---
description: >-
  Here's a few resources to help understand ARGs. If you are new to ARGs or
  puzzle-solving in general, please consult the Game Detectives Academy here for
  some basic puzzle-solving tools. Good luck.
---

# Useful Resources

## Glossary

* **Acrostic** - a form of steganography where a message is spelled by the first letter of each line, word, or other segment
* **Anagram** - a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another, such as cinema from iceman
* **ARG** - an "alternate reality game"; a game where events play out in the "real world".
* **ASCII** - the American Standard Computer Information Interchange; a common method of encoding characters into numeric representations. Numbers are encoded at points 48-57 (0x30-0x39), uppercase from 65-90 (0x41-0x5A), and lowercase from 97-122 (0x61-0x7A)
*   **Base64** - a number system consisting of normal digits, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, "+", "/", and "=". An "=" can only appear at the end. Base64 can be used to encode text through a system like ASCII or other media (images, etc.) as a binary stream.

    **Binary** - a number system consisting of only zeroes and ones; used as the basis for modern computing
* **Caesar Cipher** - a cipher where each letter is shifted over by a set offset.
  * **ROT13** - The most common version of a Caesar Cipher, rotating all letters by 13.
* **Cipher** - a method of modifying data to hide it from other people who don't know how to decipher it.
* **Hexadecimal** - a number system with 16 digits (0-9, A-F); used in computing as each character can represent four binary digits. Usually prefixed with 0x.
* **Morse code** - an alphabet or code traditionally used by radio operators where characters are represented by dashes and dots (or long and short signals)
* **Pigpen Cipher** - also known as a tic tac toe cipher, a simple substitution cipher in which letters are fragments of a grid
* **Rabbit Hole** - an endless descent into the unknown, commonly referring to a combined stretch in logic
* **Red Herring** - a "clue" with no purpose, meant to mislead the players of an ARG.
* **Spectrogram** - often abbreviated "spectro"; a graph of frequencies used in audio with respect to time
* **Steganography** - the act of concealing messages within another medium. Should not be confused with encryption or ciphertext.
* **Substitution Cipher** - a family of ciphers involving monoalphabetic codes, where letters of the original ciphertext correspond to different letters or symbols.
* **Trailhead** - the initial clue or event that starts an ARG.&#x20;
* **Vigenère Cipher -** a Caesar-like cipher where the offset varies based on a keyword.

## Resources

* [**thetheoristgateway.com**](http://thetheoristgateway.com) **-** The gateway page for this ARG.
* [**unturnnostone.com**](https://www.unturnnostone.com/) - A secondary site used in this ARG.
* [**dcode**](https://www.dcode.fr/tools-list) - A site with decoders for a whole lot of common ciphers.
* [**GameDetectives Academy**](https://gamedetectives.net/academy) - A bunch of tutorials on finding clues for ARGs.
* [**Pangram Translator**](https://claytondoesthings.xyz/w/software/symbol-translator/web/index.html) - A theorist made site to decode both symbol alphabets used in the ARG.
* [**Seven Gates Archive** ](http://the7gatesarchive.tacocatsoftware.com/The7GATESArchive/)- A theorist made site to track gate completion times and other statistics.
* [**ARG Toolbox**](https://wiki.gamedetectives.net/index.php?title=ARG_Toolbox) - An archive of helpful tools and resources one might use in the course of solving puzzles typically found in ARGs.

