My first mystery hunt was back in 2009. I had joined the
unattached hunters list and was picked up by Palindrome. Well, “picked up” wasn’t
the right word – assigned is more like it. I needed to know what team I was on
so I could start making plans for how I was going to get up to Boston/how long
to stay/other various details. When I got to the mystery hunt that year, I was
amazed at how good the rest of my team was – and I definitely struggled on a
bunch of puzzles. Fortunately I managed to find some places to shine (I was
pretty good at the Combat Simulator unlocking, I figured out how the Combatant’s
Guide to Zzylvaria worked at the end, and I got so far on I Can Haz Zyzzlburger?
even though we didn’t solve it). However, I still left with the impression that
my team was way more talented and skilled than I was. After all, these people
have years of experience on me, they belong to some sort of National Puzzler’s
League, and they have so many accomplishments behind them. Meanwhile, I’m a
college freshman who hasn’t really done anything with myself. Unfortunately, as
the years went on, I never really shook that feeling.
Fast forward to 2012, the Producer’s Hunt. There was one met
puzzle that no one had even looked at, the Charles Dodgson Meta. Seeing that it
was a combination of chess and scrabble, it seemed like it would be right up my
alley. I’d tell the story, but Eric Berlin already has. My biggest Mystery Hunt
battle scar was born.
Fast forward to the opening this year. On the plus side, I
was happy to find out that it wasn’t actually an academic conference-themed
hunt. On the minus side, it brought memories of that meta puzzle right back.
When I came back to the team room after the opening I declared that if there
was a chess meta puzzle that I wasn’t doing it. (Yeah right.) It did set a tone
for the rest of the hunt – I was going to make up for the frustration of
Charles Dodgson.
Looking back at Part 1 of my recap, something becomes really
obvious – I spent a large part of my time focusing on big picture/metapuzzles.
I had a direct hand in solving 5/10 metapuzzles (counting the Jabberwock deck).
Of the other 5, 3 of them I wasn’t in the room for because I was preparing for
the big QR runaround, and the other 2 were solved while I was asleep. I also
went to a lot of interactions. I went to every HQ interaction I could, which
ended up being slightly over ½ of them. (HQ people might remember me as the
tallish guy in the bright red hoodie from Palindrome if the weekend and the
people in it isn’t a complete blur to you. My summer camp experience is going
to point towards the 2nd being a much more likely possibility.) I
definitely had my ear on the pulse of the team, and I focused on the big
roadblocks that the team needed to progress.
This year I was a lot more relaxed
during the hunt. Something about only having 12 puzzles open at a time relaxes
you a lot more than the OH DEAR GOD WE’RE DROWNING IN PUZZLES from last year.
Because I was a lot more relaxed, I got the time to calm down, eat without
having to solve a puzzle at the same time, and just talk to some of my
teammates during the hunt. One of the comments I got a couple times from people
throughout the weekend was that I was a mini-Foggy. This made me feel awesome.
Perhaps I should explain for
people not on Palindrome – when the Evil Midnight Bombers broke up back in
2009, Palindrome got Foggy. Foggy is the editor of P&A Magazine, he wrote
the Puzzle Boat and has the Puzzle Boat II coming out soon, and overall he is
awesome at puzzles. I spent a lot of my time working with Foggy this year.
Almost all of the meta puzzles I worked on had his input (with the exception of
the card deck, which had other people’s input). I ended up moving right next to
him in the middle of working on the Tea Party meta and pretty much stayed there
all weekend – usually I end up moving all around the room. On top of that, I went
to get breakfast with Foggy on Sunday(?) morning, and he mentioned how we’d
still be a day behind if it wasn’t for my help this year.
These complements meant the world
to me. One of the reasons I feel better about being at the MIT Mystery Hunt
than other puzzle competitions is because of the uncapped team size. I worry
that if I participate in other puzzle competitions that I won’t pull my weight –
that the team would be better off with someone else filling my spot. I look all
around and see our team filled with amazing people and amazing solvers, and
tons of years of experience. This year I felt like I was right up there with
all of them.
Hopefully this will turn into a
year of more puzzling (although being from Philly makes that tougher). BAPHL I
think is a pair of Megabus rides away, and maybe I’ll be able to make it to
DASH (depending on what cities offer it this year). I keep meaning to write a
round of puzzles, maybe I’ll actually get around to doing that this year. I do
know that this year is probably going to be rough for me, but the Mystery Hunt
was a great way to start it off!
Part 1 is all about the
individual puzzles that I took part in this year. Part 3 will be about the “magic”
of Saturday night and my suggestions for next year.
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