Deltarune ARG Solvers Hunt for Noelle's Fate Clues

A long-running Alternate Reality Game (ARG) connected to the popular RPG Deltarune has captured the attention of the game's community. The puzzle originally began in September 2022 during the Spamton Sweepstakes event but saw significant developments in May 2025. The core of the mystery involves a hidden form on the official game website featuring a single, cryptic question regarding a beloved character.

Participants submit answers to receive cryptic email responses, which are then cataloged by the community. The collective goal is to solve the puzzle before the form potentially closes for good. The investigation focuses heavily on the game's "Weird Route" and the fate of the character Noelle.

The Deltarune ARG traces its roots back to an event known as the Spamton Sweepstakes. This event was held in September 2022 to celebrate the seventh anniversary of Undertale and raise money for the charity Child's Play. While the event primarily featured merchandise and fun Easter eggs courtesy of Fangamer, the community discovered unusual hidden content within the event's web pages.

For over two years, these secrets remained largely dormant. However, in May 2025, fans noticed that the sweepstakes website had been updated with new hidden pages. These pages contained references to the game's "Weird Route," a difficult-to-find narrative path with dark consequences. The most significant discovery was a specific URL: deltarune.com/chapter4/thankyou.

The hidden page presented users with a simple interface: two text boxes, a submit button, and a single question. The text read: "How long did it take her to smile?" The community quickly deduced that the "her" in question was Noelle, a childhood friend of protagonist Kris who plays a pivotal role in the Weird Route. The first text box required an email address, while the second requested the answer to the riddle.

The form remained active for only one day before being replaced by the text "Thank You." Those who managed to submit an answer received a confirmation email containing only the text "You answered [THEIR ANSWER]," with no further explanation. The mystery lay dormant again until two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago, the form unexpectedly reopened. Previous participants received a new email with the subject line "Second chance," inviting them to try again. This time, the community response was more organized. Fans created massive spreadsheets to track submissions and avoid wasting answers on duplicates. They experimented with various time measurements, including days, seconds, and years.

Once the form closed again, the email responses changed. Instead of a simple confirmation, participants received varied, cryptic messages seemingly dependent on their input. For example, those who submitted "1 Day" received the response: "Then, 'The next day you'll see her smile.'" Those who submitted very small numbers like "4 seconds" received: "So, 'she never stopped smiling.'" Other responses included "Do you think that means she still can?" and "Then, 'It was the first time she ever smiled in her life.'" Many emails concluded with the instruction: "Move forward with this answer," suggesting the submissions were on the right track.

Currently, the form is closed, and there is no indication of when or if it will reopen. The Deltarune community is actively preparing for a potential third attempt. Content creators are rallying fans to build comprehensive databases of the email responses received. The goal is to reverse-engineer the pattern of the responses to determine the "correct" answer to the riddle.

The prevailing theory is that the ARG provides clues regarding the conclusion of Noelle's story arc in Chapter 4 and sets the stage for events in the upcoming Chapter 5. However, the Weird Route is notoriously difficult to discover without internet assistance, making the ARG's connection to the mainstream narrative a subject of intense speculation.