25 replies to this topic

[dawh]

This game thread continues the tradition of the first two games: Game 1 and Game 2 and Game 3.

One player plays the Evil Mastermind (that's me, replacing the original Evil Mastermind for this game) who nukes the states of the USA 3 at a time, the other players play Hackers who seek to stop the Evil Mastermind. The Evil Mastermind plays by posting commands which activate missile strikes. Each command has a unique password, which is derived from the command by a hashing algorithm. The Evil Mastermind devises a different algorithm at the start of each game, and posts the passwords along with the commands. The Hackers will see the commands and passwords and from this they should try to deduce the hashing algorithm. The Hacker who does this first, and correctly figures out the password to the command "ABORT", stops the Evil Mastermind and wins the game. Anyone can join in at any time as a Hacker.

Now hashing algorithms can be exceedingly difficult to crack, but there are restrictions placed on the kind of algorithm that the Evil Mastermind can use:

Spoiler for Hashing algorithm rules

1) The Evil Mastermind must be able to derive an alphanumeric password of fixed length from any word (password length 8 characters or less, you choose). It doesn't have to be a cipher in the sense that it can be decrypted to the original word, indeed the fixed length makes that impossible.

2) You must be able to do it in your head, with no external aids, in 40 seconds or less. You may look at the word you are hashing but you should not have to look at the previous letters of the password, since real-life passwords are generally shown as ***** as you type (although you may use previous letters as far as your memory can handle it). It's up to you to ensure that you can do all this. A really classy algorithm is one which fulfils this condition better (quick and easy to perform, in other words).

3) Although it is quite possible to hold an alphabetic substitution table in your head, and apply it quickly, I'll rule this out because in conjunction with other techniques it's too difficult to crack. Any technique that requires a large amount of information to be memorised in advance is not allowed. Caesar ciphers with a large shift pretty much fall into that category.

4) Consistency. This is a matter of good sportsmanship. For example, since "ABORT" is the target word, you can't have a rule that comes into play only when the sequence "BOR" occurs. All rules should be general enough that they come into play in at least half of the clues. The algorithm should not be geared toward the specific commands used in this game, but should work on any word.

Commands
There are 51 commands, these being the names of US states (used by the Evil Mastermind to nuke another state), plus the word "ABORT" (used by hackers to stop the Evil Mastermind).

Spoiler for List of commands

Commands and passwords are all uppercase.
ABORT
ALABAMA
ALASKA
ARIZONA
ARKANSAS
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO
CONNECTICUT
DELAWARE
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
HAWAII
IDAHO
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
IOWA
KANSAS
KENTUCKY
LOUISIANA
MAINE
MARYLAND
MASSACHUSETTS
MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA
MISSISSIPPI
MISSOURI
MONTANA
NEBRASKA
NEVADA
NEWHAMPSHIRE
NEWJERSEY
NEWMEXICO
NEWYORK
NORTHCAROLINA
NORTHDAKOTA
OHIO
OKLAHOMA
OREGON
PENNSYLVANIA
RHODEISLAND
SOUTHCAROLINA
SOUTHDAKOTA
TENNESSEE
TEXAS
UTAH
VERMONT
VIRGINIA
WASHINGTON
WESTVIRGINIA
WISCONSIN
WYOMING

Game Play
The Evil Mastermind posts 3 commands at a time, with their passwords. The interval for doing this is undefined, no point in imposing restrictions. The Evil Mastermind chooses the commands, but should generally do requests as soon as possible.
Each Hacker may make one guess at the password for "ABORT" each time the Evil Mastermind posts commands. If someone makes multiple guesses in between clues, only the first one counts, but if they make a mistake and correct it, the Evil Mastermind can accept the correction.
There is no need for spoilers when guessing the password, although please use spoilers if you reveal the algorithm.

The first one to get the password for "ABORT" wins.

P.S. Alternatively if you've cracked the algorithm you can just use it to blow up more states if you're that way inclined (**per original Evil Mastermind's rules!)

The first three missiles are away--along with the following states:

ALABAMA
QEEPEXWI

NEVADA
QHYDAXKB

VIRGINIA
ZMNKMRME

[octopuppy]

Woo hoo, I like this game!

I'm going to dive in straight away with:

ABORT
VCZQPRYD

[dawh]

Woo hoo, I like this game!

I'm going to dive in straight away with:

ABORT
VCZQPRYD

Password accepted. System shutting down.

Hmm, apparently the algorithm was too much like the first one...

Perhaps it should be left to someone else to explain the algorithm...

[araver]

One and it's gone. That was fast. Did not see that one coming.

Spoiler for Well, my thoughts so far

From this

m	a	A	L	A	B	A	M
n	b	b	m	b	a	z	l
o	c	c	n	c	z	y	k
p	d	d	o	d	y	x	j
Q	E	E	P	E	X	W	I

N	E	V	A	D	A	n	e
o	f	w	b	c	z	m	d
p	g	x	c	b	Y	l	c
Q	H	Y	D	A	X	K	B

V	I	R	G	I	N	I	A
w	j	q	h	j	o	j	b
x	k	p	i	k	p	k	c
y	l	o	j	l	q	l	d
Z	M	N	K	M	R	M	E
							
t	A	B	O	R	T	a	b
u	b	a	p	q	s	z	c
V	C	Z	Q	P	R	Y	D

I can see :
1) IF word begins with vowel, THEN search for consonant at the end, start from there, ELSE start from beginning.
2) Initially go forward in the alphabet by N spaces. N=?? it's 1 for 5-letter commands, 2 for 6-letter commands, 3 for 7 and 8 letter commands?
3) Flip direction in the alphabet (backward/forward) when you encounter B,D,R,O,G (all are closed-curve letters, except for G - so maybe just letters that have at least a curve: B,C,D,G,J,O,P,Q,R,S,U?)

[dawh]

One and it's gone. That was fast. Did not see that one coming.

Spoiler for Well, my thoughts so far

From this

m	a	A	L	A	B	A	M
n	b	b	m	b	a	z	l
o	c	c	n	c	z	y	k
p	d	d	o	d	y	x	j
Q	E	E	P	E	X	W	I

N	E	V	A	D	A	n	e
o	f	w	b	c	z	m	d
p	g	x	c	b	Y	l	c
Q	H	Y	D	A	X	K	B

V	I	R	G	I	N	I	A
w	j	q	h	j	o	j	b
x	k	p	i	k	p	k	c
y	l	o	j	l	q	l	d
Z	M	N	K	M	R	M	E
							
t	A	B	O	R	T	a	b
u	b	a	p	q	s	z	c
V	C	Z	Q	P	R	Y	D

I can see :
1) IF word begins with vowel, THEN search for consonant at the end, start from there, ELSE start from beginning.
2) Initially go forward in the alphabet by N spaces. N=?? it's 1 for 5-letter commands, 2 for 6-letter commands, 3 for 7 and 8 letter commands?
3) Flip direction in the alphabet (backward/forward) when you encounter B,D,R,O,G (all are closed-curve letters, except for G - so maybe just letters that have at least a curve: B,C,D,G,J,O,P,Q,R,S,U?)

Well, there are some good thoughts there, but some of it's a little off. I don't know if octopuppy has it all right. Maybe I just picked some bad starting codes and he was able to guess the blanks.

Try these to help:

NORTHCAROLINA
SJWYMXVW

MISSISSIPPI
MOWMOWML

OHIO
LRKLLRKL

[araver]

Spoiler for OK, then

I'm sure that:
3) Initially go forward unless you encounter letters that have at least a curve: B,C,D,G,J,O,P,Q,R,S,U which flip the direction in the alphabet (backward/forward)

Just saw that:
2) Distance forward/backward is constant = No. vowels in command e.g A+3=D.

And still thinking at the beginning-rule, MISSISSIPPI really broke my ideas so far.

[octopuppy]

Password accepted. System shutting down.

Hmm, apparently the algorithm was too much like the first one...

Perhaps it should be left to someone else to explain the algorithm...

Oops! It was only a guess

[dawh]

Oops! It was only a guess

Well, apparently it was a really good guess.

As the algorithm's still a mystery, I'll post a couple more:

UTAH
SRYFWVCJ

FLORIDA
IOLULAXC

NEWYORK
PGYAMTMP

[octopuppy]

I'd like to request ALASKA, IOWA and MASSACHUSETTS please!

[araver]

I'd like to request ALASKA, IOWA and MASSACHUSETTS please!

Spoiler for My bets are on:

ALASKA
DODPHXXI

IOWA
LLTXFRZD

MASSACHUSETTS
EOWEYDYO