Learn to solve anything in an ARG.
Alternate reality games hide their stories behind ciphers, codes, hidden images and audio tricks. ARG Academy takes you from curious bystander to field-ready solver — five levels of hands-on training, real tools, real puzzles, and a final exam that chains everything together.
5training levels
28lessons
26field tools
19badges to earn
∞puzzle playground
// What is an ARG?
briefingAn ARG (Alternate Reality Game) is a story told through the real world — websites, videos, audio files, images, even phone numbers. Clues are hidden, never given. Solvers work together to decode, decrypt and dig until the narrative surfaces. This site teaches every core technique used in real hunts like Cicada 3301.
"We found the first message inside the spectrogram of a song. Nobody believed us until we posted the screenshot. That was day one. By day forty we were reading PGP-signed dead drops." — anonymous solver
// Training path
mission selectLEVEL 1
Lessons
// Field toolbox
every tool runs locally in your browserSelect a tool
Pick a tool above. Everything here is also used inside the training lessons.
// Cipher playground
chain operations like a real solverPipeline empty — add operations above
Result appears here…
◈ Recipe book — common real-ARG chains (click Apply to load)
// Case files
the famous hunts — and what they teach usThe best way to learn is to study the greats. Every hunt below pushed the craft forward — read how they hid their clues and what technique cracked them. These are the techniques you're training in.