Gold bug puzzle hunt

So I went to my first DEFCON this year, and was not remotely prepared for the sheer amount of competitions, games, and pure mischief that it offered. Luckily, before I could become overwhelmed with decision-making anxiety at the prospect of choosing an activity, I noticed the Gold Bug puzzle hunt folks in the competition hall.

I was once an avid puzzler (n. one who participates in puzzle hunts) and puzzling (v. the act of participating in a puzzle hunt) has in an odd way shaped my life as it is now. Personal lore aside, I vaguely remembered seeing a Gold Bug hunt listed on the Puzzle Hunt Calendar some years prior. That little bit of nostalgia (and the sick trophy) was enough incentive for me to immediately become tunnel visioned on this competition.

The hunt was really fun. I had a hand in solving most of the puzzles, but I particularly enjoyed the Arcade for its cute interface, and the Meta puzzle, which turned out to have quite an elegant mechanism. The puzzles ranged from conventional hunt-style to challenges that could have belonged in the Cryptography category of a CTF (at least to someone who mostly just watches the Crypto CTFers juggle their funny numbers).

In case you try and get stuck on any of the puzzles, my team wrote up all the solutions here. Be warned though, it contains major spoilers.