MIT Mystery Hunt (organized by MIT Puzzle Club)
When: During Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend
For how long: ~ 72 hours
How: At MIT campus and online
History and rules: The MIT Mystery Hunt has been organized since 1981 and traditionally happens every year in January. In recent years, it has been allowed to participate 100% remotely, with the agreement that you can’t finish the hunt, as it ends with finding a physical coin. Teams may consist of any number of people, from around a dozen to over a hundred! Initially, the number of puzzles was around 30; however, that number has increased dramatically and can reach not less than 200. These puzzles can be crosswords, anagrams, cryptograms, number puzzles, multimedia puzzles, geometrical puzzles, physical challenges, mystery trails, scavenger hunts, inter-team games, or anything else that the hunt organizers can think up. It typically takes about 48 hours for a team to solve the puzzles, with the answers to all of the puzzles coming together to lead the teams to the location of a coin hidden somewhere on the MIT campus. The winning team is awarded the right to organize the following year’s hunt.
How to participate: Follow the news on the official page, as every year there is a new specific page dedicated to the hunt with different requirements such as registration, creating and managing teams and team members, etc.
This is by far the hardest and most challenging hunt we’ve played in the last 6 years. We haven’t missed a year since we became aware of its existence, and it is a favorite of ours. We usually play under one of the following names: Furious_Acorns, furious.acorns, or furious_acorns 😵 We view the MIT hunt as an Olympic event of Puzzle Hunts, and we measure our improvement as any sportsman would do.
Furious Acorns team through the years: Lilly Boneva, Martin Kanovsky (Kando), Hristo Petkov, Elitsa Ilieva, Jordan Danchev, Venelin Gornishki, Monika Gornishka, Dimitar Smilyanov, Velina Tomova, Hristo Tomov, Anton Konduzov, Vanya Stoitseva, Tsveta Dancheva, Bistra-Dona Konduzova, Ivan Minchev (Obi) and Nadezhda Danabasheva
2024 – Welcome to Hades
Link to the hunt: CLICK HERE
Lint to our solution sheets (CONTAINS SPOILERS): CLICK HERE
Puzzle solved: 28 (of 237) or 12%
Ranking (from teams with 1+ Puzzles solved): 101 of 241 (42th percentile)
2023 – Puzzle Factory
Link to the hunt: CLICK HERE
Link to our solution sheets (CONTAINS SPOILERS): CLICK HERE
Puzzle solved: 28 (of 162) or 17%
Ranking (from teams with 1+ Puzzles solved): 133 of 249 (53th percentile)
2022 – Bookspace
Link to the hunt: CLICK HERE
Link to our solution sheets (CONTAINS SPOILERS): CLICK HERE
Puzzle solved: 18 (of 167) or 11%
Ranking (from teams with 1+ Puzzles solved): 128 of 279 (46th percentile)
2021 – TIW Lab
Link to the hunt: CLICK HERE
Link to our solution sheets (CONTAINS SPOILERS): CLICK HERE
Puzzle solved: 28 (of 199) or 14%
Ranking (from teams with 1+ Puzzles solved): 124 of 283 (44th percentile)
2020 – Penny Park
Link to the hunt: CLICK HERE
Link to our solution sheets (CONTAINS SPOILERS): CLICK HERE
Puzzle solved: 9 (of 194) or 5%
Ranking (from teams with 1+ Puzzles solved): 83 of 121 (69th percentile)
2019 – Great Molasses Flood
Link to the hunt: CLICK HERE
Link to our solution sheets (CONTAINS SPOILERS): CLICK HERE
Puzzle solved: 9 (of 174) or 5%
Ranking (from teams with 1+ Puzzles solved): 70 of 105 (67th percentile)
2018 – Head Hunters (Inside Out)
Link to the hunt: CLICK HERE
Link to our solution sheets (CONTAINS SPOILERS): CLICK HERE
Puzzle solved: 3 (of 92) or 3%
Ranking (from teams with 1+ Puzzles solved): 107 of 432 (25th percentile)