12

I accidentally acquired Polsaker's IP and started scanning his ports for fun. The scan came back with the usual ports open, except one that caught my eye - Port 4242, which I have never seen before. I Googled it, and there are a number of services that run on Port 4242. A couple of them are trojans, a couple are games. In Polsaker's case, it is open because the Quassel IRC client uses it.

There is another use for Port 4242 though. Reverse Battle Tetris. I decided to look it up to see what the game is like, and discovered something very unusual. It doesn't exist. There is literally no mention of Reverse Battle Tetris anywhere on the internet, unless it is mentioning that Reverse Battle Tetris runs on Port 4242.

There is only one explanation for this. Certain ports are designated for specific purposes, such as 80 - HTTP, 21 - FTP and 22 - SSH. These ports are official port designations. Other ports though, do not have any specific purpose, and are only used to run very specific services. These are unofficial port designations.

The only possible explanation for Reverse Battle Tetris is someone made it up. They edited Wikipedia, and other sites copied over the information, saying that Reverse Battle Tetris runs on Port 4242.

If you don't believe me, here is the port. Now Google Reverse Battle Tetris and try and find a single shred of evidence that it is a real thing.

I accidentally acquired Polsaker's IP and started scanning his ports for fun. The scan came back with the usual ports open, except one that caught my eye - Port 4242, which I have never seen before. I Googled it, and there are a number of services that run on Port 4242. A couple of them are trojans, a couple are games. In Polsaker's case, it is open because the Quassel IRC client uses it. There is another use for Port 4242 though. Reverse Battle Tetris. I decided to look it up to see what the game is like, and discovered something very unusual. _It doesn't exist_. There is literally no mention of Reverse Battle Tetris anywhere on the internet, unless it is mentioning that Reverse Battle Tetris runs on Port 4242. There is only one explanation for this. Certain ports are designated for specific purposes, such as 80 - HTTP, 21 - FTP and 22 - SSH. These ports are official port designations. Other ports though, do not have any specific purpose, and are only used to run very specific services. These are unofficial port designations. The only possible explanation for Reverse Battle Tetris is someone made it up. They edited Wikipedia, and other sites copied over the information, saying that Reverse Battle Tetris runs on Port 4242. If you don't believe me, [here is the port.](https://www.speedguide.net/port.php?port=4242) Now Google Reverse Battle Tetris and try and find a single shred of evidence that it is a real thing.

6 comments

[–] Polsaker 3 points (+3|-0)
[–] PMYA [OP] 0 points (+0|-0)

IP 193.190.2.252 Country: Belgium, Region: VLG, City: Hasselt, ISP: BELNET LTD, Organization: Hasselt University, ASN: AS2611 BELNET, Timezone: Europe/Brussels

We need to find out who did Reverse Battle Tetris.

We know they were at Hasselt University in 2012.

[–] TheRedArmy 1 points (+1|-0)

Calling all Belgians. I know we have a Dutch fellow in here, maybe you and he can team up and do some legwork for us.

[–] TheRedArmy 3 points (+3|-0) Edited

I accidentally acquired Polsaker's IP

Oops, I slipped and my clothes came off and so did Alice's and then we had sex in 5 different positions and I came inside and she's pregnant. It was just an accident, baby! :p

Outside of @PMYA's obvious fabrication of it being an "accident", it's interesting.

I wonder if it's coincidence that it's 4242? As anyone who's read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy knows, 42 is the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything. Even Google says so.

Star Trek writers on the TV show often included the number 47 as inside jokes (since 47 is 42 adjusted for inflation), so you get certain numbers being 47 when it doesn't really matter what number they throw out there for something "There are 47 planets in the Carraya system", or as security codes in certain episodes "Computer, allow access to holodeck program 'Insurrection Alpha', authorization: Tuvok 4-7-7-4." (47 and then 47 backwards in that case). I wonder if this is the same idea?

[–] PMYA [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

It really was an accident that I got the IP. I linked something that tracks an IP in IRC, with the intention of linking Arotaes, and jenni visited it because she checks all links in IRC. Jenni is hosted by Polsaker, so his IP showed up.

I have no idea why he made this up. But it is now making me question all of the other unnoficial port services. There are tons of them, surely if this guy got away with it, someone else did too. I also thought of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy reference, maybe that is it.

[–] TheRedArmy 1 points (+1|-0)

It really was an accident that I got the IP. I linked something that tracks an IP in IRC, with the intention of linking Arotaes, and jenni visited it because she checks all links in IRC. Jenni is hosted by Polsaker, so his IP showed up.

I believe you, I don't think you have malicious intent, I just wanted to poke fun. To uninformed laymen like me, one does not simply acquire an IP address. The only people who have anything to do with IP addresses are hackers. I've certainly never used it to arrange LAN games over services like Himachi or anything like that. :p