Puzzlehunt
Encyclopedia
Puzzle
A puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles at a particular site, in multiple sites and/or via the internet. Groups of puzzles in a puzzle hunt are often connected by a metapuzzle, leading to answers which combine into a final set of solutions. Some famous annual puzzlehunts are:
- the MIT Mystery HuntMIT Mystery HuntThe MIT Mystery Hunt is an annual puzzlehunt competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As one of the oldest and most complex puzzlehunts in the world, it attracts about 1,000 people annually and has inspired similar competitions at Microsoft, Stanford University, Melbourne...
(Cambridge, MassachusettsCambridge, MassachusettsCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, USA), - the Melbourne University Mathematics & Statistics Society (MUMS) puzzlehunt (Melbourne, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
), - the Sydney University Maths Society (SUMS) puzzlehunt (Sydney, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
), - the TMOUTMOUTMOU is a logic, strategic, team, interactive, outdoor and night puzzlehunt game held in Brno, Czech Republic. It is held annually at the end of October or at the beginning of November. It is a game for teams of up to five players, the traditional number of playing teams is around 200...
(BrnoBrnoBrno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
, Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
), - the Microsoft Puzzle HuntMicrosoft Puzzle HuntThe Microsoft Puzzlehunt is a quasi-annual Microsoft tradition started in 1999. It is a puzzlehunt in the same vein as the MIT Mystery Hunt or The Game. The hunt is a team puzzle competition which challenges each team to solve a large number of original puzzles of all different kinds...
(Redmond, WashingtonRedmond, WashingtonRedmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 54,144 at the 2010 census,up from 45,256 in 2000....
, USA), - the Miami Herald's Tropic HuntTropic HuntThe Herald Hunt, formerly the Tropic Hunt, is an annual puzzlehunt in Miami, Florida. It was co-created by Miami Herald columnist Dave Barry, along with Tropic editors Gene Weingarten and Tom Shroder...
(Miami, FloridaMiami, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, USA), - the Maze of GamesMaze of GamesThe Maze of Games is one of America's largest annual puzzlehunts, and is held at the Gen Con and Origins gaming conventions. Started in 1995 as an offshoot of LIVE/WIRE, the Maze of Games has been the largest event at one or both of those conventions every year since. It is created by game...
(Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
and Columbus, OhioColumbus, OhioColumbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, USA).
College puzzlehunts include the aforementioned MIT Mystery Hunt as well as:
- PuzzleCrackPuzzleCrackPuzzleCrack is an annual tradition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is a weeklong puzzlehunt competition that combines problem-solving with computer hacking.- History :The competition began in October 2002 under the name Puzzlehack...
(University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignThe University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
, USA) - College Puzzle ChallengeCollege Puzzle ChallengeCollege Puzzle Challenge is an annual puzzlehunt hosted by Microsoft, inspired by the Microsoft Puzzle Hunt or the MIT Mystery Hunt. However, several key features differentiate College Puzzle Challenge from these events...
(Multiple Locations, North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
), hosted by MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
as a recruiting event on college campuses.
Sometimes, the prize for winning a puzzlehunt is to create the next one.
Related puzzle events
- The GameThe Game (treasure hunt)The Game is a non-stop 24–48 hour treasure hunt, puzzlehunt or road rally that has run in the San Francisco Bay and Seattle areas since 1973. Its teams use vans rigged with power and Internet access and drive hundreds of miles from puzzle site to puzzle site, overcoming often outrageous physical...
(a puzzlehunt combined with a road rallyRoad rallyA road rally is a car rally that takes place on the public road. It is a popular sport in the United Kingdom, especially Wales, and has traditionally been the core of the "grass roots" of club-based amateur motorsport. However it has declined in popularity since the 1980s and now stage rallies are...
) - Microsoft Puzzle SafariMicrosoft Puzzle SafariThe Microsoft Puzzle Safari is a one-day team letterboxing event held annually on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington.There are a maximum of four participants per team. The event takes place over the course of two rounds. Each round, the teams receive a batch of puzzles and a logbook, each...
(Redmond, WashingtonRedmond, WashingtonRedmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 54,144 at the 2010 census,up from 45,256 in 2000....
) - Race In The CityRace In The CityRace In The City is an event in Toronto that pits teams of two against each other in a fun checkpoint-based tour of the city. At the start of the race teams are given a clue to reach the first checkpoint, as well as a question to answer or a challenge to complete once they get there...
(an Amazing Race-style event in TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
)
See also
- LetterboxingLetterboxingLetterboxing is an outdoor hobby that combines elements of orienteering, art, and puzzle solving. Letterboxers hide small, weatherproof boxes in publicly-accessible places and distribute clues to finding the box in printed catalogs, on one of several web sites, or by word of mouth. Individual...
- GeocachingGeocachingGeocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world....
- Alternate reality gameAlternate reality gameAn alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
- Treasure hunt (game)Treasure hunt (game)A treasure hunt is one of many different types of games which can have one or more players who try to find hidden articles, locations or places by using a series of clues. This is a fictional activity; treasure hunting can also be a real life activity. Treasure hunt games may be an indoor or...
- Geohashing
- Encounter (game)Encounter (game)Encounter is an international network of active urban games.Also known as "Схватка" – the game that gave birth to this project.- Project history :...
- La chouette d'orLa chouette d'orLa chouette d'or is a bronze statue of an owl. It was buried in a secret location somewhere in France by Max Valentin in April 1993. Valentin provided a series of eleven clues to the statue's location, accompanied by illustrations by the sculptor Michel Becker. To date the clues remain unsolved...