How To Basic ARG Discontinued How To Basic's face reveal video led to a series of cryptic clues and puzzles. Type Unofficial Creator How To Basic Discovered 2018-03-24

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How To Basic is a prominent YouTube comedian. His videos are characterized by elements of surreal comedy and visual gags. How To Basic is notable in that he has not revealed his face or identity.

On March 24, 2018, How To Basic released a video titled "Face Reveal," which was the trailhead for an alternate reality game. This wiki page documents the ARG's puzzles and their solutions.

Face Reveal Video

On March 24, 2018, the How To Basic channel released a video titled "Face Reveal". The video consisted of many different famous YouTubers all claiming to be behind the HowToBasic channel. A full list of people featured in the video can be found on this community-maintained spreadsheet.

Wingdings Freezeframe

At the end of the video, the following symbols are visible for a single frame:

The symbols were identified as Windings and translated using a reference chart, yielding the following message:

/watch?v

It is speculated that since the string /watch?v is part of YouTube's video link format, future puzzles will reveal the rest of the characters comprising the link, leading to another video.

"Wait for the ="

On March 25, 2018, a tag was added to the video which read:

wait for the =

It is speculated that the = is another reference to a YouTube URL, which takes the form \watch?v= . The addition of this tag by How To Basic suggests that there were no more clues to be discovered at the time, and that ARG players would be able to proceed once the equals sign appeared (although precisely what that may entail is still a mystery).

Hawaiian Pizza Video

On March 28, 2018, How To Basic released a new video entitled "How to Make a Hawaiian Pizza". At the 2:08 mark in the video, another Wingdings code is visible, similar to the one found in the original Face Reveal video:

When deciphered, the Wingdings yields the following plaintext:

mmf2v12

The purpose of this text is currently unknown.





This page is a work in progress and will be updated as the ARG unfolds