Buckeye Billy Birthday
Buckeye Billy Birthday
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OSINT - Points
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byuctf{graeters}
Buckeye Billy, our lovely, nutty, history loving friend, has a birthday coming
up! Billy is as cryptic as can be, and we have no idea what to get him for his
birthday. We did find three hints on written on his desk. Can you help us find
where we should buy a gift from? Hint
1 Hint
2 Hint
3 format: byuctf{storename}
I took a look at the three hints, and they were Wordle games that resulted in WATER, CALLS, and PROBE. Since we were looking for a shop (meaning a location), we immediately turned to what3words and stumbled across this location in Charlotte, Ohio:
We tried a couple of stores around the area to no avail, until an admin told us in a ticket that we were in the wrong place. By extension, we decided to try out various permutations of water, calls and probe:
| what3word address | Location |
|---|---|
| ///water.calls.probe | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| ///calls.water.probe | Detroit, Michigan |
| ///probe.water.calls | Houston, Texas |
| ///water.probe.calls | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| ///calls.probe.water | Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| ///probe.calls.water | Eastbourne, London |
Most of them were bogus except ///water.probe.calls, which was on E. McMillan St, Cincinnati, Ohio. We assumed it was correct (and admin later confirmed) because the nickname “Buckeye Billy” comes from the fact that he loves the Ohio State University Buckeyes football team. (Bonus: The Ohio Buckeye is a type of nut, and the description says that he is “nutty”). Our teammate somehow connected “history-loving” to old stores in Cincinnati, Ohio, and upon a Google search we found:
The flag is byuctf{graeters}. This was a guessy challenge, so don’t feel dumb. I felt dumb too.