for a better puzzle, and I can't say I blame them. The stubborn few waited for the hint, so let's see what it says.

HINT: No, the answer isn't "to" or "Cain."
HINT: You Need "K" for this one.
HINT: For this question, find the correct next verse. That's it.

Turns out this was a poor choice for a "Part 1" - with only two verses, the pattern could be almost anything. The hint probably would have made more sense if it had said "No, the answer isn't "2" or "Cain." Yes, it's looking for the next verse with two instances of "Cain" - so hunt around in Genesis until you spot

ANSWER: And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Hooray! Unless you don't think of that bit of nonsense, in which case you're left to wonder why I didn't make a better puzzle. Sorry!

RESULT: Bundle Chain L, Part 2


Bundle Chain L, Part 2

Ezra

This is another bad puzzle, but let's try our best with it anyway... :) Find these things in Ezra, and see if the italicised stuff means anything. Sadly this was very ambiguous, since "first" "one" and "seventh" actually make sense for an instruction, which is not at all what I was intending. Fool around with verses, then either see the pattern or get frustrated and wait for the hint.

HINT: Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
HINT: You Need "K" for this one.
HINT: For this question, find the correct next verse. That's it.

The words in italics weren't very well chosen - all I wanted was for you to think of the numbers "1" "1" and "7". Anyway, here's what I was trying to do:

Ezra 1:1, with a "1" italicised. And hopefully try 1 + 1 = 2. Which leads to:
Ezra 2:1, with a "1" italicised. And hopefully try 2 + 1 = 3. Which leads to:
Ezra 3:1, with a "7" italicised. And hopefully try 3 + 7 = 10.

Some variety in the numbers chosen, or a better hint, would have made this a more fair puzzle, so for next time I'll have to make all the alternative explanations simply not work.

So, try Ezra 10:1, i.e.

ANSWER: Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.

Yes, that works. Hooray!

RESULT: Bundle Chain L, Part 3


3undle Chain L, Part B

(The title of the puzzle is not a typo, it is a hint)

The Book of Nehemiah

Well, it's some more verses, do we start experimenting or wait for a hint? Go ahead and try something, you've nothing to lose... :)

HINT: NT sneaks in via a hint... But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
HINT: You Need "K" for this one.
HINT: For this question, find the correct next verse. That's it.

First shall be last, and the last shall be first? Ok, let's find these verses in the Book of Nehemiah and see what jumps out at us.

Hopefully you notice before you got too busy with your last and first business - these verses aren't actually correct. The correct verses are as follows:

2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

3:2 And next unto him builded the men of Jericho. And next to them builded Zaccur the son of Imri.

3:7 And next unto them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, unto the throne of the governor on this side the river.

The names of the people have been switched. The hint should reassure you that you're on the right track. Now all you need to do is find the pattern in the verses, so you can find the next one.

There's no hint to suggest this next part, so you either have to get lucky or notice what's going on:

Nehemiah 2:10 and Nehemiah 3:2 are 12 verses apart. And 2 + 10 = 12.
Nehemiah 3:2 and Nehemiah 3:7 are 5 verses apart. And 3 + 2 = 5.

Again, one more verse would have made this obvious but sadly I didn't find one in time.

If we're on the right track (spoiler: person who makes the puzzle is probably on the right track) Nehemiah 3:7 and something are (3 + 7 = 10) verses apart. So we count 10 verses and reach

ANSWER: 3:17 After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next unto him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler of the half part of Keilah, in his part.

Wait, it doesn't work? Oh, of course, we have to put the first person last, and the last person first. So try

REAL ANSWER: 3:17 After him repaired the Levites, Hashabiah the son of Bani. Next unto him repaired Rehum, the ruler of the half part of Keilah, in his part.

And this works, hooray!

RESULT: 4undle Chain L, Part B

Wait a second, Puzzle not found? Idiot puzzle maker put the wrong link? Not exactly. Hopefully the title "4undle Chain L, Part B" gives you an idea. Yes, one more time we need to put the first last, and the last first. And that works.

REAL RESULT: Bundle Chain L, Part 4


Bundle Chain L, Part 4

The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel

Ok, a bunch of numbers, and eight verses. The last time we saw this, it was a big troll to distract us from the obvious answer. Let's try the obvious - does "IGONJTBE" or "Dtsslmlb" mean anything? Seems not - although the fact we have eight characters is promising. How about http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/IGONJTBE or http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/Dtsslmlb? Puzzle not found (thank goodness!) :)

Ok, let's not pretend we're going to solve this without a hint - just type something and come back later. :)

HINT: And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. --> 88 --> X
HINT: You don't need "K" for this one.
HINT: Finally a real puzzle, YHNBT.

First of all, what's that hint supposed to mean? Just looking at the bold parts, we have Aa -> 88 -> X. Now if we remember to check ASCII ENCODING, we can see that 88 does indeed represent "X" - so that's promising. But how do we go from "Aa" to 88?

Take a look at the big pile of numbers, which according to the hint for once are not trolling you. It's a 26x26 array, and that's convenient if it's somehow related to the 26-character alphabet - but there have been convenient grids in the other puzzles that turned out to mean nothing at all. Fine, now do any 88s jump out at you? In the upper-left corner!

88628592967605048203864343

Perhaps we can decode this by using "Aa" in this grid? Let's test it!

..ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

..||||||||||||||||||||||||||

A-88628592967605048203864343

B-10877956289712540563894097

C-19482687110428281638939757

D-11757786915430165058602965

E-26545958198887868040811121

F-84327398671986213062055598

G-55266036405046282158506106

H-59447448990883908199973874

I-74582698107762014871340065

J-22535522246665409315213057

K-33791579802697955571050850

L-74738747507580687653764457

M-82524432638046143042889235

N-93485296105826938265349048

O-04052484070844035684678089

P-70512813378805705643450616

Q-11933042444079826037795119

R-85486945591520519600930412

S-71007277849301555038895360

T-33826192934365708187432122

U-99141595933963681106275572

V-95278004254863060054523839

W-15106899891357882001941178

X-65356821491185282078521301

Y-25518518493711503422159542

Z-24451190020739353962740020

So if we go to "AA" in the grid, we find 88. Unfortunately we don't know if we should go "A" down, and "A" over, or "A" over and "A" down... :) Let's try to find out with the first question:

49:18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

"ID" --> ??? --> ???

Well it's either "91" or "82" so we'll look both of them up in the ASCII table and hopefully one of them works. "[" doesn't, but "R" does! So we use the grid eight times, answering each question like this:

I-74582698107762014871340065 --> 82 --> R
G-55266036405046282158506106 --> 85 --> U
O-04052484070844035684678089 --> 84 --> T
N-93485296105826938265349048 --> 65 --> A
J-22535522246665409315213057 --> 66 --> B
T-33826192934365708187432122 --> 65 --> A
B-10877956289712540563894097 --> 71 --> G
E-26545958198887868040811121 --> 65 --> A

Finally! So we get...

RESULT: What am I supposed to do with a rutabaga?
RESULT: Ok, no trolling this time, just more misdirection - which is completely different! :)

Good grief. Just to be safe, let's check http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/RUTABAGA - (thankfully!) nothing there. Well, there's nothing else to do, we may as well start fiddling with "RUTABAGA" using that number grid.

(...) :)

I'm going to let you write the finish yourself, since I don't know how long you will spend chasing this final piece of the puzzle. Actually, I've given a huge hint by writing out those lines of the grid. See it? No trolling this time, just more misdirection. You don't need to do anything with "RUTABAGA" - you just need to look on the right side of those lines, like in those previous puzzles. Do you see 065 106 089 048 057 122 097 121? Yes, sorry, one final troll at the very end...

REAL RESULT: Bundle Chain L, Part 5 (END)


Bundle Chain L, Part 5 (END)

QUESTION: Was all that really necessary?

ANSWER: NO

RESULT: the Bundle Chain L giveaway, Legacy of Kain Collection!



If anyone's read this thing to the end, they're probably glad they quit these puzzles last week. Sorry the puzzles were so bad, sorry the rewards were junk, sorry you all wasted so much time chasing troll nonsense... :) But congratulations to the lucky winners! If I ever try something like this again, I'll spend more time making sense, and less time finding ways to troll everyone. One idea: put some small giveaway after each step of the puzzle, so people who don't have 12 hours to spend on it can still try for something. Thank you for playing along! :)

10 years ago*

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No luck this time.

10 years ago
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Sometimes luck is a b*tch making no case of your efforts :) I wish you best chance for the next time...

10 years ago
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Sorry! :( Was hoping you would win something, or find the end of the "Bundle Chain L" before time ran out. :( Was a bad puzzle, not your fault...

10 years ago
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All is ok, and i'm sure the puzzle isn't bad.
Just whining :)

10 years ago
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[H] many rotten tomatoes [W] nothing it's for free
Come on Fiftykyu, we're waiting for you :-))

10 years ago
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Just finishing sending the gifts/keys, congratulations to all the lucky winners of the bundle junk! And big apology for all these terrible puzzles! :)

I will probably start by posting the solutions to the earlier parts of the chains, and maybe put the rest @ pastebin or in base64, so people have a chance to join in the fun if they're still interested... :) Thank you for playing along with this nonsense... :)

10 years ago
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Thank you for this event :)

10 years ago
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Bump for some of the explanations are up. Prepare your tomatoes/pies/rocks/etc. :)

10 years ago
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Thanks! Can't wait for L4 )
And please stop claiming your puzzles bad. They are more accesible to all than most of other good puzzles out there, which need either deep knowledge in some area (or google kungfu) or some particular skills and tools like decoding sounds or pictures.
Your puzzles require only brain, browser, notepad and calculator, nonetheless carrying great challenge and FUN :)
Awesome puzzles!

10 years ago
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Biblical stuff, no wonder why i couldnt find anything.

10 years ago
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Sorry about that! :)

Wasn't asking people to say "Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipoténtem, Factórem cæli et terræ, Visibílium ómnium et invisibílium" though, you could think of it as a big pile of letters and numbers, perfect for hiding puzzle things... :)

10 years ago
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Dear God, man!

10 years ago
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It seems the hardest part was finding out what was the useful stuff between the red herrings (btw I did find the "red herring" and "digits" but it had the opposite effect :D I thought the second paragraph was the red herring and what I wanted was the digits lol)

10 years ago
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Ouch! Maybe next time the fake stuff should make an ascii art trollface or something. Sorry about that... :)

10 years ago
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Thanks - your explanations make perfect sense. I think I was just overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information presented in H3 and V3. When you don't know what you're looking for, anything could be important!

I'm going to take a crack at all of the part 4's now that you got me unstuck and shared some insight into your thought process.

10 years ago
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I've completed the H & V chains; working on L now.

10 years ago
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Good luck, guess there's no rush... :) I can put the final explanations up tomorrow. :)

10 years ago
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These... these were effing BRILLIANT!

Well played, fiftykyu, well played! Thank you for the hours, or perhaps even days, you put into making these!

10 years ago
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Well, we've both seen so many better made puzzles, can't compare this thing to what the good puzzle people do... :)

And despite the time spent, I should have spent more. Much room for improvement, will have to do better next time... :)

10 years ago
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L4 anyone? :D

10 years ago
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Bump for more explanations... Almost everything... :)

10 years ago
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Come on! Reveal it already! )
I tried all combinations I could find - replacing ID, GT, OS.. with corresponding letters in title ('The book of the prophet Ezekiel' is 26 letters too), an then finding ASCII same way; tried 18-R, 19-U, 20-T..; tried finding 18th, 19th, 20th.. letter in title and combine it with RUTABAGA the same way; reading 'which is completely different' tried substraction of all that i've seen and ; even tried shifting the columns to normalize title to 'abcdef..'...
I need that explanation so bad.

10 years ago
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The hint "Ok, no trolling this time, just more misdirection - which is completely different!" doesn't hold any subtle meaning, I meant that the answer is right there but I didn't want you to notice. :)

The partial explanation I posted gives it more explicitly, will show it again in case you missed it... :)

I-74582698107762014871340065 --> 82 --> R
G-55266036405046282158506106 --> 85 --> U
O-04052484070844035684678089 --> 84 --> T
N-93485296105826938265349048 --> 65 --> A
J-22535522246665409315213057 --> 66 --> B
T-33826192934365708187432122 --> 65 --> A
B-10877956289712540563894097 --> 71 --> G
E-26545958198887868040811121 --> 65 --> A

Remember I wasn't clever enough to create 12 unique puzzles, it was the same 2 or 3 puzzles repeated over and over again... Sorry! :)

10 years ago
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Damn! I tried the first numbers of 18-19-20 but can't even think of such pattern as yours (

Good puzzle, but some even littlest hint would be helpful, because personally me was overwhelmed with quantity of possible combinations and only restriction was range of ASCII codes.

Nonetheless cool puzzle :) Will be happy to crack some more of your riddles ;)

10 years ago
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I think there was an idea for a good puzzle buried under all this nonsense, but as usual the execution was poor. It's not fair to ask people to guess which combination of digits is the single "correct" one, with no hints at all, nothing to restrict the choices. Some hidden extra information would have been helpful, otherwise it's no better than those "guess something about me" puzzles. :(

Will have to wait for some inspiration, make a puzzle and set it aside for a month. Then try to solve it myself first. :)

10 years ago
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Just remembered I even wrote dow eligible numbers from first row and first column and tried to find relation with set of number i already had ;) I was so close..

10 years ago
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Wow fifty just..wow . Thats what i call a beautiful puzzle . You certainly deserve a salute (salute). I wish i had more time to solve them by myself.

PS:I blame noctis for this . I am not even mad though :) .Thanks both of you.

10 years ago
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Oh no, I've seen beautiful before, and it doesn't look anything like that... :) Sorry! :)

10 years ago
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Thank you so much for the puzzles, and more importantly, the solutions. I wasn't smart enough to get past the level 3 walls myself though. Maybe next time!

10 years ago
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Sorry, you didn't need to be smart to solve this stuff, mainly needed to get lucky and think of the same random junk I did, or have enough free time to keep trying all the other ideas that had every right to work but didn't... Will try to do better next time! :)

10 years ago
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You always do fifty :D

10 years ago
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Just to repeat myself, I now hate you... :-P so much puzzling but stuck in the middle of all three riddles leaving me with no rewards :-/

Oh well, at least I now know what random stuff i should have done :-)

10 years ago
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Yes, next time try someone else's better puzzles... :) Assuming I don't forget, I will probably put some giveaways inside next time so people have something to show for all their wasted time. :)

10 years ago
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Closed 10 years ago by fiftykyu.