THE GAME 2024

In February 2024, I completed the second quest “THE GAME” in ProTanki. This time the quest lasted 5 days, and all of them were quite difficult: the average solution time was about 1.5 hours.

The organization of the quest has also improved: for the first time, a special site for entering answers was used , which also became an important part of the solution, and the system for distributing points became more flexible.

Day 1

First hint

This vehicle has incredible burst and firepower, but is very slow on turns. It can be obtained by attaining a 6-star quest level. With this technique, CJ is virtually invulnerable.

Solution

Ping-Pong secret room

Industrial Zone secret room

• The first clue describes the Rhino tank from GTA: San Andreas - a reference to the Rhino paint.
• In the garage, in the description of the Rhino paint, a link (in the form of a clickable dot) to the Industrial Zone article on this Wiki was added.
• And in the article “ Paints ” in Rhino, instead of a link to the article “Firebird”, the icon of protection from the Firebird led to the page: https://imgur.com/a/Q3cbpHj , which depicts rackets for Ping-Pong - an obvious reference to the Ping-Pong map.
• Now we go to the map of the Industrial Zone: there we find a secret room in which “nitro” is written in Morse code. Searches in the description of the “Nitro” supply in the garage and on Wiki do not yield any results, so for now we move on to the next branch of the solution: go to the Ping Pong map.
• On Ping Pong we find a secret room , in which we see the same image as in the secret room of the Polygon. The only connection that can be found is that both of these maps have a secret room. We go to the article “ Secret rooms ” on Wiki, where one of the images has become clickable, and now leads to the following link: https://game.pro-tanki.com/HMN5NZMnyu90 - a form for entering a keyword.
• We remember “nitro” from the Industrial Zone, enter it here and go to the Google form with the survey, after completing it correctly, we get the final picture, which depicts the character of one old cartoon - Roger Rabbit.

The answer is Roger.

Link in Rhino description in garage	Ping Pong reference	Final picture in the form

Day 2

First hint

A special program that allows players to test various maps and create lots of screenshots. A very useful and popular program that is often used by both map creators with content creators and simple players.

Solution

ОReference to Gold Box

Encrypted message on Abyss map

Link in ProTLVK article

• The first clue is the description of the ProTLVK program. In the Wiki article of the same name , one of the question marks becomes a link leading to https://imgur.com/a/8jMfnmm.
• At this address we find an image of 4 animatronics from the first game of the Five Nights At Freddy's series with numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4... The ellipsis after "4" refers to the fifth animatronic from the game - Golden Freddy. The word Golden in its name obviously refers to the Gold Box.
• Go to the Gold Box page on Wiki. Having selected all the text, we find a link to a Google form (though it is divided into 3 parts, but putting them together is not difficult).
• By completing a survey in a Google form, we receive a link: https://game.pro-tanki.com/QFJyYa8XcA9k. Here we will enter the keyword.
• Carefully examining the page of the Gold Box, we also notice that the inscription “cdauu2left” is hidden at the bottom (it can also be seen by selecting all the text on the page). This inscription is an indication that in the line "cdauu" you need to shift all letters back in the alphabet by 2 (Caesar cipher). We get "abyss" (English: Abyss).
• Now we go to the Abyss map, in which a new secret room has appeared. In this secret room, the numbers 0 and 1 are depicted on the end walls, and the floor is lined with dark and light “tiles.” All this suggests that the alternation of these tiles on the floor is a binary message.
• Indeed, if we assume that the dark tile is 0, and the light tile is 1, then we get the message: “01110110 01100001 01110010 01100001 01101110”. Decrypting the message, i.e., converting each byte (each “line” from the secret room) into a number, and the number into an ASCII character, we get “varan”. Now we have found the keyword.
• We enter this keyword into the form obtained in one of the previous steps and get the final image.
• The final picture shows the characters from the story “The Wizard of Oz.”

The answer is Emerald.

Part of the link in the Gold Box article	Hidden message	Final picture

Day 3

For many, this day became the most difficult. This can also be seen in the solution time: the first correct answers were submitted after 2.5 hours when the first clue was published.

First hint

One of the first members of the pack and the protagonist of the story. His friends told him that he was the last of his kind, which annoyed him a lot. Our hero already started losing faith and began to

doubt the existence of his species, thinking all was about to end due to the global warming. Still, through it all, he managed to find a friend during this disaster.

Solution

Canyon map refrence

Code in the update article

Referral to update 02/15/2022

Secret room in Duel map

Final picture

• The first clue describes the Ice Age character Manny the Mammoth.
• Let's go to the Wiki article dedicated to the Mammoth. Having selected all the text on it, we notice at the very bottom of the page the inscription “b64” - a reference to the base64 encoding, which will most likely be needed later.
• We also notice that in the table of body characteristics, the preview of the Mammoth M0 is replaced by a picture with an exclamation mark; by clicking on it, we go to https://imgur.com/a/SXUKY40, where we see a Canon camera - a reference to Canyon map.

b64 in Mammoth article	Picture link in the article

• Exploring Canyon map, we find a secret room in which we find 4 pictures with numbers, as well as another picture in the same room, but which can only be seen from the outside (by driving along the edge of the map). The pictures show various characters/toys. It’s still unclear what to do, so let’s try to go back a couple of steps.

Canyon secret room	Visible from outside

• Again, go to the article about Mammoth and click on the link “ Mammoth Guide ”. We see that there is no article itself, but instead there is text that appears on a non-existent page, with one difference - the phrase “find a mention of this name” is underlined, and when you hover over it, the inscription “02/15/2022” appears.
• Now in the updates article we find an update dated 15/02/2022 , in which the Duel and Ping Pong maps were updated. Nothing has changed on Ping Pong since day one, but on Duel a very interesting secret room has appeared.
• Also in the section of this update we find a hidden code: “Z2FtZS5wcm8tdGFua2kuY29tL1p3WGlUZ3daN3BvTg==". Remembering about base64 from the beginning of the solution, we decode this message and get the link: https://game.pro-tanki.com/ZwXiTgwZ7poN. We will enter the keyword here.
• In the secret room at Duel map there were 4 transparent colored cubes: red, yellow, green and blue. While discovering this secret room, we notice that if you look through these cubes at other cubes, they change the color. Moreover, their color becomes exactly the same as that of the pictures in the secret room in Canyon map...

• One by one (according to the colors of the rainbow) we look at all cubes through red, yellow, green and blue and collect the sequence of numbers corresponding to the colors of the “toys” from the secret room of Canyon map: the sequence 0231420314 is obtained.
• We enter it into the form found earlier and get the final image. On it we see the Caduceus - a symbol of medicine, as well as a screenshot of the drop location of the First Aid Kit on Highland map.

The answer is First Aid Kit.

Day 4

Fist hint

What could possibly be depicted here? Please inform us, if any of you understand.... Although it would be better to keep silent and find the answer yourself, as soon as physically possible!

Solution

Time stamp in Chernobyl

Encrypted Encrypted password at Chernobyl

Secret room

Final picture

• The first picture can be very confusing at first. Even after finding the original image in good quality and checking everything in the game that could be related to the original image, can’t find anything. Then we pay attention to the effect itself in the picture. Its name is Noise!
• Let's go to Noise map, there is a secret room in which there is a mine and a magnifying glass - a reference to the " Find the Mine " event. Also hidden on Noise is the code: " t:514848180:f ".

" t:514848180:f " is a timestamp for April 26, 1986, the date of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. Refers to Chernobyl map.

• On Chernobyl map we find a secret room in which we see 5 numbers: 09 18 02 09 19. These are letter numbers in the English alphabet. Replacing the numbers with the corresponding letters, we get "irbis". This is the keyword.
• Now let’s go to the article “ Find a mine ”. There, having selected all the text, in the lower corner of the page we notice the coordinates: 58.837795, 57.186750. Having entered these coordinates into any map application, we see the village of Parma.
• Let's go and create Parma map. But, not having time to create a battle, in the preview of the map we see a lonely Viking-Shaft with the paint of Spectator . Let's move on to the article on this paint.

Parma coordinates	Tank in image while creating Parma map

• We notice that from time to time strange symbols appear on the paint preview in the garage, and the same thing happens with the paint preview on the tank. However, if you combine these 2 images by overlay, you get the clear string “B7bNhLB2iJ4J”:

Preview of Spectator paint in garage	Preview of Spectator paint on tank	Overlay

• This turns out to be the address of the keyword entry form on the quest website: https://game.pro-tanki.com/B7bNhLB2iJ4J. We enter the previously found keyword “irbis” there, and we are redirected to a Google form. We take a survey in it and get the final picture: a “labyrinth” painted in Hohloma patterns with the “THE GAME” logo.

The answer is Hohloma .

Day 5

First hint

It's easier than it looks.

Solution

QR code on the Underground

• The phrase “It's easier than it looks” from the first hint means that you don’t need to look for hidden meaning in the words from the picture or try to connect the text with something from the game - you just need to take the first letters of three words in the last highlighted line. The result is “FAQ” - a reference to the article “ Frequently Asked Questions ”.
• We go to this article and notice that some letters in it are highlighted in bold. Putting them all together, you get “mepzdoka”, or, if you combine the letters a little differently, “subway”.
• Let's move on to the map of the same name in the game. On it we find 2 QR codes at once, both lead to Google forms ( the first and second ).
• Correctly answering the question in the first form (there are 123 windows on Tishina), we receive a picture and a link to the form for entering a kayword: https://game.pro-tanki.com/aRGqf0pI7LH6 . We also notice in the corner of the picture a barely noticeable inscription “b64” with the number 1.
• The second form is quite confusing, but if you go through it correctly, you see a portrait of Blaise de Vigenère and the question: “Is it worth returning to the previous maps?” This means that somewhere further on the Vigenère cipher will be used, and the next clues are hidden somewhere in the secret rooms of previous days.
• We begin to check the secret rooms of previous days. On Ping-Pong, the picture from the Polygon was replaced by an illustration for the Atbash cipher with the number 3, and on Chernobyl, the numbers were replaced by a portrait of Caesar and the numbers: 13 and 2.

At the end of the first form	At the end of the second form	Atbash cipher	Caesar Cipher

Code on the Underground

Final picture

• All this means that in the future you will need to use base64, the Caesar cipher with a shift of 13, and the Atbash cipher.
• It seems to be a dead end. So we’re going back – to the Underground. While exploring the map again, we notice the appearance of strange hatches on the ground that were not there before. Let's count them - we get 7 hatches.
• Further exploring the map, we notice a barely noticeable code on one of the buildings: “YmVvZmJ0ZXJy”.
• Now we decode it one by one using the previously found ciphers. Through base64 we get “beofbterr”, through the Caesar cipher we get “orbsogree”, through Atbash we get “liyhltivv”. Then, using the Vigenère cipher with the key “seven” (remember the 7 hatches on the Underground), we get: “teddybear” is the keyword.
• We enter the keyword into the form and get the final picture: a mammoth (judging by its tusks) in Africa, with a Machine Gun on its back. An obvious reference to a famous kit in the game.

The answer is Eyjafjallajokull.

Prizes

Paint«GAME 2024»

The prizes included crystals, supplies, days of premium account, special “ GAME 2024 ” paint and “Dream Tank”.

Full list of prizes:

Place	Prize
1	"Dream Tank" or 200,000 crystals of your choice, premium account for 10 days, 1,000 of all supplies, "GAME 2024" paint.
2	100,000 crystals, premium account for 7 days, 750 of all supplies, "GAME 2024" paint.
3	50,000 crystals, premium account for 5 days, 500 of all supplies, "GAME 2024" paint.
4-10	20,000 crystals, premium account for 3 days, 250 all supplies, "GAME 2024" paint.
11-25	10,000 crystals, premium account for 1 day, 100 all supplies.
26-50	5000 crystals, 50 all supplies.
Tankers with 25 points get 25 all supplies.

Winners

The player New.Day took first place, the second place went to the player Tofi, and the third place went to TryBeFriend. A total of 414 players received prizes.

Top-10 Winners

Place	Nickname
1	New.Day
2	Tofi
3	TryBeFriend
4	PrideBlackMini
5	Memories
6	Out
7	bbb
8	TryDoFriend
9	69_Sky
10	69_Corpse