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General discussion (archive)Contest Week(end) Day 4(261 posts)(261 posts)
(261 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted November 10, 2011
On the last day of the weekend, we have two different contests for you all, giving you a final chance to win big before we resume our regular and humdrum week tomorrow.

For the brainy among you, we have a cryptogram. Decipher the hidden meaning behind the text below, send the full plain text (and an explanation how you deciphered it!) to us with the subject line, "GOG.com 2011 Cryptogram Contest". From all of the correct entries, we'll pull one lucky winner who gets 10 free $5.99 or $9.99 GOG.com games.

AF IG BY YX RC PM QB FC QC PF ZM CB PQ PT QE UP TP QP
UC NM US GT TI TS RC PM QB FC QC FC TV RC ID TS PG YZ TP QP
ST UY JG BL XU HU EK OY ZU EO LO RC TQ PG DL CE ZU BQ IO XY
ZS CE FO HP JT TV IX QB QC UZ NT MQ GP XE ZM XA OP TV

IB DB IL YS FO EY OP NM UA TV DI GR AM VM
FP CD QI CB RH MH ZL FC OU TS TX GI OX PS HT
TR HT ZP ED QC GI CB RC PM QP RH QE CB EY QB PF RD XQ
PQ TQ XQ QP OF ZS HC RI ZH FO DE BZ IB RG BE GT

If you're feeling artsy instead, we have an alternative for you. It's coming up on the holiday season, and we'd like you to put on your advertiser hats. Make us an outdoor ad that you think would be an awesome GOG.com holiday advertisement. Whether you want to make a billboard by the side of the road, a clever bench, a bus stop ad, or even silkscreen an entire bus with an awesome GOG.com advertisement, let's see what you think this year's GOG.com holidays should be about. Email your best GOG.com advertisement to [url=mailto:contest@gog.com?subject=GOG.com 2011 Advertisement]contest@gog.com[/url] with the subject line "GOG.com 2011 Advertisement" to enter. We will select some of our favorites from the entries and each winner will get 5 free $5.99 or $9.99 games from our catalog.

Since both of these contests represent something a little harder than the previous ones, we'll give you until 6.59 EST on Tuesday (15.11.11) to come up with your entry. We'll announce all of our contest winners on Wednesday, so keep tuned.

Put on those thinking caps, and let's see what you've got!
Posted November 14, 2011
I give up. No fun at all.
It should be easier with less games as a price...
Posted November 14, 2011
i never tried a cryptograph puzzle and this being my first time i see it as too hard > guess i should try to make art instead > wait a minute im no good at art either ..lol .. they should have made more options for this contest as these games are old
Posted November 14, 2011
i tried goodoldgames and drmfree but nope, dont think it should be easier though there is the art compo for. maybe some more time and 1 or 2 more hints.
Post edited November 14, 2011 by lugum
Posted November 14, 2011
Sequences such as 'UP TP QP' and 'FC QC FC' suggest the first letter is in the same row/column. They also look like part of recognizable words, such as banana.

...Yeah, that got me nowhere; we don't know the keyword(s), if it's a two or four-square cipher or the like, and/or if it's a default square, whether it's alphabetical with keywords or if it's a random jumble of letters formed into a square.

Edit: ARGH!!!
Post edited November 14, 2011 by F5inator
Posted November 14, 2011
what if i make some music for this contest ? would it count as an entry to this contest ?
Posted November 14, 2011
Well, I completed my brute force method implementation with a grading system that identifies English strings pretty well (uses a combination of common dictionary words, letter frequency and digraphs frequency).

Bad news is, the solution space that needs to be searched is like 25!

I'd have to implement a best-first search to narrow it down to a manageable set and I'm not sure I'll manage to get that done with the rest of my RL obligations.

Shame we don't have more time, I definitely could have solved it.

In the next encryption contest, give us more time and tell us the encryption method from the start :P.
Post edited November 14, 2011 by Magnitus
Posted November 14, 2011
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F5inator: Sequences such as 'UP TP QP' and 'FC QC FC' suggest the first letter is in the same row/column. They also look like part of recognizable words, such as banana.

...Yeah, that got me nowhere; we don't know the keyword(s), if it's a two or four-square cipher or the like, and/or if it's a default square, whether it's alphabetical with keywords or if it's a random jumble of letters formed into a square.

Edit: ARGH!!!
I'm pretty sure it's Playfair from GOG's clue:

1) [from GOG]
I believe I promised a hint today, but in order to Playfair, I'll be posting one here, one on Twitter, and one on Facebook.

However, that's as far as I can get as the other clues have left me none the wiser, they just don't seem to fit into the Playfair 5x5 grid if you assume that one code decrypts into the other.
Post edited November 14, 2011 by korell
Posted November 14, 2011
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korell: I'm pretty sure it's Playfair from GOG's clue:

1) [from GOG]
I believe I promised a hint today, but in order to Playfair, I'll be posting one here, one on Twitter, and one on Facebook.

However, that's as far as I can get as the other clues have left me none the wiser, they just don't seem to fit into the Playfair 5x5 grid if you assume that one code decrypts into the other.
I (as well as everyone else doing this puzzle) know it's a Playfair. But from the Twitter clue:
For poems enciphered symmetrically
tells me two or four 5x5 grids might have been used. One couldn't have been used; the decrypted part from the Twitter clue would have made sense then.

Is the typo someone mentioned earlier preventing us from solving this?
Posted November 14, 2011
But Playfair is just one 5x5 grid isn't it? How can you have two or four 5x5 grids whilst remaining Playfair?
Posted November 14, 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-square_cipher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-square_cipher
They both follow the Playfair-style encryption process.
Posted November 14, 2011
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F5inator: I (as well as everyone else doing this puzzle) know it's a Playfair. But from the Twitter clue:
For poems enciphered symmetrically
tells me two or four 5x5 grids might have been used.
Actually, a symmetrical cipher just means that the cipher key can be used to encrypt or decrypt (e.g. Playfair) - it has nothing to do with the physical layout of the cipher key.
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F5inator: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-square_cipher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-square_cipher
They both follow the Playfair-style encryption process.
They've come out and said outright it's Playfair, though that doesn't make the "clue" any less baffling.
Post edited November 14, 2011 by Ryusui
Posted November 14, 2011
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Ryusui: Actually, a symmetrical cipher just means that the cipher key can be used to encrypt or decrypt (e.g. Playfair) - it has nothing to do with the physical layout of the cipher key.
Crap. Forget everything I posted then. Back to the drawing board.

*headdesk* I quit. I bet the answer's gonna be something really simple that flew over everyone's head.
Post edited November 14, 2011 by F5inator
Posted November 14, 2011
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F5inator: Crap. Forget everything I posted then. Back to the drawing board.
II already ran out of drawing board analyzing this... :))
Posted November 14, 2011
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F5inator: *headdesk* I quit. I bet the answer's gonna be something really simple that flew over everyone's head.
What sucks is I've spent so much time trying to solve it, all that for nothing.
Posted November 14, 2011
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Vorax: What sucks is I've spent so much time trying to solve it, all that for nothing.
Worse is the feeling after they show up the answer and you realise it was so easy yet still you couldn't figure it out on your own.
I hope for tomorrow
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Contest Week(end) Day 4(261 posts)(261 posts)
(261 posts)