AI
Six Categories, Three Teams
Hacker Jeopardy at DEF CON 33 opens with three teams competing across six categories. World War II takes the DC groups by area code category, correctly identifying Denver (303), Dallas (214), Reno (775), and Atlanta (404). Chalupa answers from potent potables and DTMF. Ponehub takes protocol trivia. Hosts Lyle and Grifter run the board with Win Schwarto and Miss Kitty, who celebrates her birthday mid-show.
Protocol Knowledge as Game Currency
The SSL/HD category tests protocols whose acronyms contain “secure.” Ponehub correctly names SSH, invented by a Finn. An SSD measures storage latency in microseconds, not milliseconds. The final SSL/HD clue asks which of the listed protocols is vulnerable to a zero-RTT attack. No team or audience member answers. The host reveals none of the displayed options is correct, a result that visibly frustrates the audience.
DTMF History and Potent Potables
The DTMF category tests knowledge of dual-tone multi-frequency signaling history. World War II answers that DTMF replaced rotary dials on phones. The two non-numeric symbols on a standard keypad are asterisk and octothorpe. Pressing 3-3-4-8 spells DFIU on a phone. A 2025 Bad Bunny song titled DTMF draws a blank from all teams, and an audience member wins a lockpick set by naming it. Potent potables covers absinthe (US-banned until 2007), jalapeño wine cocktails, Malort as Chicago’s Thoughtcon drink, and Goldschlager.
International Hacker Cons and Round One Final Jeopardy
The international cons category covers Chaos Communication Congress in Germany, Hackfest Canada (keynoted by Chris Roberts), CanSecWest hosting Pwn2Own since 2007, BruCON in Belgium, and ekoparty in Buenos Aires. Round one Final Jeopardy asks: on July 31st, 2025, a seven-figure deal acquired the trademarks of an early computing brand but none of its source code. Chalupa correctly answers “What is Commodore?” and doubles to 3,800, winning round one.
Round Two: NIST Standards and Sports-Coded Security
Round two brings Pandemonium, Rubber Chicken Wranglers, and Lintile Gummy Bears. Categories cover NIST standards (“of” versus “for” in the agency’s full name costs teams points), US hacker cons including Corn Con in Iowa and Wild West Hackingfest in Deadwood, South Dakota, and a sports category mapping infosec to athletics: a WAF blocks like an offensive lineman, a load balancer routes like a point guard, Telnet broadcasts plaintext on port 23, and an exposed S3 bucket is an open lane.
Hacker Law, IRC History, and the First Bug
Round three teams Bad Strife, Only Lands, and Two Men and a Baby cover IRC history (Freenode’s 2021 split spawning Libera.chat, eggdrop bots), security law (CFAA, Van Buren v. United States, Lizard Squad versus Sony), and binary representations. Only Lands dominates. Final Jeopardy asks for the inventor who first used the word “bug” for technical malfunction in 1878. Only Lands guesses Charles Babbage (wrong), but a conservative $61 wager leaves them with enough points to win round three.
Notable Quotes
Defcon gone. Welcome to Hacker Jeopardy. Lyle · ▶ 4:18
It’s none of them. Lyle · ▶ 23:02
And you [ __ ] rock. We’ll see you tomorrow. I’m Lyle. This has been Hacker Jeopardy. Lyle · ▶ 1:55:58
Key Takeaways
- DEF CON Hacker Jeopardy runs three rounds with nine teams, covering protocols, hacker history, and security law.
- Chalupa wins round one by identifying Commodore in a July 2025 seven-figure trademark acquisition Final Jeopardy clue.
- Thomas Edison, not Grace Hopper, first recorded the term “bug” for technical malfunction, in 1878.
About the Speaker(s)
Mar has spent over 15 years contributing to DEF CON across illustration, badges, interactive experiences, and art direction. They designed and directed the DEF CON 32 Raspberry Pi badge, on which attendees played a custom real-time game of the convention. Mar has helped found and chair hackerspaces and an art collective, painted public murals in the US and abroad, and held a residency at the Denver Art Museum exploring relationships between people and their identities online. This year they open Feral Gallery in Denver, focused on queer and indigenous works.