The IAP Mystery Hunt is a puzzlehunt competition held each January at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hundreds of people in dozens of teams solve puzzles for over 48 hours straight to find an unusual coin hidden on campus and the right to run the Hunt the next year. Participants come from around the country and play remotely from around the world. A live puzzle game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles in a site or multiple sites. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a research and educational institution located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is a widely renowned leader in science and technology, as well as in many other fields, including management, economics, linguistics, political science, and philosophy. ... A puzzle is a problem or enigma presented as entertainment; that is written down, acted out, etc. ... 1¢ euro coin A coin is usually a piece of hard material, generally metal and usually in the shape of a disc, which is issued by a government to be used as a form of money. ...

Structure

The team running the Hunt can make any changes they desire, and the structure changes to some degree from year to year. However, the general form has been constant since at least the mid-nineties.

At noon on the Friday before Martin Luther King Day participants gather in the lobby of Building 7 at MIT. Recent Hunts have had around 20-25 teams participating, with each team containing as few as five and as many as one hundred puzzle solvers (larger teams usually send a small delegation to the opening festivities). The organizers present a short skit which reveals the theme of the hunt, such as Carmen Sandiego in 1999 or the Wizard of Oz in 2000. The theme is always a closely guarded secret before the Hunt begins. The teams are then told to find the coin in the context of the theme. For instance, in 1999 teams were told to find a rare coin that Carmen Sandiego had stolen. Two recent hunts have had hidden subthemes: The Matrix hunt of 2003 introduced itself as a corporate murder mystery and the Time Bandits hunt of 2004 introduced itself as a pirate adventure. Teams had to discover the "real" theme as the hunt moved along. The first round of puzzles is handed out (in recent years a URL has been provided in lieu of paper copies) and teams return to their headquarters around campus. Martin Luther King Jr. ... Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? screenshot Carmen Isabela Sandiego is a fictional character featured in a long-running series of educational games and television shows in the United States of the same name. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the year 2000. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Matrix is a film first released in the USA on March 31, 1999, written and directed by the Wachowski brothers (Andy and Larry). ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Time Bandits (first released on July 13, 1981) is a fantasy film directed by Terry Gilliam (who created animations for Monty Pythons Flying Circus), produced by George Harrisons Handmade Films. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Each round consists of somewhere between six and fifteen puzzles. The answer to each puzzle is usually a word or phrase. When a team thinks they know the answer to a puzzle, they call it in to Hunt headquarters, and the Hunt organizers confirm it. The set of all answers in a round form a meta-puzzle. There are generally no instructions to the meta-puzzle; once a team has all the answers, they still need to figure out what to do with them. The answer to the meta-puzzle is usually another word or phrase. When a team correctly calls in the answer to the meta-puzzle they are finished with that round. Meta-puzzle is a puzzle that unites several puzzles that feed into it. ...

A Hunt is usually comprised of four to eight rounds. Each round is released at a predetermined time, but they are typically released early to teams that have finished all previous rounds. Some recent Hunts have had "hidden" rounds, or different ways of combining puzzles into metapuzzles - it's all up to the team writing the Hunt. When a team has finished all the rounds in the Hunt, they begin the final runaround. Usually several teams make it to the final runaround, which may take a couple hours to complete. The first team to complete the runaround and find the coin wins the Hunt and starts planning for next year.

Types of puzzles

Any type of puzzle is fair game. There are regular crosswords, cryptic crosswords, logic puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, anagrams, connect-the-dots, ciphers, riddles, paint by numbers, and word searches. There are puzzles that require the knowledge of quantum mechanics, stereoisomers, ancient Greek, Klingon, Bach preludes, coinage of Africa, and Barbie dolls. Some puzzles are pictures, others are audio files or physical objects. Many puzzles require sending people to find certain locations on the MIT campus or in the Boston area. There is usually a scavenger hunt and a puzzle that involves bringing food to the team running the Hunt (one privilege of winning). Other puzzles involve playing games such as four square or video games. Many of the puzzles require an in-depth knowledge of MIT's campus and culture. The crossword is the most common variety of word puzzle in the world. ... Cryptic crosswords are a particular type of crossword which have become widely popular in the UK, and several other Commonwealth nations such as Australia, New Zealand and India. ... A logic puzzle is a puzzle deriving from the mathematics field of deduction. ... A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly-shaped, interlocking pieces. ... Jump to: navigation, search An anagram (Greek ana- = back or again, and graphein = to write) is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce other words, using all the original letters exactly once. ... Connect the dots puzzle for adults. ... This article is about algorithms for encryption and decryption. ... A riddle is a form of word puzzle designed to test someones ingenuity in arriving at its solution. ... An example of a Paint by Numbers puzzle. ... A typical Wordsearch A word search, word seek or word sleuth puzzle is a generic word game that consists of seemingly random letters arranged in a square or rectangular grid. ... DO HWA MECHANICS[chang rhinn`theorem] ... Stereoisomerism is the arrangement of atoms in molecules whose connectivity remains the same but their arrangement in space is different in each isomer. ... Ancient Greek refers to the stage in the history of the Greek language corresponding to Classical Antiquity, which normally applies on two ancient periods of Greek history: Archaic and Classic Greece. ... The Klingon language or Klingonese (tlhIngan Hol in Klingon) is a constructed language created by Marc Okrand for Paramount Pictures and spoken by Klingons in the fictional Star Trek universe. ... The 1748 Haussmann portrait of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and keyboard drew together almost all of the pre-existing strands of the baroque style and brought it to its... Coinage is: currency The right or process of making coins The creation of a neologism, or new word; see word coinage This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... // Etymology World map showing Africa (geographically) The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — land of the Afri (plural, or Afer singular) — for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day... Jump to: navigation, search Collector Edition Barbie® dolls in a display case. ... A scavenger hunt is a game in which individuals or teams seek to find all items on a list. ... The serve and first two hits in a Four Square game. ... Computer and video games A screenshot of Tetris for the Nintendo Game Boy A console game (better known as a video game) is a form of interactive multimedia used for entertainment, which consists of a moveable image displayed on a screen that is usually controlled and manipulated using a handheld...

Puzzles tend to have very little by way of instructions; determining what must be done is part of the challenge. The Duck Konundrum puzzle type was created for the Mystery Hunt in 2000; it consists of nothing but extensive and detailed instructions. A Duck Konundrum is a puzzlehunt activity that is most commonly seen at the MIT Mystery Hunt. ...

History

The Mystery Hunt was started in 1980 by then-graduate student Brad Schaefer. The first Hunt consisted of 12 subclues on a single sheet of paper including a Vigenere cipher, a short runaround, and an integral. The answers to the subclues detailed the location of an Indian Head penny hidden on campus. The individuals who found the coin were allowed to take their pick of a $20 gift certificate to the school bookstore, a $50 donation to the charity of their choice, and a keg of beer. Jump to: navigation, search 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... The Vigenère cipher is named for Blaise de Vigenère (pictured), although the cipher had been invented earlier by Giovan Batista Belaso. ... Indian Head Penny The Indian Head one-cent coin was produced by the United States Mint from 1859 through 1909. ... Scrip is any substitute for currency, which is not legal tender. ...

The hunt was organized again by Brad Schaeffer for the next two years. After he graduated, the winners were given the honor of writing the hunt the next year.

Over the next several years the hunt became longer and more involved as the number of participants increased. The 1984 Hunt had 22 clues, and the 1987 Hunt had 19 clues and a final runaround. The Mystery Hunt has continued to grow, with the 2005 Hunt containing 114 puzzles, 12 meta-puzzles and a 6-puzzle final runaround. The winners were awarded a cash prize until at least 1987. Jump to: navigation, search 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Eventually the Hunt became themed. The earliest recorded theme is Captain Red Herring's Mystery Island in 1992. By the mid-nineties the modern Hunt structure of rounds and meta-puzzles had been solidified. Jump to: navigation, search 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

Memorable events

"Be noisy"

The 2002 Hunt was based on the game of Monopoly; each round consisted of puzzles whose answers referred to a space on the Monopoly board, and by collecting these spaces, teams could form Monopolies and eventually gain access to additional "house" puzzles, as well as the "hotels", which were metapuzzles. After completing all eight hotel puzzles, teams were informed that they were in "jail" and had to procure a Get Out Of Jail Free card to proceed. Jump to: navigation, search 2002(MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Monopoly is one of the best-selling commercial board games in the world. ...

In fact, the way to get this card could be found as a hidden second solution to an earlier regular puzzle, but the teams didn't know about this. Several teams found the phrase "BE NOISY" hidden as a diagonal acrostic in the hotel puzzle answers, and proceeded to "be noisy" outside hunt headquarters. The acrostic message was entirely accidental, and the hunt organizers were rather confused by this behavior. Eventually this confusion was cleared up and the Hunt continued to its conclusion. Wikipedians Instill Knowledge about Interesting and Pertinent topics, waxing Eloquent Developing Information Abundance Acrostic poems are related to crossword puzzles in that they can be read in multiple directions. ...

Puzzles in later hunts have made reference to this incident, sometimes including the phrase "be noisy" in a red herring solution. In 2003, the phrase "be noisy" was again hidden as an acrostic in the metapuzzle answers, but intentionally this time, and the actual "meta-meta-solution" was a different acrostic. Jump to: navigation, search Look up red herring on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Jofish's Pants

When they won the 2002 Hunt, some members of ACME told people that the coin would be hidden the next year in team member Jofish's pants. In fact the coin was hidden in Jofish's pants; they just weren't on him at the time. As The Tech, MIT's student newspaper, memorably put it: "The coin had been hidden in Jofish's (Joseph N. Kaye's '98) pants, on the top of some pipes in the basement of building 16." Jump to: navigation, search 2002(MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The phrase The Tech may refer to many things, including: The Tech Museum of Innovation, in San Jose, California MITs student newspaper, The Tech This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Physical Plant

In 2003, some speculation says, MIT Physical Plant, the department in charge of janitorial work and facilities maintanence (and now known as the Department of Facilities), found the coin partway through the Mystery Hunt. Not knowing this story, the team from Random Hall coincidentally named their team "Physical Plant" in 2004 and 2005, in the hopes that the Hunt web site would read "The coin has been found by Physical Plant" in a subsequent year. The Random Hall team won the Mystery Hunt in 2005, resulting in the appearance of the phrase. 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

According to members of ACME, the team that wrote the 2003 Hunt, the story is apocryphal; Physical Plant (the MIT department) did not actually find the coin 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Spinoffs

Other hunts have been inspired by the MIT IAP Mystery Hunt. These include the Microsoft Puzzle Hunt.-1...

External links

• Official Mystery Hunt website