Capture the flag
Capture the Flag or flag robbery ( English for conquer the flag ) is a traditional terrain game that is played outdoors. Each game party has a flag that must be captured by the opposing party. It is also widely used as a game mode in many computer games .
Gameplay
Usually two teams play against each other. Each team has its own base and flag . The aim of the game is to steal the opposing flag and bring it to your own base while protecting your own flag at the same time. If an opposing player is caught, he must enter the so-called safety zone . When he has entered the zone, he can either leave it immediately or must wait a certain time, depending on how the rules of the game are interpreted.
In a variation of the game, each team also has a “prison” area. If a player is caught by an opposing player, they must spend a certain amount of time in the prison area or even stay there until the next round.
There are two ways to count the points in flag robbery:
- Each opposing flag that has been captured (that is, successfully stolen and brought to your own flag location) scores one point.
- Every flag that was stolen from your team and captured by your opponent earns you a minus point.
At the end of a round, as soon as a team has scored a point, there are two ways to continue playing:
- The flag is brought back and everyone starts again from the safety zone.
- The flag is returned and the game continues without any interruption (other than returning the flag).
history
Flag robbery as a basic game principle already exists in old children's games. There are also comparable maneuver exercises in the military . The teams had to steal the opponent's regimental flag (seen, for example, in 1967 in the Franz Seitz film “ When Ludwig takes a maneuver ”). The basic motive is always that the flag of an army symbolizes its identity: in the game, the opposing army is not defeated directly, but is defeated by stealing its flag. This motif can be traced back to antiquity, when the loss of the standard of a Roman legion was synonymous with its downfall. For example, Augustus made sure that standards lost in previous wars were recaptured. In 1981 the game mode was first implemented for the paintball game.
Computer game "Capture the Flag"
In 1992 Richard Carr published "Capture the Flag", an MS-DOS- based computer game . The game is a turn-based strategy game that can be played via modem or email.
Among the computer games in the genre of first-person shooters , Rise of the Triad (1994) was the first game to include a capture-the-flag mode. Became popular Capture the Flag, but only in 1996 by the Quake - modification Threewave CTF , which became the model for subsequent conversions of CTF and the first time its own CTF level to the teams to offer developed that are designed symmetrically, a fair starting position. Similar to the traditional game, the basic rule is to steal the opponent's flag and protect your own at the same time. At the same time as Threewave, the modification Team Fortress , also for Quake , developed its own variant of the game mode. Today, Capture the Flag is one of the most popular team-oriented game modes in the first-person shooter genre, which is available in a variety of multiplayer- compatible games.
Computer security
Capture the Flag is also a popular game in computer security , which has become known in this area primarily through the DEFCON hacker conference .
Usually there are two different variants: Jeopardy and Attack-Defense . If necessary, these two variants are also operated mixed. In both variants, more than two teams usually play against each other at the same time. The winner is the team that has scored the most points at the end of a predetermined playing time.
The Jeopardy variant involves a number of tasks in different categories. These categories include: B. cryptography , web , forensics , reverse engineering or OSINT . When solving these tasks, you get a string of characters called a flag. This string serves as proof that the task has been solved. A score is awarded to the team for submitting the flag. There are usually more points for more difficult tasks. In some variations of this game variant, more difficult tasks must first be unlocked by solving easier ones. In addition, it is common for only the first teams to receive the full number of points and the following solutions only receive an ever smaller part of the points.
With the attack defense variant, each team has a (mostly virtual ) computer or a small network that has to be defended against the other teams. These computers and networks are made available by the organizers at the beginning of the game. The organizers place the flags in the form of strings in vulnerable services at regular intervals, which opposing teams have to obtain by exploiting security gaps . Points are awarded for successfully defending one's own vulnerable services as well as for attacks on the same services of the opposing teams. The availability of the services is also assessed, so that a mere shutdown (or malfunction) is penalized with deductions of points.
International Capture The Flag (iCTF) is one of the largest competitions and is held annually by the University of California, Santa Barbara .
The CTF-Time page provides an overview of CTFs. This also lists a ranking of registered users and lists some WriteUps (solutions to past tasks).
Comparable games
A game similar to flag robbery is the Japanese Bo-Taoshi , in which teams of 150 players each push down a stake that the other team tries to keep upright.
With Stratego , too, it is important to conquer the opposing flag.
Individual evidence
- ^ Christian Gizewski: Res gestae divi Augusti. In: Res gestae. 2001, archived from the original on May 12, 2008 ; Retrieved May 13, 2007 .
- ↑ CTFtime.org / All about CTF (Capture The Flag). Retrieved February 10, 2020 .
- ↑ CTFTime.org