~~ hi there, it’s ~𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖊~ speaking. Here are some instructions for the hardware challenge:

THERE IS NO RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK, AND THE BOARD WON’T DAMAGE YOUR COMPUTER. DON’T LISTEN TO TheProxy.

1. The board operates at 3v3. Use the included USB cable to provide power from your computer.
2. Avoid touching the solder pads on the bottom side of the PCB during operation, as this may cause unexpected behavior, ooopsie…
3. Also, don’t flash new firmware, it won’t help you solve anything and… just don’t.
4. If you flash new firmware: 🤷‍♀️
5. If you delete the contents of the flash memory: 🤷‍♀️
6. There are 4 challenges. To start a challenge plug in the board and press one of the buttons.
7. If you want to start a different challenge, UNPLUG the board, plug it in again and press the button you want.
8. The I²C port is redundant here; it is not used in the challenges nor as part of the solution, so you might as well just let it be.
9. Hardware hacking starts with identifying the components on the board. After that, the best advice I can give you is to (っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ use the documentation ♥
10. There are red and black USB to TTL converters. If you got the black one and use Ubuntu, you might need to uninstall braille screen reader: https://forum.arduino.cc/t/port-not-showing-up-ch340-in-ubuntu-solution/1176862
11. You can keep the board and everything, ofc.