Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 'Pawn Takes Pawn' Recap

Marketing for the rumored Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War title is officially underway. Influencers have received packages from Activision containing the first steps to what would become an alternate reality game (ARG) and viral marketing campaign!

Here you can find a complete timeline of events, from the packages to the (expected) reveal trailer. You can also keep up with the mysterious happenings in Warzone in this article.

Mystery Crates

On and around August 6th, influencers and community figures such as CharlieINTEL, PrestigeIsKey, and more received a package from Activision. Within this package, a black, wooden crate could be found - secured by a combination lock. Numbers could be found painted atop the crate which are seemingly randomized. Along with the crate, a piece of paper was included which read as follows.

DO NOT OPEN THIS CRATE
UNTIL AUGUST 10, 2020 - 12PM EDT

An included letter, which was not publicly disclosed in-full, instructed creators to send a text message to the provided phone number to receive their unique combination to unlock the crate on August 10th.

Once the provided date and time arrived, influencers proceeded with the instructions and unlocked their crates. Within each crate was a retro slide projector, multiple projection slides, and a manifest which read as follows.

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS:

These are TOP SECRET documents containing compartmentalized information essential to national security.

You are requested to immediately distribute the provided intelligence to your operatives in the field. These materials are to be used in the investigation of Site [REDACTED] in the Ural Mountains.

[REDACTED]

Please ensure that your package contains the documents listed in the column marked MANIFEST.

You will also be supplied a PROJECTOR to aid in distributing the materials.

AUTHORIZED BY: [REDACTED]

Projection Slides

Upon inserting the provided slides into the projector, fans were greeted with maps which marked five locations, London (1), Paris (2), New York (3), Moscow (4) and Tokyo (5). Importantly, a slide containing the minimap for Summit in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and various codes were included.

Each slide also contained a label which has yet to be used at the time of writing.

• B-623: Moscow
• C-837: London
• F-639: Summit
• G-190: Code
• G-293: Code
• H-376: New York
• I-937: Code
• M-629: Code
• N-744: Paris
• Q-395: Summit
• R-834: Code
• V-284: Summit
• V-730: Code
• X-837: Code
• Y-318: Code
• ?-???: Tokyo

Lastly, the Message of the Day modal in Black Ops 4 was updated around this time to display a map of Tokyo labeled with a 5 in the same style seen on the projection slides. This led players to believe that the situation was transitioning into the game.

Pawn Takes Pawn

Upon entering the Summit map in Black Ops 4, players quickly realized that the screens of the computer systems located near the center of the map had been updated to display graphics similar to those seen on the projection slides. To add to this, clocks for each of the aforementioned five locations could be found on the wall of the Control Room.

By overlapping projection slides with codes with the corresponding clock, the phrase "BISH YOU WERE HERE" was revealed. This phrase is a reference to the World Chess Championship of 1972 between Bobby Fischer of the United States and Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.

Using the remaining projection slides with codes and overlaying them on the newly-discovered screens, as well as an image that Treyarch's official Instagram account shared to its Story, the sentence "TURN ELEVEN WHITE" was discovered. This sentence is a reference to the first game between Fischer (Black) and Spassky (White) where Spassky took Fischer's pawn with another pawn during the eleventh turn.

The image which Treyarch shared to their Instagram Story also contained a thirteen character phrase with only the letter K revealed in the seventh position. In the aforementioned Chess match and turn, the name of the move made by Spassky was called Pawn Takes Pawn, fans soon realized that this would lead to a website.

Unravel the Secrets

Every battle is won before it is ever fought.

On this website, a CRT television, modem, black pawn, white pawn, computer, and a VCR can be seen. The VCR display flashed the digits 12:00 and 8-14. Activision later confirmed to NoahJ456 that the next step to this mystery would be revealed on August 14th at 12PM ET.

Another point to note regarding the first iteration of the website is that, in the background, the current Warzone map from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare can be seen, likely alluding to the rumor that the free-to-play Battle Royale mode will feature an in-game reveal event for the upcoming title.

Tangled Web

On August 12th, the main page of the Pawn Takes Pawn website was updated. A post-it note was now attached to the TV which read /TANGLEDWEB, pointing to a new route on the website.

Unravel the Secrets

Every battle is won before it is ever fought.

On this new page, a written letter can be found, surrounded by projection slides; It reads as follows...

Wars are won not just on the battlefield, but behind closed doors.

Tactics. Maneuvers. Strategies.

All pieces of a complex puzzle that means the difference between life and death - conquering or being conquered.

Codes. Signals. Ciphers.

Secret communications used by enemies and allies for thousands of years.

The plot unfolding now is decades in the making. It will not be unraveled overnight.

While some battles can be won swiftly, others will take days to unfold.

You have found the first piece of many.
Relish the journey. It's all part of the game.

The spoils of victory come not to those in haste, but to those who know -

"Every battle is won before it is ever fought."

Know your history.

EMC2

On August 14th, the Pawn Takes Pawn website was once again updated. A VHS tape labeled 1961-62 v.1 was placed on top of the VCR player and the post-it note was updated to included /EMC2.

When visiting the /EMC2 page on the Pawn Takes Pawn website, fans are presented with a piece of paper containing a schedule which is expected to update over the course of six days. At the end of August 14th, the paper read as follows.

8/14 - DAY ONE: 1961-62
8/15 - DAY TWO: REDACTED
REDACTED
REDACTED
REDACTED
REDACTED

Unravel the Secrets

Every battle is won before it is ever fought.

If the user interacts with the VHS tape found on top of the VCR player on the main page, the tape will be inserted and footage of events which took place between 1961 and 1962 will begin to play.

Periodically, the numbers 25, 37, and 48 would appear in the footage. The VCR player would also periodically display WZ-H6-49285163.

The characters shown on the display of the VCR pointed to the H6 region of the Call of Duty: Warzone map, which is in the vicinity of the Krovnik Farmland. Here, a small shack can be found which features a keypad near the entrance; Entering the code from the VCR would allow players access to the shack.

Several pieces of paper which include various ciphers and chemical compositions were found. As of August 14th, these ciphers are not-yet solved, it's believed that new information will be presented in the coming days.

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