The current hunt's website is now up
, and seems at first glance to be themed upon a wedding. At least, the intro skit will probably have to do with it.
Note that this might not be the actual theme of the Hunt:
- in 2007, the apparent theme was "here's a really simple and awesome Hunt!" and the actual theme was going through Hell to get your soul back from the Devil after selling him your soul by doing that apparently easy Hunt.
- in 2010, the apparent theme was a single round of 10 puzzles commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Mystery Hunt, and the actual theme was a journey through time commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Hunt, while trying to fix history.
The official introduction to this year's Super Mario-themed Hunt is here
.
This includes the following:
When you confirm an answer, you'll also be asked whether you backsolved the puzzle (i.e., figured out the answer on the basis of the associated metapuzzle rather than by solving the puzzle itself). This information is entirely for our own statistical curiosity and will not affect your standing in the hunt at all. We hope you agree that this will be interesting data, so please do report your backsolves when you make them.
If any of you are on campus:
Dear Teams,
We, the Metaphysical Fungus Event Planners, would like to welcome you to participate in the many royal wedding events scheduled this weekend. The first event will begin promptly at 6 PM this Friday evening. Please visit http://ihavetofindpeach.com/puzzles/events/
for further details.
Thank you,
Metaphysical Fungus Event Planners
By the way,
We currently have a large number of puzzles open, that have been worked on to varying degrees.
I know the Zelda round just opened up. However, could we please hold off on creating new threads for the puzzles, at least in a large batch? I think we could make a bit more progress on some of the puzzles we already have. If you do end up getting significant work done on a new puzzle, though, please do make a thread and post your findings.
(I know I've been creating large batches of puzzle threads, but I'm coming to realize that this might not be a great idea, especially when we have few people working and lots of open puzzles.)
edited 15th Jan '11 11:32:02 AM by GlennMagusHarvey
If you click on "call in answer" at any puzzle, it will instead take you to a solution page.
My Twitter. Mostly tweeting about Magic, sometimes anime. Needs Wiki MagicOur new team forum is now live!
Find it here: http://ducksoup.vbprog.zonexus.net/
I've written a set of Mystery-Hunt-style puzzles; you can find them here: http://ducksoup.vbprog.zonexus.net/discussion/10/who-did-that

Subject: MIT Mystery Hunt 2011
From: Kate Baker
To: puzzle-hunters
Puzzle Hunters,
Mystery Hunt is rapidly approaching! Hunt will begin in Lobby 7 at 12:17pm on Friday, January 14.
Team registration for the 2011 Mystery Hunt is now open. Please have one member of your team register at http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/registration.html
As in past years, we have obtained a block of rooms from the Schedules Office, and we will be assigning team headquarters for those teams wishing to use classroom space as their HQ. Please do not contact the Schedules Office directly - all requests for classroom space are going through us. A list of this year's rooms (http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/rooms2-11.html)
and a description of our reservation process (http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/rooms-11.html)
are also available. Teams that have already registered should have received a confirmation email.
The deadline for teams requesting classroom space is December 17. We highly encourage all teams to register by this date, though registrations will be taken until Hunt begins. In addition, this year we will be holding one event in a limited access location, so we are asking for list of team members who are not students and might want to attend this event; we will need this list by January 10.
We'd like to try something a little new this year. Hunt will continue running until Sunday afternoon, regardless of whether the coin is found before then... people may continue calling in playing for second place, calling in puzzles, going on runarounds, etc. Assuming that the coin has been found by then, wrapup will be held Sunday evening in 26-100, to be followed by social reception in Lobby 13. Exact times will be announced shortly.
This year, we have a group rate for rooms at the Kendall Hotel. Rooms (with either 1 or 2 beds, and including internet access and breakfast) are available for $124/night. To request this rate, call the hotel at 617 577 1300 or 1 866 566 1300 and ask for the MIT Mystery Hunt Rate.
If you have any questions, please email us at puzzle at mit dot edu .
See you in January!
-Kate Baker, for Metaphysical Plant
[Editor's note: Metaphysical Plant is the name of the team that won last year's Hunt and has written and is organizing this year's Hunt.]
edited 9th Dec '10 8:18:14 PM by GlennMagusHarvey