Our Bagels are Full of Holes | Physical | Nsec26

As a fellow challenge designer myself, I enjoy building physical challenges with elaborate contraptions.

Challenge design is about giving, not receiving. You imagine how players will uncover the various mechanisms, marvel at the ingenious gameplay, and remain forever grateful that you enlightened them on that glorious day.

But sometimes, the entire challenge sits in the middle of the room for the whole weekend. Barely touched. Are the players intimidated by the elegance of the design, or is the challenge simply too pure and advanced?

Sometimes, it is worse: the players literally form a queue, wait quietly for their turn, and then fail entirely to understand how the challenge works, what they are expected to accomplish, or what clean logic governs access to the flag.

Was the challenge too difficult? Too frightening? Am I out of touch? No, it is the players who are wrong!

Then comes the end of the CTF.

The eighth wonder of the world remains alone, in the center of the room. Untouched, or destroyed, but still fundamentally misunderstood.

What should you do? Bring it back next year? Would returning players gain an unfair advantage over the newcomers? They did nothing with it. They did not understand it. Was their inability to solve the challenge truly fair to you?

Dear NorthSec challenge designer, I understand how you feel.

And I saw the same challenge, year after year.

And I saw the tiny quality-of-life improvements you introduced, hoping they might help those ungrateful players.

And I saw that the core mechanism remained unchanged, because you refused to compromise: the challenge is sublime! It is perfect! It is pure! You will not nerf it. You will not foolproof it. You know that. I know that.

If I remember correctly, I may have first seen the challenge ten years ago.

In 2016, we were young, fearless, and beautiful; at least, that is how Hellnia likes to remember us.

The theme was Marcus Madison’s Bakery. There was fresh bread, fresh bagels, and fresh coffee.

Themes were simpler in those days: no politics, only flour, water, salt, and yeast.

But as far as I remember, none of us ever completed the challenge back then.

I am not entirely sure why. Perhaps some tried and failed?

I also know that some of us had medical conditions preventing them from attempting it.

Some might call physical challenges ableist. I disagree. A CTF is a team work, and overcoming one another’s limitations together is one of the noblest things a team can achieve.

So this year, I took pity.

I did the challenge.

And I placed the bagel halves in the correct orientation.

Mine is on the left. A random clueless challenger’s attempt is on the right. The bagel toasting was flawless. But, the infrastructure rejected me; I still got no flag :(

Some challenges demand perseverance; we will retry next year.

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