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{{short description|Annual puzzlehunt at MIT}}
The '''MIT Mystery Hunt''' is an annual [[puzzle hunt]] competition at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]. It is one of the oldest and most complex puzzle hunts in the world and attracts roughly 120 teams and 3,000 contestants (with about 2,000 on campus) annually in teams of 5 to 150 people. It has inspired similar competitions at [[Microsoft Puzzle Hunt|Microsoft]], [[Stanford University]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sumo.stanford.edu/puzzlehunt/|title=Stanford Puzzle Hunt|work=SUMO|access-date=19 January 2014}}</ref> [[Melbourne University]],<ref name ="Melbourne University Puzzlehunt">{{cite web|url=http://www.ms.unimelb.edu.au/~mums/puzzlehunt/|title=Melbourne University Mathematics and Statistics Society: Puzzle Hunt|access-date=2013-06-04|archive-date=2016-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405091745/http://www.ms.unimelb.edu.au/~mums/puzzlehunt/|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[University of South Carolina]], [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]] and [[University of Aveiro]] (Portugal) as well as in the [[Seattle]], [[San Francisco]], [[Miami, Florida|Miami]], [[Post Hunt|Washington, D.C.]], [[Maze of Games|Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio]] metropolitan areas.<ref name="MIT Hunt links">{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/otherpuzzles.html |title=MIT IAP Mystery Hunt Puzzle Page: Related Links |access-date=2007-09-04 |publisher=MIT Mystery Hunt |archive-date=2007-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070909090618/http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/otherpuzzles.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Phoenix">{{cite news |url=http://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/04398747.asp |title=Flex your head |work=Boston Phoenix |date=January 14, 2005 |last=Miliard |first=Mike |access-date=2007-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930163749/http://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/04398747.asp |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Because the puzzle solutions often require knowledge of esoteric and eclectic topics, the hunt is sometimes used to exemplify popular stereotypes of MIT students.<ref name="Discover">{{cite news |url=http://discovermagazine.com/2005/jun/mit-nerds/ 
|first=Claudia Glenn |last=Dowling |title=MIT Nerds |date=June 5, 2005 |access-date=2007-08-17 |work=Discover Magazine}}</ref><ref name="Globe">{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/01/23/her_mystery_achievement_to_boldly_scavenge_at_mit/ |last=Bridges |first=Mary |work=Boston Globe |title=Her Mystery achievement: to boldly scavenge at MIT |date=2005-01-23 |access-date=2007-01-16}}</ref>

The hunt begins at noon on the Friday before [[Martin Luther King Jr. Day]], when the teams assemble to receive the first puzzles.  It concludes with a puzzle-guided journey (a "runaround") to find a "coin" hidden on MIT's campus. Each puzzle hunt is created and organized by the winning team of the previous year, which can lead to substantial differences in the rules and structure. While early hunts involved a few dozen linear puzzles, recent hunts have increased in complexity, some involving as many as 250 distinct puzzles arranged in rounds, hidden rounds, and [[metapuzzle]]s. Recent hunts have also revolved around themes introduced as a [[Sketch comedy|skit]] by organizers at the opening ceremony.

==Structure==
[[File:Teamsolvingpuzzle.jpg|thumb|Many teams hunt in rooms with chalkboards, projectors, computers, and food.]]
[[File:Huntwrapupin26100.jpg|thumb|The 2007 hunt concluded with a wrap-up session in this large [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] lecture hall.]]
[[File:2011 MIT Mystery Hunt Coin.jpg|thumb|A coin used by the creators of the 2011 hunt]]
[[File:The coin from the 2013 MIT Mystery Hunt.jpg|thumb|This coin was found by the winning team in 2013, after the longest hunt on record.]]
[[File:2021 mystery hunt coin.png|thumb|The coin received by the winning team in 2021]]
The objective of the hunt is to solve a set of puzzles in order to locate a coin hidden on the MIT campus. Participants can organize into teams of any size and are not required to be physically present.<ref name="Introduction">{{cite web|url=https://puzzles.mit.edu/history.html |title=MIT IAP Mystery Hunt: Introduction |access-date=2007-09-04 |publisher=MIT Mystery Hunt}}</ref> In recent years, team sizes have grown to around 200 solvers for the largest teams. The proportion of hunters who participate remotely has grown over time, as well.

The hunt and its puzzles are organized and created by the team that won the event the previous year, ensuring that no hunt will be won (or run) consecutively by the same people; each year's writers are free to change any aspects of the internal structure of the Hunt.<ref name="Introduction" /> At noon on the Friday before [[Martin Luther King Jr. Day]] the teams gather at MIT, where organizers present a skit revealing the hunt's theme and the initial round of puzzles, as well as announcing rules and other administrative matters. The teams can locate their headquarters anywhere and, over the course of the Hunt, check in with the organizers to verify the answers to individual puzzles.<ref name="Introduction" /> Some teams make extensive use of remote solvers—players who are located beyond the MIT campus. After the Hunt concludes, the organizers typically hold a wrap-up meeting at which the solutions to all the metapuzzles and the overall structure of the Hunt are revealed.  Since 2009, hunts have been run for a fixed duration regardless of when the coin is first found, allowing more than one team to complete it (the record for most teams to complete a hunt is the 2017 Hunt: 17 teams completed it, the winners took only 18 hours).

While the puzzles in early hunts were either linear (after solving one puzzle, a new puzzle would be revealed) or released en masse, since 1998 the puzzles have been released in rounds. Successive rounds can be released at predetermined times, based upon completing a requisite number of puzzles in a previous round, or based on another metric entirely.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}} The distinguishing feature of the present-day Mystery Hunt is employing the solutions to all the puzzles in a round to solve a [[metapuzzle]], usually lacking any instructions. Once a team has solved all the metapuzzles, it may begin the "runaround" phase to find the hidden coin: the team follows a series of clues or puzzles that leads them from one location on the MIT campus to another until reaching the location where the coin is hidden. The entire hunt usually lasts approximately 48 hours, although the 2003, 2013, 2023, and 2024 hunts all required over 60 hours for the winning team, ending on Monday. Although the hidden prize is always called "the coin", a variety of items have been used as the "coin", including a [[compact disc]], a fragment of a [[meteorite]], a [[snowglobe]], and a wooden cube.

The mystery hunt employs a wide range of puzzles including [[crossword]]s, [[cryptic crossword]]s, [[logic puzzle]]s, [[jigsaw puzzle]]s, [[anagram]]s, [[connect-the-dots]], [[cipher]]s, [[riddle]]s, [[nonogram|paint by numbers]], [[sudoku]]s, and [[word search]]es. Solutions to these classic puzzles are further complicated by employing arcane or esoteric topics like [[quantum computing]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/06/puzzles/paris/the_quantum_menace/ |title=2006 Mystery Hunt |access-date=2007-09-04}}</ref> [[stereoisomer]]s, [[ancient Greek]],<ref name="2001 Mystery Hunt">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/01/phase1/3/index.html |title=2001 Mystery Hunt |access-date=2007-09-04}}</ref> [[Klingon language|Klingon]],<ref name="2001 Mystery Hunt" /> [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] cantatas,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/06/puzzles/paris/sacred_and_profane/ |title=2006 Mystery Hunt:Sacred and Profane |access-date=2007-09-04}}</ref> [[coin]]age of [[Africa]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/04/timbuktu/j6L/ |title=2004 Mystery Hunt |access-date=2007-09-04}}</ref> and [[Barbie]] dolls.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/04/timbuktu/TX7/ |title=2004 Mystery Hunt |access-date=2007-09-04}}</ref> Puzzles might also employ pictures, audio files, video games, physical objects, and/or locations within MIT or the Boston area.<ref name="Phoenix" /> The hunt also assumes extensive familiarity with MIT's campus, culture, and lore.<ref>{{Cite web|title=MIT Mystery Hunt Puzzle Index: Category Data Colleges, MIT, and Mystery Hunt|url=https://devjoe.appspot.com/huntindex/category/college|access-date=2021-01-21|website=devjoe.appspot.com}}</ref>

==History==
The Mystery Hunt was started in 1981 by then-graduate student [[Bradley Schaefer]].<ref name=Birthday>{{cite web|last=Marcott|first=Amy|title=Happy 30…er…29th Birthday, Mystery Hunt!|url=http://alum.mit.edu/pages/sliceofmit/2010/01/15/mystery-hunt/|work=Slice of MIT|publisher=MIT Alumni|access-date=23 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828193253/http://alum.mit.edu/pages/sliceofmit/2010/01/15/mystery-hunt/|archive-date=28 August 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Games">{{cite journal |last=Albert |first=Eric |date=July 1991 |journal=Games |url=https://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/gamesarticle.html |access-date=2007-08-16 |title=The Great Annual MIT Mystery Hunt}}</ref> 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 cent]] 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. The hunt was organized for the next two years by Schaefer and after he graduated, the winners were given the honor of writing the hunt the next year.<ref name="Games" />

Over the next several years, the hunt became longer and more involved as the number of participants increased. The earliest recorded theme is Captain Red Herring's Mystery Island in 1992. The 1984 Hunt had 22 clues, and the 1987 Hunt had 19 clues and a final runaround.{{Citation needed|date=August 2007}} The Mystery Hunt has continued to grow, with the 2014 Hunt containing 115 puzzles, 10 metapuzzles, 5 events, a 24-puzzle mid-hunt runaround, and a 5-puzzle final runaround.<ref>{{cite web|title=MIT Mystery Hunt 2014 Puzzle Overview|url=http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/2014/overview.html|website=Team Overview in 2014 MIT Mystery Hunt|access-date=15 January 2015}}</ref>

Though metapuzzles have existed in some form for many Mystery Hunts, the structure regarding how the puzzles combine into metapuzzles and how puzzles are released varies. For example, in the 2006 Hunt, "antepuzzles" provided access to new rounds, whose answers were derived from pieces of information attached to the round puzzles, but otherwise irrelevant to them (for example, the colors in which the puzzle titles were printed<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/06/antes/kuala_lumpur.html |title=2006 MIT Mystery Hunt: Kuala Lumpur ante solution |work=Web.mit.edu |access-date=2012-04-17}}</ref>); in the 2009 Hunt, apart from the shorter introductory rounds, each main round had a unique structure and way of releasing new puzzles. In some Hunts, such as 1999's and 2008's, solvers are not told which sets of puzzles must be combined to create metapuzzles; figuring out the correct groupings is part of the puzzle.

While the hunt is hosted on MIT's campus, puzzles are generally delivered through a website that tracks team progress on puzzles that updates when puzzles are solved. Puzzles may also involve physical components to be solved on campus. In 2021 and 2022, the Mystery Hunt was held entirely remotely, due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].

===List of Hunts===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left;"
!Year
!Author
!Winner
!Theme description<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/huntsbyyear.html |title=Mystery Hunt Archive|work=Web.mit.edu |access-date=2021-08-12}}</ref>
|-
| 1981 
| Brad Schaefer 
| 
| 
|-
| 1982 
| Brad Schaefer 
| 
| 
|-
| 1983 
| Brad Schaefer 
| Holman Reactionary Army (Jean-Joseph Coté)<ref name="Games" /> 
| 
|-
| 1984 
| Jean-Joseph Coté<ref name="Games" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/1984/mysteryhunt1984.pdf |title=1984 Mystery Hunt |access-date=2021-01-31}}</ref> 
| 
| 
|-
| 1985 
| JIM and DKS<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/1985/mysteryhunt1985.pdf |title=1985 Mystery Hunt |access-date=2021-01-31}}</ref> 
| 
| 
|-
| 1986 
| 
| 
| 
|-
| 1987 
| 
| 
| 
|-
| 1988 
| Eric Albert<ref name="Games" /> 
| The Black Seven<ref name="Games" /> 
| 
|-
| 1989 
| The Black Seven<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/1989/mysteryhunt1989.pdf |title=1989 Mystery Hunt |access-date=2021-01-31}}</ref> 
| 
| 
|-
| 1990 
| 
| 
| 
|-
| 1991 
| Jan Maessen and Stephen Rinehart<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/1991/mysteryhunt1991.pdf |title=1991 Mystery Hunt |access-date=2021-02-08}}</ref> 
| 
| 
|-
| 1992 
| 
| 
| "Captain [[Red herring (plot device)|Red Herring]]'s Mystery Island" 
|-
| 1993 
| 
| 
| A search for the [[Holy Grail]] 
|-
| 1994 
| Eric Albert, Julian West, and others 
| 
| The [[cyberpunk]] genre 
|-
| 1995 
| Mark Gottlieb 
| The Spanish Inquisition<ref name=Coins>{{cite web|last=Marcott|first=Amy|title=Where Have All The Coins Been Hidden?|url=https://alum.mit.edu/news-views/alumni-news-features/alumni-news-archive/mystery-hunt|publisher=MIT Alumni|access-date=31 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907180008/https://alum.mit.edu/news-views/alumni-news-features/alumni-news-archive/mystery-hunt|archive-date=7 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> 
| The game [[Cluedo|Clue]] 
|-
| 1996 
| [[Richard Garfield]], [[Skaff Elias]], et al 
| Chaos (Mark Gottlieb)<ref name="Gottlieb" /> 
| The book ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid]]'' by [[Douglas Hofstadter]] 
|-
| 1997 
| Mark Gottlieb<ref name="Gottlieb">{{Cite thesis|last=Gottlieb|first=Mark|contribution=Secrets of the MIT mystery hunt : an exploration of the theory underlying the construction of a multi-puzzle contest|year=1998|hdl=1721.1/43725|title=Secrets of the MIT mystery hunt : An exploration of the theory underlying the construction of a multi-puzzle contest|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|type=Thesis}}</ref>'' 
| Palindrome (Ainamania) 
| [[Elvis Presley]] 
|-
| 1998 
| Palindrome (Ainamania) 
| Iliaphay 
| Getting a [[Higher education in the United States|college degree]] in Enigmatology 
|-
| 1999 
| Acme (formerly Iliaphay) 
| Setec Astronomy 
| [[Carmen Sandiego]]   
|-
| 2000 
| Setec Astronomy 
| Palindrome (PAINTTTNIAP) 
| The movie ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''  
|-
| 2001 
| Palindrome (PAINTTTNIAP) 
| Setec Astronomy 
| The [[Horror and terror|horror]] genre  
|-
| 2002 
| Setec Astronomy 
| Acme 
| The game ''[[Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]'' 
|-
| 2003 
| Acme 
| Kappa Sig 
| The movie ''[[The Matrix]]''  
|-
| 2004 
| The French Armada (formerly Kappa Sig) 
| Setec Astronomy 
| The movie ''[[Time Bandits]]''   
|-
| 2005 
| Setec Astronomy 
| Physical Plant 
| [[Superhero]] powers  
|-
| 2006 
| Physical Plant 
| The Evil Midnight Bombers What Bomb At Midnight 
| The [[Spy film|espionage]] genre  
|-
| 2007 
| The Evil Midnight Bombers What Bomb At Midnight 
| Palindrome (Dr. Awkward) 
| [[Hell]] and the [[Seven Deadly Sins]] 
|-
| 2008 
| Palindrome (Dr. Awkward) 
| The Evil Midnight Bombers What Bomb At Midnight 
| A [[whodunit]] murder mystery 
|-
| 2009 
| The Evil Midnight Bombers What Bomb At Midnight 
| Beginner's Luck 
| A sci-fi themed hunt based around ''Escape from Zyzzlvaria'', an invented [[science fiction]] [[board game]]<ref>The name "Escape from Zyzzlvaria" was introduced in a [http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/02/round2/04/Puzzle.html puzzle in the 2002 hunt]</ref>  
|-
| 2010 
| Beginner's Luck 
| Metaphysical Plant 
| [[Alternate history]] and the (mostly fictional) history of the Mystery Hunt itself  
|-
| 2011 
| Metaphysical Plant 
| Codex 
| [[Video games]], especially ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' and ''[[Portal (game)|Portal]]'' 
|-
| 2012 
| Codex 
| Manic Sages 
| The movie and musical ''[[The Producers (musical)|The Producers]]'', and [[musical theatre]] in general  
|-
| 2013 
| Manic Sages 
| ''The entire text of [[Atlas Shrugged]]'' 
| A [[bank heist]] 
|-
| 2014 
| Alice Shrugged (formerly ''the entire text of [[Atlas Shrugged]]'') 
| One Fish Two Fish Random Fish Blue Fish 
| Lewis Carroll's [[Alice in Wonderland]]  
|-
| 2015 
| One Fish Two Fish Random Fish Blue Fish 
| Luck, I Am Your Father 
| The exploration of the [[ocean]]  
|-
| 2016 
| Luck, I Am Your Father 
| Setec Astronomy 
| The movie ''[[Inception]]'', and [[sleep]] in general  
|-
| 2017 
| Setec Astronomy 
| Death and Mayhem 
| A [[role-playing game]] similar to ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''  
|-
| 2018 
| Life and Order (formerly Death and Mayhem) 
| Setec Astronomy 
| The 2015 movie ''[[Inside Out (2015 film)|Inside Out]]''  
|-
| 2019 
| Setec Astronomy 
| Left Out 
| Holidays, the [[Great Molasses Flood|Great Molasses Flood of 1919]], and the movie ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]''  
|-
| 2020 
| Left Out 
| ✈✈✈ Galactic Trendsetters ✈✈✈ 
| “Penny Park”, a fictional [[amusement park]] 
|-
| 2021 
| style="width: 25%;"| ✈✈✈ Galactic Trendsetters ✈✈✈ 
| style="width: 25%;"| Palindrome (Not So Boston) 
| Exploring an [[parallel universes in fiction|alternate-universe]] version of MIT through a [[massively multiplayer online game]] 
|-
| 2022 
| style="width: 25%;"| Palindrome 
| style="width: 25%;"| teammate 
| [[Literary genre]]s, and books in general 
|-
| 2023 
| style="width: 25%;"| teammate 
| style="width: 25%;"| The Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team to Be Named Later 
| Exploring the "Puzzle Factory" and reactivating [[artificial intelligence|AIs]] created to write the Mystery Hunt 
|-
| 2024 
| style="width: 25%;"| The Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team to Be Named Later 
| style="width: 25%;"| Death and Mayhem 
| [[Greek mythology]] 

|-
| 2025 
| style="width: 25%;"| Death and Mayhem 
| style="width: 25%;"| Cardinality 
| A [[film noir]]-style mystery

|}

==See also==
* [[University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt]]
* [[The Game (treasure hunt)|The Game]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/ Official Mystery Hunt website]
* {{cite episode |title=Quiz Show |series=This American Life |series-link=This American Life |airdate=February 16, 2007}} Available [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/326/quiz-show online.]
* {{cite news|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/iap-mystery.html |title=Sleepless in Cambridge, they hunt the mystery coin |publisher=MIT News Office |access-date=2007-09-04 |date=January 24, 2005 |last=Brown |first=Sasha}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081121014103/http://www.charlieschroeder.net/radio/weekend-america/mit-mystery-hunt.html Short Radio Piece About the Hunt on Weekend America]
* [http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/exclusives/66090/MIT-2009-Mystery-Hunt.html Short video piece about the 2009 Hunt]{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} on G4's [[Attack of the Show!]]

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[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology student life]]
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