Format
The puzzlehunt will consist of a set of puzzles and metapuzzles.
This event will be live from Saturday, January 02, at 12:00 PM EST to Saturday, January 09, at 11:00 PM EST
The event is entirely online.
The maximum team size is 6.
More puzzles will be unlocked as you submit correct answers.
Teams will be ranked on the leaderboard by finish time, then by points, then by last solved puzzle time.
Solving
Every puzzle’s correct answer is an English word or phrase. When you think you’ve found the correct answer, submit your answer with the specific puzzle page on the website.
- If you’re correct, you’ll receive points, and the puzzle is complete.
- If you submitted a partial answer (i.e. a word or phrase you’d find while solving but isn’t the final answer), you may receive a message telling you to “Keep going!” or something similar. But you won’t earn any points.
- If your submission is incorrect, you will get a message saying “incorrect”
Answer submissions disregard non-alphabetical characters, capitalization, punctuation, and whitespace.
Incorrect guesses or taking hints will NOT result in any penalties.
Hints
Every 12 hours, 1 hint token will be released for every team. These hints can be something like a nudge to help you get unstuck or checking your work. They’ll be freeform prompts and we’ll respond in the best way we can.
Other
Teams may register at any time before the event ends.
Puzzles are designed with internet use in mind. You are encouraged to use any and all digital tools at your disposal when puzzle-solving.
It is not necessary to look at the website’s source code for any puzzle.
If you have other questions, email us at umdpuzzle@gmail.com or contact us through Facebook, Twitter.