The Unsolved Mystery of Perplex City 

Plot twist: Satoshi has the start to Perplex City 2 and is just waiting to be found...

Coming back after Satoshi was found!! PerplexCity is finally complete!

Is this guy in marketing? Because I swear he should be. Every time he advertises an idea, story, etc. I am instantly hooked and want to take part.

Cicada did pretty much the same thing. Lots of webseries like Everyman Hybrid have quite a few codebreaking ARG elements. Just because they dont have cash prizes doesnt mean they arent things that happen.

Austin, one of the things I love about your channel is that I have absolutely no idea what to expect each time you upload. Every video covers something completely random, but every single one is golden. Keep it up. You're quickly becoming my favorite RU-vidr.

Satoshi has being found. A follow up video would be appropriate

Man, Perplex City owned. One of my favorite memories from my college years was totally skipping out on a report to be a part of the last big live event, when we along with the game's characters worked together over IRC and phone calls to finally take down the game's antagonists, the Third Power. We had to call a fake office building and trick them into resetting the building's elevator systems, print out and solve paper puzzles, solve color-based codes to shut down security...and all this was live. If we didn't get this done in time we would have failed, and we would have lost characters. We had an impact on the story and it fucking ruled.

Hoi Austin. You own a company. Missing Mozart. You have an audience that are more than willing to participate and support. And might I say, "Missing Mozart" is quite a perfect name. I think you should do something with it

not gonna lie here, when you said 'find him', I got chills.

Ingress is actually similar to this. You know, the game Niantic Labs made before Pokemon Go. We were, and still are, a small community, even by a large margin when compared to the kinda disappointing Pokemon re-theme of our game. But for people who've never played, our game isn't a solo thing like PoGo is. It's a communal, organized, team effort to connect locations far apart from each other, and capture sections of the world under "control fields". We have made control fields so big they cross oceans and BEND WITH THE CURVATURE OF THE EARTH. And can you imagine how proud that small, dedicated group must have felt? Just a few people making an amazing thing happen. Not bigger, but better.

You should create a playlist for this style of video that you make. We love them.

This may already have been investigated (and also may be buried), but have anyone investigated Adrian Hon? We don't know 100% that his name could be Satoshi. That may have been a huge red herring (which is common in ARGs sadly). Plus, Adrian Hon has similar facial features (including a mole/bump on the left side of his face). Maybe makeup could have been used to cover it in the Billion to One photo. There's a photo of him shaking hands with the cube founder. It doesn't hurt to investigate. He's now the CEO of a company called Six to Start.

I love how 99% of your videos I have no clue what you're talking about beforehand but it ends up being amazing anyways

There was something similar to this a few years ago, with the tv show Gravity Falls. Alex Hirsch, the creator of the show, set up a scavenger hunt worldwide to find a statue of one of the characters. It was so fun to watch the clues being discovered on social media. There was a complication in the hunt so it was delayed, but eventually the statue was found and the pilot of the show was released. It was pretty interesting.

Inside a mind found him!! The coolest part was that they found out about this unsolved mystery from Austin McConnell!

When I heard the name "Satoshi", and how he cannot be found, I immediately thought of another mysterious person with that same name: "Satoshi Nakamoto", the guy who created Bitcoin. Then another wild thought popped into my head: What if Satoshi Nakamoto (if that's his real name) was hired as a programmer by Perplex City to help create the puzzles? Perhaps, after the Perplex City project shut down, Satoshi thought his skills shouldn't go to waste and thus started working on Bitcoin? I know that's an absolutely crazy theory, and it's based on very little, but I felt the need to put it out there in case anything comes of it. Basically: If we find an ex-Perplex City designer/employee with the same (aged) features of the "Billion-to-One" puzzle card, we can identify once and for all who this guy is (and, as a bonus, figure out who made Bitcoin)!

Satoshi has been found!!! I found out from another channel, Inside a Mind, who did a video more specifically on the Satoshi mystery. I think that's really cool and I never would have known about Satoshi at all had I not seen this very video.

God that guy must look so different now

"One on a billion..." same as 7 in 7 billion. He's a septuplet. Check septuplets born in Japan around his apparent age range and cross check Facebook profiles.

"I can revisit my favorite video games" Tell that to people who want to play vanilla WoW or the Scott Pilgrim game.

I, and a few other friends of mine, are setting up a game like this, though more secretive, look for it in a few years.

mind candy went on to make moshi monsters, btw...

We are pretty sure: Satoshi is Japanese, based on the text on the card. There used to be a large Japanese community in the area, but that has dried up in more recent years. Things we know Satoshi is not: He is not the Cube Thief. He is not working at Mind Candy presently. He is not one of a thousand random "Satoshi"s who look just a tiny bit like him. He is (probably) not working at the Kaysersberg tourism bureau. Satoshi may have: ...gone to Japan. ...been visiting France briefly. ...moved to the Alsace area years ago and is living there now. ...died last week. (though we certainly hope not!) ...moved to America seeking new riches. ...been a homeless man who was flown to France just to have his picture taken. ...no idea what any of this is about. ...a secret lair in Bombay, and another in Madrid. From the will about the card.

I was a kid in the 1970s, and there was a book called Masquerade that was published that made kids CRAZY (even those of us in the US, since it was a British book) that had a golden totem buried somewhere in Britain that you could find via clues in the book. It made us crazy in school, trying to figure it out, even though the book was too complicated for 11-year-old me. This reminds me of that.

Dammit, that was amazing. And I'm not just saying that for the obvious reason. So many memories, so many feels. I miss that place.

It sounds like Cicada 3301

I think the HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US flag was the modern perplex city

If something like this was started now, it would be hacked in a few weeks.

Aaaaanyone remember the gravity falls treasure hunt? No? Just me? Ok.

You would have loved Gravity Falls while it was airing and the Cypher Hunt that followed after. Many a sleepless night were spent listening to updates and speculation within the community. It was fantastic.

4chan might be able to solve it. The mechanical clusterfuck we call that website has the power. Maybe they hold the key.

There was a similar concept in a children's book from 2004 called "A Treasure's Trove," which was about these bugs that are crystallized by some magic. The book contained hints to find the real world location of tokens which could be turned in to get the real "bug," which were made of precious metals and encrusted with jewels. All together the collection of about 12 or so was supposedly worth about 1 million dollars...

Perplex City defined my senior highschool years. It always annoyed me that it never really moved out of the UK (I'm in Australia) but it had everything I ever wanted in a game: puzzles, trading cards, and a huge mystery story. Now that I can afford to spend more on such a thing, any company making something like this now would get ALL of my money.

I can tell its your video just by watching it without audio lmao good stuff

Quickly becoming one of my favorite channels bar none. I gotta admit, I started your channel with the KFC Video in my Recommended tab (according to the numbers that's where most are coming from I suppose haha) but each new piece of content does a beautiful job of giving this channel some serious backbone. Your editing, narration style, and unique presentation are all top notch Austin- Great moves, keep it up, proud of you!

Stuff like this really makes me wish I was alive and old enough in the 2000s.

I loved this game so much when it was out and remember it extremely fondly. Me and 3 friends would get a couple packs and spend our Friday night working out the puzzles and working on the overall project. I was going through my things awhile back at my parents place and found my old case of those cards. Man that brought back some memories. On a side note the did "start" a season 2 and they even sold an initial set of those cards but then put it on hold and never restarted it. I think about that game probably once a year and hope that they will try and start it again, it was perfect in my mind.

A university should do this within the campus. Something REALLY fun like this but not super easy to solve. Something that is truly worth parading around if you make it to the end.

There is one treasure hunt from the 80's that's still ongoing called "The Secret: A Treasure Hunt". It was released as a book in 1982 with 12 pictures accompanied by 12 riddles that, when solved, would reveal the location of a "casque" with a key somewhere in the USA, which you can present to the author, Byron Preiss (at least before his death in 2005), in exchange for a precious gem in a safe deposit in New York City. To this day, only 2 of the 12 treasures were found. If you're interested in that, there are communities online today who are still dedicated to solving the riddles.

I can already tell this is going to be a great video!

I swear man you are so good. You gave me chills. I knew what you were going to say when you said “See this guy?” But that bold white text flashing onto the screen with your confirming statement of “Find him,” coupled by the vast, just inspiring implications behind it... gee. Chills.

This is amazing. I dunno why, but there is some unshakable draw to this whole thing. Tracking down one man, across the globe, in pursuit of the answer to a long forgotten puzzle?? THE MYSTERY IS INTOXICATING!

This was brilliant. I was doing a wiki page about Perplex City on a small wiki I own about ARGs. Never in a million years did I expect to find a video made in 2017 about it. Glad to know that are still puzzle hunters like you.

I'm currently looking for an ARG to play that doesn't involve complex math. I just want something fun to be obsessed with for a bit.

In case anyone doesn't know, he was found via an AI software developed by a team of Perplex city fans, an sbs documentary was just released, narrated by Willem Dafoe!

This reminds me of the Shia Capture the Flag game that went down on 4chan. InternetHistorian has some good videos on it.

I've watched a couple of your videos And your an instant new favorite RU-vidr

"I've never seen anything like this since" Cicada: *Am I a joke to you?*

So many happy memories here. All the feels. You're right - it was the *best* community.

we do the same thing in my town in a smaller scale. there is a medallion hidden somewhere and clues get released online and in the paper every day around fall and there's a big cash prize for finding it. pretty cool stuff.

OH MY GOD GUYS HE'S BEEN FOUND THIS IS THE MOST HISTORICAL EVENT I'VE EVER LIVED THROUGH. SCREW THE CORONAVIRUS, THIS IS WHAT I'M GONNA BE TELLING MY GRANDKIDS ABOUT.

all those years later, and satoshi was found. Cheers!

Shit that's a good mystery! Seems impossible to find that guy but if someone posts this on reddit they'll probably find him by the end of the week.

Funny coming back to this years later after he’s been found

Satoshi is now found... And the puzzle is complete

I never know what I get with your videos ,as every one has another theme almost but its allways amazing and touching

Well aparently the Riemann hypothesis has been solved.

I live in a small town of about 7,000 people and every year in the summer we have a weekend fair type deal where we celebrate the towns founding and the community in general. A part of the festivities includes medallion hunt in which a medallion would be hidden somewhere within the towns limit and if you find it then you were given some type of cash reward. The local newspaper would publish new hints on its website each day until the medallion is eventually found. Its much more small scale compare to the topic of the above video but its similar, I always look forward to hunting around town with my friends

I truly hope you saw that they found him

So back in 2015, in the fall semester, I took part of a program called Unlock the Ozarks. Me and some classmates in my honors class went to various parts of the Ozarks to uncover some history and take some pictures. Our information would be given to the organization. They had some QR codes at different areas and when you scanned them, they pulled up the website with some information about the area. Your video just made me think of that.

love this channel so much

Geocaching is the world's largest treasure hunt and it is still happening now. There's a website and an app. It's not exactly the same as Perplex city, but still a blast.

i just figured something out go type Satoshi into google and it tells you about the people who made bitcoin look: Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the unknown person or group of people who developed bitcoin. and satoshi was born in 1975 and is currently 44 years old so maybe mind candy wanted to stop him or something like that. its just a theory. hope this helps anyone whos still looking for him. ps love your content Austin

This Perplex City thing sounds like something I would have absolutely no interest in, but that a lot of people would be into, which would make me feel like maybe there is something wrong with me or something I don't get about this, so I would try to play it, and then after a while I would be like "yep, I was right, this holds no interest for me." But other people would totally love it and have no sympathy for the fact that it is totally unappealing to me.

Satoshi was found!

Perplex City was just a high budget ARG. If you want more like it you can find smaller ones pretty easily. It almost certainly won’t have the exact same charm but maybe you could find some fun there

*ahem* Satoshi..?? NAKAMOTO!?????

The production quality of your videos is top notch.

THEY FOUND HIM! THEY FOUND SATOSHI

I miss PerplexCity too. The whole Library of Babel thing is still one of the coolest events I ever took part in.

Satoshi has been found!

I think Pokemon Go is the closest thing we get for Perplex City in modern era. It managed to get people to go out and "hunt" pokemon in the real world, where they hang out together etc.. This shows that Perplex City CAN come back with modern alterations.. Hopefully this game could come back because this is definitely a game I would play. Thanks for the video man, you just got yourself a new subscriber :) cheers from Indonesia

He has been found!

Something like this reminds me a little of geocaching. It’s like finding tiny treasures that are hidden all around you. There’s an app that tells you where they are hidden and sometimes you have to solve puzzles.

Perplex city: the og cicada 3301

I know I am late on this, but have you ever tried Geocaching? When I am feeling in desperate need of a treasure hunt, it's what I do. Geocaching is so unique, the fact that thousands of members get together to hide/seek in a community that's hidden in plain site is so amazing to me.

Satoshi is the same name of the guy who is said to have created Bitcoin but then dissapeared and no one knows who he is ....?

I miss Perplex City, too. I have never stopped looking...

"His name is 'Satoshi'." You're telling me he's the CREATOR OF FRICKIN' BITCOIN?!

There was something very similar held after the tv show Gravity Falls ended. It wasn't this this two-year long hunt; it only lasted about two weeks. But it took place all over the world, from the States, to Russia, to Japan. It was really cool, and brought the mystery element of the show to a level it had never seen before, even after the finale.

The billion to one card has been solved.

2:24 South African Wallet representation appreciated.

Wait... Is it a coincidence that he shares that name with the creator of Bitcoin, of whom nobody knows?

I loved Perplex City! Great video, brought back some great memories and I too miss it!

i was practically a fetus when this happened but it sounds cool as hell i want something like perplex city to experience

SATOSHI HAS BEEN FOUND

There's a problem with doing another long-term ARG like Perplex City, and that's that people have jobs and schools to go to. A lot of us barely have any free time to play a regular 8-hour video game, not to mention read a book or comic-book or binge a show/movie on Netflix. We have to specifically clear time (or even take a day off) just to be able to indulge in those hobbies.

who's here after satoshi was indeed found

With all the high-profile ARGs that have been done, I'm amazed that I hadn't heard of this until now.

The gravity falls ARG was pretty awesome

I agree! Miss this game too. I introduced it to some friends of mine here in Norway and we enjoyed it big time. I remember I even got interviewed by one of the big newspapers in Oslo about the subject.

Who's here after Satoshi was found?

How did I just discover your channel. I’m in love with all your videos

also, satoshi might die soooo.... solve it in the next 20 years or bye bye answer

I do miss certain games, but just because I can revisit them doesn’t mean the experience is the same. In my experience the first time you experience something the more impact it will have.

You didn't put the guy's story in the description :c

I diDN't know that the game was already over so I was fucking ready to go outside and find that cube bUt then you said it ended in 2007. DREAMS CRUSHED. I hope the company finds a more profitable way for us to play Perplex city so WE can keep playing and they have actual money to keep supporting it. If they one day do bring back perplex city, I hope they also expand to other countries (Like US and Canada) so we can play too!

maybe satoshi is the mystery cantidate

I'm really upset I'm only now finding your channel. Every video is amazing.

Satoshi Has Been Found!