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The development of Toontown Rewritten (TTR) included an ongoing alternate reality game (ARG) filled with encrypted clues, puzzles & development previews. The Toontown Rewritten developers frequently revealed clues relating to the TTR universe's storyline, in a wide variety of media formats. Some were riddles, others were encrypted messages, sometimes hidden clues were even found in images on the TTR site. Over time information was put together collectively, and many fan theories spurred from different possible ideas. The ARG is ongoing, and we're still not enirely sure what all of it means.

Pre-Alpha Build Up

It was comfirmed in a forum post by Joey (replying to some questions from Slate Blue Rabbit) before the announcement of the Knock-Knock-Joke Contest that a new storyline would be included for TTR. The relevant section reads: "Yes, TTR has a full storyline to explain everything- even why people have to start over at 15 laff points. You'll see parts of it as development continues, but it is a pretty deep story that won't be fully revealed for a while. While the game is still going to be targeted at children, I want to add deeper aspects than "cogs are bad."".

In another forum post by Joey it was noted by him that: "Heh, the best part is that I've already dropped hints to the story in various places. Just waiting for someone to spark the fire. The hints will become more obvious over time.".

File:EXB7ski.png

And So It Begins

The very first major clue released by Joey was this image (right), on the 13th of October 2013 on an MMO Central Forum thread midway through the announcement of the Knock-Knock-Joke Contest and the start of Alpha testng. It was quickly discovered by a forum member however (by searching the internet for images) that this was part of the TTR launcher window image. Unfortunately some members saw the whole launcher image, spoiling the puzzle quest for them - nonetheless the puzzle peice quest continued with Joey releasing another image later that day.

Intermission

Joey then adressed the people that had seen the whole image by saying: "Even if you've seen the whole image, that doesn't mean that you know what the image is. There are a lot of elements within it.".

The next post made by Joey included an image that wasn't part of the puzzle, but instead showed part of the word "register" on the (then) new TTR site. Later on he replied to someone asking when the next update was; "I would if I had any.".

Completing The Puzzle

• EXB7ski.png
  Picture Puzzle Clue 1
• NQQ0DyG.png
  Picture Puzzle Clue 2
• Z3Feku0.png
  Picture Puzzle Clue 3
• U6q6NoF.png
  Picture Puzzle Clue 4
• Cj5d1fO.png
  The Completed Puzzle
• Ttr launch window by piranha2021-d6pnj1v zps46253e1b.png
  The Current TTR Launcher

1/6

A third image was then released. People began trying to put the peices together at this point, with Joey replying to one failed attempt: "Very close! The top one isn't the same picture, however. Have another. Take it back to the start.". In the same post Joey released the fourth and final image.

The forum member who failed in his previous attempt had another go, and this time got it right (gallery right). Almost eerily, the poster of the complete image has not posted on the forums since.

What Does It Mean?

A lot of discussion took place after completion of the puzzle, but no ideas could really be proven wrong or right as it was so early into the development of the game. Some thought that the monkey could be a Loony Labs Scientist, others thought the large monitor, wires and gears on the floor could resemble the making of the cogs. A lot of the posts were far-fetched speculation, and so many toons decided to wait it out until they could get another clue.

The Second Quest

A mini-clue-quest led up to the discovery of the second storyline clue, which involved Joey changing his user title on MMO Central Forums every so often. One of the first ones was "Gyro?" - referring to Gyro Gearloose and his lab. After a slow string of clue leakage, they were put together to form an image hosting site URL, with the URL displaying a JPEG image similar to the cartoon style launcher image we had seen before. Joey replied to the completed quest post by giving the finder an alpha key, as well as mentioning: "There is more to the picture than you think.".

File:10-19-13 alpha.jpg

As far as we know, the second major clue released was this image (right), that was first discovered in the mini-quest mentioned above

There Is More To Find

File:Dr. Surlee Cog Headquarters.png

After saying that there was more to the picture, many people started looking at and theorizing about certain objects within the image. One member re-posted the image with higher brightness, and then it could be seen that there was the Silly Meter, a Presentation Gag and what looked like Sellbot HQ in the background. Joey posted again saying: "There is more to the picture indeed, however you surely won't find out all of it's mysteries until the future. Sometimes there is more than what you can visualize.".

Putting It All Together

Forum members then started to make the suggestion that the orange monkey was Dr. Surlee. This was followed by more regular changes of Joey's user title, providing more clues to what the meaning of the image was. According to Joey the answer was in front of us, and he stated in several posts we needed to look at the clues we have (plus look at the image again) and put them together. At this point discussion shifted to Toontown Rewritten | October Discussion Thread #2. Joey soon confirmed some ideas by saying: "People aren't allowed to change their shirts? I totally just didn't use the wrong texture. The monkey and the 3D image and the monkey in the 2D image are surely the same toons.".

Stumped

For quite a while members of the community were stumped as to how the pictures tied into the storyline, and what "little detail in the image" Joey was talking above. In quite a hefty push forward - Joey changed his user title to ".$ U $/" and posted: "None of the riddles are meaningless". People quickly realised that .$ U $/ was supposed to be Scrooge McDuck's face when he realises all the money he could make from the big robot in the original Toontown download video. In another push, Joey posted: "You have the basics, now go deeper.".

Toons started to establish that time travel was likely involved in the storyline, possibly so Dr. Surlee could go back in time to stop Scrooge from creating the cogs, or even create them himself. After a few more thread pages of "grabbing at straws theories" and toons asking for more clues - Joey posted: "I have no more hints to give for now. You have everything that you need to solve it. The mysteries won't be unveiled until the future.".

Finally We Get It

• Toontown Launcher Cog Producing Machine.png
  Original launcher assembly line.
• Z3Feku0.png
  Doctor Surlee & the assembly line.

1/2

After even more pages of toons being clueless, wondering what the answer to the mystery could possibly be, one forum member asks if someone got the "elusive detail in the image Joey was talking about" right. To which Joey responded: "You're looking at the wrong picture". This was a massive hint that referred to the "elusive detail" being in the cartoon style launcher image - NOT the newer discovered Toontown one everyone had been analysing. Almost immediately after Joey's post, a forum member posted saying: ":O I SEE IT! In the back of the launcher picture is the assembly line in Gyro's lab!".

That's All... For Now

Although Joey didn't directly reply to the post to comfirm it to be the right assumption, almost all of the toons on the thread agreed that it had to be the subtle detail Joey had mentioned, and there were no more clues or hints from Joey that followed. Joey later replied jokeingly to a post that theorized Joey was actually Scrooge McDuck by saying: "Just stopping by to say that I broke into your office and activated a robot that started a full scale invasion across Toontown. Whoops!". Little did the toons know that this is a widely accepted theory now-a-days as to how the cogs came to Toontown Rewritten, as it is backed up by some decoded messages and images that have been posted on the TTR site (we'll get to that later on).

Sir Max answered a post by a forum member that questioned if they had all the clues to solve that part of the storyline: "You do. The answer just won't be unveiled until the future as more clues come out.". He also replied to someone asking if they should continue guessing and theorizing: "Continue. Some have gotten close, however none have been spot on.".

Alpha Testing Begins

The clues and puzzles ending on the image of Dr. Surlee in Sellbot HQ with the machine that created the cogs behind him was quite the cliff-hanger, and hundreds of theories were posted on the forums then between the discovery and the announcement of Alpha. The second image, which looked more Toontown-like, appeared again in News Post 2- A Big Surprise All 'Fa You!. The news post marked the start of Alpha testing, Daily Alpha Updates and Super Saturday Updates. It should be noted that the very last sentence of the news post was "Time is ticking." which is a phrase Joey had used many times before in his forum posts on MMO Central Forums, including his first major clue post of the puzzle piece. It was now the 28th of October 2013 and the build-up to alpha had been immense, however - this was just the beginning.

Daily Alpha Updates' Encrypted Messages

Many of the encrypted messages on the TTR website lead to Blueprints of inventions integral to the world of Toontown. Many of these blueprints have "Silly Ciphers" so that Doctor Surlee is the only Loony Lab scientist that can understand them. So far, this seems unrelated to the time Sir Max spoke in Morse Code, but he didn't know how he learned Morse Code in the first place.

Every known update with a blueprint has been posted on the 26th of the month. No one seems to know why -- not even Doctor Surlee himself who makes these blueprints.

November 26, 2013

null [CONFIDENTIAL] - Yes, that means you too.

Posted by LL-TERMINAL43 on November 26, 2013 03:35 PM

News Post 2.26 - Official News , MCF News , Decryption Website, MCF Decryption (Reposted from the IRC) , Wiki Encrypted Blueprint , Official Encrypted Blueprint

Doctor Dimm goes into Doctor Surlee's office to look for a sprocket that Surlee has been working on.  Dimm accidently activates a mechanical arm and the scanner.  Doctor Surlee's Blueprint of The Silly Meter is scanned, compressed, and sent before Doctor Dimm can shut off the computer.

Encrypted Message

null [CONFIDENTIAL] - Yes, that means you too.

Posted by LL-TERMINAL43 on November 26, 2013 03:35 PM

:reqparser:(info) init req parsing

:cryptlkr:(info) initializing encryption modules

:cryptlkr:(info) got as key: THREE ROW TWO RIGHT

MOVE.L HMAC,$E512
CMP CND8,SCRT
BCC XFER

:xferbse: starting transfer

-said it would be right over here...

Lzkvvyvd Syjqlrleqb E:/ - 100% :: Zuir vue sutva

Wqotqle akek iwyve 5 :: vqp zuir

Sqezfyvd swub syjq zkcyvqe

[unable to reproduce audio] Holy smokes! Nice little mechanical arm. I won't bother you, I'm just here for- What are you- OUCH!

Cjuzhqa ikllkdq, wqbuxyvd uclekzjq

Uclekzjq wqbuxqa, kzzqllyvd zkcyvqe

Lqkwzfyvd iwyve 5 :: Sutva

Lzkvvyvd iwyve

Dimm, for the love of Walt, what are you doing in my office?

Ah-oh, heya Surlee. I was just looking around for that sprocket you were working on. Prepostera sent me out to get it; he said it would be right here in this drawer, but your darn robotic hand hit me on the head.

Ah yes, I moved it this morning. I put it right over- Dimm. What is that computer doing? Why is the scanner on?

Oh, huh. I must have bumped the keyboard when searching for the sprocket. That would explain the arm.

Lzkv zubijqeq :: Zubiwqllyvd eu lqva

Dimm, shut it off.

23%

Are you sure? I heard that unplugging a computer while its-

51%

Dimm, shut off the computer right now.

78%

DIMM, SHUT IT O-

...

...

...

eew://kllqel/zkqlkw-putja-cq-ijqklqa.gid

:xferbse:(fatal) lost connection

EOF

Decrypted by adam_753 on the IRC.

null [CONFIDENTIAL] - Yes, that means you too.

Posted by LL-TERMINAL43 on November 26, 2013 03:35 PM

:reqparser:(info) init req parsing

:cryptlkr:(info) initializing encryption modules

:cryptlkr:(info) got as key: THREE ROW TWO RIGHT

MOVE.L HMAC,$E512
CMP CND8,SCRT
BCC XFER

:xferbse: starting transfer

-said it would be right over here...

Scanning filesystem E:/ - 100% :: Copy not found

Request data print 5 :: new copy

Fetching from file cabinet

[unable to reproduce audio] Holy smokes! Nice little mechanical arm. I won't bother you, I'm just here for- What are you- OUCH!

Blocked passage, removing obstacle

Obstacle removed, accessing cabinet

Searching print 5 :: Found

Scanning print

Dimm, for the love of Walt, what are you doing in my office?

Ah-oh, heya Surlee. I was just looking around for that sprocket you were working on. Prepostera sent me out to get it; he said it would be right here in this drawer, but your darn robotic hand hit me on the head.

Ah yes, I moved it this morning. I put it right over- Dimm. What is that computer doing? Why is the scanner on?

Oh, huh. I must have bumped the keyboard when searching for the sprocket. That would explain the arm.

Scan complete :: Compressing to send

Dimm, shut it off.

23%

Are you sure? I heard that unplugging a computer while its-

51%

Dimm, shut off the computer right now.

78%

DIMM, SHUT IT O-

...

...

...

ttr://assets/caesar-would-be-pleased.jpg

:xferbse:(fatal) lost connection

EOF

Decryption Method

:cryptlkr:(info) got as key: THREE ROW TWO RIGHT

It's a modified version of the Caesar Cipher that uses a computer keyboard as a reference.

All the normal letters are put on 3 rows. You find the decrypted letter on the keyboard, then look 2 keys to the right to find the decrypted letter. If there are no more letters to the right, then wrap around to the left.

January 26, 2014

[LAB1-T43] Emergency Monitor Broadcast

Posted by LL-TERMINAL43 on January 26, 2014 05:05 PM

Decryption Method

Reverse 26.

a=z, z=a, etc.

January 31, 2014

Daily Alpha Update: -- --- •-• ••• • | -•-• --- -•• •

Posted by Sir Max on January 31, 2014 02:00 PM

Encrypted Message

Daily Alpha Update: -- --- •-• ••• • | -•-• --- -•• •

Posted by Sir Max on January 31, 2014 02:00 PM

--• --- -• • | •• -• - --- | •••• •• -•• •• -• --•

•- •••- --- •• -•• •• -• --• | •• -- •--• •-• --- •••- •- --• •- -• --•• •-

-•• --- | -• --- - | •- •-•• • •-• - | ••-• •- - | -- -•-• ••• - •• -• -•-

-• --- | •• -•• • •- | •-- •••• -•-- | •• •----• -- | ••- ••• •• -• --• | -- --- •-• ••• • | -•-• --- -•• • -• --- •-• | •••• --- •-- | •• | •-•• • •- •-• -• • -•• | •• -

•- •••- --- •• -•• | •• -- •--• •-• --- •••- •- --• •- -• --•• •- | •- - | •- •-•• •-•• | -•-• --- ••• - ••• - --- --- | -•-• •••• • • ••• -•-- | - --- | - --- •-•• • •-• •- - •

••• • -• -•• | •••• • •-•• •--•

••• •-•-•- -- •-•-•-

January 31, 2014 [ttr-alpha-gTBA]

Maintenance:  • Added a bunch of new words to the Whitelist

Decrypted Message

Daily Alpha Update: MORSE CODE

Posted by Sir Max on January 31, 2014 02:00 PM

GONE INTO HIDING

AVOIDING IMPROVAGANZA

DO NOT ALERT FAT MCSTINK

NO IDEA WHY I'M USING MORSE CODE NOR HOW I LEARNED IT

AVOID IMPROVAGANZA AT ALL COSTS TOO CHEESY TO TOLERATE

SEND HELP

S.M.

January 31, 2014 [ttr-alpha-gTBA]

Maintenance: 

• Added a bunch of new words to the Whitelist

Decryption Method

File:450px-International Morse Code.svg.png

A chart of the Morse Code letters and numerals.

The post was encrypted with International Morse Code .  These "dots" and "dashes" are also called "dits" and "dahs" because of the way they sound.  The most common distress signal is SOS or 3 dots, 3 dashes, and 3 dots.

With this automatic Morse Code Translator, you can turn dashes and dots into plaintext.  (The website also has a trainer to help you learn Morse Code.)  The only problem with that is this post doesn't really use dots/periods.  You can work around this by using Notepad to replace each "•" with a "."

First open up Notepad and pull up "Daily Alpha Update: -- --- •-• ••• • | -•-• --- -•• •".  Select the text and copy it to your Clipboard (by either right-clicking and selecting Copy, or using the shortcut Ctrl+C for Windows or Cmd+C for Mac).  Now select Notepad and paste the text from your Clipboard (either by right-clicking and selecting Paste, or using the shortcut Ctrl+V for Windows or Cmd+V for Mac) into Notepad.

On Notepad's Menu Bar at the top, select Edit>Replace... (the shortcut is Ctrl+H), then a pop-up window should come up.  In the "Find what:" section, plug in "•".  In the "Replace with:" section, plug in "."  Now click the "Replace All" button to quickly turn all those bullets into dots.  It also replaces the bullet in the Release Notes, but if you still have that bullet in you Clipboard, you can delete and replace that quickly.

Notes and Thoughts

...

Date then Name of the Update

posted by whatever

Notes and Thoughts

mention stuff about what Sir Max/Joey said.

Yada Yada yada.....

April 26, 2014

To Whom it May Concern

Posted by ??? on April 26, 2014 02:50 PM

News Post 4.13 - Official News, MCF News, Wiki Memo, Official Memo

Message

To Whom it May Concern

Posted by ??? on April 26, 2014 02:50 PM

To whom it may concern: (And yes, that means you, Doctor.) Shall we say who we are? I don't think we even know who we are. Fair point! Continue. You may be - and have been - interested in the contents of this little memo. We would have given it to you directly, but you seem to have picked up on the ripple effect you caused and locked yourself away from it. Are we not part of the effect, though? I suppose we are. So by running away, it seems he has ''simply created another ripple.

Interesting. How do you think that will play out? The same way it always does. Show him the memo.

The ideas you "inspired" into the toons, Doctor, are not giving them as big of a head start as you would wish. You are merely speeding up what has already begun. We do hope that you know what you have gotten all of us into - and frankly, I'm sure that you do.

We'll see you next month. Perhaps we will have figured out who we are by then, though I wouldn't count on it. Time is ticking, after all.

Notes and thoughts

ttr://assets/this-ones-on-us.png is the url of the picture of the Chairman's Memo.

It looks like more than one person wrote this update, but at least one of them really sounds like they know what they're talking about. No hidden message was found in this update, but the url of the picture suggests that there IS no hidden message.

Further Reading (in order of launch date)

• All Forum Posts By Joey19982
• Toontown Rewritten News
• Toontown Rewritten | Discussion Thread
• Toontown Rewritten | October Discussion Thread
• Toontown Rewritten | October Discussion Thread #2
• Toontown Rewritten storyline speculation *Megathread* (features a list of Joey's user titles)
• Toontown Rewritten | October Discussion Thread #3 (Alpha Launched!)
• Update Discussion/Speculation *Megathread*
• Update Discussion/Speculation *Megathread* V. 2.0
• Toontown Rewritten storyline/clue speculation *Megathread* V. 2.0
• Toontown Rewritten storyline/clue speculation *Megathread* V. 3.0