Puzzle Hunts
I love puzzle hunts!
I think puzzle hunts are a criminally underrated format made niche by targeting large teams of experienced solvers. While at university, I made a series of puzzle hunts to try and get others as interested in the hobby as I was.
I like to solve hunts with the team Stooth Moves. If you ever see us in a hunt, know that our name comes from an incorrect index in the first puzzle I ever wrote at my college.
Introductory Hunts
Hunts specifically designed for beginners.
Boot Camp
Puzzles: 6, plus meta
Duration: An afternoon
Intended Team Size: 4-6
Boot Camp was my third ever puzzle hunt, designed (with help from my friends) to be a beginner-friendly way to get into puzzling.
The Easter Hunt
Puzzles: 6, plus meta
Duration: An afternoon
Intended Team Size: 4-6
The Easter Hunt was a seasonal hunt I designed for a year that was otherwise largely puzzle-less. The puzzles were originally hidden throughout my college, with a large chocolate rabbit hidden away and waiting to be found by the winners. I'm still working on the archive for this, stay tuned!
The Macquarie Labyrinth
Puzzles: 22
Duration: Intended for multiple sittings
Intended Team Size: 1-3
The Macquarie Labyrinth was inspired by Notpron. My mum and I enjoyed solving it together, and it inspired me to make a similar hunt for my highschool. This hunt involves solving a series of esoteric puzzles which each provide a keyword you can use to unlock the following one.
The Macquarie Labyrinth Redux
Puzzles: 6, plus meta
Duration: An afternoon
Intended Team Size: 4-6
The Macquarie Labyrinth Redux is nothing like the Macquarie Labyrinth. I made it on request to make a new labyrinth when my younger sister started attending my highschool (though I don't believe it ever got used). It's a more traditional puzzle hunt that reuses some puzzle formats from my other hunts.
Major Hunts
Lost In Translation - An Outer Wilds Puzzle Hunt
Puzzles: 6, plus meta
Difficulty: For puzzlers who have solved a few puzzles before
Duration: An afternoon
Intended Team Size: 4-6
Lost in Translation is an Outer Wilds-themed puzzle hunt which contains some light spoilers for things you could discover within a half hour of playing the game.
Hunts in Development
I am currently developing a few hunts:
- A poker tournament with outlandish opponents and a final round that culminates in a poker game with a custom deck
- A tropical spy thriller where you explore the island home of a world class thief
- A sequel to Lost In Translation themed after the Echoes of the Eye DLC to Outer Wilds
College Hunts
These hunts were designed to be solved by college students, so they're not designed for beginners but anyone whose tried a few puzzle hunts should enjoy them.
Of Utmost Importance
Puzzles: 6, plus meta
Duration: An afternoon
Intended Team Size: 4-6
Of Utmost Importance was my first ever puzzle hunt. It's theme is that each round's answer is what's most important to a specific area of college. I'd apologise for several puzzles now being unsolvable owing to their requirement of college-specific knowledge, but MIT pulls that nonsense every year and I want to get back at them for it.
Click to reveal which parts require college knowledge:
Even Fresher Dances
This puzzle revolved around 'Fresher Dances', dances taught to freshmen during the first week of the year. For anyone not at college, know that you're looking for pop songs to fill the blanks.
Misattributed
Everyone in college got a 'fresher name', a nickname everyone called you by. This puzzle involved matching collegians to their fresher names. Once you have a set of full names that match the number of blanks at the bottom of the puzzle, you've gone as far as you can.
Tournament Arc
Puzzles: 18, plus meta
Duration: A week
Intended Team Size: 4-6
Tournament Arc was the second of the hunts I made at college, which I did with help from some friends. It's themed after an anime tournament arc, where each puzzle is a foe you must face off against in your journey to become the new champion.
Click to reveal which parts require college knowledge:
Coffee Break
The campus Coffee Cart served all the coffees this puzzle references. It should still be solvable, just more difficult.
The Best Friend
This puzzle references group themes. Hidden in each group's common room was a letter attached to some object or piece of furniture. This is now unsolvable, just read the answer.
The Student Hunts
Puzzles: 6, plus meta (each), just 4 for the Final Exam
Duration: An afternoon
Intended Team Size: 4-6
The Student Hunts are each themed after helping one of four uni students with a problem they're suffering from. This culminates in The Final Exam1, a shorter meta-hunt which utilises puzzles hidden within the previous four hunts.
The Jailbreak Hunts
Puzzles: 6, plus meta (each), just 4 for the Planning Montage
Duration: An afternoon
Intended Team Size: 4-6
The Jailbreak Hunts were themed around a dramatic jailbreak in which you must befriend four characters who helped build your prison (shamelessly inspired by the 2013 MIT Mystery Hunt2). This was in turn inspired by the fact my college looked like a prison. Its opening round and first two sub-hunts were made, the remaining two and the runaround hunt ended up never getting finished. I'm still working on a write-up for what we did make, stay tuned!