The Hunt Ends

The Hunters scattered across the lands  
The lunar prize now changed hands
The bounty lay down in defeat    
The victorious Hunter's task complete.   

That's a wrap ladies & gentlemen. Our winner u/Maxx3141 has claimed the Bounty after beating 10 puzzles (and one last teaser) and will now enjoy 25,000 moons.

It took 71 hours for the Hunt to conclude.

Max's thoughts on the Hunt:

The hardest puzzle was the final password for sure, this took me over a day – but the most exciting moment was when I found the ccmoons link – I was reading it out loud, shaking from excitement, with a blown mind.


This has been hands down the single most enjoyable moment I've ever had on the sub. You guys have made me laugh countless times with your messages of frustrations, proclamations of hate and wacky theories. I've sat back in awe at how some groups have rapidly assembled and blasted through some of my puzzles. For the first day I had a smile on my face every time I opened Reddit.

I'd like to thank u/Cintre for all her help. I knew she would be perfect to bounce ideas off and I knew she would give time & dedication to make sure things worked and went smoothly.

I suppose you'd all like to know how it was done?

The idea of the hunt wasn't just to complete all the puzzles, but to also find the password keys in each puzzle, which was hidden. This would allow you to log in to MoonTreasureHunt's account using the password “Hal Finney” and then send the single moon inside for victory.



0 – Reddit post contains instructions on how to claim the prize

  • Link to the first puzzle (wordsearch)

1 – Wordsearch [F] contains a hidden link and the password to the second puzzle (excel quiz)

  • Link is innocuous and at the bottom in plain text (users must type manually) / QR code
  • Password to the excel file inside the link is the only remaining wordsearch clue that can’t be found
  • Password key is in the “report a bug” icon (G5)

2 – Excel Quiz [a] (5 seconds to answer otherwise quiz closes)

  • Excel Quiz gives a link to third puzzle (Where’s Wally)
  • Clue to the second password key inside one of the logos (FunFair)

3 – Where’s Wally [e] picture

  • Waldo will direct to the fourth puzzle with multiple Youtube URL's hidden on screens
  • Hidden moon logo with the third password key

4 – Bitconnect video [n] (TRAUMA WARNING)

  • Morse code reveals 4th password key
  • Hint to blockchain in Bio. (Users must find Ethereum Block 15002342), there is a “self” transaction on there which contains a UTF-8 encoded secret message.

5 – Ethereum Blockchain [H] tx data contains embedded data (block 15002342)

  • Story contains a clue to the 5th password key being a capital H
  • Links to an imgur of the jumbled puzzle

6 – Jumbled Puzzle [y]

  • When sorted, the image instructs you to look at mod comments (we are referenced by description only)
  • 6th password Key is hidden in lines that obfuscate the entire image.
  • Completed puzzle

7 – Mod comments [i] ([see sea moons dot com slash bounty hunt](ccmoons.com/bountyhunt))

  • All mods post a chess piece in their comment as well as one piece of a URL that corresponds to the position they were in the previous puzzle
  • Each comment must have a lowercase i in it (7th password key)

8 – CC Moons secret page [l]

  • Directs users the CC Rules page
  • 8th Password key hidden in image metadata (elle, or, lowercase l)

9 – CC Rules [ ]

  • Directs user to Old man at TheEndofTheHunt
  • 9th Password key in Content Standards (spaces)

10 – Final puzzle [n]

  • Old man tells you to make sure you have everything you need (referencing the password keys)
  • The 10th password key is in his hat.


For now, everything will remain online so you guys can follow along at will.

Problems

We had a few issues with this and things didn't go so smoothly.

  • MoonTreasureHunt got shadowbanned 20 mins before the game was due to start.
  • Then EndofTheHunt got shadowbanned shortly after the game started.
  • The reddit Android app is broken so we couldn't send the moon from TheMoonDistributor
  • I encoded the wrong morse code letter in to the Bitconnect video (whoopsie, it spells “WASSWORD N” instead of “PASSWORD N”
  • I also accidentally made one of the audio clips 50% lower which was an unintentional red herring.

The album of fun!

Here are some messages I received that I found fun, including users frustrations, or them solving, missing or wild theories on some of the puzzles.


Our winner has graciously decided to give 5,000 of his moons to a discord group of about 12 or so members, who will split their share according to weight. He did this after learning that a user who has been banned 7 times on various alts was talking to different groups, stealing their information and using it to try and get ahead. While we verified that nothing significant was given to Max, he decided it's not right for people who worked so hard and had their progress secretly shared around to receive no reward.


Thank you all so much for playing! 831 people advanced past stage 1, but there is one real winner. A final congratulations to Max!

The Hunt Ends