1.3.0 ARG

The **v1.3.0 ARG** was an event that took place in the community September 30th, 2022, 49 days before the release of v1.3.0 of Corporate Clash. However, some visual features of v1.3.0 were added early in order to tease the update and provide locations for some information regarding the ARG. An ARG (Alternate Reality Game) is "an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions ". Toons had to decipher various clues and information given by blog posts posted on the Corporate Clash website as well as explore Toontown and discover anything new that was added. The purpose of this ARG was to learn more about who the 16 newly hired managers were before they arrived in Toontown.

**Notes:**

The information about the logins of the 16 managers is not in order of actual discovery, it is by information given in the blog posts. The methods of discovery involving in game tasks/dialogue/events are no longer available as of the v1.3.0 update. However, all components needed to solve the "Under Construction" page of cogs.ink can be done using only information from the cogs.ink website.

Overall, some information may be slightly incorrect or missing details due to the fact that no official confirmation besides correct usernames and passwords were given.

## Cogix v1.1.12 - Batch 1

The v1.3.0 ARG was first announced in a blog post created by Mac Opsys, an NPC who is a computer genius, that was first seen surveilling a private meeting between the Chairman, the C.L.O., and the Litigation Team. He reveals that he has successfully infiltrated the internal employee data of the Cogs, a website called cogs.ink, and discovered that they are hiring 16 new manager Cogs. This is a dangerously high number and Toons need to learn more in order to prepare for their arrival. Fortunately, he was able to decrypt parts of four of the managers logins, but he needs the Toon’s help to find the other missing information.

The first clue reveals the following usernames:

* bravecogcathal
* brian
* paysergraham
* rufflerbuck

### **bravecogcathal & brian**

When opening cogs.ink, there is nothing available for the user to look at without logging in besides an introductory paragraph. In this paragraph there is a reminder for users to review their "Cybersecurity Information and Password Guidelines". This page gives useful information on how to create a strong password and why it is important to do so. Additionally, it provides previous examples of poor passwords used by employees. If the user enters each of these passwords into the known usernames they will eventually discover the passwords for the users "brian" and "bravecogcathal" as their passwords are both one of the examples listed. The password for "brian" is "password". The password for "bravecogcathal" is "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" which is the max amount of characters you can put into a password.

Another hint towards the password for the user "brian" is when the user types an incorrect password for this user. It will show a popup stating "Login failure: *password* incorrect". However, when doing the same for a different username the word "password" is not italicized, hinting at its importance for this specific user.

### **paysergraham**

Now, by knowing two complete sets of usernames and passwords, users can log into cogs.ink to find more hints about the additional passwords. Starting with "bravecogcathal" the user will learn that this managers suit name is the Multislacker. The user can now view his employee information, disciplinary records, personal statement, employment history, and any notes taken by the employer. While looking at his disciplinary records there is a line that states he "caused conflict with Mr. Graham Payser, [he] was challenged to a race down Twilight Terrace". Graham Payser is a known username, but reversed, telling players that the usernames are written "lastnamefirstname". This line also gives the player a location to explore in game. This specific street has a shortcut available and if the player takes this shortcut they will be met with a pop-up dialogue saying "I'm not mad, just disappointed". Looking back at the Multislacker's disciplinary records there is an additional line saying "Mr. Graham Payser was noted for being particularly upset by Mr Bravecog Jr.'s violation of "the Payser Test". Tying the two lines together it is likely the Multislacker also took this shortcut to complete the "Payser Test" to avoid using much effort. This prompted a player to run up and down Twilight Terrace to attempt to complete what is thought to be the Payser Test the legitimate way without using any shortcuts. If done correctly, a pop-up will appear saying "You've completed the Payser Test! You were going like a mile a minute". With this new dialogue, the player can guess the password for "paysergraham" which is "mileaminute".

### **rufflerbuck**

When logging in as user "brian" it is revealed that his suit name is the Prethinker. In his disciplinary records one line states he "attempted to bulk buy low-level Toon Gags using company funds in an attempt to deplete Toons of their resources". If the player attempts to bulk buy Gags in the Gag shop the numbers will stop at random amounts instead of maxing out as usual. The numbers were: 2, 5, 20, 20, 9, 14, 7, and 15. These were level 1 gags starting from Toon-Up to Drop. Then 14, 14, 2, 12, 1, 3, and 11. These were level 2 gags in the same order. Putting these numbers into a number-to-letter converter will reveal the phrase "bettingonnblaack". Testing this as the password for the currently known usernames reveals the password for "rufflerbuck".

## Cogix v1.1.12 - Batch 2

By October 1st, 2022, Mac Opsys delivers another set of usernames in a similar fashion as the previous blog post. These usernames are:

* estatawney
* bonpyreflint
* brubotdave
* damabelle

### **bonpyreflint**

While logging into the previously discovered account "paysergraham" the user will learn that his suit name is the Pacesetter. They will also be able to view the same type of information as the accounts that were previously logged into. Looking at his disciplinary records the location "Used Firewood" is mentioned and was visited by the Pacesetter who claimed he was there to address "burn-out". This is a building located on Walrus Way in The Brrrgh. The building has nothing inside or visually unusual which prompts the player to look at other options, such as using SpeedChat phrases. If the player uses the SpeedChat phrase "I'm going to fire a Cog" the store owner will respond with "Sorry, I don't have a cannon". Considering this line, the only accessible cannons Toons have are from the Trolley minigames and the C.L.O,. Deciding on the more convenient option, the Trolley, the player can then skip each minigame until they reach the Cannon Game (if they didn’t start with the Cannon game.) After shooting their Toon from the cannon, the Toon will become a black silhouette and be set on fire. Once the minigame is completed, and the player is brought to the Gag Shop menu, the wooden board that usually says "Gag Shop" will now say "ANDST33L". This phrase will give the password for "bonpyreflint", however the letters are lowercase.

### **estatawney**

After logging into the account "bonpyreflint" the user will learn that his suit name is the Firestarter. His page reveals a lot of new information such as the name "Mr. Cosmo Kuiper" and mentions of "...sleep with the Moon Fishes". When looking at the source code for his profile page a set of ASCII characters can be seen making what appears to be a map. It is a square with characters covering every inch besides a squiggly line that runs across the image. It seems to have a stray symbol that does not fit in line with the squiggle. Further investigation reveals it looks similar to the map for Pajama Place in Drowsy Dreamland. Walking to the location that seems to match the misplaced symbol brings the player to House of Zzzzzs. Interacting with the NPC does not seem to prompt anything. However, one player discovered that by turning on the "Door Interaction Key", available in the Options section of the Shtickerbook, and approaching the door of this building it will show the dialogue "Press F7 to enter Realh0useofZZZs". Due to the way this was written, as well as the fact that it is the incorrect name for the building, it was guessed to be a password. Testing it on known usernames it matches the user "estatawney".

An additional solution to this puzzle was found by viewing the profile for the Pacesetter and looking at the bolded letters B, W, and T in his personal statement. Player's discovered this is referring to a method of encoding called Burrows-Wheeler transform. Additionally, when looking at the source code for the Pacesetter's page there is a long string of numbers. After inputting the numbers into a BWT decoder it will show another set of numbers. Then, after translating these numbers to ASCII it reveals a riddle stating "Follow the bedder over the stream, Follow the feather who follows a dream, Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the purple brick road! You're off to see the leader, the Zany Shopkeeper of Zs!". The words "purple brick road" implies the location is somewhere in the Drowsey Dreamland playground and "Zany Shopkeeper of Zs" tells it has to be a building related to the letter "Z". This riddle is not as clear as the previous clue as it does not tell what street the building is on, nor the specific location of the building on said street. This method still requires turning on the Door Interaction Key but does not require the login for Firestarter or deciphering the ASCII art in his page’s source code.

### **damabelle**

While exploring Lawbot HQ and entering the lobby for the C.L.O. fight, a unique SpeedChat phrase will be available. This phrase is "Are you a part of the club?". When said in front of Judy, the Lawbot secretary, she will begin talking about a knitting club. During this conversation she reveals the name of her friend Belle Dama. She also mentions that this person loves talking about her grandchildren, especially one named Cassie Dama. Knowing how the usernames on cogs.ink are set up, the user can connect the given information to user "damabelle". With the information regarding the importance of her grandchild, and being given her name, the password can be solved. The password ends up being "cassiedama".

### **brubotdave**

After logging into the account for the user "damabelle" it can be revealed that her suit name is the Mouthpiece. In her personal statement she mentions a "corporation on Tenor Terrace" and that "they had to get Lawbots to take it over". Looking through all of the buildings on this street only one has "corporation" in its name: "The Syncopation Corporation". If the player stands in the building for 5 minutes, "pretending to be a lawbot" (no action is required besides standing), a pop-up will appear. It states that the player has "...received some Note Sheets, as well as a note which requests the auditing of Randy Rhythm's instruments. The note mentions, "Please file under folder 6". When returning to the playground for Mezzo Melodyland, the player can interact with the various instruments scattered and a pop-up will appear for each one stating that the item has been audited. This totals to 1 cello and 1 trumpet. Considering the previous message mentioning "folder 6" it prompted players to check the folders inside of the game files. After looking through potential files that could relate, it was discovered that opening "phase\_6\_audio.mf" revealed a .zip file called "AUDIT\_RESULTS". Unfortunately, in order to extract this file the user has to download Panda3D, the game engine that Corporate Clash is built in. Once the file was unzipped it would reveal a text file named "surprise.txt". However, the file is password protected. In order to discover the password the player has to remember the items in which they audited, 1 cello and 1 trumpet. Entering "1cello1trumpet" will open the file revealing the text "Youtube Time!!! dQw4w9WgXcQ". Each Youtube video starts with the URL of the site followed by "/watch?v=[string of characters]". Knowing this information and entering the newly discovered code it reveals... this. Now, either guessing the known usernames, or remembering that one is known for his musical genius from previous blog posts, the password for "brubotdave" can be revealed. The password is the string of letters from the text file that are used to view the video. Exploring his profile will inform the player that his suit name is the Major Player. There is nothing that seems to be of interest in his profile information. Although, if the user looks through the source code of the page they will be greeted with an ASCII art of a stump with the words "stumped?" inside. This prompted players to wait for additional usernames to be revealed as they themselves were stumped at this point.

Another method of knowing to look for instruments is by opening the profile for "rufflerbuck", revealing that his suit name is the Duck Shuffler. While looking at his disciplinary records, it states he was "found stealing company instruments in order to gamble them. Surveys should be preformed to make sure they are still in place". This would prompt the players to investigate the various instruments around Mezzo Melodyland.

## Cogix v1.1.12 - Batch 3

On the same day, October 1st, 2022, Mac Opsys delivers another set of usernames in a similar fashion as the previous blog post. These usernames are:

* biggsbenjamin
* kuipercosmo
* campbellspruce
* revvingtonchip

### **kuipercosmo**

Returning to the Firestarter's profile there are some clues that have not been explored yet. For example, in his disciplinary records it states he was "caught giving special flags to thermo-insulating sea creatures within the cold waters". It also mentions his reasoning for this was he was told to be given "the cold shoulder, and sleep with the Moon Fishes". Using the key words of "cold" it implies the playground the Brrrgh and mentions of Moon Fishes means the player must go fishing. Additionally, "The Cold Shoulder" is also a building in the Brrrgh although it does not seem to have any involvement in solving the rest of the puzzle. If the player catches a Moon Fish in each fishing spot located in the Brrrgh and watches the animation, each fish will have a different word on the flag depending on the area it was caught in. There were five locations. The playground, on Sleet Street, on Walrus Way, on Arctic Avenue, and on Polar Place. The revealed words in order starting from the playground were: Off, Over, Sleep, Shore, and Fsh. Arranging these words into a sentence that makes a bit more sense will reveal the password "OffShoreFshSleepOver". Using one of the known names, "kuipercosmo", it will unlock yet another manager's account.

Another method of solving this password is by using the Firestarter's profile again and viewing his disciplinary records. There is a line that states he "accidentally set curtains on fire, tried to PUT /out
the
 /fire and made it worse". The "
" element is for a strikethrough. This is to render text with a line through it to represent it being crossed out. Knowing this, the user can create the URL cogs.ink/out/fire by using the rest of the message while ignoring the words that were crossed out. This link alone does not lead to anywhere. Now, by looking at the capitalization of "put" it indicates an importance. There is something called an HTTP PUT request that is for creating new resources or replacing a target resource with the request payload. Using this information, if the previously made URL is entered onto an online PUT request site it reveals a message saying "I found what you need" in the content section. Viewing the header section it reveals a section called "x-ideal-fishing-music:" with an audio file attached titled "theantigravitationalmoonfishjumpsoverthenonexistentdog.mp3". Playing the audio reveals the playground music for the Brrrgh. The mention of "moonfish" in the file name and the content of the music gives the hint that the player must fish for Moon Fish specifically in the Brrrgh.

### **revvingtonchip**

Looking back at the previously discovered account, the Mouthpiece, there is information that hasn't been acknowledged yet. In her personal statement she has a line mentioning that Jason "had to deal with so many Flunkies being fired he's had to build a bed out of all the pink slips". Using this information, if the player engages in battle with a Flunky and uses a Pink Slip, the Flunky will have a dialogue box with garbled words and letters. The dialogue seems meaningless but it stays the same no matter how many Flunkies the player fires or where the player is located. The dialogue is "Lbh pna' g sver zr, Gbba. V dhvg". Looking closer, there is punctuation and commas included in the statement, so it could likely be an encoded set of words. Using the Caeser Cipher Tool with a shift of 13 reveals the true dialogue to be "You can't fire me, Toon. I quit". This is the normal dialogue a Flunky, or any low level Cog, says when being fired. Testing this line as a password by using the first four words, without spaces or punctuation, becomes the correct solution for the user "revvingtonchip".

### **campbellspruce**

Another clue that was discovered, that was not further looked upon, was the ASCII art of a stump revealed in the source code of the Major Player's profile. Considering what the object is, it likely has to do with Acorn Acres. However, walking around the area engaging with anything stump-like gave no results. Stumped, a player tried a similar method to one used before, which is turning on the NPC Interaction Key. With this on and attempting to interact with various tree stumps, one stump towards the middle of Almond Avenue had the prompt "Press F7 to interact with Stump". Unfortunately, interacting with the stump did nothing. Looking back on one of the profiles discovered, "revvingtonchip", his profile will reveal that his suit name is the Chainsaw Consultant. Furthering down the page, his personal statement reveals he "reported three cases of attempted bribery in the last month (the last one being a puny $200 Cogbucks)". Considering this, Toons do have access to Cogbucks in the form of Lure gags. If the player purchases $200 worth of Cogbucks from the Gag Shop and manually discards them near the stump it will trigger a dialogue box from it saying "Make like a tree and leaf". Trying the newly learnt phrase said by the stump, without spaces, as the password for "campbellspruce" will let the player successfully log into his account.

An additional hint towards the solution for this puzzle is by viewing the Major Player's profile and viewing his ID number: 00$200. The Major Player has a known history with Cogbucks as he mentions in a previous blogpost that he had eaten 20,000 Cogbucks in quarters. Tying the two together gives another reference to the 200 Cogbucks needed to be discarded by the tree stump.

### **biggsbenjamin**

At this point, players were randomly exploring a variety of options. At one point a player was knocking on the doors of Daffodil Gardens, specifically Petunia Place, when one of the doors had a knock-knock joke saying "Benjamin" and then "RingaLingRing" as the punchline. However, this did not work as a password for "biggsbenjamin". After trial and error it was discovered that this specific knock-knock joke was done every seven doors. Adding the number 7 to "RingaLingRing" ended up being the solution for this password.

Looking at the profile for "estatawney" reveals that their suit name is the Featherbedder. In their personal statement they mention "I won't allow for distractions in our employees' work, whether it's firing cannons or unprompted door-to-door pranks". Firing cannons was an action used before to discover the password for Firestarter, however, "door-to-door pranks" has not been done yet. This could be referring to knocking on doors for knock-knock jokes. The Plutocrat's profile also has a mention of door knocking in his personal statement.

When logging into the account for "biggsbenjamin", his suit name can be revealed to be the Bellringer. In his disciplinary records it mentions he often gets "distracted talking to coworkers - primarily secretaries". Additionally, it states that "these instances of conversation frequently led to important information being shared regarding other employees". This could be a hint to discovering the password for the Mouthpiece which involves talking to Judy, a secretary.

By looking at the source code of the Bellringer's page. There are blurbs of text, a set up of numbers and characters resembling sheet music, and a line below it all saying "<?> <?> <?> catch \_\_ fish \_\_ the <temperature rapidly dropping>". The beginning blurbs of text translate to "allegretto con moto" and "ribattuta" both are terms relating to music. Using these terms, and the numbers given, the music can be deciphered to reveal a set of notes from the song "Maria" from the film The Sound Of Music. The lyrics that match the tune are "How do you solve a problem like Maria, How do you hold our moonbeam in your hand?". If you replace the lyrics of the song with the ones listed in the source code under the related notes the line becomes "Catch our moon fish in the <temperature rapidly dropping>". This is likely another hint towards the solution for the Plutocrat's password which involves catching a Moon Fish in the Brrrgh.

## Cogix v1.1.12 - Batch 4

On the same day as before, Mac Opsys delivers the last set of usernames in the same way as the previous blog posts. These usernames are:

* monsoonmisty
* annamary
* virgilprester
* grayelleholly

### **annamary**

While exploring random areas of Toontown to find more clues, a new discovery was found. In Barnacle Boatyard, if the player sits on the boat that floats around the lake for 10 rotations, the NPC steering will begin talking about his previous adventures. He mentions that he used to sail in a submarine called The Anna Mary. Additionally, he mentions two locations that he visited: the Competitor and the Bandwidth. The capitalization of these three names seemed to indicate importance. When attempting to log into cogs.ink with a user that does not exist it will show an error stating "user not found". However, if the user exists, it will say "Login failure: password incorrect". Using this information and typing the discovered name that seems most fitting, Anna Mary, it will show that it is a user. Since the other two names are not apart of the username, it is assumed that they must be for the password. Typing both names, "competitor" and "bandwidth", together without capitalization will give confirm this to be true.

### **monsoonmisty**

Once the user is logged into the account for "annamary" it will be revealed that his suit name is the Deep Diver. While investigating his profile, his personal statement mentions "mailing a cease and desist to Barnacle Bessie". If the player visits Lighthouse Lane they will discover a newly added lighthouse as well as a blocked off pier that is labelled as being under construction. Barnacle Bessie is located inside the lighthouse, but interacting with her does nothing. Similar to previous discoveries this may mean a SpeedChat phrase will need to be used. A "cease and desist" is related to the C.L.O. as it is the reward for defeating her. Considering this, if the player uses the SpeedChat phrase "I'm going to sue a Cog" near the blocked pier it will prompt a mailbox popup. This popup will state that "Your mailbox contains 1 item" showing a "Forgotten Document". It has the same icon used when choosing a C&D in battle. When the player clicks "take this item" another pop-up will appear saying "This is not yours". Looking back at the profile for the Bellringer, his disciplinary records mention that he was found "rummaging through the mailbox of the Toons' lighthouse for Cog memos". This could also be a clue on where to get this document. Hovering over the item after obtaining it will state "It's stained in oil. Maybe take it to Barnacle Bessie". Bringing this item to Barnacle Bessie will begin the cogs.ink ARG task. After completing the task, the player will be rewarded with a document signed from "M. Monsoon". This also reveals the string of characters, "Calmbef0reThEm0ns0on", written in the corner, likely a password. At this point in the ARG, Toons had discovered this information before being provided with the username "monsoonmisty". Eventually, a player was able to guess that the "M" stood for Misty and they were able to successfully log into the account using the previously stated string of characters as the password.

The login for user "monsoonmisty" reveals that her suit name is the Rainmaker. When inspecting the source code for her page it reveals ASCII art of a boat. This likely refers to the riddle for solving the Deep Diver's password.

### **virgilprester**

After logging into the account for the user "campbellspruce" the profile will reveal his suit name to be the Treekiller. Inspecting the source code for this page will reveal a long series of words in Pig Latin. Translating this text reveals "the fountain matches the walls, just like pies match the pan they were baked in. look closely from high above, then you will see what I mean. gather some friends and do it with haste, for many such eyes make the best case, then you will see indeed it is true, just as it has always been". After recognizing that this is referencing the location Ye Olde Toontowne, if 8 Toons stand "guard" on each ramp by a tower a cutscene will trigger and a pop-up will appear stating "Insurrections of this behavior will not be tolerated". The idea to do this was inspired by a Corporate Clash news article stating "Be wary Toons, and guard thine towers by night". Additionally, each Toon will receive a pop-up message that includes one segment containing 2-3 characters of an upcoming password. The segments are: p1, t(h, sp, ork, 1h, un, te, r2. Combining all of the segments in a certain order, likely from which Toon was on the "first" tower to "last" tower, will reveal "p1t(hspork1hunter2". Using the known usernames, it is discovered that this password is tied to the user "virgilprester".

### **grayelleholly**

Using the newly discovered login information for the user "virgilprester" it is revealed through his profile that his suit name is the Witch Hunter. While reading through his disciplinary records there is a segment that states he engaged in "notably risky behavior around entrances within Toon territory" and that he "claimed to be lost while attempting to find entryway to "Wizard Way". This prompts the player to visit the street entrance for Wizard Way. Nothing happens when entering the tunnel, nor is there anything of interest on the street itself. However, thinking of the wording stated on his profile, if the player uses the SpeedChat phrase "I think this is too risky for you" at the entrance of Wizard Way, a pop-up will appear saying the word "holly". Attempting the same action at the other street entrances will give additional pop-up dialogues. Noble Nook gives the word "loo" and Knight Knoll gives "ya". Combining the three words to create the phrase "hollylooya" will give the final password for user "grayelleholly".

Logging into the user "grayelleholly" will reveal that her suit name is the Gatekeeper. When opening the source code for this page it reveals an ASCII image of a stone gateway with scrambled text in the center with the signature P.V. (likely refering to Prester Virgil). The text can be deciphered using a Caeser cipher shift of 10 for the first line, and a shift of 7 for the second line. The text then reads "Out on the ancient lands of old, Toons more than an elevator can hold. Upon the tower you can see, the secret password for you and me". This message seems to tie into the solution for discovering the password for the Witch Hunter, however, the Gatekeeper's password could not be solved without finding the solution to Witch Hunter already. Therefore, this information ends up being obsolete. However, some players used this "arch" to determine that Petunia Place was the location needed to find the password for the Bellringer. Additionally, 5 toons are needed to raise the flower in Daffodil Gardens which could also tie back into the message talking about "Toons more than an elevator can hold". Though this would only be for Cog building elevators which hold a maximum of four Toons.

## Secret Document - The Weekly Crossword

After the Toons successfully discovered every password for each username regarding the 16 new hires there was one last mystery left to be uncovered. When logged into one of the 16 manager accounts there leaves one page that cannot be accessed. This page is the "employees list". Looking back at each of the manager's profiles there is one thing they all have in common. All of these Cogs were hired by the same secretary: Jennifer. By opening the "management structure" page, and viewing its source code, it will reveal the file name for Jennifer's photograph. This file name includes her last name, Jackson, which then gives away the last detail needed to know her username. The final missing piece is the password that goes along with it.

On October 2nd, 2022, a secret document from C.O.G.S. Inc. had been revealed by Clash Crew members and added was added to the original blog post for the v1.3.0 ARG. This "secret document" was a crossword puzzle. This crossword is filled with a variety of corporate related questions acting as the clues, and has a shaded square on each of the white squares wheres the answer needs to be written. The shaded squares will be used to discover the correct letters needed for Jennifer's password. There is also a signature from Jennifer with a heart next to it on the bottom of the page. The answers to the crossword are:

**Across**
 4. Always turning
 6. Map for organizing merchandise
 9. Harvesting machine
 11. Fired
 14. Essential business wear
 17. A drink and valuable resource
 18. The strongest in C.O.G.S Inc
 20. Where you get a drink at the office
 22. Layoff for the budget
 23. Coffee bringer
 24. The origin of SCREW L.L.C.
 25. Lobby worker

**Down**
 3. Annual review
 5. Corporate leader
 7. Security Officer
 8. A business gathering with food and entertainment, mostly music
 10. Legal worker
 12. For when there are problems that lawsuits definitely could not fix
 13. Encourage a client to buy more
 15. A vile and horrendous place
 16. Suit who owns a portion of the company
 18. Writing for marketing
 19. Business speak
 21. To give someone a job

The bolded letters are the letters that land on shaded squares. These letters are: E, A, T, M, C, O, O, S, T, Y, L, H, I

Listing the letters in order of the questions listed on the crossword did not create any known word, nor did it work as the password. Players took multiple guesses at the correct order but nothing was working. When trying to login, and failing to guess the correct password, the following error would appear: "Login failure: We are currently unstable to process your request. Please contact it-support@cogs.ink for account recovery instructions". Taking this error at face value, a player contacted the email and received a response from Downsizer #2058. The Cog asked to confirm a security question chosen by the user (Jennifer) during onboarding. The question was "What is your favorite choice of liquid sustenance"? Users continued to email the account guesses as to what the answer could be. When the incorrect answer was sent the email would be responded with "Unfortunately that's not what we have on record. Once we receive a correct answer, we will happily move forward with your account recovery request". Eventually, a user guessed the word "soyl" which is a product mentioned on the "Product Sales Pitch" page of cogs.ink. In this instance, the Downsizer replied with "Unfortunately, that's not what we have on record, but under our special account recovery procedures we are able to confirm it does form part of the password. Once we receive a correct answer, we will happily move forward with your account recovery request". Continuing to email the account different guesses as to what the answer could be, one user guessed the words "ilovechairman". This was one of the passwords listed on the "Cybersecurity Information and Password Guidelines" page. The Downsizer responded with "We're unable to locate an account based on the information you have given. We are however able to match the password with another account (please use CogDiff with algorithm type COR-D-LE to interpret): XYYXYYYYGXYXX". COR-D-LE is referencing Wordle, a word guessing game. In this game, X = the letter is not in the word, Y = the letter is correct but in the wrong place, and G = the letter is correct in the correct space. After emailing the account with more guesses, receiving more hints in the same COR-D-LE format, players were able to successfully log into Jennifer's account using the password "soylmechiatto". The password also ends up being the answer to the security question. This is a play on words for "soy macchiato". "Soy" is being replaced with "soyl", a product made at C.O.G.S. Inc., and "macciato" is combined with the word "mech/mecha/mechanism" which can refer to robots.

After accessing the account the user is granted access to the employee list. It has a section listing Jennifer's "direct reports" which are the Boardbot managers. Below this is an additional section listing "all employees" starting with the Chairman. This page provides easy access to all of the profiles of the newly added manager Cogs as well as previous managers. Unfortunately, only the profiles of the 16 managers added in v1.3.0 are accessible. Trying to access the other employee's pages will prompt an error stating "Employee not found, or you do not have access to this employee's profile". Additionally, users will have access to a page for the Chairman's "Work-It-Out" Mixtapes. On the main page, under "For Secretaries only", there is also a redirect that is only visible while on Jennifer's account titled "Under construction".

## Under Construction Goon Puzzle

This puzzle is unrelated to the v1.3.0 update, however, it was still released during this time. It was considered a "hardmode" of the previous ARG and does not involve any in game actions.

After unlocking Jennifer's account, a new page was revealed titled "Under construction" located in the "For Secretaries only" section of the main page of cogs.ink. It features a yellow-capped Goon walking in place with striped yellow banners saying "under construction" above and below it. Hovering over the first banner will show a message from Mac Opsys. He congratulates the viewer for finding all of the information for the 16 managers and Jennifer and admits he was not confident everything would work out. Hovering over the walking Goon reveals another message telling the viewer that there is one last challenge to complete. He confesses that even he is stumped at this obstacle which lies behind the locked Under Construction page. He also states that it doesn't seem to have anything to do with Toontown anymore. This is likely referring to the fact that this part of the ARG is unrelated to the v1.3.0 update and all of the information needed to solve the following puzzles are provided entirerly on the cogs.ink website. Finally, hovering over the bottom banner is his closing remark stating that the Toons must figure out this puzzle or they may be in grave danger. Below the banners are five empty boxes for typing in a password. Below the boxes is the hint: "scheDULed acoustiCAL deFECTs rectiFIcation PROcedures". If the incorrect password is entered it will read another error stating "passWORD INCORrect. please ENsure your spelLING is CORrect and try Again". By thinking about the stressed syllables of each word and how they are said out loud gives the needed letters for the password. The capital letters are to be ignored and only the lowercase stressed syllables are important. For example, when you say "scheduled" you stress the "sche" and "dul" part of the word but not the "ed". "Dul" is capitalized here so it is irrelevant, leaving the segment "sche". The words shown for submitting an incorrect password were to help solidify this idea, so only "scheduled", "acoustical", "defects", "rectification" and "procedures" are the needed words to solve the password. This leaves the letters "sche", "cous", "de", "ca", and "ce" which fills the five password input boxes. After submitting the correct answer it will open a new page thanking the user for inputting the correct password.

### **Section A**

When the user clicks continue after submitting the correct password they will be brought to a page with a 15x15 table. The table has horizontal labels listing A1, A2, A3, and vertical labels AA, AB, and AC. There are multiple boxes inside the table that can be check marked. Above this table is another table that is 2x2 listing a red letter A in the top left box with the other boxes containing question marks. Below the main table is a submit button. The set up of this table is for a nonogram, or picross, which is a picture logic puzzle. Cells in a grid must be colored or left blank according to numbers at the side of the grid to reveal a hidden pixel art-like picture.

**AA-A1**

The first clue for this puzzle is a line of text present in the source code of all webpages on cogs.ink. In the "head" element of the code, which is used for containing metadata, there is a line referring to the extension "/robots.txt". Robots.txt is a text file webmasters create to instruct web robots how to crawl pages on their website. Visiting this page will show the text:

> *User-agent: Suitzilla-Ideator*
>
>
> *# please give me a raise, I beg you*
>
>
> *Best-Cog-In-The-World: Mr. Cyger*
>
>
>
> *Deny: /aaa1.txt*
>
>

Visiting the new extension listed, /aaa1.txt, will list the following content:

 1
 1
 1

 5
 6

In picross puzzles, the numbers list how many consecutive blocks in a particular row or column should be filled in. The format of these numbers is to determine location and amount of each block that needs to be filled in. Understanding this set up reveals the AA-A1 section of the picross.

**AB-A2**

On the "Words from the Chairman" page of the cogs.ink site there is an image of the Chairman. Hovering over the image, or viewing the title attribute in the source code, will reveal the following string of characters:

> *ABZZ1Z2ZZ1Z4ZZ2Z1Z1Z1ZZ5Z1ZZ7Z1Z1ZZZZA2ZZL2Z1Z4ZZ1Z1Z1Z4ZZ1Z3Z4ZZ1Z3Z5ZZR1Z1Z1Z4ZZ*
>
>

Treating "Z" as a space and "ZZ" as a new line it can be set up in a similar format to /aaa1.txt.

This reveals the AB-A2 section of the picross.

**AC-A3**

On the "Report Workplace Injuries" page of the site there is a form with various types of information that can be filled out and submitted. When the form is submitted a unique reference number is generated depending on the choice made in the "Identifier No." field. All of the other inputs on the form do not effect this result. If "N/A (Cog Unmarked)" is selected it will show an error stating "Employee identifier number incorrect".

Ignoring the "SSIA-IR" beginning of each reference number, the following characters can be entered into Base64 and decoded to create a list similar to the previous. However, the order of the segments must be: 4, 5, 13, 15, 9, 3, 6, 8, 2, 11, 7, 14, 12, 1, 16, 10, 17 to be properly decoded. The determined order is based on the order that the usernames of these accounts were released in the beginning of the ARG from the printer test pages.

 2

This reveals the AC-A3, and final, section of the picross.

Additionally, there is a clue in "Mix A: Early Morning Beam-me-up" of the Chairman's mixtape collection. The user must put the audio through an SSTV (Slow-scan television) decoder. SSTV is a picture transmission method, used mainly by amateur radio operators, to transmit and receive static pictures via radio in monochrome or color. Decoding the audio will result in an image that shows colored boxes where the white/blank spaces need to be in the picross. In order to get the correct result the image must be translated using the mode "Martin 1".

**Result**

**Overlay**

**Solution**

After submitting the correct answer it will redirect the user to a page stating that the input has been accepted.

### Section B

Clicking continue after solving section A of the picross will bring the user to a page with a very similar table. However, all of the letter A's have been replaced with the letter B. The additional 2x2 table that only showed a red letter A now reveals a green letter B.

**BA-B1**

The first clue for this section is found by going to any invalid link within the cogs.ink domain. It will produce a special error message and a code from "a Flunky [who] lost his bearings and crashed into the server". This code is "QkEKMyAxCjEgMSAxCjEgMSAyCjEgMSAxIDEKMyAxIDEgMQoKQjEKTDEgMSAyCjEgMiAyCjIgOQoxIDExClIyIDEx". Using a Base64 decoder, the code will directly translate to the correct format for the BA-B1 area of this picross section.

**BB-B2**

When attempting to visit a page that does not exist on cogs.ink it will give the error "404 Not Found". There is a note that states the page being requested may still be available at the old "EIS (70)". EIS stands for "Employee Information System" in this instance. The page will also mention that "CogDaemon/3.1.4 (CogFS) Server at cogs.ink Port 80". A port is a number assigned to uniquely identify a connection endpoint and to direct data to a specific service. Port 80 is the standard port for HTTP which is a protocol for loading webpages. HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the primary protocol used to transfer information across the internet. Port 70 is the standard port for an old file-reading protocol called the "Gopher protocol". Protocols are different sets of standards for addressing and routing data on the internet. Specifically, the Gopher protocol is a communication protocol designed for distributing, searching, and retrieving documents in Internet Protocol networks. The design of the Gopher protocol and user interface is menu-driven, and presented an alternative to the World Wide Web in its early stages, but ultimately fell into disfavor, yielding to HTTP. When attempting to visit port 70 of cogs.ink it will result in a page with an error stating that the endpoint does not support HTTP and to use SuitZilla Ideator. This hints at the user to look into port 70 and use the old web browser, Gopher, to explore cogs.ink. In order to use Gopher users must download the browser online. Doing so will allow the user to open the cogs.ink website in port 70. The website will open using this port automatically while on the Gopher browser. Using this browser will allow the user to view multiple pages that are not available or outdated compared to the current website. To view more details on this version of cogs.ink visit: *Cogs.Ink/Gopher Protocol*.

Using this information, and viewing the newly discovered version of the website, the user will see multiple links to new pages. One page is titled "Current Time". Viewing this page will show a "message of the day" which is a series of characters that can be decoded using a Base64 decoder. This will give the correctly formatted solution.

**BC-B3**

Returning to the HTTP version of cogs.ink, viewing the "Management Structure" page will show various images of the Cogs in charge of each department. When hovering over each image, or viewing the title element in the page's source code, it will reveal a unique string of characters. These can only be viewed if the user is logged in as Jennifer.

Arranging the title attributes in order of 2, 3, 5, 1, 6, 7, 8, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12 will reveal a string that can be decoded using Base64. The determined order is based on when each Cog was shown in Corporate Clash timeline. The order in which Toons are introduced to the bosses is the V.P., the C.F.O., the C.J., the C.E.O., then the Chairman. The C.J. has since been removed, so his inclusion is irrelevant, but he was hired before the following names. The C.O.O. was first introduced in the comic "The Day of Reckoning" which is after the previous bosses have been revealed. Next, Judy and Jennifer are first revealed in the comic "Lawfice Space" which came after the previous comic. Judy is the first of the two to be shown. In this same comic, the reveal of the C.L.O. is seen. The next newly hired Cogs were the Litigation Team. They were first featured in the comic "Hired Help" and were introduced in order of the Litigator, the Stenographer, the Case Manager, and then the Scapegoat.

Additionally, there is a clue in "Mix B: Energetic Lunch Combustion Aid" of the Chairman's mixtape collection. Using the same method as before, the user must put the audio through a SSTV decoder to reveal an image. The image will show colored boxes where the white/blank spaces need to be in the picross. However, the needed audio for the SSTV decoder is split into two sections of the original mixtape audio. In order to properly decode the audio it must be spliced together and translated using the mode "Scottie 1". Additionally, this image had to be rotated to correctly overlay onto the picross.

**Result**

**Overlay**

**Solution**

After submitting the correct answer it will redirect the user to a page stating that the input has been accepted.

### Section C

Clicking continue after solving section B of the picross will bring the user to a page with a very similar table, however, all of the letter B's have been replaced with the letter C. The additional 2x2 table that shows a red letter A, and a green letter B, now reveals a yellow letter C.

**CA-C1**

The method to discovering this area is by using a computer terminal and using the "dig" command. A terminal enables a user to communicate with the internal CPU or another network device or computer. The dig (domain information groper) command is a tool for querying DNS (Domain Name System) nameservers for information about host addresses, mail exchanges, nameservers, and related information. The most common uses for this command are for viewing the IP address, text annotations, mail exchanges, and nameservers. In this instance, the user needs to view the text annotations. By typing "Resolve-DnsName -Name cogs.ink -Type txt" into the terminal for Windows, or typing "dig cogs.ink -t txt" for Mac/Linux, it will reveal labelled strings that can be decoded in Base64. These strings would then be outputted into the correct format for this area.

**CB-C2**

Using the Gopher version of cogs.ink and visiting the "Commodities Indexes" page, a "verification key" can be seen at the very bottom of the page. This verification key is made up of 1's and 0's. Using Bacon's Cipher, or the Baconian Cipher, the numbers will decode to be "CBZZONEZTHREEZFIUEZTWOZZONEZONEZTHREEZZNINEZONEZZONEZTHREEZSIXZZONEZONEZSIXZZZZCTWOZZLONEZONEZNINEZZONEZTWOZTWOZONEZZONEZTWOZONEZONEZZSEUENZONEZZRFOURTEENZZ". Treating "Z" as a space and "ZZ" as a new line it reveals this area of the picross.

**CC-C3**

Viewing the "Employees List" section of cogs.ink, or logging in as the Duck Shuffler, and opening the Duck Shuffler's profile there is a unique section on his page. It is titled "Transcript of Duck Shuffler's Vocalization after urgent repairs", which contains a long block of text. Entering this code into a cipher analyzer will show "Duckspeak" or "Nak Nak" as one of the possible options. Since the Duck Shuffler is related to ducks this method of decoding makes the most sense. This text can be decoded with "Nak Nak" or "Duckspeak" with the text being converted to the cipher's format (for example: "Thaithath" becomes "Nanak"). After converting all of the text it can be decoded directly using the duckspeaker decoder to reveal this section of the picross.

Additionally, there is a clue in "Mix C: Sunset Dreams (of work)" of the Chairman's mixtape collection. Using the same method as before, the user must put the audio through a SSTV decoder to reveal an image. The image will show colored boxes where the white/blank spaces need to be in the picross. In this instance, the mode "Martin 1" is used and the image is split into two halves. In order to find the first half of the image the audio must be moved to the left channel and played into the SSTV decoder. For the bottom half of the image the audio must be moved to the right channel and played into the SSTV decoder. Combining the two images will give the full image needed for the overlay of this picross section.

**Result**

**Overlay**

**Solution**

After submitting the correct answer it will redirect the user to a page stating that the input has been accepted.

### Section D

Clicking continue after solving section C of the picross will bring the user to a page with a very similar table, however, all of the letter C's have been replaced with the letter D. The additional 2x2 table that shows a red letter A, a green letter B and a yellow letter C now reveals a blue letter D.

**DA-D1**

Htaccess is short for Hypertext Access. It is a configuration file used by apache-based web servers. Configuration files configure the initial settings of a program, or in this case the server. This means that the .htaccess file can be used to make the server behave in a certain way. The .htaccess file can be used to create custom error pages, redirect visitors, or protect the website with a password. Due to the importance of this configuration file, it was noticed that it was unusually accessible. The user is able to see this by visiting cogs.ink/.htaccess. This web page demonstrates different rules and conditions that rewrite URLs depending on how the query strings at the end were written. Query strings follow a "? [name]=[value]" format at the end of a URL. The rules explain that for a special combination between "bathroomkey" and some unique value, appending it to the "CHAIRMAN.jpg" link will lead to a different Chairman image. For example, if "cogs.ink/CHAIRMAN.jpg?bathroomkey=" is visited it will give a different result than including the "bathroom key" after the equal sign. The value, or "bathroom key", needed to unlock this image was discovered when a player emailed one of the accounts (all accounts work) listed on cogs.ink and was given an auto reply stating:

*"Dear Colleague, I am currently far too busy to respond to your e-mails. If you have any urgent queries, please contact Thomas Saggs. Regards, Robert. PS: If you are here to fix my bathroom faucet (you're LATE, by the way), the bathroomkey is: robertsbathroomforrobertonlydonottrespass".*

The result of viewing this page with no key entered shows the same image of the Chairman that is viewable on the leadership page. Including the key will show the same image but with a sinister caption of "Guess who".

On the "Words From The Chairman" page there is a line that states, "many had second guesses on me, holding shorting positions on my company, but the results I bring outguessed all of them". This line is only seen while logged into Jennifer's account. "OutGuess" happens to be a steganographic software for hiding data in the most redundant content data bits of existing (media) files. Using this software ends up being the solution for revealing the information needed for this area. Outguess is only available on Linux run operating systems. This can be done by using a Linux computer or virtual machine. Scanning all images used on the site to check for usable bits, or possible data that can be extracted, reveals data from the "Guess who" image, Commodities image, and Plutocrat's profile picture. The command usage to use OutGuess in this instance is "outguess -k "Robert Cyger Founder, Owner, Proprietor, and Chairman of the Board of C.O.G.S. Incorporated (also majority shareholder)" -r CHAIRMAN.jpg a.txt". The password is discovered from the signature of the Chairman at the end of his message on the Words From The Chairman page and the file chosen is the image from the bathroom key page. Once the command is entered it will unlock a text file with the following information.

 3
 2

**DB-D2**

Using the Gopher version of cogs.ink, and viewing the "Sustenance Choices" page of the site, it will have a verification key at the bottom of the page. The key is made up of random characters that can be decoded using "Deadfish" which is an esoteric programming language. First, the text must be converted to fit the Deadfish format and then it can be deciphered using this cipher. The cipher will decode it to reveal "DBZZ14ZZ1Z7ZZ1Z1Z2Z1ZZ1Z2Z2Z1ZZ9Z1Z1" and "D2ZZL6Z1Z1ZZ6Z3Z1ZZ1Z9ZZ3Z1Z1ZZR2Z5Z3Z1". The two sections must be decoded separately to work correctly. Treating the "Z" as a space and the "ZZ" as a new line it reveals this section of the picross.

**DC-D3**

The answer for this section can be found in the "Cybersecurity Information and Password Guidelines" page shown on the home page of cogs.ink. In order to view the puzzle the user must be logged in using Jennifer's account. While looking through the source code of the page there will be a comment tag after each example of previous poor passwords.

Three of the listed passwords did not have a string of characters listed next to them. Using an MD5 decoder on the first string will reveal the letters "DC" meaning that MD5 is the correct decoder needed to be used for this section. However, attempting to use the same decoder on following line will give no results. Continuing to try to decode the rest of the strings will show that only half of the inputs will decrypt into answers. MD5 is unique in that it is a one-way cryptographic function. The "strings" are actually hashes which are strings of characters transformed into another value. In order to decrypt the rest of the hashes it will require either finding the original online tool used to encrypt them or to reverse engineer the strings used to create the hashes. This can be done by trying possible picross combos using information from the few hashes that decrypted.

Using the few lines that decoded and the inferred lines from trying possible picross combinations will give the following results:

 3
 12

....

**Result**

**Overlay**

**Solution**

After submitting the correct answer it will redirect the user to a page stating that the input has been accepted.

**Completed Picross**

The completed compiled image of all the sections from the picross create an image of the Chairman's face.

### Cheese Check

Once section D of the picross is successfully submitted it will redirect the user to a new page with the header "Just before we continue..." with the same walking Goon image from the beginning. Hovering over the Goon reveals the text "The Goon judges you disapprovingly". There is a chance for a different Goon image to appear of a Goon in the Mozzarella Styx Pizzeria freezer with the caption "My man goon gettin wild with the chup". Hovering over the image will reveal the text "The Goon has no time for your funny business. He has 'chup to guard". Below, it lists five different requests and a box to enter the answer into. This is due to the system detecting that the user potentially did not access all of the needed checkpoints to deactivate the "grid-based lock". There is one "cheese check" for each section besides section D which has two.

This section was potentially added during the ARG after noticing many players were able to bruteforce through the picross. Some were able to discover the correct locations for the shaded/checked boxes of the picross without needing the numbered guides. This was done by mirroring or rotating one of the solved section images after guessing what the final picross image was going to be.

For example, if the order is: Multislacker, Chairman, Duck Shuffler, Senior Vice President, Jennifer, enter: **MCDSSVPJ**
Case-insensitive. Do not use any Suits that did not appear in the Section. For Department Secretaries, use their Name instead (for obvious reason).
 Please order the Suits that appeared in section B in the correct order, by their Suit Name initials. For example, if the order is: Multislacker, Chairman, Duck Shuffler, Senior Vice President, Jennifer, enter: **MCDSSVPJ**
Case-insensitive. Do not use any Suits that did not appear in the Section. For Department Secretaries, use their Name instead (for obviously reasons).
 Please enter the punctuations that appeared in the undecoded value of Section CA (including spaces), then add the standard lifespan of the value (in seconds).

For example, if the number of punctuations in the undecoded value is 3, and the standard lifespan is 15 minutes, enter: **903**
 Please enter the encryption password for a file in Section D.
**Case-sensitive.**
 Please enter the text in the image file in Section D.
Canse-insensitive. Do not include spaces.

The solutions for the first two requests have been previously stated. The solution for the third request is from the results of using the dig command. It shows 300 seconds under "TTL" which stands for "Time to Live". The number five is from the strings of text displayed. The final two requests have been previously stated.

The submit button for when all of the answers are filled out states "I didn't cheese, I swear!".

### The Chairman's Encouragement Newsletter

Correctly submitting all of the answers from the "cheese check" will show a success page stating "Input accepted, no cheesing detected. Authentication complete" and a continue button. Continuing brings the user to a blank page only stating "Nothing above? Get into the modern age" with the last five words being another link. The URL of the almost empty page has "the\_chairmans\_encouragement\_newsletter\_signup\_top\_secret\_do\_not\_enable" at the end of it. Clicking the new link redirects the user to yet another page with a giant orange play button. Clicking this button reveals an image of the Chairman's head increasing and decreasing in size in the center of the page. The image has multi-colored circles spinning around it. Above the image is a green to white gradient with the words "cogs.ink" in multiple colors. It plays audio of the Chairman talking with different phrases written below him that change.

 "Have you ever had a dreams that you, um, you had, your, you you could, you'll do, you you wants, you, you could do so, you you'll do, you could you, you want, you want, Thomas to do so much you could do anything?"

At the bottom of the page is a message asking "How would you rate this Chairman newsletter experience?" with buttons to choose either "A", "A+", "A++", "A+++", or "A++++". The submit button says "Rate me!".

Choosing any option besides "A" brings the user to a page saying "Thank you for the input". Below the message is an image of Downsizer #2058 who assisted the Toons in finding the password for Jennifer's account through emails. The title element of this image is "To all Suits that come across this: Let his memory not be forgotten. Don't breach C.O.G.S., Inc. security protocols".

Choosing option "A" results in a page with the word "RUDE" in a ginormous size. Below it is a link saying "Fine here is something for your trouble".

### Treasure Trove

After clicking the link from the Chairman's newsletter page, and rating the experience anything below an "A+", will redirect the user to a Google Drive file. This file is a .zip file labelled "treasure trove" which includes a folder labelled "your\_questions\_answered", a "readme" document, and a whopping 46 files of different formats from the Corporate Clash Crew.

The "readme" file states:

> *"Hello fellow mystery-lover!*
>
>
> *You've done well to come this far. You are indeed a Corporate Clash Superfan! (or you got this link from somebody else, in which case welcome anyway...?)*
>
>
> *We hope you had a ton of fun solving the mystery, and maybe found a few new friends along the way.*
>
>
> *As a little treat here's some spicey funnies that you're free to share around. These stuff came from 1.3 development (can you believe it? A development team had fun during development???????) and we can't wait for you to see what we've been up to.*
>
>
> *Enjoy!*
>
>
> *-The Corporate Clash Crew*
>
>
>
> *PS: This file may get updated at some point....? :eyes:"*
>
>

The main treasure trove folder includes various images, videos, and gifs of funny/development based images from the Corporate Clash crew.

The "your\_questions\_answered" folder includes 3 text files and 7 images. The text file "A\_Note\_on\_the\_Counter" is a letter from Atticus addressed to Clancy. There is an accommodating image of Atticus' desk. The text file "confessions" is a letter from Clarence Wing addressed to Wiggwurt. The last text file is a letter addressed to Clancy with no signature. There is another image with a face-down view of Atticus' desk showing the letters from the text files. The final images include an image of the Chairman making a phone call, a poster from "Suitopia FM with Dana S. Charme" that is signed by him, and a yearbook photo of the Rainmaker and the Derrick Man. Additionally, there is a transcript of the phone call the Chairman made which was with the C.O.O.

This content is the reward for completing the v1.3.0 ARG. Congratulations!

Following the MAYpril Toons 2023 update, this file has been updated to include additional images and other content. It is likely that it will continue to receive more content as additional updates release.

## Misc. Information

### Additional Profiles

Some profiles were discovered during the ARG that are inaccessible. Further details can be found on the cogs.ink page.

## Unsolved Mysteries

By the "end" of the v1.3.0 ARG there were a few things discovered that have not been completely solved:

* On the Plutocrat's profile in the source code of the page there is a string of text that states "Nep-tune doesn't get to join the space-ship party (since we start at the very beginning, a very good place to start), but there's always: Uranus Jupiter Jupiter Saturn AsteroidBelt Jupiter AsteroidBelt Earth Earth". "Nep-Tune" is a song from David BruBeck, the person Major Player's name is based off of. It is unsure if this has any relevancy to the solution. The words in parentheses are a reference to the song "Do-Re-Mi" from the film The Sound Of Music; a common reference of some of the puzzles featured in this ARG. Each planet in the solar system has an officially assigned musical note: Mercury (C#), Venus (A), Earth (C#), Mars (D), Jupiter (F#), Saturn (D), Uranus (G#), Neptune (G#), and Pluto (C#). The planet's notes and the planets order should lead the player to the Barnacle Boatyard Boat Theme, specifically the first two bars of the melody. Discovering this should lead the player to riding the boat in Barnacle Boatyard and hearing the story of The Anna Mary who is one of the newly hired managers. The method to achieving this answer is unknown as well as any additional details that need to be considered before reaching this conclusion.
* The method to decoding the SSTV image from Mixtape D of the Chairman's collection has not been solved. When attempting to play the audio through an SSTV decoder, part of the image will be glitched/unclear. Looking at the waveforms shows that the middle part of the audio is different than the beginning and end. This means that something likely needs to be done to this section and it will show the correct results. The result is likely similar to the previous mixtapes where they give the white spaces needed for the picross image.

## Trivia

* The order in which the usernames were discovered by Toons are: Prethinker (brian), Multislacker (bravecogcathal), Deep Diver (annamary), Rainmaker (monsoonmisty), Pacesetter (paysergraham), Mouthpiece (damabelle), Duck Shuffler (rufflerbuck), Major Player (brubotdave), Firestarter (bonpyreflint), Featherbedder (estatawney), Plutocrat (kuipercosmo), Chainsaw Consultant (revvingtonchip), Treekiller (campbellspruce), Witch Hunter (virgilprester), Gatekeeper (grayelleholly), and Bellringer (biggsbenjamin).
* Players were able to discover the usernames for "brubotdave", "damabelle", "monsoonmisty", and "annamary" before their dedicated blog post was posted. This was due to either in game dialogue or previous blog posts.
* The order followed to discover the different passwords were likely built like a spider diagram, rather than being linear, due to the multiple ways of finding hints for each account.
* Due to a bug, players were able to get past the Goon password without solving the password. This was fixed as soon as it was revealed.
* The "Goon Puzzle" was the hardest puzzle to solve, taking 4 days to solve the password and a whopping 34 days to finish solving it completely.
* In the original design for this ARG the mixtapes were not included. Without the mixtapes it was believed the puzzle would be unsolvable.
* The PS in the auto-reply email for the Chairman's bathroom key was added later on during the ARG.
* After completing a section of the picross an additional mixtape would be unlocked. This is no longer the case now that the ARG has been deemed "over" and all of the mixtapes are available as soon as the user is logged into Jennifer's account.
* One of the lines from the Chairman's newsletter is from a viral Youtube video that was a compilation of interviews from Turner Classic Movies "Goodnight Moon and Other Sleepytime Tales". The video involves a kid attempting to discuss dreams but continuously fumbling over his words.
* The Goon image on the cheese check page was not there previously. It was later added per request of a player.
* In the source code of the Chairman's newsletter page, the options for rating the experience originally included F, E, D, C, and B. However, a comment is inserted above the coding that says "NO" and changes the previous code into comments as well. This way it does not show on the page. The only visible values are the A, A+, A++, A+++, and A++++.
* The Chairman's newsletter page is based on Zombo.com which was a website created as a parody of "largely pointless" flash intros that were trending at the end of the 1990s.

## References

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate\_reality\_game
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonogram
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow-scan\_television
4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port\_(computer\_networking)
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher\_(protocol)
6. ↑ https://mediatemple.net/community/products/all/204644130/understanding-the-dig-command
7. ↑ https://help.one.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005586169-What-is-htaccess-
8. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OutGuess