Day 04: pirating like in the 90ies

Ahoy, my name is Santa and I want to be a pirate!

Challenge

Go to the pirates

Solution

It is a website with 12 pirates with a text box beneath them that need to be filled with specific values to decrypt the key

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

[..]

<div class="divTableRow">
  <div class="divTableCell" align="center">
    <img src="pirate01.jpg" width="151" height="151">
	<div class="year">Nebraska</div>
	<div class="number"><br><input type="text" id="pirate01" size="2"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="divTableCell">
	<img src="pirate02.jpg" width="151" height="151">
	<div class="year">Tortuga</div>
	<div class="number"><br><input type="text" id="pirate02" size="2"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="divTableCell">
	<img src="pirate03.jpg" width="151" height="151">
	<div class="year">Antigua</div>
  		<div class="number"><br><input type="text" id="pirate03" size="2"></div>
  </div>
    <div class="divTableCell">
	<img src="pirate04.jpg" width="151" height="151">
	<div class="year">Jamaica</div>
	<div class="number"><br><input type="text" id="pirate04" size="2"></div>
	</div>
</div>

[..]

and a script to produce the flag:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

function JollyRoger() {

		var elements = document.getElementsByTagName("input")
		for (var i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {
		    if(elements[i].value == "") {
		        alert('ahoy pirate! \n\nyou want jolly roger? i see empty boxes :-/');
		        return;
		    }
		}

		var a, b;
		p=document.getElementById('pirate01').value+document.getElementById('pirate02').value+document.getElementById('pirate03').value+
		document.getElementById('pirate04').value+document.getElementById('pirate05').value+document.getElementById('pirate06').value+
		document.getElementById('pirate07').value+document.getElementById('pirate08').value+document.getElementById('pirate09').value+
		document.getElementById('pirate10').value+document.getElementById('pirate11').value+document.getElementById('pirate12').value;
		s='::)"<.vd]!&a{":r>Qyh 7';
		f='HV18-';
		for (i=0; i < s.length;i++) {
	    	a = s.charCodeAt(i);
			b = p.substring(i*2, i*2+2);
			f+=(String.fromCharCode(a ^ b));
	    }
	    alert(f);
	}

We do know what certain positions in the flag need to decrypt to (e.g. the dashes), so we can use this to..

s is 22 characthers long, and since p expects a length up to len(s)*2+2, combined with the fact that the HTML for the names (Jamaica etc) is called year, it looks like we need to enter 4 digits in each box.

After some DuckDuckGo’ing, we find out this is a reference to a 90s game called The Secret of Monkey Island, with which a cardboard wheel, named “Dial-a-Pirate”, was provided, as a form of copy-protection. The player had to match the pirate shown on-screen with that of the wheel.

Instrunctions from game manual:

*Once you’ve started a program. a screen will appear displaying pirate’s face (actually a combination of two faces). You will be prompted to enter a date that was significant in the pirate’s life at a given geographical location. Use your Dial-A-Pirate wheel to match up the top and bottom halves of the pirate face you see on the screen. Then, locate the window on the wheel that matches the geographical location mentiones on the screen. Using the keyboard, type the date you see in the window.

Don’t lose your Dial-A-Pirate wheel! Without it, you won’t be able to play the game. If you lose the Wheel, you may purchase another from Lucasfilm Games.*

There is an working version online here

So we simply spin the wheel to match the faces in the challenge, and note the year of the requested place name:

Flag