In celebration of GopherCon’s 10th anniversary, this year’s Challenge Series theme is “Dial Up the Nostalgia”—a throwback to the transformative 1980s and early 1990s, when TCP/IP took hold and the internet surged into millions of homes. Our challenges channel the spirit of WarGames, Labyrinth, and arcade classics like Joust, mixed with pop culture gems like Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite.

Whether you’re a puzzle-loving newcomer or a seasoned engineer, you’ll face:

• Web Application Security
• Network Security
• Reverse Engineering
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Cryptography
• Supply Chain Security
• Miscellaneous retro-infused challenges
• New: ACM-style Code Challenges

Some challenges take direct inspiration from retro computing legends and hacker lore:

• Hack The Planet series: “Caesar’s Revenge,” “A Roll of the Dice,” “All Your Passwords Are Belong to Us,” “Sometimes The Gold Doesn’t Need a Rainbow,” “Phantom Routes From Nuclear Winter,” and “The Unchallenge.”
• Sneakernet - Pass The Tapes! (Points awarded Wednesday)
• BBS Brilliance (Points awarded daily)
• The Net - A Tangled Web
• Bill & Ted’s Trivia Time series

Attendance is not required to play, but some challenges will require physical presence at the conference.

Registration Share link

Sign up at the CodePros booth near the main hall starting 10am, Tuesday, September 24th. Runs until 5pm, Thursday, September 26th. Registration info will also appear here once available.

Prizes Share link

This year, we’ve leveled up our prize game:

🏆 Winning Teams

• 1st Place – Four (4) tickets to GopherCon 2025
• 2nd Place – Four (4) gift cards to mechanicalkeyboards.com for new hacking hardware
• 3rd Place – Four (4) copies of Go Programming: From Beginner to Professional by Samantha Coyle
• All Top 3 Teams – Cash prizes

🎯 Individual Achievement Awards
Nine awards such as “First Blood!”, “Night Owl!”, and “Hooked on the Sidequest!”

• Prize: One-year subscription to 2600 Magazine + $100 Google Cloud Platform credits

🎁 Participation Prizes
Randomly awarded to anyone who completes at least one challenge, is present at Wednesday’s ceremony, and hasn’t won another prize.

• Examples: Vintage 2600 Magazine issues, security and programming books, and more

Rules Share link

• No attacking CTF infrastructure or other teams
• No sharing flags
• Play fair, follow the GopherCon Code of Conduct ↗

Flag Format Share link

gc24{...} — case-sensitive.

Flag Submission Share link

Flag submission app provided on-site. Teams have a name (visible on scoreboard) and password (to add members).

Getting Help Share link

Visit CodePros booth or join #gophercon-ctf on Slack. Moderators will be your retro “game masters.”

Volunteers Share link

Want to help run the chaos? Email [email protected] .

Scoring Share link

Points start equal and decrease as more teams solve a challenge. Ties go to the team that reached their score first.

GopherCon Code of Conduct Share link

The GopherCon Code of Conduct ↗ will be enforced during the CTF. Any violations of the code of conduct will result in disqualification from the CTF.

Gear up. Hack hard. Dial up the nostalgia.