Puzzles, Fun, and Games

Codenames Board Generator

Mar 11, 2021 - 1500 Words -

Codenames is a word game where players try to collect all of their team’s cards from a board, by having their Spymaster give one-word hints which describe one or more cards on the table. Which cards belong to which team is determined by a random draw of pre-printed game maps, showing which positions belong to Red, which to Blue, and which is the Assassin card (the black card – revealing this ends the game for both teams).

ShmooCon 2017 Badge (and more) Contest - Solutions

Jan 20, 2017 - 8500 Words -

Shall We Play A Game? It’s been a long time since I did a big puzzle solution post, and even longer since I played a crypto contest at ShmooCon. That’s about to change. :) After winning three years in a row, and running the ShmooCon contest for four years after that, I finally stepped away from the fray in 2016. But I did help out a little, commenting on the puzzles they were putting together and generally offering advice.

ShmooCon 2017 Badge (and more) Contest - Challenges

Jan 20, 2017 - 1400 Words -

Belay It 1: Total Control Look Around * pictures on con signs outside rooms * 2: Pseudo-random /oneyamasoon go to /oneymasoon, see text "Setec Astronomy". 3: Stonecutter 4: Scrapple 5: Who you gonna call? whoyougonnacall.mp3 6: Boring Compound 114.81832.065231.03588140.11610215.9994 20.179740.07814.00674.00260239.948 88.9058515.9994238.028911.0079422739.0983 7: (Data, Points) 8: Screentest (link to “loom”, which presented this ASCII image:) /-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- / ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ / ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ | 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 | 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 | 22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222 | 33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 | 44444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444 | 55555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555 | 66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666 | 77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777 | 88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 | 99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 Also relevant was the result from solving #7:

Poem Codes - WWII Crypto Techniques

Mar 27, 2016 - 2700 Words -

Introduction A few years back, after I won my first crypto contest, the contest author, G. Mark Hardy, suggested I read Between Silk and Cyanide. Written by Leo Marks, it’s a first-person account of the difficulties managing cryptographic communications with field agents in Europe during World War II. Much of the story centered on the “poem codes” used by the agents, but the technical details were kind of obscure and not clearly explained.

Praetorian Crypto Challenge

Aug 25, 2014 - 600 Words -

Last Wednesday, the security company Praetorian released a new set of crypto challenges as a recruitment tool and fun challenge for the community. I sprinted through the first 5 (of 8) levels in less than 24 hours, then got totally stuck on Level 6 for over two days. Finally, late Saturday night I managed the intuitive leap I was missing, and by early Sunday morning I’d finished level 6. Some hours later (after, you know, sleeping) I finished level 7, and level 8 fell in under 15 minutes, making me the first person to solve all 8 levels.