Labyrinth is back again with another puzzle hunt to celebrate the birthday of the pioneer of recreational mathematics, Martin Gardner! The hunt will start on October 5, 2019 and will send you all around the neighborhood on a puzzling quest. Every puzzle you solve increases your chance of winning some awesome prizes. It all leads to a grand finale event at Labyrinth Games & Puzzles on October 19.
Timeline
| Sat 10/5 | 10:00am | Round 1 puzzles release on Traipse app |
| Sat 10/12 | 10:00am | Round 2 puzzles release on this website |
| Sat 10/19* | 12:00pm - 4:00pm |
Round 3 puzzles and prizes at Labyrinth |
(* Mark your calendars! Your team must be at Labyrinth for the entire finale event on 10/19 to be eligible for prizes.)
Get Ready
We recommend a team size of 2-4 solvers. We won't enforce a limit, but if you have a very large team you may find there's not enough for everyone to do. Also, while it's certainly possible to play on your own, puzzles are always more fun with friends!
Your team should create a single shared username and password to sign in to this website. In addition, each member of your team may want to download the Traipse app before the hunt begins. (Please note that while you can and should take these steps now to prepare, there will be no puzzles to solve until 10am on October 5.)
(Please don’t worry. Neither Labyrinth nor Traipse will use any of your personal contact information in any way other than for the direct needs of this puzzle hunt. The need to register is only to facilitate tracking teams for prize eligibility and for access to puzzle levels at the appropriate times.)
Prizes
The more puzzles you solve and the faster you solve them, the more likely you are to win some awesome prizes! Prizes will be awarded at the finale event at Labyrinth Games & Puzzles on Saturday, October 19. The finale is from noon to 4pm, and your team must be present for the entire event to be eligible to win. Check out the full list prizes here!
But wait—what's a puzzle hunt?
A рuzzle hunt is an adventure where teams compete to solve a wide variety of logic puzzles. Groups of puzzles in a hunt are often connected by a metapuzzle, which combines the individual puzzle answers into a final solution. For our hunt, some puzzles may require you to go to certain locations on Capitol Hill, while others can be solved at home. The hunt will be appropriate for all ages, and the puzzles (especially in the first round) will be very beginner-friendly.
If you’ve never participated in a puzzle hunt before, and you want to get an idea of the types of puzzles you may see, we recommend checking out the puzzle archives at DASH and Puzzled Pint. You can also still browse our hunt from last year (but keep in mind that this year's puzzles will be easier). If you get stuck on a puzzle, you might try reading the MIT Mystery Hunt’s very helpful Resources for Beginners and Puzzle-Solving Tools. And if you really get stuck, you can always ask for a hint.
