Operative Briefing

[OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION]

What is Project Petwatch?

This is an Alternate Reality Game (ARG). It is an interactive, web-based mystery where you act as an operative trying to rescue missing animals. By solving puzzles, cracking ciphers, and investigating digital breadcrumbs, you will slowly uncover the truth about the cold-blooded kidnappers behind these disappearances.

System Mechanics & Rules

Lowercase Only: When navigating the system, all URLs, slugs, and passwords are strictly lowercase (e.g., /target-name).
The Missing Posters: Every missing animal has a dedicated missing poster. These act as your primary anchors and often contain the first clues.
Account Required: You can view the board as a guest, but you must create an Operative Account to submit passwords and secure your spot on the live leaderboards.
out of bounds:please do not call real phone numbers or harass real business or thing outside of the game. its not fun for you, not fun for them and not fun for anyone.
hints:hints will be dropped by the creator in the discord if its really needed. please do not beg/harass the creator for hints.
spoilers:Do not post direct answers, passwords or decoded ciphers in public spaces (discord, reddit, etc.). If you want to discuss direct solutions or are working on a puzzle, please use spoiler tags.

Understanding Trailheads

A "trailhead" is a hidden clue that leads to a secret puzzle page. The target pages are not linked publicly. You have to find the URL paths yourself. Trailheads can be hidden anywhere:

In the missing posters (mostly the case).
Buried inside the HTML source code of the website.
Hidden in audio spectrograms or visual data.
Disguised as invisible text or corrupted files.
Hidden using steganography and forensics
And much more.

Stay sharp, operative. They are counting on you.

Disclaimer: Petwatch is a work of fiction. all characters, events and missing animals are entirely fictional. No real animals were harmed or are in danger.