MetaTerminal Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) Quote Imagine a word search. Now imagine you aren’t told what words to look for. Now imagine you aren’t told it’s a word search. Now imagine it isn’t a word search. Hello all! It’s been a while. For those of you who don’t know us, we are the 17th Shard Puzzlehunt Team, the unofficial puzzlers of the 17th Shard community. We compete in many different puzzle events and even ran our own event this year, Shardhunt. While we haven’t updated the thread very much recently (it’s been a bit crazy!) we wanted to let you all know that we are again looking for more teammates to join us for the biggest puzzle event of the year: the MIT Mystery Hunt, on January 14th 2022 running through the weekend. Everyone and anyone is welcome, regardless of level of puzzle-experience! A quick rundown if you haven’t heard of hunts before: puzzlehunts are collections of various puzzles that teams complete over the course of a few days. In a typical puzzle, you receive some information and have to extract an answer out of it, which is almost always an English word or phrase. Puzzles can come in many different forms; the only real commonality is that you usually receive no direct instructions, so it’s up to you to figure out how to make sense of the information you’re given. If you’re interested in logic puzzles, crosswords, puzzle games, esoteric trivia, ARGs, or anything like that, I highly recommend it! There is also a wonderful social element in solving puzzles with other people. Last year we had about 40 members on the team and solved over 100 puzzles; this year, we’re shaping up to get even further into the Hunt. We’d love for more people who are curious about the puzzle world to join us and experience these wonderful events. We’ll be running practice puzzle events and other fun things in the run-up to get acquainted with all of the new folk who will be joining us, so don’t worry if you have no experience in hunts! You can also look at our old thread that has some more information here. Let us know in the thread if you’re keen, want to show off your mad skills, or are curious and want to learn more! Edited December 10, 2021 by Ookla the Meta 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rushu42 Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 I would definitely recommend anyone who enjoys this site to try out puzzlehunting. I was recruited from here for the Mystery Hunt two years ago (gosh, two years? Feels like way shorter) and it's slowly been consuming my life ever since. I can't see innocent lists of words anymore without instinctively trying to extract... don't worry I'm not addicted I can quit whenever I want. But don't feel daunted if it seems like it'll be way over your head. Puzzlehunts can be a lot, especially Mystery Hunt, and it might b easy to look up examples of puzzles and decide that it's way too hard for you. Rest assured though, everyone's bad at it when they start. Even if you sold your last two braincells to Hoid for some ramen, everyone has something they can contribute to a puzzle! Plus, we have an M-Bot. What more do you need? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danex Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 i am intrigued. i have no puzzlehunting experience besides some very very very basic cryptology. and i've followed a few ARGs if that counts for anything. how do team members communicate? Discord? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Experience Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 interested, but not sure how much time I would be able to contribute during the weekend. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elf Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) I'm interested. When is this starting? Then I will say whether I can join or not. Edited December 10, 2021 by Elf 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetaTerminal Posted December 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 4 hours ago, ookla the quantificational said: i am intrigued. i have no puzzlehunting experience besides some very very very basic cryptology. and i've followed a few ARGs if that counts for anything. how do team members communicate? Discord? ARGs are a good touchstone, especially around the socialising and occasionally downright chaos, but the events are very different. (Puzzlehunts tend to be much more quickly paced, so a lot more happens in a lot less time. I prefer puzzlehunts in this way!) We use a Discord server with a custom bot in order to communicate and keep track of everything. I’ve actually talked about our setup at length on one of my blog posts if you’re interested. 3 hours ago, Ookla the Enthralled said: interested, but not sure how much time I would be able to contribute during the weekend. Up to you whether you want to commit then! We don’t make minimum requirements of availability - but want you want the best experience joining for the first time, you’ll probably want to commit to at least a few hours. (Some people only solve one puzzle, and some are around for the whole event and don’t sleep very much. It’s really up to you to decide how to have the most fun.) 39 minutes ago, Elf said: I'm interested. When is this starting? Then I will say whether I can join or not. January 14th, 2022; at midday EST. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonrise Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 3 hours ago, ookla the quantificational said: how do team members communicate? Discord? Yes, we have a team discord for the upcoming Mystery Hunt. We are composed of a small group of folk from these forums along with friends of friends and people we virtually met from around the hunt community. 15 minutes ago, Elf said: I'm interested. When is this starting? Then I will say whether I can join or not. This happens over MLK weekend. It starts at noon on Friday, 14 January and goes until that Sunday or Monday. A lot of people take a day or two off work (whistles innocently) but that is totally not necessary! People pop in over the weekend as they are able to. --- I discovered puzzlehunting on my own, but I owe it to this team for helping me continue with it. Turns out team activities are fun, who would have thought. Here's a thread about an old hunt we did, and I recommend you browse the puzzles/solutions of this one to get a sense of what it is. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetaTerminal Posted December 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 Ha, ! That couldn’t have been more than 30 seconds either. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonrise Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 Oof, no more than that I am sure. I shouldn't have proofread that final time XD Nice cryptic status message by the way! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetaTerminal Posted December 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 Proofreading is of Odium Thank you thank you! I set it a while ago and then... forgot about it. Mobile user 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rushu42 Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 3 hours ago, Elf said: I'm interested. When is this starting? Then I will say whether I can join or not. It starts in January, as they already said, but you're also welcome to join the server earlier than then if you want to do any practice puzzles or just get to know the other people on the team! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elf Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) I'm sorry, I can't join this. Maybe next time, though. Edited December 10, 2021 by Elf 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetaTerminal Posted December 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2021 For those who have responded with interest and availability - if you confirm, I'll DM you with the details and how to join. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exalted Posted December 11, 2021 Report Share Posted December 11, 2021 21 minutes ago, Ookla the Meta said: For those who have responded with interest and availability - if you confirm, I'll DM you with the details and how to join. Which isn't to say you can't still respond, if you haven't already! I'll third (fourth?) those upthread who recommend trying this out--I've found puzzlehunts to be a lot of fun and one of the few things that kept me sane during quarantine. And we like to think we're pretty fun people to solve with, too! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sart Posted December 18, 2021 Report Share Posted December 18, 2021 Yes. Hi, I looked this up, and spent way too much of my free time trying to solve some of these puzzles. I'm definitely interested now, and I think I have that weekend free. Also: Have you guys tried the Prologue for the Mystery Hunt this year? I've filled out the grid for the first puzzle, but am unsure how to continue. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sart Posted December 18, 2021 Report Share Posted December 18, 2021 (edited) Sorry for double posting. I finally figured out that first puzzle. I feel smart now. @Ookla the Meta I'd be interested in an invite to your discord. Edited December 18, 2021 by ookla the lowercase 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetaTerminal Posted December 18, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2021 3 hours ago, ookla the lowercase said: Yes. Hi, I looked this up, and spent way too much of my free time trying to solve some of these puzzles. I'm definitely interested now, and I think I have that weekend free. Also: Have you guys tried the Prologue for the Mystery Hunt this year? I've filled out the grid for the first puzzle, but am unsure how to continue. We have! We're all finished with it now, but I'm happy to chat you through it or try to connect you with some people who haven't solved it if you want company. It's a fun round! 1 hour ago, ookla the lowercase said: Sorry for double posting. I finally figured out that first puzzle. I feel smart now. @Ookla the Meta I'd be interested in an invite to your discord. I'll DM you the details. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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