The QSMP ARG was announced and began to be solved on May 9, 2023 at 7:32 PM EST on Twitter by the Quackity Studios account.
The ARG was fully solved on May 20th, after which a series of tweets have been posted in the Quackity Studios Twitter account.
Each Level Answer
These are the answers for every single level in the ARG. Be careful for spoilers, as hovering over the blurred text will reveal the answer. This is intended to be a quick shortcut to those who just want any of the levels' answers.
00:00 : 30HOLAHELLOBUENDIAGREETINGS21
01:00 : invitacionaceptada23203535
02:00 : inaccessibleisland
03:00 : QkO2UAaG_400x400
04:00 : SOLES11
05:00 : SENSELESSNESS
06:00 : KILLDOISBIRDSWITHUMASTONE
07:00 : V4M054V3R
08:00 : ONEHUNDRED22
09:00 : redherring26
10:00 : ?LAVERDADITIS¿
Puzzle Standards
While interacting with the ARG you can leave and come back at any point, although it will throw you back to the start after being away for too long. There are also a number of messages that will pop up after entering an incorrect answer or if the site is currently being overwhelmed.
Puzzle 00:00
In the announcement tweet, you are directed to go qsmp.global the first time you go to this page you will be presented with this page. [1]
After clicking the "Sign" button, you will have access to the first puzzle. This puzzle 00:00, has three parts that, joined together, compose the first answer.
The 00:00 puzzle is solved by completing each individual part and then typing all three answers into the answer box at the same time.
Part 1 is solved by completing the maze, and then doing the math equation of addition and subtraction along the path. The equation along the maze path is 33 +2 +2 +1 -9 +1 -4 -6 -2 -4 +1 +8 -6 +3 -1 +8 +5 -2 = 30.
Part 2 is solved by connecting the dots of the image to form words. The letters spell out words in Spanish and English. HOLA HELLO BUEN DIA GREETINGS.
Part 3 is solved by finding what number is missing from the provided list. The missing number is 21.
The Answer
To solve Puzzle 00:00, into the answer box type 30HOLAHELLOBUENDIAGREETINGS21
Puzzle 01:00
The second puzzle of the ARG consists of multiple stages. Letter unscrambling, YouTube video links, and cyphers to get the final answer.
Part 1 is solved by unscrambling seven words and using corresponding letters to create a YouTube link. This YouTube link is not the final answer of Puzzle 01:00. The first link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDohdw1owgU.
Links to Each Video
- Video 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDohdw1owgU
- Video 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40-teZuOnq4
- Video 2a - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og2umyCIdXg
- Video 2b - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3dH4cEdwBk
- Video 2c - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC__lC62_j4
- Video 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQgVrCzvn-4
- Video 3a - https://www.youtube.com+/watch?v=j1RxYcD_M8g
- Video 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIOtyHmKx5M
- Video 4a - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWPfATehyp4
- Video 4b - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQNBY2ECW1Y
- Video 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfCdqmPjoiQ
- Video 6 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPhRPH85vTw
- Video 7 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRVFusEtnSY
- Video 8 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul5zI4WvDpE
- Video 9 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE-vwH1B-GU
- Video 10 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUH4Go90dq8
- Video 11 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb-cyn2kYQw
How to Get from One Video to the Next
- Video 1 has code for Video 2 in white lettering in the lower center of the frame.
- Video 2 has two possible branches within it. The code for Video 3 is written in dark grey lettering across the center of the frame. The code for Video 2a is found in the description of Video 2.
- Video 2a has the code for 2b in white lettering in the lower left corner of the frame that is upside down and backwards.
- Video 2b has the code for 2c in white lettering on the right side of the frame that is spelled out vertically.
- Video 2c has the code for Video 9 in the description.
- Video 3 has two possible branches. The code for Video 3a is written in red lettering in the middle right and the code for Video 4 is in the description.
- Video 3a has the code for Video 9 in the description.
- Video 4 has three possible branches. The code for 3a is written in white lettering in the lower left corner of the frame. The code for 4a is written in white lettering on the middle right. The code for Video 5 is the title of Video 4.
- Video 4a has the code for Video 4b in the description. The large grey lettering in the video frame is one letter short of the code for Video 2b. Unknown if this is a mistake or intentional.
- Video 4b does not lead to any other video but contains an image of a duck that appears again in Puzzle 0200.
- Video 5 has the code for Video 6 spelled out vertically in the description.
- Video 6 has the code for Video 7 in the description.
- Video 7 has the code for Video 8 written in blurred red lettering in the lower center of the frame.
- Video 8 has the code for Video 9 in the description.
- Video 9 has the code for Video 10 written in white lettering on the left side of the frame. The lettering is scramble. To get the code for video 10, number the four vertical sections of lettering 3, 4, 1, 2 following the order listed in the top left corner. Then re-arrange the vertical letter sections to numerical 1, 2, 3, 4 order and combine them to make the code for Video 10.
- Video 10 has the code for Video 11 written in white lettering on the right side of the frame that is spelled out vertically.
- Video 11 is titled Último, meaning "Last" in Portuguese and does not contain a code to another video.
But what's the Answer?
The answer to Puzzle 01:00 is contained within the videos. Throughout the series of videos there are red numbers that correspond to a letter using a base number to letter cypher. 1 = A, 2 = B, 3 = C, and etcetera all the way to 26 = Z.
- Video 1 - 9 , 14, 22 = I, N, V
- Video 2 - 9, 20, 1 = I, T, A
- Video 3 - 3, 9 = C, I
- Video 4 - 15, 14 = O, N
- Video 4a - 1, 3 = A, C
- Video 2b - 5, 16 = E, P
- Video 2c - 20, 1 = T, A
- Video 9 - 4, 1 = D, A
These red numbers spell out INVITACIONACEPTADA which translates to Invitation Accepted. The words spelled by the red numbers are not the final answer though. To complete Puzzle 01:00 you have to include the number that were spelled out in Videos 10 and 11 in white lettering.
- Video 10 - Two Three Two Zero = 2320
- Video 11 - Three Five Three Five = 3535
To solve Puzzle 01:00, type INVITACIONACEPTADA23203535 into the answer box underneath the original YouTube fill in the blank.
Puzzle 02:00
The third puzzle of the ARG contains four parts to reach the final answer; cyphers, images with codes, a 3D model, and Google Maps.
Cipher
The beginning of Puzzle 02:00 is with de-coding a URL. The URL can be decoded using the Atbash Cipher, or reverse Alphabet. A = Z, B = Y, C = X, etcetera. The key to finding what cypher to use is the first part of the URL. Since URLs start with "https" that could be set equivalent to "sggkh" to find the pattern to de-code the rest of the URL. The decoded URL is https://imgur.com/a/EiGKLES
Imgur Image Codes
Part two of Puzzle 02:00 starts once you follow the decoded URL. The first URL brings you to Imgur, a website used for image sharing. The linked image depicts a close up of water with orange letters in the center of the image frame. The orange letters are part of the answer to reach part three. Underneath each image, in the description, is a code that will lead to the next image in a chain total of eight. These eight images have the codes to begin stage three.
Imgur Links
- https://imgur.com/a/EiGKLES
- https://imgur.com/a/dfE13eY
- https://imgur.com/a/tA4lgUH
- https://imgur.com/a/oO6bZsR
- https://imgur.com/a/jq33hjL
- https://imgur.com/a/6GTFO7i
- https://imgur.com/a/ldq4joz
- https://imgur.com/a/Hs4w7PT
Imgur Codes
These are the codes that need to be entered to begin part three.
- C3401
- W5674
- S6030
- G7320
- M4462
- H3021
- B8927
- Q8501
3D Chess Model
Once the codes from part two have been entered, the squares shown on the base page of Puzzle 02:00 will fill in and reveal a new image. This new image contains a URL that leads to a 3D model of a chess board. The chessboard is title 000 and was posted by the account "itsyourmove"
Coordinates
Written on the chess board model, are a set of coordinates. The first coordinate is on the bottom of the model written vertically in black on the left side. The second coordinate is written horizontally on side closest to the black king piece.
- Coordinate 1 : -37.22594274
- Coordinate 2: -12.68682585
These coordinates are what begins part 4 of Puzzle 02:00.
Chess Board Secrets
While the coordinates of the chess board are rather easy to find, the model holds at least one secret that has been discovered. Inside the black king piece, is a hidden logo and phrase. The logo is the same duck image that was found in Video 4b of Puzzle 01:00. The phrase under the duck is in Spanish and reads "Este juego es muy rojo." This translates to "This game is very red." When viewing the hidden logo with the red wireframe enabled, you can see a rectangle on the ducks belly.
You can also view the chessboard with a model inspector tool called UV Checker, and it reveals the hidden logo is cast in red and that the chess board is split into four colors quadrants. The bottom view of the board contains squares with arrows and numbers.
The Island is the Answer
The coordinates found in part three on the chess board lead to an island in the real world. Into Google Maps, or another global map system, input the coordinates -37.22594274, -12.68682585. This will display a location point just off the coast of an island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The island is named Inaccessible Island.
The name of the island is the answer to Puzzle 02:00. To solve Puzzle 02:00 type INACCESSIBLEISLAND into the answer box underneath the image.
Puzzle 03:00
Puzzle 03:00 starts with a page that asks “¿Qué ves? ¿Qué hace ese ruido?” which translates to “What do you see? What makes that noise?”. In the background of the page there is a noise playing. The sound continuously loops. When the sound is run through a spectrogram, it reveals a series of emojis that, with the first letter of the emoji name, spell out "These Games Begin". This is the name of a twitter account. https://twitter.com/thesegamesbegin has made a single tweet that is a misdirection for solving Puzzle 03:00. It is unknown if the tweet will be relevant to later puzzles. To solve Puzzle 03:00, click on the accounts profile picture. The file name of the picture is the answer to the puzzle. QKO2UAAG_400X400 is the answer to Puzzle 03:00.
Puzzle 04:00
Puzzle 04:00 is a co-operative puzzle that can only be solved by working with the larger community. Every individual will receive a code or three or four letters and numbers. However, one person in the community did not get a code but a sentence “How many times have you said something if you’ve only said it once?”. Since at that time a lot of edited screenshots was appearing, the sentence was brought under serious consideration only after the tweet was liked by @QuackityStudios and retweeted by @QuackGiveaways.
Everyone’s code can all be arranged in a pattern, most easily done with a spreadsheet, with the initial number being either 0 or 1. The codes can be arranged so that each letter is followed by a number, for example, 0Y25. 0 is part of a binary code, and the Y indicates where to put it (as in it comes under the Y column, after making a column for each letter) and 25 is the row. Every 8th code has a decimal point, indicating the end of a binary code. So you can put the previous starting numbers (0 or 1) in a binary translator and get phrases. A spreadsheet was assembled by Cellbit and the codes have translated to a bilingual riddle.
“YOU WALK ON US, PERO ESTAMOS EN LO ALTO DEL CIELO. ONLY ALONE IN A SINGULAR INSTANCE. INVERTIDO A LOS QUE PUEDEN AGREGAR LO PRIMERO DE ESTO."
Full English Translation: “You walk on us, but we are high up in the sky. Only alone in a singular instance. Inverted/reversed to those that can add the first of this.”
The Answer
The answer to 04:00 is SOLES11.
The answer to Puzzle 04:00 was found by a member of an ARG Discord server. Leahbohbeah solved the riddle at 10:53 PM EST on May 11, 2023. The answer was quickly shared to Twitter and spread until Cellbit input the code during his stream. At 11:16 PM EST, Quackity Studios posted a tweet stating "And we're just getting started" with an emoji for the sun and two emoji "1"s.
"The first thing is knowing there were two separate things to add to the answer--The fact that the other question said "the final piece" which to me meant there had to be multiple parts to the riddle and not just one word. So then, I just thought about solving them independently.
Soles and Atlas were the two things I'd found that had a spanish counterpart that could kind of work in the riddle. (Salta is atlas backwards and means he/she/it jumps so it worked for high in the sky and an atlas is a map, so you could walk on it.)
Soles worked for all of them.
You walk on us I knew it couldn't be a singular word because it was phrased as "on us". Soles are the bottoms of your shoes, so you walk on them. But we are high up in the sky This part was in spanish, so I thought the answer to this phrase had to read in spanish. Soles is the plural of sol which means sun, so it is suns/stars in the sky. Only alone in a singular instance This is in english, so it had to work as an english meaning of the phrase. If you make "soles" singular, you get "sole" meaning alone. Inverted to those who can add the first of this 11 is a mirror, so its an inversion. Idk I didn't focus on this very much because I thought the phrasing threw me off track.
Then, the other riddle said how many times have you said something if you have said it once? This is another false friend/interlingual homograph. Once means eleven [ad. in spanish], so I figured I'd just add both pieces together." "I also thought about the last line more. Soles was the first response to the first line. In reverse it is Se los, which means I know them."
- Leahbohbeah explaining how she solved the 04:00 riddle.
Puzzle 05:00
Puzzle 05:00 at face value only gives you a hint of what to do. 🎶 “COUNT” + ITS COUNT 🎶 is the provided clue.
When looking into the source code for this level, sets of ZeroWidthSpace can be found between the letters of "COUNT", counting the spaces and adding themm together, you get the count of 103 spaces. The hint tells us to add the amount of spaces + the length of the word "COUNT", that being 5. So 103 + 5 gives us 108!
The wallpaper to this level is actually a hint as well, the clouds indicate that we have to look for a SoundCloud account with what we have so far. Joining COUNT and 108 together, we can find a SoundCloud account named COUNT108.
When clicking on the account's profile picture, we can find barely hidden words saying "NO TE PUEDES IR" (YOU CAN'T ACCESS) and a code. The banner has also hidden words and symbols, pointing to the share button and telling you to click. This tells us to click the button and take the SoundCloud short url pattern, similar to that of YouTube, and change the profile code for the one in the profile picture. Doing that, we are redirected to a private playlist, which was hinted by "NO TE PUEDES IR".
The Playlist
The playlist has the name "Let me spell it out for you: Only the real ones know. All caps.", its description is "LEMON 2X MARVEL LEMON 2x JAMES 2X LEMON LEMON MARVEL 2X LEMON LEMON" and contains 8 "songs", each one of the songs has a different letter in their picture and their name are a pattern of EMOJI-COUNTRY FLAG-EMOJI, as following:
- 🟥🇵🇪🦙 - PICTURE = L (Peru)
- ⭐🇺🇸🦅 - PICTURE = O (USA)
- 🦅🇪🇸♉ - PICTURE = R (Spain)
- 🟩🇧🇷🌟 - PICTURE = E (Brazil)
- 🐍🇲🇽🦅 - PICTURE = S (Mexico)
- 🌹🇬🇧♌ - PICTURE = M (UK)
- 🦌🇨🇱⭐ - PICTURE = A (Chile)
- ☘️🇮🇪🐇 - PICTURE = N (Ireland)
Turns out these aren't really songs but audios with really obfuscated voices saying some characteristic phrase of different regions, which were obtained by a deep analysis of each audio by the community.
- PE: No po 0:40
- US: Hey up, mate 0:36
- ES: Oye wey 0:11
- BR: What’s the story 0:58
- MX: Habla ¿que tal? 0:22
- GB: How ya going 1:11
- CL: Ey tio 1:00
- IE : Yo dude, What’s up 0:26
How do these correlate?
The country flags in the songs' names aren't for nothing, the phrases said doesn't correspond to the countries in the song title. So we have to reassign each title to their correct phrases, after which we'll get:
- 🦌🇨🇱⭐ - PICTURE = L (Chile)
- 🌹🇬🇧♌ - PICTURE = O (UK)
- 🐍🇲🇽🦅 - PICTURE = R (Mexico)
- ☘️🇮🇪🐇 - PICTURE = E (Ireland)
- 🟥🇵🇪🦙 - PICTURE = S (Peru)
- 🟩🇧🇷🌟 - PICTURE = M (Brazil)
- 🦅🇪🇸♉ - PICTURE = A (Spain)
- ⭐🇺🇸🦅 - PICTURE = N (USA)
Now onto the playlist name and description. The last part of the playlist name, "All caps.", hints we have to look after these countries capitals. The description is a wordplay, as each one of the words are referring to the countries capitals:
- LEMON - Sounds like LIMA - PERU = S
- 2X - DOUBLE - Sounds like DUBLIN - IRELAND = E
- MARVEL - Comic book company, counterpart to DC - Washington DC - USA = N
- JAMES - Royal Family name - Translated to Spanish, it becomes SANTIAGO - CHILE = L
So what's the answer?
According to that wordplay, if we take the full description LEMON 2X MARVEL LEMON 2x JAMES 2X LEMON LEMON MARVEL 2X LEMON LEMON and replace the terms, it becomes SENSELESSNESS, which is 05:00 answer.
Puzzle 06:00
On May 14th, @QuackityStudios posted the following caption: "Unravel mysteries tangled, hidden in the text, And when the code unveils itself, you'll journey to what's next. Welcome to 6:00🌐"
Puzzle 06:00 shows a text full of duckspeak. It is a language purely based off of 'quacks', the sound ducks make. According to a twitter user @shmiloh_, when the text is put through a translator, it gives the phrase 'youshouldgetitinstantly'. He points out that there is a TikTok account with the phrase as it's username.
The TikTok Account
The TikTok page has a white triangle shape in its otherwise all black profile picture. It has a unanswered code in the profile description (___w__), with a bilingual (English, Portuguese) message saying "(🡱 in full, com os números)" (in full, with the numbers)
It has 8 videos, all of which having a grey background and an audio in its background. Each of the videos' description has numbers 1-8 on it, with video 1 having "📷 = 1" instead of a plus sign next to the number, as the other 7 posts do. The audios are notably the same, with only the speed being slowed as we get to video +8.
The Answer
When the videos are put together and translated, they give the code "k2bwith1s". This means "Kill two birds with one stone", however this is not the final answer. It's hinted in the profile description that the numbers should be in Portuguese. If the numbers are written in that language, it will translate to uma (1) and dois (2). It results to our answer for 06:00, KILLDOISBIRDSWITHUMASTONE.
Puzzle 07:00
Puzzle 07:00 presents us with the Spanish phrase "esto no es el caso" (This isn't the case) in reverse and a bunch of seemingly gibberish, however, looking further into it, the gibberish is actually a code that had its characters cut up several times. Joining the parts together, we can find the code aOd^,f"v*aam7T*wvkD8Itiw@R4m$d`0q.
The Spanish phrase is hinting us to invert the code's letter case, so uppercase letters become lowercase and vice-versa, so we'll do just that and get AoD^,f”v*aam7t*WVKd8iTIW@r4M$D`0Q.
Using the dCode.fr website, we're able to find out this code is actually a link encoded in the ASCII85 cipher. Decoding it, it gives us a Google Forms link.
The forms title is another phrase, in Portuguese, "Eles precisam um do outro" (They need one another). Instead of questions as usual, the forms is filled with four images, following the sequence of TITLE: NUMBER IN SPANISH - CROSSWORD IMAGE -> ROMAN NUMERAL - CROSSWORD'S WORDS, but let's forget the words for the crossword, as they are useless. The forms' title is hinting us to overlap the empty crosswords images together. Doing that it gives us a datamatrix image, which is kind of a QR code. Reading the datamatrix, we are given, once again, another forms links.
This forms has a bunch of optional random questions, except for the first one, which is a picross made of checkboxes, required by the forms to check at least one from each row to submit it. For now, we'll input any answer without minding of solving it correctly and submit it. Submitting it, we get a feedback and are able to see the correct answers for the questions. Answering all the questions correctly, the feedback gives an Imgur image link.
The Answer
The image given is the last piece of this puzzle. At face value, the image has nothing interesting, it's just a mirror on a wall with a bunch of "Should you?" written in it. However, if we adjust the picture levels in Photoshop, we can see V4M054V3R (Let's see) written in the bottom plate, which is 07:00's answer!
Puzzle 08:00
Puzzle 08:00 is the only level to have no visual cues except by the background, which is actually the hint of what to do. The background image is of a handline hanging in the air, which hints at an audio playing in the background. What matters the most in this audio is its first 10 seconds, comprimed are the sounds of phone dial keys being pressed.
Carefully listening to the sounds and identifying what key is being pressed, we were able to find the digits "1*2*17*4*13*16*1*4*13". These digits are a text encrypted in a cipher called A1Z26 that exchanges letters for their position in the alphabet. Decoding it, we are given "abqdmpadm", which is gibberish at first, but shifting it 12 characters with Caesar Cipher, we were able to get the word "operadora" (operator).
The background image comes in handy once again, as it has a split up YouTube logo placed in it. Searching for "operadora" in YouTube, we come across a channel with a single video in it, set to be released March 22nd, 2024. The video is just a fixed image of birds on top of two powerlines. Using dCode once again, we find a cipher called "Birds on a Wire", that being the cipher used in this video's image. This cipher works almost the same as A1Z26 does, except instead of the letters' position, they are replaced by birds figures.
By finding out what letters each bird was, we were able to decode the image and find "VmcAZVFjtvY", a link to another YouTube video with another fixed image! This time, however, it's resembling of a TV transmission, but it's encrypted by a cipher the same. The cipher this time was found to be "HexaHue", which are sets of 2x3 colors blocks in RGBYCM. Input the blocks we have in the video and decoding it, the phrase "Allinthescript" was able to be found.
Per usual, looking for this phrase in social media, we're able to find a Twitter account named Allinthescript. The account's profile picture is an "(A)", its fixed tweet says "How many years?" in Spanish, followed by a reply saying "IN FULL", this is assumed to be our hint A. Hint B is in the account's location, that being "(B) What's the catch?". The account's tweets are all encoded in tap code, as hinted by the account's bio, which is a verse of "The Raven" about the raven's tapping, by decoding it, it gave us a paragraph of a poem called "100 Years of Solitude".
The Answer
There's two ways to approach the solution of this level. However, the solution is obtained by joining hint A and B together in both, so let's get hint A out of the way first. Hint (A) is talking about the 100 years from the poem's book, writing it in full, we'll obtain ONEHUNDRED. Now for hint B there's two ways to solve it:
- The "What's the Catch?" is hinting us at a book called Catch-22, if we remove the "Catch" from it's name, we're left with the number 22, which is the second part of the answer.
- Or, instead, you are able to get the full answer by subtracting the publishing dates of "The Raven" (1845) and "100 Years of Solitude" (1967), which will give us "122".
However way you do it, we just gotta make sure 100 is in full. The answer to 08:00 is ONEHUNDRED22.
Puzzle 09:00
Puzzle 09:00 is a tricky one and holds the largest time taken to be solved, lasting entire 5 days until the answer was found. First, 09:00 starts on a screen with a large text written in Spanish, ending with "Bueno, ¿quién soy?" (Well, who am i?). The text seems to be from the POV of a stalker or from a person who's obsessed with someone else, either way, each paragraph describes places they've watched this person go to in many different situations.
This, however, doesn't matter, as our hint is only the last line of the text, and so, searching for "buenoquiensoy" on social media, we're able to find a TikTok account with such name. The account's description is "later: de-beau. adding" and its name is set to "Quem é?" (Who's it?). The account is filled with the same 16 videos of the same set of images. However, each image has a code, which were found to be a Imgur links. Each link has a random set of letters in both title and description. All images are the same, except for one. When they're overlaped, a distinctive "NO" can be seen.
Interlacing each link's title and description, we can find other encoded links. These can be decoded using the Beaufort Cipher, as hinted by the TikTok description: de-Beau; with "NO" as cipher key, gotten from the previous imgur images. So interlacing every title and description, then decoding it with Beaufort, we'll get links for other images. Those images have numbers, which are YouTube shorts links encoded in Keyboard Coordinates cipher,. each shorts are in entirely black screens, but each one has a single frame of an image, which is what we'll focus on.
Title | Description | Enconded in Beau | Decoded from Beau | Shorts Image |
---|---|---|---|---|
XOgH | 1L2 | X1OLg2H | Q1ACi2G | |
nSH4 | aiC | naSiHC4 | aoVgGM4 | |
WSOf | 4lv | W4SlOvf | R4WcAsj | |
4DO8 | Uh0 | 4UDhO08 | 4TLgA08 | |
dSdP | MLg | dMSLdgP | kCVDkiY | |
Fm1N | lRH | FlmR1HN | IdbX1GB | |
YlKJ | MqM | YMlqKMJ | PCcyDCE | |
GZWh | DYI | GDZYWIh | HLOQRGg | |
vzno | GFN | vGzFnNo | sIoJaBz |
How is this solved?
As was said, this level is tricky. Let's focus a bit on the shorts' title and description, as it's all the same. The description is telling us "And now the game was started, and the nets were filled with a variety of birds that deceived by the color fell into the danger they were flying from.", a verse from the book Don Quixote, which tells us to not be deceived by the colors. The other hint is the title: an upwards arrow with a clock.
The answer is obtained from a quite big logic jump: this whole piece of the puzzle is a red herring, we shouldn't focus on them at all. In one of the videos, there's a shoal of herrings with a red colored filter, an alusion to "Red Herring", the very first part of our answer. The title implies we should join this with the exact timestamp the image of the herrings appear, as the arrow is pointing to the video above it and, obviously, the clock is hinting us to look after the timestamp, which is 00:26. So, joining these together, we get REDHERRING26, which is this level's answer and the very penultimate answer to the whole ARG.
Puzzle 10:00
A decrease in difficulty compared to 09:00. This level has simply a single text saying "Departure: in 60 minutes." and a different answer default input, being it "Su boleto por favor." (Your ticket please.), which hints at us having to join the Train Tickets codes of the island inhabitants!
Joining each one of the codes, we get a 44 character codes starting with 1: "1XucRdHl-ScZRZdxrc6OEz09wXvXPLJzVwkoHjvlTjRU", which is the pattern of Google Docs' documents links, so joining the "google.docs.com/document/d/" pattern with the tickets' codes we are led to an actual Google Docs document.
The document has nothing but black text on black background with the same phrase in English, Spanish, and Portuguese being repeated across 30 whole pages.
- Is it ever this easy?
- ¿Es alguna vez así de fácil?
- Será que é tão fácil assim?
However, what the texts are saying isn't important, as what really matters is that, in page 24, some bold letters can be found between the others. Picking these letters up and joining them together we get the phrase ?LAVERDADITIS¿ (The Truth?), this level's answer.
The End?
After solving 10:00, the last level, we're led to a page with an old beaten up train ticket ourselves, the ticket is presented to us with an individual and exclusive ID and ticket number. Above this ticket, there's also a binary code, which is translated to "leave island não pararemos no queremos bajas" (Leave the island, we won't stop, we don't want casualties.). This, paired with a tweet from Quackity Studios, hints there'll be more use to this ticket soon.
May 23 - Tickets 1 to 10
As expected, on May 23, 2023, Quackity Studios made a tweet asking for pictures of the tickets, but that they are specifically looking for the tickets #1 to #10 and their holders. This confirms the tickets will have more use than previously thought.
June 21 - The QSMP Elections
On June 21, Quackity Studios made another tweet, announcing that those that have their ticket information saved should hold onto it, as it will be used in the future. Instructions will eventually come out. As of the moment, it is unknown what the information will be used for, but it is SPECULATED that it will be used for the QSMP Elections.
Notes
- Many thanks to both Cellbit's and Las Nevadas Experience Discord Server who provided two organized documents of the whole ARG. It was used as the reference for writing about the levels →05:00 up to →10:00 and almost all of the images were taken from it.
- Cellbit's server original document in Portuguese. There's also an English translation of the document.
- Las Nevadas document. It's only in the English language.
- Congratulations to both communities, who joined hands and worked hard to solve this ARG, ultimately doing so.