easter-eggs

[timid solstice]

ok this is what I found

[coarse dagger]

LUL

[sharp flame]

gonna cry

[coarse dagger]

If Kyne's telling you to do it, do it.

[hidden nacelle]

its nothing anyways

[fallen jasper]

It's fine

I'm checking about what Eoin's found

[coarse dagger]

Afterwords I say we reset and stop talking about URLs unless you have a legitimate reason to have gotten to one, seeing as the start of this whole conversation was someone coming in and talking about crawlers

[hidden nacelle]

what if i was a crawler all along...

[potent fractal]

not possible lool

[hidden nacelle]

im joking 😆

[sharp flame]

yeah no guessin 👀

[coarse dagger]

Didn't try colors that don't look like they're in the images... Don't think there's any yellow pixels.... they would stick out like a sore thumb

In the Ready/Loading images that is

Trying to move forward and not tread water in previous tiers unless we're given reason to believe we need to

[sharp flame]

right now we need to find a password based on previous tiers

[coarse dagger]

Could t1-f-1 be telling us to use the numeric passwords from ABC to modify T1F's password somehow?

ABC's passwords all have fewer than 7 characters and T1F's password is 8 characters long

[sharp flame]

this is what I've thought

maybe use the same modifier of e=3

[coral wing]

Yes yes i was referring to “old” color forsure but since color codes were brought up i thought why not say somethin 😄

And i know it shows no yellow to naked eye, but i was curious

[timid solstice]

@leaden stirrup great summary!

[coarse dagger]

Still have to figure out how commodore 64 fits in though. I suppose f-1 could be registers 15 and 1... but it would be weird to present them in hex as commodore 64 doesn't use hex values

[timid solstice]

anyone else think the pw page is like a sword?

[coarse dagger]

?

[coral wing]

PW?

Password?

[sharp flame]

yeah

[sharp flame]

interesting

[coral wing]

Ahhh

[sharp flame]

hopscotch style

[coarse dagger]

Thought you meant this password page!

Lol

[timid solstice]

no im moving on from that for now...

[sharp flame]

thought flex was on his gibberish again

[coarse dagger]

Sword, T, Cross, crucifix.... could be a lot of things

[sharp flame]

reminds of the crosses clue, then I die

[coral wing]

The “Ready” gif could have a maybe a meaning with sword due to the outlined box. I thought the box looked like it could be keycard to something but it looks moreso like a part of where you hold a sword🥴

[sharp flame]

maybe we can answer t1-def first???

[coarse dagger]

I've also been thinking that one may be easier to solve due to the password URL t1-def being more intuitve and what we were expecting for T2... but who knows.

I'm still really confused about the image XORing I was doing in T1F that rob did the 🤔 emote at.

He told us that meant we were close to doing something right, but not quite getting there.
He gave us a breakdown of the clues in T1F and nothing like that ever came up.
#easter-eggs message
#easter-eggs message

[hidden nacelle]

that means no to rob

😆

[coarse dagger]

Nope

Just trying to help... 🤔 means that you are on the right path, or are almost doing the right thing... but you are not right so I can't give you 👀... ._.
#easter-eggs message

[coral wing]

T-1-1 = CDE?

Im looking at anagrams tn, will keep update if anything crosses mind

[coarse dagger]

You have a typo there?

[coral wing]

No not at all

[coarse dagger]

What is T-1-1?

[coral wing]

A website that would take us to t1-DEF password page

No?

[coarse dagger]

No

That's https://www.reachthefinals.com/t1-def

The t2-abc password URL is what you're thinking of and it's:
https://www.reachthefinals.com/t1-f-1

[coral wing]

Excuse my ignorance 🥴

I didnt understand it was “T1-f-1”

[coarse dagger]

Np

[floral viper]

how has the search been going

[daring bluff]

it's goin

[coarse dagger]

See above

[coarse dagger]

What's the word on this?

[jade citrus]

I know we have all we need but I don't really have the patience to sit on the password page and guess a ton of gold-related things over and over.

it feels wrong to be guessing with so few clues

[last dragon]

Put in the average atomic mass of gold

[coarse dagger]

I'm sure there's tons of clues

We just have to figure out how everything fits together

[coarse dagger]

Wow, has anyone else looked at this?

OPEN4,4,15
READY.
PRINT#4,"+-"

L'amour est bien plus fort que nous

Translated:

Love is stronger far than we

Rom chip:

Super Graphix Gold
by Xetec    Rev 1.2
Designed by Marty Flickinger

OMG

[sharp flame]

go on?

[daring bluff]

feel like we’re overthinking it. “we have everything we need” + “…are actually pretty obvious” = simple answer

[coarse dagger]

From the video

[sharp flame]

explain

[coarse dagger]

"I looked up Marty, he's still programming he went on to work for NewTek working on the Amiga like the video toaster"

Rob keeps giving us Amiga clues which have yet to amount to anything

[sharp flame]

hmmmm

interesting

[coarse dagger]

PRINT#4,"FLICKINGER"

READY.
Priveleged access!

Oh look, Flickinger is in the YouTube comments:

Thanks for reviving some old memories and for spotlighting this product I designed long ago. Amazingly, YouTube suggested this video for me (I do watch some retro tech videos, so...)

The FLICKINGER easter egg was just a joke -- didn't really do anything else. I looked in the original source (yes, I still have it) and the only other undocumented commands were:
"*6" which forced a trap (for testing)
"/" which printed the current state of all the zero page variables (for debugging purposes)
"ZP"+CHR$(address)+CHR$(data) which permitted modification of one of these variables (at specified address), setting it to the data value provided. Again for debugging purposes

The funny thing about hiding easter eggs in the command channel (in mostly ASCII) is that occasionally someone from Xetec's call support dept. would come tell me that a customer called in and said that he accidentally printed a bunch of text to the command channel and something odd printed out -- a mysterious phrase or even a bitmap of a girl's face (my girlfriend at the time). No, that was in another product. Yes, I regularly included easter eggs in nearly every product I designed. Didn't have peer code reviews back then so it was easy to slip in just about anything (that would fit in the ROM).

God I keep coming across Babylon and Babylon 5 in my own EE research but have never directly tied it to anything in the hunt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Toaster

All of the external submarine shots in the TV series seaQuest DSV were created using LightWave 3D, as were the outer-space scenes in the TV series Babylon 5 (although Amiga hardware was only used for the first three seasons).

Was Zorro ever confirmed way back when? Don't see any eyes on mentions of Zorro. This was before my time in the hunt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Toaster#Video_Toaster_Flyer

The hardware component is again a card designed for the Amiga's Zorro II expansion slot, and was primarily designed by Charles Steinkuehler. The Flyer portion of the Video Toaster/Flyer combination is a complete computer of its own, having its own microprocessor and embedded software, which was written by Marty Flickinger.

As of April 2008, four versions are in production: the basic TriCaster 2.0, TriCaster PRO 2.0, TriCaster STUDIO 2.0 and the new TriCaster BROADCAST, the latter of which adds SDI and AES-EBU connectivity plus a preview output capability. The TriCasterPRO FX, a model that was situated in line between the original TriCaster PRO and TriCaster STUDIO was introduced in early 2008, and has now been discontinued. Its feature set has been added to the new TriCaster PRO 2.0. TriCaster STUDIO 2.0 and TriCaster BROADCAST use successively larger cases than the base model TriCaster 2.0.

Could "This broadcast has been hacked by CNS" be referring not to a broadcast stream... but a TriCaster BROADCAST?

[coarse dagger]

WOW

LightWave was used to create special effects for the television series Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager, Space: Above and Beyond, seaQuest DSV, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica. The program was also utilized in the production of Titanic as well as Avatar, Sin City, and 300.

[pure loom]

No, I don’t think so.

Maybe it was just an artistic influence (maybe even an unconscious one)

[coarse dagger]

Maybe we should update the Diamond Clues padlet to show how it was found?

I wasn't really there for that

Did this ever go anywhere???? Rob eyed it but I don't think it was covered by his T1F post-mortem

[sharp flame]

well yeah

that's how we solved the tier

[coarse dagger]

Oh?

[sharp flame]

have a read #easter-eggs message

hehe

[coarse dagger]

Just found it again. God there's too much to keep track of 😅

@neon stream

Again, not sure if anything ever came of Kommissar... Kinda hard to tell looking at these padlets after the fact when I didn't participate then

[sharp flame]

We also finished the Kommissar thread pretty quick!

FKRAMER was another clue in that image

leading to Frank Kramer, the director of Kommissar movies

and also the director of 79A.D.

[coarse dagger]

And did any of that get us closer to the solution for the tier?

[timid solstice]

It mainly from Rob and dusty messages here

Words missing o’s

[sharp flame]

79 is the answer

lol

[timid solstice]

And dustys rabbits warren comment

[sharp flame]

okay okay

Gold = 4f14 5d10 6s1

1064 is a number
lxxix is a number in latin
5f137s2 is electron config of Mv.

maybe we need the electron config of Gold, with the numbers being replaced with latin numerals?

[coarse dagger]

And t1-f-1 playing a role somehow?

[sharp flame]

ivfxiv vdx visi (or ivfxivvdxvisi)

it's not that..

4 f 145 d 106 s 1
ivfcxlvdcvisi

not that either

[ember aurora]

Hey I am bad at cyphers but enjoy reading this thread. Looking at the current clues and such. And themes of eggs and gold, and the last pinned message it makes me immediately jump to the story of the golden goose that the farmer ends up killing.

Not an official contribution just a thought. Not sure if related.

[fringe gazelle]

The finals is embarks golden goose and if that goose doesn’t lay an egg soon (cb3) I’ll think it’s a normal goose and cry

[pure loom]

It would seem strange to leave the egg-related answers out completely though. I think if this step refers back to previous tiers then both gold and egg should somehow be incorporated.

[sharp flame]

then what about t1-def?

[pure loom]

Aren’t we solving t1-f-1 at the moment?

[jade citrus]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_number

[pure loom]

Albumin could be a possibility, after all we’ve had egg shell (shape) and yolk. It’s the only bit missing.

[coarse dagger]

We're solving both

Both password fields are available now

[coarse dagger]

I think it's likely T2ABC uses some of both parts just based on the t1-f-1 URL

And less likely with T2DEF due to the t1-def URL

[jade citrus]

T1A, B, and C all have passwords that are number-based. T1D, E, and F are all word-based.

so
T2ABC: gold, number
T2DEF: egg, word

[frigid hornet]

Remember as well gold only has one stable isotope! Someone realised that a few days ago and I feel like it's important
(Au-197 btw)

[turbid tinsel]

In regards to your last comments here, and Rob's comments "you are ready" and "EXACTLY "ONE". Gold is a huge lead, Is this a play on trying to tell us we are "the golden one/s" ?

[coarse dagger]

A couple is two...... and we have 2 passwords...
Is tier 3 not a password?

#easter-eggs message
#easter-eggs message

ONE EXACTLY?

EXACTLY ONE?

Exactly one -> sed quis

Non quid, Sed quis?

Not what, but who?

[timber quail]

"we have gone golden", "we are gold", the term gold is used by studios to indicate that the game is done and releasing soon

That is how the word gold is used by studios since last many many years

And have been used since a long time, recent example being AC mirage or Marvels Spider-Man 2

Tldr; it means completion and ties in with "you're ready"

[last dragon]

What if entering the password releases the game?

Which would make sense for lack of update, because it’s all in the communities hands

[timber quail]

Unlikely

The password can't just be used to release the game, it would break the piracy

But its 100% certain, the word gold in this case or context means the game is completed.

Hence explains, ""

Since once again, that is what golden means with videogames studios

[timid solstice]

Then we are sorry for all the peeps waiting for the game to release

https://youtu.be/WH3ZbWI2z-o?feature=shared

[turbid tinsel]

what appears after the list text is 1992 SYS2061

READY.

but the game does kinda seem like a reference to the mining gold image rob shared

[woeful monolith]

WQHGERE IS DGAME

[coral wing]

#⚡┇the-finals-chat !

[jade citrus]

surely we can solve this one in less than 14 days right?

[sharp flame]

Just because we have all we need, doesn't mean we're close to the password

but with how little we have to work with rn I'm not sure what to even begin with

I've tried most conceivable aspects of Gold as the password

Maybe we need to consider other aspects of Tier 1abc

[jade citrus]

let me just look through the padlets a bit to review ... oh no

[timid solstice]

Duh duh duuuuh

[last dragon]

A whole ads yugioh deck

[coarse dagger]

We need ideas, not defeatism

Oh wait

READY...

Exactly one?

Ready Player One?

[charred torrent]

Ready Exactly One 😂

[coarse dagger]

Huh.. never seen the film. The film seems pretty different from the book

The end of the puzzle leads to a Golden Egg to shut of OASIS in the film

Guys... curious adventurers...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_(1980_video_game)

The player controls a square avatar

ROBinett

The player may only carry one object at a time.
Exactly one

WARREN Robinett

Warren led us to Burrw

[charred torrent]

maybe it related with the box that we carry into cashout machine.

[timber quail]

Or maybe maybe we can just wait for the game

jk

[charred torrent]

itsnt it gold colour?

[timber quail]

But i do still think Gold is representing completion

I am 100% sure

[coarse dagger]

Never be 100% sure

[timber quail]

I am 1% sure.

Better?

[coarse dagger]

ye

[timber quail]

There.

[coarse dagger]

I think Adventure/Warren Robinett is a really good place to focus though. Was commodore 64 just to get us to square cursor to a square user-controlled player to Adventure?

Passwords tried (ABC and DEF):

r0bin3tt
r0b1n3tt
adv3ntur3

Thought I mentioned this previously, but Adventure was the first game with an EE

Worth thinking about how the URL t1-f-1 could play into this

[sharp flame]

Yeah, not sure what the 1 means here, in relation to gold

[ember aurora]

t1 is tiffany gold

[ember aurora]

t1-f-1 can also mean a spatial derivative in math

the above being how it is denoted in coding

in chemistry it is used to calculate gradients such as density, pressure and temperature gradients

[sharp flame]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuji_T-1

Very interesting naming here..

[ember aurora]

Has anyone tried interacting with the page by chance, there is a a Y object on the site you can access in the dev console

Ready site

if they are going for the whole console prompt gif, that being there is highly sus 🙂

[coarse dagger]

If we break up t1-f-1 into t1-f and -1 we just need to figure out what the minus one refers to because we alredy have the t1-f password.

I think the 1 could refer to robinett due to his connection to Ready Player One and Adventure allowing the player to hold exactly one item at a time; along with the Golden Egg from Ready Player One, Robs statement "curious adventures", Warren -> burrw

Both vit3llum and robinett have 8 characters

[ember aurora]

which password are we working on then? i am a bit confused/lost

[coarse dagger]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1011929497139953744/1157433709121781831/image.png?ex=651be364&is=651a91e4&hm=3f01d35fe010df8d68fbbcbc1a09502196d490aecbc28b13f5bb127cb2f02132&

[coarse dagger]

Both T2abc and T2def

Best way to relieve confusion is to read back, search the discord, and ask questions once you've done so

[ember aurora]

thank you @coarse dagger

[sharp flame]

Probably starting with T2ABC though

In the same way that T1ABC were all available at once but had to be completed sequentially

[pure loom]

Maybe this is what Rob means by “strange cursor”

Maybe the password should be a text adventure-style instruction, like “moveup” or “dig”

[pure loom]

Actually T1-F-1 and T2-DEF, right? We don’t have access to T2-ABC yet, presumably until we solve T1-F-1

[wind mantle]

Might actually be something with this. Was looking at Zork commands the other day but didn't come up with anything

[pure loom]

This image looks very similar to the one hidden in the READY image. Maybe our cursor character needs to move in that room. Either up or to the right.

[coarse dagger]

Well... the two URLS are T1-F-1 and T1-DEF (note, not T2-DEF)

I think T1-F-1 is T2-ABC, he's just decided to hide clues in the URLs this time.

Keep in mind there's only [a couple passwords left](#easter-eggs message). I don't think there's multiple parts to T2ABC and DEF.

[coarse dagger]

agreed, this is what I was thinking:

I think Adventure/Warren Robinett is a really good place to focus though. Was commodore 64 just to get us to square cursor to a square user-controlled player to Adventure?

[leaden stirrup]

Would it be allowed to add a bot to the channel to use Discord API to check all the messages Rob emoted to since the Discord default search miss this feature ?

Just asking cause manually going back to all messages gonna be long

[pure loom]

Could you please re-pin this so it’s closer to the top of the pinned list?

[pure loom]

I’m thinking T1-F-1 is like the anteroom to T2-ABC

[pure loom]

It is long, but I reckon it's also part of the fun when one of us discovers that Rob 👀 'd something and we only just noticed

[leaden stirrup]

Just analyzed 7000+ frames of the trailers this easter egg thing gonna kill me...

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/jungle-welcome-vocalist-band-gif-7617009

[fallen jasper]

Welcome

[proud minnow]

Hi all.!
I realize it almost looks like you are a bit stuck, time is ticking, but I guess we are not really in a hurry... ._.

[sharp flame]

I didn't want to say it..

but I miss the images 🤣!!

[proud minnow]

I really thought you were ready, hihi... ._.

[sharp flame]

I mean technically this is the least amount of material we have had so far to make a password out of 😭

[leaden stirrup]

"01:01" "01:11" ?

"bit" "time" ?

[pure loom]

There is also a curved shape in here which changes between the frames

[sharp flame]

very very perculiar wording here

[sharp flame]

it seems like it was worded that way on purpose

like the phrasing means something, whether that be counting words or letters

[proud minnow]

I trust you all... an image now would really spoil all your hard work... ._.

[sharp flame]

😭 thanks I guess

[leaden stirrup]

Thanks !

[pure loom]

Yes, agreed. Come back in a couple of years, we should be sorted by then

[proud minnow]

HAHA... I give you a week or so... ._.

[sharp flame]

okay so we need a password, and we have EVERYTHING, and nothing

we have all the previous passwords, + some residual themes

[leaden stirrup]

I'm connecting the dots

[sharp flame]

but we have nothing to start with

Gold I thought was pretty solid

But it doesn't quite move anywhere or confirm anything

[leaden stirrup]

We do have things to start with

The url

The gifs

The messages

[sharp flame]

just saw your pinned message 😭 ❤️

[pure loom]

Commodore 64 - ZX Spectrum - and previous passwords and some shapes (with pixel counts)

[leaden stirrup]

We may also have things we did have found but did not connect

[sharp flame]

so it's T2ABC, with the webpage of t1-f-1

[leaden stirrup]

Hence the "we have EVERYTHING"

[sharp flame]

a continuation of themes from T1F? or a combination of themes from T1ABC

who knows

[pure loom]

I've been watching videos of playthroughs for old simple graphics adventures, hoping I would see the shapes in there somewhere. Nope.

[sharp flame]

maybe both

[leaden stirrup]

I'm cooking something but i need some coffee

[sharp flame]

don't cook your coffee

oh hello orange

[leaden stirrup]

Hi !

[pure loom]

I examined that tiny C64 gif as well - I don't think there's anything hidden in that

[proud minnow]

No it is just perfect the way it is... ._.
(actually took me quite some time... hard to pixel in photoshop to make sure it looks like C64)

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/perfect-great-gif-15480625

[sharp flame]

I mean is this the time to start looking at specific clues in old images?

or do we think the overhead passwords themselves are the key

[leaden stirrup]

Non desistas non exieris

[sharp flame]

rob with his 1s might be indicating that maybe we need binary for the psw or something

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/elmo-sesame-street-shrug-idk-i-have-no-idea-gif-17243185

[proud minnow]

(and YES I have a C64 still, but I'm not sure it will start... ._.)

[sharp flame]

have you tried turning it off and on again?

[pure loom]

if it is, that'll limit what it can be - I think we have a 30 character limit on the pws, don't we?

[pure loom]

Probably turned it off 30 years ago haha

[sharp flame]

have you tried turning it on??

[pure loom]

"time is ticking" made me think of this: https://codebase64.org/doku.php?id=base:cpu_clocking

C64 clock

[proud minnow]

haha, yes that is true, but I turned it back on again around 1996 and played The Great Giana Sisters... ._.

[pure loom]

"The service manual (march 1992 original from Commodore, part number 314001-03) explains the clock circuitry the following way, using an NTSC machine as a reference. This is valid also for the PAL version when the appropriate differences in the figures are considered.

« Crystal Y1 develops a 14.31818MHz fundamental frequency clock signal. U31 is a Dual Voltage Controlled Oscillator. The output on pin 10 is a 14.31818 MHz clock signal called the color clock. R27 can be adjusted to obtain exact output frequency. U30 is a frequency divider that outputs a 2MHz signal on pin 6. U29 is a D flip flop which outputs a 1 MHz signal on pin 9. U32 is a Phase/Frequency Detector which compares the output of the U29 to the phase 0 clock, and outputs a dc voltage on pin 8 that is proportional to the phase difference between the inputs. The second half of the Dual Voltage Controlled Oscillator U31 generates an 8.1818MHz clock signal called the DOT Clock. The VIC IC divides the DOT clock by eight and outputs this as the phase 0 clock on pin 17. The output of the Phase/Frequency Detector is applied to the frequency control input pin 2 of U31. This causes tracking of the dot clock and the color clock because one input, pin 3 of U32, is the phase 0 clock which is derived from the dot clock, and the other input pin 1 of U32, is derived from the color clock. »"

[sharp flame]

It could definitely be something electronical

[pure loom]

I'm just blindly dumping info now haha

[sharp flame]

rob says "bit" stuck and "tick"ing too, like Junight pointed out

[proud minnow]

I will try it again during christmas...

[pure loom]

C64 and ZX Spectrum are both 8-bit, right?

yeah, they are

[sharp flame]

bit = 1 or 0

so it might be a binary thing

kk the password is NOT c9d487

[proud minnow]

Gah, I spent so much time with that palette as a kid... I made my first "image" in Koala Painter... time to go to sleep and dream about these long nights when the rest of the family were asleep and I was sitting writing code and "painting" on the C64... the games I did back then was not that great, haha, but I always dreamt about one day making games that 1000's of people would play...

[sharp flame]

Mission success there!

my mission right now is to solve this damned password 🤣

[turbid tinsel]

"An uncompressed KoalaPainter file is exactly 10003 bytes in size, but depending on how it was migrated from the C64 platform, it may have some unused padding bytes appended to it." There is that "EXACTLY" "ONE" reference in koala painter rob mentioned in a sense.

[jade citrus]

definitely a theme of 'time' in these messages

The Great Giana Sisters is a 1987 platform game developed by German studio Time Warp Productions and published by Rainbow Arts.

[jade citrus]

time is ticking

[jade citrus]

...time to go to sleep and dream...

[turbid tinsel]

also not sure if its related and just a ramble, but there was a process with c64 where you could do color swapping between 2 colors by uping the fps to get it to flash a different color like cyan since that color wasn't in the color pallet or something like that.

[jade citrus]

Wedding rings are typically made of gold. It is long lasting and unaffected by the passage of time and may aid in the ring symbolism of eternal vows before God and the perfection the marriage signifies.

[pure loom]

"ONE second" seems important here. Commodore 64 keeps time via the Jiffy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiffy_(time)

60 Jiffies in a second

[normal halo]

Is there some way the colour palette could tie to the colour gold? As I have seen gold popping up a lot in the clues. Rob also puts “image” and “painting” into quotes, there is a chance these are relevant somehow

Also has anyone figured out why rob uses “…” “._.” And “.!” So much?

Any chance it’s Morse code?

(I know that its an elipses, and a face, but he uses them almost too often)

[pure loom]

Yes, it is - ... ._. = SR = Saint Rob

[normal halo]

Ah ok

[pure loom]

He's always used .! too - I'm guessing maybe it's like a binary 01

[normal halo]

Yeah that would make sense.

You say always, and im kinda new here, how long ago did he start?

[pure loom]

Originally he just used ._. for R but then we nicknamed him Saint Rob

[normal halo]

Yeah, right. That’s a cool lil Easter egg 🤪

[pure loom]

It goes further... one sec

._.

Left his signature on the lil guy

[normal halo]

Haha!

The finger looking things look like a … too!

[pure loom]

I think it was pre-SR, so maybe just a coincidence

[normal halo]

Fair enough

[coarse dagger]

Man, thought I was on to something here. No acknowledgement though

Hmm

t1-f-1

The time of the C64 is started by power-on, after a reset or after setting with TI$="000000" in programs. The updating of the time take the internal hardware-interval-timer of the Commodore 64, which is setting in the system variable TIME (short: TI). Also TI will be affected by setting of TIME$.
Could t1 be TI?

[coarse dagger]

Any clues hidden with the palette? [I brought up the palette before](#easter-eggs message) but no acknowledgement there. Do we consider Rob's comment about the palette a suggestion to look there?

Interestingly the number of characters for a HEX RGB is the same as the number of characters for a C64 time. C64 time is represented in binary though, so only a few of them seem like they could be converted to a time:

Black: #000000~
Dark-Gray: #626262
Mid-gray: #898989

Nevermind. Only black fits. I misread how the C64 time string works

TI$="112233" would represent 11:22:33

So the max digit for the first digit is 2 (no higher than 24 hours), and the max digit for the 3rd and 5th digit is 6 (no higher than 60 minutes/seconds)

[coarse dagger]

Interestingly a C64 day has an extra 1/60 of a second because of the way it counts Jiffies.
It is 0 indexed and there is both a zeroth and a 518000th Jiffy

[coarse dagger]

The Great Giana Sisters.

The first original game version was released in 1987 on Commodore 64.[3] Shortly after, it was released on Amiga
Uggggggg

[coarse dagger]

Looks like you had a rare game Rob... UNLESS YOU'RE LYING TO US

The rarity of the game has led to copies of it becoming collector's items.

[coarse dagger]

You're making me feel bad Rob.

We're really trying!

How are we so far off base that we haven't gotten any 👀s? Or does Rob think we're soooo ready that we don't even need them?

we need them

Here's a longggg video about time in C64.

I watched it and nothing in particular jumped out at me :/

Probably not a good use of time unless Rob gives indication otherwise

[coarse dagger]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYJl1EzBs_4

Hmmmm.... rob posted You are ready. immediately after the electron configuration of gold... I wonder if the f-1 in t1-f-1 is referring to an isotope with an electron missing from the F subshell?

Here's the full electron configuration of the stable gold isotope:

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 5s2 5p6 4f14 5d10 6s1

Pretty rusty on this, but idk if an isotope can have an unfilled non-valence shell

If you strip one 4f electron from gold... as well as all of the electrons in subshells which are further out..... you get Thulium. [Xe] 4f13 6s2

[neon stream]

@normal halo he always used the "... ._.", we later noticed that it meant SR in Morse Code, and started calling him Saint Rob after that 😂

[neon stream]

More info on the, objectively, best page that there is on any wiki 😛
https://www.thefinals.wiki/wiki/Church_Of_The_Holy_Hunters

[normal halo]

How about the .! And the .?

Typo’s?

[neon stream]

That's just how he writes, I wouldn't look much into that. It's a way of decorating the messages

[normal halo]

Ok

[wanton sundial]

I thought ._. is just an emoji

👀

[normal halo]

Same lol

[wanton sundial]

I reckon it is, but it also is SR

[neon stream]

Yeah, that's the origin of the Saint Rob meme 😂

@wanton sundial ☝🏻

[wanton sundial]

Amazing Also 1 year of Saint Rob soon??

[neon stream]

That's true!!!! I didn't notice!!!

Time flies by 😅

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/james-franco-same-different-smile-still-same-gif-12526313

[neon stream]

I just added that to the page 😂

[proud minnow]

HAHA.! ❤️❤️❤️

[fallen jasper]

Rob you might need to give the yolks a final nudge

Seems they've become scrambled in their search

[hidden nacelle]

😆

[timid solstice]

they've or we've?

[fallen jasper]

I have checked out of the hunt

I'll help keep everything together but I have too much going on to help anymore

[neon stream]

I had an indea... I'll split it just in case

The Golden Age of Arcade Games was in the late 70s/early 80s...

One of the games that started it, which got my attention was Asteroids (yes...like 1064 Aethusa... 😅 ) in 1979....

...There's a cheat code in that game to unlock the Level 2: "spacevac"...

I lament to inform that "spacevac" is not the password 😂

But I still think the Golden age of arcade video games is worth looking at, since Rob seems to love that age of games, and also that's the same time where the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum were released... 😅

[neon stream]

(Also this was developed by a guy that went to Berkeley... 🤷🏻‍♂️ )

[timid solstice]

interesting threaad

[pure loom]

Maybe we need to look for this shape in a C64/ZX Spectrum game

It almost looks like the outline of a piece of electronics though

I can't see anything on the C64 board that looks like it

[timid solstice]

what language is used for programming C64 ?

basic?

[pure loom]

yeah

I drew the outline of the shape around the READY to see if I could find something that looked like it via Google image search. Nope.

[turbid tinsel]

The real question is are we straying to far away from the original strange cursor comment?

[timid solstice]

PRINT TICKTOCK

[pure loom]

yes, good to bring that back into it. I guess Rob's statement leads to the question "why is it a strange cursor?" - for a C64 it seems like a perfectly normal cursor

Or is being a C64 cursor enough to make it strange?

[turbid tinsel]

but is it a c64 cursor or are we only basing that off the emoji reply he did?

idr

[timid solstice]

it think it is, and because the style was questionable, rob hand drew an accurate one in C64 style

[pure loom]

The ZX Spectrum cursor looks similar

[sharp flame]

hm?

[timid solstice]

https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Gold_Quest

are we looking for a gold related C64 game?

[turbid tinsel]

Came across this, maybe a file type deal to view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JW1JmCn2A0

[pure loom]

possibly

[turbid tinsel]

Curious if it is somehow related to how the map/screen looks for the treasure island map/entrance https://www.c64-wiki.com/images/9/98/Gold_Quest_Schatzinsel.png

[pure loom]

I might try and draw up a list of C64 games whose titles fit with possible paths

[proud minnow]

Final..? I said it before… you ain’t seen nothing yet…

[fallen jasper]

Well, perhaps a little nudge then

[proud minnow]

OKi, I get your point, I really do… 18/3

[fallen jasper]

Hmm

[sharp flame]

READY
SET
GO_LD

[fallen jasper]

18/3 mean anything to any of you

[sharp flame]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Goldbach Mr Goldbach's birthday

also Vesuvius erupting on March 18th 1944, like in 79AD

[fallen jasper]

Hmm

[fallen jasper]

Hmm

[daring bluff]

we really went from march 17th to march 18th

[pure loom]

Ok, here's a list I compiled up of C64 games whose titles relate to either time, adventures, CA, eggs, or gold (or digging for it):
Adventure Construction Set
Adventure Master
Adventure Quest
Adventureland
Battle Through Time
Beaky and the Egg Snatchers
Borrowed Time
BurgerTime
California Games
Chuckie Egg
Chuckie Egg 2
Colossal Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure
Gold Medal Games
Golden Axe
Goldrunner
The Great Giana Sisters (included because SR mentioned it)
High Noon
Lode Runner
Lode Runner's Rescue
The Lords of Midnight
Lords of Time
The Quest for the Golden Egg Cup
Time and Magik
Time Pilot
Timesearch
Times of Lore
Time Tunnel
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?

[pure loom]

Good spotting!

[sharp flame]

had to scroll back a fair bit.. but at least we snatched that confirmation for later

18th march:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_2
and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_(moon) also

[pure loom]

This C64 printer interface has the name gold in it and includes some Easter Eggs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8cB98p5IS4

probably not related to our hunt, but curious nonetheless. There are time stamps so you can jump around the video

[sharp flame]

also on that date

[pure loom]

https://digitalpasifik.org/items/108966

Just a coincidence by the looks

The coincidences keep coming...

[daring bluff]

oh this has to be the right path

welp i just saw the second image so i guess the multiple coincidences mean it’s not lol

not necessarily

[pure loom]

yeah, it's just a random bunch of coincidences (my ones at least)

Even some gaming-related March 18 ones

[sharp flame]

lotsa coincidences

rob needs to start confirming some of these or I'll cry

rockhound 😭

[pure loom]

[turbid tinsel]

18/3 simplified is 6/1

[pure loom]

June 1 1974: The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine.

probably not the right path

[turbid tinsel]

unless they were choking on the golden egg

lol

[pure loom]

Yeah, I think we need Rob to give us the HM!

[pure loom]

There wasn't much posted in the EE channel around March 18, which is great. This is one (note the date is NZ-time, but would have been March 18 for most)

[jade citrus]

more references to time...

gold + time?

[pure loom]

gold+egg+time

[neon stream]

🥲

😂

I'm glad that's 100% confirmed already

[turbid tinsel]

#easter-eggs message guys in this message rob mentions a song to the band bachman- turner overdrive who stopped touring once one of them retired in march 2018. theres no way this is related riiiiiiight?

The band also released Rock n' Roll Nights in March 1979. isn't there supposed to be a 79 reference lol..?

there's no way there's any relation here. Im gonna just stop

[pure loom]

Yeah, I think unlikely, but sometimes these sorts of connections help

[turbid tinsel]

they have a song that made it on their gold cd they released called "give it time" to make it weirder

lol

[pure loom]

We never deciphered this. Maybe we should spend some time on it

(^ where the numbers came from for those who haven't seen it before)

omg

there are dots and dashes that change through it!

[neon stream]

Nice find! 💪🏻

Hmmm

We went from square 1 to square -1

😂

[pure loom]

I think that's right

now to try and work out where the breaks are

444 is the only number that repeats, so maybe that = space

[slender lodge]

who's ip is that

[pure loom]

hmmm... struggling to figure out where the spaces are

it's not the 444s because they're too far apart.

[pure loom]

ok, dCode has an automatic morse decoder for morse without spaces.

not much luck looking through the hundred-odd possibilities that came up with. Surely the numbers must tell us where the spaces are

somehow....

I have made a breakthrough finding the morse, but I can't work out where the spaces go.

It's like having a house, some paint, and no brushes

https://tenor.com/view/painting-paint-drawing-frustrated-mistake-gif-12414462

[pure loom]

ok, after going through many possible combinations these are the best words I can come up with for --- -. . / -. --- ...- . -- -... . .-. / ..- -. - .. .
"ONE NOVEMBER UNTIE"

The first two words seem very likely, "UNTIE" less so

[daring bluff]

did you get that by just scrambling around the letters?

could UNTIE be UNITE

[pure loom]

no, just the straight morse

I think UNTIE is the only normal word it can be, unless it's some weird acronym

[coarse dagger]

Guys Rob pointed us to a Gold Egg Time. This seems like it?
I was not aware of this watch until now... did the time change on it?
Seems like maybe 5:12:46 in the picture?

[pure loom]

I think the time was fixed

[coarse dagger]

Seems important! What time do you think it shows?

[pure loom]

This seemed to be the consensus at the time (pun not intended! ).

[pure loom]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1

Lots of options on Nov 1...

Nov 1 1963 – The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, with the largest radio telescope ever constructed, officially opens.

[coarse dagger]

Ah, I see how it's oriented now

I took measurements of the hands to make sure we were identifying them correctly:

I concur with the 8:01:27 assessment.

Could also be 20:01:27 if using military time.

@tulip matrix is there a photo of this with more context? I would like to see which hand it's on to confirm the 12-o-clock orientation

[coarse dagger]

Angles

https://wornandwound.com/geneva-venezuela-story-behind-rolex-6634-serpico-y-laino-golden-egg/

The reference 6634 Oyster Perpetual is also known as the “Golden Egg” because of its thick, gold-capped case.

S&L ACERO Y ORO 14K

This would also explain the importance of crowns in the EE hunt

The white dial with simple gold stick markers and an applied Rolex crown at 12 has the usual “Oyster Perpetual”
Oyster... PEARL?!?!

[coarse dagger]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Imperial_(Fabergé_egg)

The egg was created in Louis XVI style and it consists of a solid 18K gold reeded case resting on a gold "annulus" (ring) with waveform decorations held up by three sets of corbel-like legs which end in lion's paws.

Above each sapphire is a gold bow decorated with a series of tiny diamonds, and the front of the egg has a single much-larger diamond in an old-mine diamond clasp which when pressed releases the egg's lid to reveal its surprise

20 November 2021 – 8 May 2022, "Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution", Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Given by Alexander III Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias to Empress Marie Feodorovna for Easter 1887.

[coarse dagger]

I have no idea how any of this would connect to C64...

[coarse dagger]

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Too many coincidences, too few 👀

[coarse dagger]

Perhaps the dashes and dots augment the visible digits somehow?

Literally the last thing he eyed...

9 days ago 😭

Maybe we're overthinking things somehow? Although it's hard not to with the inclusion of C64 and t1-f-1

Maybe there was some significance to "summed up ABC and DEF"?

Trying to sum the letters doesn't seem to reveal anything

G O L D
7 15 12 4
E G G
5 7 7

---

M V S D
13 22 19 4

https://tenor.com/view/nose-sponge-bob-squidward-tentacles-gif-15991063

Surprised we haven't thrown out the latin for gold egg -> aurum ovum.

[timid solstice]

The ‘key’ here seems to be C64

we have everything else

[tulip matrix]

I don't think I have any more images but I know the watch is on the left hand

12 o'clock is top left

as you have it

[fringe gazelle]

name of band

[fringe gazelle]

wait so how do you figure its morse

the dashes seem random, maybe im just stupid but give youre explanation

also the number are repeating

THE_FINALS_NamaTama_Concept_0.1_-_CIPHER.png?

also thats in the photo url

[timid solstice]

the marks between the numbers are not just period .
they are - .

[timid solstice]

dcode gives this;
----..-.---...-.---.....-...--.-...
ONEYBYTHENEATED

tried rearranging it;
ONE HY ENATED BYTE

google corrects to;
one hyphenated

[pure loom]

dcode actually gives up to 500 possible options - the ONEYBYTHENEATED isn't in any preferential order. I got ONE NOVEMBER UNTIE by removing the first word each time I got a sensible word. I don't see any reason to rearrange it - on that basis you could come up with literally millions of possible words.

[pure loom]

The morse has nothing to do with the numbers (at least the dots and dashes don't - the spaces might). There are dots and dashes between the numbers - they vary from a two pixels (dots) to three pixels (dash).

[pure loom]

see that dcode just gives you all the options it can (up to 500).

[timid solstice]

the ONEYBYTHENEATED isn't in any preferential order.
its the "most" likely

[pure loom]

it isn't - you can demonstrate that by removing the "ONE" and then you'll see it doesn't suggest "YBYTHENEATED" as the most likely for the remaining morse - ONEYBYTHENEATED is just the first combination it decodes. But if you do it by asking it to come up with dictionary words, then remove the "ONE," the next word it shows is NOVEMBER - although there are other possible ones (for instance NOVA or NOIR). If we use NOVA, it would be ONE NOVA ZILANTS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zilant) - which we probably shouldn't rule out. But NOIR doesn't work because it can't really come up with an obvious next word.

The only way to confirm would be if Rob put some form of "spacing" into the numbers - like a prime number last is a space, or something like that.

Anyhow, let's see if we get some 👀 on one of these combos - that'll help us a lot!

[turbid tinsel]

Looking at this and all I see is one byte needed when saying it out loud, which would play on Rob's exactly and one comments maybe

One byte is a 8 bits, which could also be a reference to Rob's bit if time reference as well. And we already pretty much have a close to 8 o'clock reference on the watch for time

[timid solstice]

is it not the best sounding phrases ?

you cant remove ONE, because that is removing other combinations of potential morse

[neon stream]

Great observation! 💪🏻

[turbid tinsel]

also in regards to this https://discordapp.com/channels/1008696016318513243/1011929497139953744/1158549278839554068 "An uncompressed KoalaPainter file is exactly 10003 bytes in size, but depending on how it was migrated from the C64 platform, it may have some unused padding bytes appended to it." seems like a play on the making games for 1000's possibly. but also curious if its a play on kilobyte some how

The SI kilo- is k:
1 kB (kilobyte)=103 bytes=1000 bytes
While the binary kibi- is Ki:
1 KiB (kibibyte)=210 bytes=1024 bytes

but im just rambling on this one

The C64 took its name from its 64 kilobytes of RAM and had superior sound and graphical specifications compared to other earlier systems such as the Apple II and Atari 800. Kilobyte reference, and being an 8 bit machine which would also be 1 Byte

and idk why but i feel like there could be some importance in this link but i could be wrong. https://www.aaronbell.com/secret-colours-of-the-commodore-64/

[coarse dagger]

I don't see anything that looks special about KoalaPainter which isn't just how any and every c64 program loads. Am I overlooking something you saw?

[willow barn]

IT wAs eAsY 😎

[sharp flame]

😭

solved

[turbid tinsel]

That is probably irrelevant, just curious on it since rob referenced it earlier with some quotations around image and painting and wonder how that ties in. although image and painting and time might be a reference to the painting of, The Persistence of Memory, with the melting clocks ect.

gold clock in there, already had melting point passwords, similar angles on the clocks in regards to the egg watch image we have also

[pure loom]

It’s just the first phrase it resolves. That phrase isn’t even proper English. I really think it’s unlikely that Rob, who, keep in mind, speaks English as a second language, is going to have clues which phonetically sound like an English phrase from Morse code with no spaces vs Morse with no spaces that we can decipher in correct words (even if we don’t know the meaning). If we start getting clues where we can’t consistently apply Occam’s razor to them (almost always) then the chances of us being able to progress through this will greatly diminish and it’ll just lead to lots of frustration because there are so many possible answers to any clue like this. The “byte” relates to “bit” thing just becomes circular reasoning when the Morse clue doesn’t form actual words imo.

[timid solstice]

Im just discussing what dcode gives back

Im presuming it goes through all possible morse letters, then re arranges to fit any likely sounds words

[coarse dagger]

Hmm seems important...

Maybe it goes with our unsolved cross cipher somehow?

[pure loom]

Yeah, I know. But us accepting a gibberish answer from it means we could just look for anything that fits our view of what an answer should be instead of the answer driving us somewhere. I mean why aren’t you guys going “ok we have ONE NOVEMBER UNTIE” as a possible answer, where does that take us?” Do you see what I mean? I’m not saying I deciphered it correctly, just that a gibberish answer should be considered unlikely - even if it makes us think of something we’ve seen before.

[timid solstice]

Im not accepting anything

Im not even discussing what the words mean

[pure loom]

Ok, to answer your question - I don’t think dcode lists the phrases in order of what sounds best. It just lists them in the order it resolves first.

Which is why it gives you the option to change the list to be alphabetical

[timid solstice]

by this I wasnt saying "this is the most likely answer" I was saying dcode lists the top as the likely solve

[coarse dagger]

And RHB is saying he doesn't think the website knows what a likely solve would be

It just gives them to you in the order it finds them

I think we just need to keep spitballing. Throw out ideas but don't focus on them too much unless they seem REALLY promising.

[timid solstice]

but as you say its probably order

[pure loom]

That would make sense though when it didn’t have ONE NOVEMBER UNTIE on the list - which are three clear words. In other words, I think dcode ain’t so smart.

I mean, there’s no way for dcode to know the context of the phrase. Maybe the phrase is three words from the dictionary that appear one after the other, like Rabbit Rabbi Rabies but it can’t resolve that based on it being a phrase.

[timid solstice]

what you got was words in order so does sound most likely

[pure loom]

Yeah, that’s what I’m getting at - that we should focus on proper words as the answer even if I’m wrong with the three I came up with. As soon as we start including phonetics or partial words as an option - well, we gonna be here way longer than 96 days

There might be other options though. And then… do the numbers mean anything or were they just a distraction?

[timid solstice]

One November Untie

November-7 video Untie Your Hands

https://youtu.be/X-OvjsotnaQ

[pure loom]

Very sneaky of Rob to hide Morse in there

[pure loom]

The guitarist is wearing Rob’s wristband!

[timid solstice]

this was edited image so the name was too

here is the original
#easter-eggs message

[proud minnow]

haha, laughing out loud.!

[pure loom]

Speak of the… ah, Saint. Haha

Hopefully SR is getting out his 👀s

[turbid tinsel]

not sure if it means anything but there are golden tears and the one egg has 3 where others have one, pretty sure rob mentioned something about three (3) being clue references and the mouths also have 3 lines on some. Not sure if that is relevant or not

one also has a triangle nose and the only one that has a nose as well if thats worth looking into as well as filled circles for eyes when rest aren't

Also do we know if there is more in the image? looks like only thing that was done was a color swap unless im not finding it

[remote terrace]

There's also a 3 in robs hint of 18/3

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[neon stream]

We never know if we've found all the clues on an image, so there could be many more still

[pure loom]

Also the bandaid has a die 5 on it. I was looking at those and the tears to see if they told us the Morse spacing but it didn’t make any sense.

[jade citrus]

i dont think we've gotten a single 👀 for this tier

so maybe they will never come

the training wheels are finally off

[pure loom]

I think @sharp flame had one yesterday

[sharp flame]

and you as well lol

[pure loom]

what was it that you spotted?

I forget

[jade citrus]

i see it

#easter-eggs message

[pure loom]

yeah, so he hasn't quit, as far as I can see

[jade citrus]

we're just so far off that he can't confirm anything

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/sad-sad-spongebob-gif-sad-spongebob-spongebob-gif-25853094

[sharp flame]

I think we've been pretty close actually...

especially if we have all we need

[ember aurora]

[pure loom]

I've come up with a few others:
"9 ROSYTH LAND" Rosyth is a town in Scotland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosyth

Popping this in here for reference: ----..-.---...-.---.....-...--.-...

[fallen jasper]

I don't think we need to be investigating old clues for this.

[jade citrus]

[insert nerd emojicon]

[fallen jasper]

I'm dying

[proud minnow]

(nerd emojicon)

[fallen jasper]

I'm dead

[pure loom]

Rob asked if we had found clues in it

[jade citrus]

hi wob

[fallen jasper]

[proud minnow]

hi..!

[sharp flame]

😭 HI

[fallen jasper]

Rob why must you do me this dirty

[proud minnow]

I can see that you guys are still a little bit stuck... perhaps this was harder than I thought... but no worries... there might be some new coffee stains and other interesting things lying around at the Embark office... I will go hunting later this week and see what I can find... ._.

[pure loom]

going forward, just assume it is always harder than you thought.

[proud minnow]

It's getting REALLY hard soon... ._.

(but not until level 3...)

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/good-morning-funny-animals-insomnia-cat-tired-crazy-cute-gif-16590085

[proud minnow]

(and level 4... well let's not talk about that...)

[sharp flame]

💀

[fallen jasper]

What about level 5

Is this where we get to meet bor

[jade citrus]

bor

[proud minnow]

How many "levels" are there in a tournament...?

...and when do you REACH THE FINALS..?

[fallen jasper]

Technically the 5th level is me bragging about how I won. Or me yelling about how I lost.

[timid solstice]

i've forgotten

https://tenor.com/view/old-boomer-history-84years-many-years-ago-gif-18534104

[fallen jasper]

There's 4

First two are the qualifying ones. Third is the Semi-finals. 4th is THE FINAL

[pure loom]

From Easter Egg levels to "when game out?" in 3 moves. Impressive

[fallen jasper]

CB2 just had the last 3 for brevity's sake iirc

[timid solstice]

so what you are saying is CB3 to remind us?

[pure loom]

it could be OB3

or would that be OB1?

[timid solstice]

https://tenor.com/view/hello-star-wars-obi-wan-kenobi-gif-5464338

[sharp flame]

OB1 Kenobi

💀

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/lolol-lmao-gif-22173456

[sharp flame]

good timing 😭

[fallen jasper]

https://tenor.com/view/kanna-clueless-stare-look-up-cute-gif-16733193

[proud minnow]

BUT to make sure you don't lose your sanity... you are on the right path... just need to open your eyes, see the big picture, connect the dots..

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/pacman-eating-dots-hungry-hangry-eating-all-the-things-gif-11723650

[proud minnow]

(I will swing by Esses desk later this week, he often spills coffee)

[jade citrus]

In summary: OYE

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/mr-bean-mr-beans-holiday-rowan-atkinson-tired-stay-awake-gif-14784107

[sharp flame]

👀

istg we haven't even got to Vega yet 😭

(unless we passed it)

[pure loom]

There are a few odd-looking individual pixels in the READY image

[proud minnow]

you have not passed it...

[coarse dagger]

connect the dots
?

[sharp flame]

now THAT's tinfoil hatting

great

[pure loom]

I'll try turning them all the same colour, so they're easier to join

[sharp flame]

chase this down! it might mean something

could you post some other pixels like that

[coarse dagger]

https://tenor.com/view/write-that-down-taking-notes-school-universities-university-gif-17937210

[jade citrus]

everyone when rob says literally anything:

[coarse dagger]

How do you figure it has nothing to do with the numbers? Perhaps the morse indicates some operation to do on them.

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/honest-word-its-honest-work-it-aint-much-it-aint-much-but-its-honest-work-gif-13763573

[pure loom]

No, I was explaining that the morse doesn't come from the numbers - it's the dots between the numbers

They could relate in some way

[coarse dagger]

Sorry, what does Vega refer to in this context?

[timid solstice]

its a path we know is coming, but we found confirmed connections early

[pure loom]

Vega + Byzant...

[sharp flame]

Vega star, multiple connections

Rob confirmed but deconfirmed, said it was actually for later

[coarse dagger]

This must've predated my time in the hunt

Good to know

[coarse dagger]

Have we reached it? 👀

[sharp flame]

#easter-eggs message

like idk if it was just the universe lining up

but there was SO many connections

you know what's crazy, for example

the first Pulsar discovered

had a time period of 1.337 seconds

also a Mathematician who computed Pi was named Vega

Euler was connected, had 79 in his formula for Pi

as WELL as that...

Zorro's (fictional character) real name was Vega, Zorro being super duper connected, which even tied Batman into the hunt (perhaps speculation)

brain hurts... sleep now..

[pure loom]

I tried outlining segments that seem to appear in the word as morse dashes and dots

this spells "STEEL"

add a dash for the cursor and it potentially changes to "STILT"

READY potentially has the word "ETNA"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Etna

[coarse dagger]

UHHHHHH the gold egg rolex

Is a gold capped steel watch

[pure loom]

these lines could be the hands of an analog clock - showing 3 o'clock

that might fit with the time hints from Rob

Random path - more curious than anything - but there was an Etna Iron Works in Manhattan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etna_Iron_Works

The building was later rented to Edison Machine Works: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Machine_Works

An employee of Edison MW was none other than Nikola Tesla

Something I didn't realize previously - and wondered about - is that the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum both use a rainbow as part of their branding:

They did this to show that the computers were color compatible

Same with polaroid

Not many monochrome PCs on the market anymore

I wondered if the link between all of these might be "yellow" - gold, egg yolk, C64 and ZX Spectrum branding.

time doesn't fit with that though

[coral wing]

https://www.geologyin.com/2018/08/cracking-secrets-of-old-faithfuls.html

Cool thread about “golden eggs” coming out of yellowstone.

Called “Geyserite eggs”

[pure loom]

I'd never heard of this before

[coral wing]

Right? I never knew either

Apparently these “eggs” are super rare too!

[pure loom]

I wonder if the ZX Spectrum lines on the READY image relate to the key placement on the actual ZX Spectrum?

[fringe gazelle]

yeah i didnt see that

[fringe gazelle]

wow good yeys seing the one pixle difference

[pure loom]

Yeah, I was like "why did he need to add the dots instead of spaces?" I zoomed in a bit and I was like...

https://tenor.com/view/lotr-lord-of-the-rings-gollum-tricked-fooled-gif-3542940

[fringe gazelle]

i wish i had more time to help but other than an hour or two a day i cant actually dig into it and by the time im active again i get lost or rob drops some new riddles

[pure loom]

Any help is appreciated! If you're limited for time, maybe just focus on one unsolved clue?

[neon stream]

Good eye! Rockhound here

[fringe gazelle]

funny rockound local legend

[south wyvern]

https://tenor.com/view/burrow-underground-climb-out-coming-up-inside-hole-gif-15820653

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wafer_(electronics)

https://www.chipsetc.com/gold-value-in-computer-chips.html#:~:text=Solid Gold bonding wire used to connect the Silicon chip Die to the IC package.

Rob gave us an photoshopped image:
Fourteenth gold (79/Au) rocks > 14 + Periodic Table = Silicon (14/Si)
Silicon is also within Group 14 (Carbon Family)
"created on a wafer, typically made of pure single-crystal semiconducting material. Silicon is almost always used, but various compound semiconductors are used for specialized applications."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor_device_fabrication

[pure loom]

good possibility!

[south wyvern]

I follow up with your outline idea but with flavour

I used reflection/mirror style

Central Processing Units (CPU)
Central Nerve System (CNS)

Both have one common: the brain

[coarse dagger]

Imma need more explanation 😅

[turbid tinsel]

#easter-eggs message

[south wyvern]

Well, what is inside Commodore 64? A whole bunch of component parts

CPU has clock rate

oh i even made a GIF too lol

[pure loom]

can you explain where the letters come from?

[south wyvern]

By looking at the picture, I'm outside the box the whole time 😦

[pure loom]

oh, right

interesting!

[south wyvern]

The thing is Rob's an Easter egg creator which is creativity so if I were to play his game, I must be creative too up his challenges.

[turbid tinsel]

The circle picture reminds me of the CMOS battery which is related to time. And then on the picture you used mirroring/reflection kinda looks like a mobo where you would plug in a GPU in a way

Also I find it odd that the cursor in the ready gif at the top has the same type of reflection as the other letters but the bottom of the block is just white as if something was cut out

[south wyvern]

I forgot this one too #easter-eggs message

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_(integrated_circuit)

[coral wing]

Should i attempt to recreate the ready gif and we will see what isnt standing out??😵‍💫

[coral wing]

brain hurts must stop

the only thing that stands out to me is obviously the missing chunks

but rock, you noticed different pixels on some, did you notice the like "pixel lines" with some missing chunks? could be from the "glitch" effect the text has on it but

[coarse dagger]

5 of the namatamas seem to be post-death. 5 die?

2 live 5 die?

Reposting for easy reference/context

The font is very reminiscent of something

Bubble bobble?

Not quite

hmm

[daring bluff]

looks like only 1 is actually dead unless you count whatever the last one is

[coarse dagger]

Dead/undead

I'd consider the last 5

It's certainly subjective

But we have a 5 die, so I'd say my assessment at least has some support

Quite close to gorda... maybe slightly less bold?

Etymology and terms
The word die comes from Old French dé; from Latin datum "something which is given or played".

While the terms ace, deuce, trey, cater, cinque and sice are generally obsolete, with the names of the numbers preferred, they are still used by some professional gamblers to designate different sides of the dice. Ace is from the Latin as, meaning "a unit"; the others are 2 to 6 in Old French.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice

⚀ ⚁ ⚂ ⚃ ⚄ ⚅

Using Unicode characters, the faces can be shown in text using the range U+2680 to U+2685 or using decimal ⚀ to ⚅
So 5 pips, cinque, would be U+2684 or &#9860

[turbid tinsel]

curious if time being a hint has to do with fli timing on the c64 some how

[coarse dagger]

fli timing? All I know about are jiffies

[turbid tinsel]

https://c64os.com/post/flitiming2

or clock signals in digital circuts

idk im just in a hole

https://www.symmetryelectronics.com/blog/what-are-clock-signals-in-digital-circuits-and-how-are-they-produced-symmetry-blog/

[sharp flame]

You guys are going deeeeeep

[turbid tinsel]

idk where to even jump back to lol

point me in a direction coach

[sharp flame]

I don't think C64 is truly a rabbit hole worth digging at this point

at the most, maybe it helps us in the format/key of the answer

the actual answer itself is more oriented towards Gold or Gold Eggs etc

Or a combination of the first few passwords perhaps

[coarse dagger]

Hard to say. The only new clues we've gotten this tier are C64 related, so I'd say it's natural to investigate there

Well, that and time; but we've only gotten that from Rob's comments

I'd say if you want to go deep, go deep!

[turbid tinsel]

U.S. Gold was one of the most well-known publishers for the C64

[sharp flame]

My logic is that from the very beginning we've had all we need for the password

Rob said the Ready gif just had a few things hidden but that we were READY anyways

hence me saying we already have all we need

[coral wing]

This is what ive been mainly basing my “trys” off of^

[wanton sundial]

Could it be Spongy? 🤔

[hidden nacelle]

I was thinking maybe the time and gold clue had something to do with “dusk golden time”or “dawn golden time” 🤔

[wind mantle]

Was anyone ever able to look into the fabregé egg thing?

I don't know enough about it to make any connections there.

[turbid tinsel]

Did rob recently put eyes here? #easter-eggs message

[sharp flame]

oooooooooo

Does that help us with THIS password then?

what if we try golden egg related passwords

or "terms" for golden egg

and use some key like "e = 3" or in latin, or both

maybe this page will help

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Egg_(disambiguation)

I hope Rob 👀'd it cause its for THIS tier

[fallen jasper]

Oscar's showing up

[sharp flame]

@rugged grail Angry Birds mentioned 👀

I knew it all along...

[fallen jasper]

Imagine Oscar got hired entirely because Rob needed a connection for the EE hunt

[sharp flame]

Rob directed Oscar to put the Golden Eggs in Angry Birds while it was being developed.. now we need to acquire all the Golden Eggs in Angry Birds for the next tier..

[fallen jasper]

I don't think any of the golden eggs on that page is really helpful to us

[sharp flame]

Except for the main one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goose_that_Laid_the_Golden_Eggs

[fallen jasper]

Yeah

[sharp flame]

numbered 87 in the Perry Index

[fallen jasper]

Hmm

LXXXVII

[sharp flame]

87 maybe?

[sharp flame]

that was quick

[fallen jasper]

I knew you were gonna ask for it

[sharp flame]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxia_ovata

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolk_of_the_Golden_Egg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Easter_Egg

[fallen jasper]

Grows near Berkley

[sharp flame]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllomorpha_laciniata

[fallen jasper]

Do we need to be looking for something involving chemicals and latin aswell since another running throughput between the tiers was the chemical makeup of gold and the latin phrases revolving around eggs?

[sharp flame]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiranyagarbha golden egg here

[fallen jasper]

I'm probably gonna sound insane but

[sharp flame]

👀

[fallen jasper]

Is the answer gonna be something about Mitosis?

[turbid tinsel]

Would kind of explain the connect the dots in a sense no?

[fallen jasper]

We've got one level going into one with 2 active parts at the same time. Eggs and the Vitellum. Gold can be melted by Aqua Regia which is just a mixture of Hydrochloric acid and nitric acid.

Lots of 2s going on there. The hex for the golden ratio is 1.9

[turbid tinsel]

so we take 2 elements, melt them down, do we need to pour it into a mold?

[sharp flame]

🧠

[turbid tinsel]

seems like a smelting process in a way

[fallen jasper]

Unfortunately the only thing you get from smelting a egg is ash

[sharp flame]

shame

[fallen jasper]

morula?

[sharp flame]

morula?

[fallen jasper]

nvm don't think it leads anywhere

It's the clump of cells that exists after a fertilized ovum divides.

[sharp flame]

too deeeeeep

[pure loom]

It goes the same way as the clue on the actual keyboard

Sorry, just realised I replied to a very old message 😂

F = yolk, ABC = gold. The most common thing these have is yellow (which is actually not true - the colour of gold is gold to be accurate)

They’re both rich haha

“While egg yolks can range in color from pale yellow to deep orange, "the healthier hens will have more carotenoids in their eggs, producing a deep golden-colored yolk," Cisneros explains. So to get a golden yolk, the hen needs to get good quality feed, correct husbandry practices—and more importantly be a healthy hen.”

[sharp flame]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Fabergé

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Hen_(Fabergé_egg)

[pure loom]

Yeah, we’ve posted this before and never got a response from Rob. It seems like such a good path too.

[pure loom]

The C64 and ZX Spectrum both have yellow in their logo. Yellow seems like a possibility.

[coral wing]

LMAOOO

[coarse dagger]

I know this one has been eyed for a long time and it's basically the same thing (in response to #easter-eggs message @turbid tinsel )

[coarse dagger]

Bruh I was reading this last night at like 3AM but decided to go to sleep before looking more into it/posting

[pure loom]

That happens quite a lot! Haha

[turbid tinsel]

Spitballing here but the 18/3 reference, there were a bunch of project discovery comments in EE as well as the clock/watch/time back in march

As well as rob saying it started as a code name but now it is something else. (project discovery)

[pure loom]

Yeah, the 18/3 watch message from @tulip matrix seems most likely what Rob is pointing to. Which makes me think the possible clock hands in the READY image are more viable as a clue. #easter-eggs message

(*pings Duhmeister in the hope he will come away from his Starfield addiction and jump back in here for a bit haha)

I only found what looks like a minute and hour hand in the READY image though - no seconds

sigh

@neon stream I see you laughing

we need you back full time too!

[neon stream]

I wish I could, I have other priorities rn 😂

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/rule76-champions-no-excuses-friends-like-a-champion-gif-14696802

[neon stream]

I just lurk in the shadows in the meantime 😛

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/life-scared-shadow-jealous-dog-gif-4911343

[neon stream]

Rob said we have everything we need, so we just need someone to make the connection 🤷🏻‍♂️

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/robert-deniro-meet-the-fockers-point-looking-at-you-im-watching-you-gif-5145428

[neon stream]

This is my theory still, so we should be looking for something Gold/Golden related for this tier, that we'll later combine with the Tier 2DEF answer, which should be egg related, to get the answer for Tier 3

[pure loom]

Do you think the T-1-F thing means it should also be Vit3llus (yolk) related?

[neon stream]

Not sure what the t1-f-1 thing means, but it looks like the key for this whole thing

[pure loom]

Interesting that the possible clock is pointing to 3 and there was a 3 in Vit3llus

[neon stream]

f-1 could mean e

[neon stream]

so t1-f-1 would be t1-e 🤔

not sure how that'd help 😂

[sharp flame]

oooo

well maybe it's the same key as cacoiii

[neon stream]

Hmmm true, good idea!

[pure loom]

Or time 1 less e?

hmmm

[neon stream]

go50100 is not the answer 😅

[pure loom]

iii and 3 again

[neon stream]

nvm, I'm stupid

[neon stream]

go50500 is not the answer either 😂

50 = L
500 = D

go50500en isn't either 😂

[pure loom]

I tried vit2llus too

This feels like a path worth exploring more though

[neon stream]

Since Rob has been following the same naming pattern for the tiers, maybe he wants us to do something with the difference of expected vs real 🤔
expected being: t2-abc
real being: t1-f-1

hmmm but then Tier2 DEF is t1-def, not t2-def 🤔

I guess the same idea would apply

[pure loom]

yeah, what's with that?

I want the numbering system we were promised!

[neon stream]

That might be worth looking at, he doesn't do things for no reason, so that might be what we're missing

[pure loom]

This ARG is unplayable!

[tulip matrix]

https://tenor.com/view/spongebob-hide-spongebob-squarepants-spy-hermit-gif-5786406

[pure loom]

https://tenor.com/view/take-a-seat-please-dermot-mulroney-john-carmichael-hanna-have-a-seat-gif-17699106

I think Rob pointing to Duh's watch post with the 18/3 tells us the clue is time-related, as does his "time is ticking" comment

we have a possible clock point to 3 o'clock in the READY image

And 3 in the vit3llus password from 1f

https://tenor.com/view/thos-moser-food-house-gupi-fraxiom-clock-gif-21795143

[tulip matrix]

Ready
Set
Go

Counting down?

[pure loom]

s3t isn't it

nor is g0

or s3tg0

[remote terrace]

Time to cook a golden egg? :p idk, a normal one cooks from 4-12minutes depending on how you want it

[pure loom]

[sharp flame]

https://tenor.com/view/its-its-always-sunny-always-sunny-charlie-day-charlie-gif-16330640

[sharp flame]

😭

[tulip matrix]

Glad I kept that meme template on standby for it's very specific purpose

Periodically reading up on this tier while touring the moons of Saturn hehe

[pure loom]

That's one step closer to you being back in the A team

[tulip matrix]

Saturn's moons pretty boring so far tbh. Jupiter's moons way more interesting. No wonder Galileo looked at them first.

[tulip matrix]

https://tenor.com/view/pek-gif-19538705

Better double check my laces are tied. Wouldn't want to accidentally trip myself into escape velocity on Lapetus.

[turbid tinsel]

New thought, we have the golden angle clue. is it possible the next clue is in regards to the golden ratio? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

or perhaps the golden number (time)? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_number_(time)

Also might just be a coincidence, Imperial Coronation (Fabergé egg), In March 1979, the egg was sold to Malcolm Forbes

Who later created a magizine call Egg

[coarse dagger]

I interpreted that as him telling us we needed to look to t1-def to solve t2-def

[coarse dagger]

Oh, you just reminded me of something I was looking at before drifting off. One sec

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold

On Earth, gold is found in ores in rock formed from the Precambrian time onward.

Exploitation of gold in the south-east corner of the Black Sea is said to date from the time of Midas, and this gold was important in the establishment of what is probably the world's earliest coinage in Lydia around 610 BC.

I started looking at references to time in the wiki pages, because I was wondering if time was a unifying theme for T2-ABC and T2-DEF

The first being related to a gold time, and the second an egg time(r)?

Or incubation time or something

[coarse dagger]

We've had a hint to Midas before, and coins are obv important in the finals

[jade citrus]

I considered this as a path, but there's too many species to just choose one at random for the password 🤔

unless golden goose = goose

does anyone remember how much time it takes to capture a cashout in-game?

could be something i guess lol

[jade citrus]

found it, looks like 2 minutes from the latest patch notes

[coarse dagger]

What if the C in C64 is referring to T1C?

[coarse dagger]

C
6 -> F
4 -> D

CFD

C64... roman numerals 164?

[upbeat badge]

https://your-online.ru/en/electronic-formulas/Au

Maybe orbitals are relevant.

[leaden stirrup]

"Levels" connection ?

Can someone remember how many tiers were there in the first level?

[neon stream]

Hmmm could be, but what about the t1-f-1? 🤔

[tulip matrix]

Maybe mentioned
The cursor navigation keys on the C64 are labeled CRSR

Also this type of cursor might also be called a caret 🥕

[coral wing]

6

Wait actually 7 no? Wasnt there like a pre password that came from original tweet? Idk if that would count as a “tier”

Fish or rock would know🥲

[timid solstice]

There were no tiers

Just 3 red herrings

[leaden stirrup]

Oh ok thanks for the information

[coral wing]

Im so confused ABCDEF arent on their own though? Or is it tier 1 as a whole

[timid solstice]

That’s level 2, they were “on their own” yes

[timid solstice]

We were talking about the first level

[leaden stirrup]

I meant the whole level. Like this level is "Level 2 - The promise" but what was the first level ?

[hidden nacelle]

geocache i believe

[tulip matrix]

The Trap

jk

Level 1 - The Commence

[hidden nacelle]

oh ye, thats it

[coarse dagger]

I would consider the two URLs separately. I doubt they are to be interpreted the same way.

[neon stream]

Hmmm I'm not sure if I agree with you on that. I agree it is a possibility, but they are side by side for a reason, so I wouldn't discard the idea that we need to interpret them together

I'm also not convinced that interpretation of the nomenclature of the T2-DEF url is correct, since the DEF part of the Tier's name already points to the Tier1 parts, so the "t1" on the url might be redundant

[coarse dagger]

Certainly a possibility, I just feel that if Rob gives us two things in the same place which look similar there's probably a bit more to it than that.

I'm not saying I don't think the two passwords are related, just that we might need to go down different paths using the URLs to get there

[coarse dagger]

Yeah, not sure. Just spitballing

[neon stream]

Yeah, I'm not saying that interpretation is incorrect either. I just think we shouldn't discard any possibilities, since SR hasn't confirmed anything yet

[neon stream]

We've done this before, and it took us longer to find the answer because of that 😂

[timid solstice]

You mean C0mmence ?

[coarse dagger]

C0mmencedor64

[tulip matrix]

C0meuppance?

[turbid tinsel]

I still think for some reason the pixels in the rectangle/cursor some how use the golden ratio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rectangle