To be clearer, this is a retrospective of the DEF CON CTF, not the entire conference.

I enjoyed the writeup of the Pew Pew challenge. That sort of challenge is exactly what high-level CTFs need, making them more fun and visual and accessible to a wider audience.

Really interesting write-up!

There was a great podcast about PPP on Darknet Diaries a few weeks ago - their relentlessness and persistence is so inspiring: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/43/

Yes! I've been looking for this since the conference ended. I love reading about this CTF it sounds so awesome (they got to play DOOM on an original Xbox this year!) If I had one "hacker dream" it's that I'd one day be a part of it, but I don't think that's gonna happen so I'll stick with doing my pico CTF problems and reading about these tough CTFs