ARG
The TF2 Template:W (Alternate Reality Game) was blah blah blah that lead to blah blah.
Day 1
In the June 19, 2012 Patch the following craft items were added to the drop system - Goldfish, Pocket Lint, Cheese Wheel, Banana Peel, Barn Door Plank, Secret Diary, and Damaged Capacitor. They dropped along with any other item drop, making them very common.
Day 2
The following day, the June 19, 2012 Patch was released. With this update, any player who equipped the Eliminating The Impossible set would now see new descriptions for the previously added items. The new descriptions would have several random characters replaced by periods, resulting in slightly different strings for each player.
| Item | New description |
|---|---|
 Goldfish |
'Think of the' |
 Pocket Lint |
'...the... which...' |
 Cheese Wheel |
'may go on... the hidden wickedness...' |
 Banana Peel |
'...may go on...' |
 Barn Door Plank |
'...year in, year out...' |
 Secret Diary |
'the deeds of hellish cruelty and none the wiser' |
 Damaged Capacitor |
' in such places, and ...' |
Day 3
A new patch is released, adding 8 {{w|MD5]] hashes to the game's code. Meanwhile, it is discovered that crafting twobanana peels together will provide an error code. This code contains a base value (1-8), a code number (1-380) and a set of 8 Template:W values. These are quickly grouped by number, and Template:W attempts begin. It becomes immediately apparent that the same user will get the same error code regardless of how, which, or when they craft banana peels. This site quickly becomes the location of the crowdsourcing. It is soon discovered that codes #7 and #8 are identical. Code #8 is cracked shortly afterwards. The output of this code is a QR code, which leads to a site containing a piece of an interview with Saxton Hale and a Mr. Thomas. The word monkeynaut is used, leading to a reference to Poopy Joe. Code #1 is cracked some time later. Code #2 is then cracked after that, and code #4 is cracked later.
