ARG:2025
I love a good challenge. I love the feeling when the brain sparks and screeches while trying to solve another mystery. For several years, I’ve been tackling all sorts of nut-cracking challenges, and for several months, I’ve been thinking of creating one myself. Luckily, I have just the right resources for that: a personal website and a blog. And finally, we’re here. Welcome to hatedabamboo’s ARG:2025!
Enter the game
What is ARG? #
ARG (Alternate Reality Game) is a two-in-one: an intellectual challenge and a game. It brings fun, excitement, lots of frustration, and an overwhelming amount of satisfaction when you solve the puzzle. Being an alternate reality game, it spans not only the virtual space but also the real world. But fret not! You won’t have to travel to a distant place to find a piece of paper with the next clue. All of the tasks in ARG:2025 can be solved simply by having access to the internet.
General information #
ARG:2025 consists of several tasks. Each task leads to the next one. There is no way to skip ahead or brute-force your way through.
The official webpage for ARG:2025 is hatedabamboo.me/arg2025. On the page, there is a timer. When the timer reaches zero, the first clue will appear -- and the challenge will begin.
The tasks are designed to be complex, but not unsolvable. Some may be easier than others. If you find yourself thinking that a task is broken or the code is incorrect -- you’re most likely trying the wrong answer. The tasks have been tested multiple times and work properly.
I understand that we live in 2025 and damned clankers are ever-present. And I can’t forbid you from using them -- it’s entirely up to you. The only thing I ask is that you try to actually think about the task at hand and turn to clankers only as a last resort. However, even they might not be useful enough to help you solve the task. I’ve tried to reverse-engineer the tasks myself -- and man, they suck.
Rewards #
I designed ARG:2025 in such a way that there can be only one winner. The first person to solve all the tasks will receive a specific message that will allow me to uniquely identify them.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the most transparent way to communicate with participants regarding their progress: there’s no leaderboard, no timeframe. This time, there will be only one winner. After the winner has solved all the challenges, the ARG:2025 pages will be updated to commemorate the person and to inform others that the challenge is complete. Additionally, a post will be published here finalizing the challenge and (hopefully) showing some statistics. Should the stars align, the next challenge (I hope there will be one!) will be more advanced in this regard.
Now for some fun.
Prize
The prize for the winner is quite nominal: a $50 coupon for amazon.com.
For the winner’s convenience, it can be exchanged for a coupon of equal value at a different store (allegro.pl, store.steampowered.com, etc.) to avoid situations where the desired marketplace is blocked in the winner’s country of residence.
The prize is modest, but I think the real joy comes from solving all the challenges and having fun along the way. I most certainly did.
Tips and tricks #
If you find yourself annoyed that the main page of the challenge loads too slowly, add the following parameter to the URL: ?typingSpeed=1. This will increase the speed at which the text appears on the screen. The smaller the number, the faster the speed.
If you find a bug or think that a task is wrong or unsolvable, please contact me via the email at the bottom of this page.
More tips and tricks may appear here in the future...