Phase 5
What You’re Made Of Tape
There was a new tape released on Pawn Takes Pawn, indicating the start of a new easter egg that we have covered below in detail.
Phone Call Puzzle
On October 18 2020 Pawn takes Pawn easter egg participants, and also website users, were sent a new email. This email contained a 5×5 grid with a bunch of numbers on it. Along with the grid, a set of instructions were also given that directed users to pawntakespawn.com/deepcover to find a sequence compiler.
When on the /deepcover page, you will notice another grid with random magenta blocks, and an entrance arrow and an exit arrow. These two arrows indicate your starting point and a finishing point. This compiler will help you get a 9-digit code that we will use shortly.
To get your 9-digit code, you must move from one magenta block to another in only either horizontal or vertical direction (depending on where the block is). Wherever you land in sequence, you must correlate it with the 5×5 grid you got in your email, in order to get your 9-digit code.
Every person got a completely different code and sequence but the same website at the end. After getting your 9-digit code, you must call the number given at the bottom of the compiler: +1 (747) 223-8784. You will be asked to put in your access code, followed by a pound. Pound in numerical format is “#.”
The access code is also given on the same compiler page just below the phone number. The access code for us was 36259, that means that when they asked for the access code, we dialed 36259#
This will complete the first step of this easter egg, and the website that had the phone number with a sequence compiler grid will now be changed. It will have a bunch of random words scattered throughout the page. These words are not just random words. In fact, it contains a hidden URL.
One of the new URLs that you get from the updated site is pawntakespawn.com/bestlaidplans.
You will find many new documents on this page that are used in solving some new puzzles that incorporate the use of the new Cold War Beta that is available to play (as of October 19, 2020).
From the pictures above, it is clear that we need to use the maps Miami and Moscow in Cold War Beta to solve the puzzles. You will also get a new achievement called ‘Access Granted’
Miami Puzzle
Looking at the postcard, you can see it shows a location found in Miami. That suggests that you need to head into the Miami map for this next part. You will also find a new URL at the back of the postcard that is pawntakespawn.com/insertcoin.
When you go to /insertcoin, you will be asked to type in the name of the game. There is also a hint suggesting you go to the Caiman bar in Miami and investigate the arcade machine.
Going into Cold War Beta, you can head over to the Caiman bar at the very back of the map, enter the bar, and you will find a blue arcade machine to your left as soon as you enter the building. The name of the game is written on the machine that reads ‘Fishing Derby.’
This ‘Fishing Derby’ is your passcode that you need to type into the blank space on /insertcoin website. After typing in ‘Fishing Derby,’ you will be redirected to a new URL, pawntakespawn.com/shardsofhistory.
On this new site, you see a layout of a wall found on the same Miami map in Cold War Beta. You will find the wall inside the Visitor’s Center, located just in the middle of the street next to the ‘Evermore’ building. This wall will be overlayed on the sketched layout found on /shardsofhistory.
Once overlayed, you will know the order of paintings, but how do we get the site’s passcode? This is where we use the back of the postcard that had an image of Miami. You will see some random numbers. These numbers correspond to each painting in order from 1 to 14. Each painting has two numbers that correspond to each letter and word of the painting caption.
For example, if we take the first painting, the caption under it is “First ever Bathing suit parade.” According to the postcard, the first painting numbers are 3-4. This means that we will select the fourth letter of the third word. That gives us “Bathing,” and the fourth letter is “h.” Our first letter will be “h.”
We will do the same with all of the paintings that will give us our final word: htlingualchaos.
Upon putting in the passcode, you will be redirected to yet another URL, pawntakespawn.com/setinthewest. You will see some classified CIA documents on Robert Aldrich.
You will also get another achievement called ‘Set In The West.’
Moscow Puzzle
The Moscow puzzle is more complicated than the Miami puzzle. We are already given some instructions on how to solve the metro system puzzle. It is also mentioned, at the bottom of the instructions, that we should start by acquiring the full map of the metro system from Moscow.
The full map of the metro system is available in Cold War Beta map, Moscow. You can go to the middle section of the map, which has a huge monument. Go up the small set of stairs (not the escalator), and you will find two metro maps to your immediate left.
Here is a full high-resolution image of the in-game map (thanks to DanielxKnight over at GeekyPastimes discord)
At this point, you can take a screenshot of the map and exit out of the game. You will now use the instructions from the manual in combination with the full map to get another URL. To solve this, you need to read the instructions from 1 to 19 and correlate it on the full map while using the letters shown on straight colored lines.
Let’s start with the first one. It says that “Enter at the 2nd SILVER station, NW –> SE,” which means that you must start from the second station on the silver line on the full map. After selecting the second station, you must move from northwest to southeast direction. The second station on the silver line shown on the instruction manual has the letter ‘S’ that means our first letter is ‘S.’
Moving forward, you must keep going until you reach the Gold line. We know that since the second number shows the instructions to be followed on a Gold line. Once you’re on the Gold Line, we start moving in the direction northwest to southeast. You will come across at least two stations that can be ignored,pawntakespawn.com as these stations that are directly intersecting on two different lines must be ignored.
Moving in the same direction, you will eventually end up on a loop. According to the instructions, once on the loop, you must move in a clockwise direction choosing any stations in between until you reach the Black line (as it is the next one) and ignoring intersecting stations. The circles represent stations, remember that.
As per the letters shown in the loop, the stations you pass through are letters ‘L’ and ‘A.’ You must do the same for all the letters that will eventually give you your new word slashfunambulist or /funambulist. This is a new pawn takes pawn URL that you can go to.
On pawntakespawn.com/funambulist, you will be asked to type in another passphrase, and it instructs you to go to Moscow and look for a chess game to determine what the passphrase is. There is a chessboard inside one of the houses on the Moscow map in Cold War Beta. There is also a chess grid with some letters on it on the site. There are some grids without letters.
Some pieces are left on the board, and you must determine what moves these pieces can make. We must correlate these chess pieces’ moves with the grid with letters on /funambulist to get our passphrase. As mentioned earlier, there is some grids without letters, and these are the grids that have a chess piece on it, and it is the same as the one seen in-game.
The in-game chessboard helps us determine what empty grid has what chess piece. Then we can see what letters those pieces can move to and finally get our passphrase.
The chess pieces have specific movement rules, and they can only move to a certain grid from their position. Keeping that in mind, we move the pieces to different letters and make sense of the words. After moving all the pieces, we come out with the word ‘PSEUDOSACRIFICE,’ a term used in chess when a player sacrifices his/her queen to win the game. That was the scenario we see on the chessboard as well.
Once you type in the word ‘pseudosacrifice,’ you will be redirected to a new URL, pawntakespawn.com/riseintheeast, and get two new achievements – ‘Rise In The East’ and ‘Two Tribes’. You will find some more information about different characters that are possibly going to appear in the Black Ops Cold War campaign on this page.
The Two Tribes achievement also gives you a link to which you can go and claim your reward. The reward is an extension of time to play the Beta, by one day. Originally the Beta was supposed to last until October 19 2020, but since this easter egg has been solved, the date has extended to October 20, 2020.
List of All Achievements
By the end of the Cold War beta easter egg, you should have a total of 53 achievements (52 if you haven’t received the physical copy of the postcard via mail that can be used to redeem a code for an achievement). The following is a complete list of achievements up until the Cold War beta easter egg:
