2010 MIT Mystery Hunt

The 2010 Mystery Hunt celebrated past hunts, real and imaginary. In the opening, this year's hunt was announced to be one round long so that the rest of the weekend could be spent as a celebration of the 30 years of hunts. Teams were initially presented with the first round at www.mithunt30.com.

However, teams eventually discovered the coin had been hit by Prof. Emit's time ray and had started to bounce backwards in time creating rounds of puzzles in past hunts and changing history. Teams had to determine what changes had been made to history, and figure out what ramifications these had on the first round puzzles previously solved. From resolving this initial round, teams then discovered directions to build a time jump detector using the information that they had acquired. Assembling the ingredients for the time jump detector and then physically moving around campus, teams could then get the coin to settle in its final hiding place.

The coin was found by the south gate of the old Ashdown by Metaphysical Plant at 5:50 AM, Sunday, January 17.

The hunt as seen by teams at www.mithunt300.com is here.

Remaining answers and other information will be uploaded over the next week.

Statistics and other Useful Pages

Credits

Beginner's Luck is Andrew Bradburn, Byron Calver, Wes Carroll, Michael Coleman, Joseph DeVincentis, Nathan Fung, Matt Giat, Mark Halpin, Jeffrey Harris, Tyler Hinman, Alison Howard, Robert Hutchinson, Martin Jaspan, Justin Kao, Craig Kasper, Bowen Kerins, Elizabeth Levin, Paul Melamud, Corey Plover, Darren Rigby, Julia Sabin, Dave Shukan, Marc Spraragen, Mariko Soto, Mike Sylvia, and Adam R. Wood.

Editing and puzzle development were managed by Nathan Fung, Dave Shukan, and Mike Sylvia. Test solving and logistical aspects were coordinated by Nathan Fung. The website was designed by Corey Plover. The coin was designed by Mark Halpin.

We would like to thank Stephen Peters, Brad Schaefer, Jessica Zdon and the Schedules Office, the Association of Student Activities, the Campus Activities Complex, Jessica Wong, Marc Tanner, Scott Ananian, Rebecca Rogers, Matt Kurkowski at Zipcar, Amy Marcott of the Alumni Association, the MIT Publicity Office, Jennifer Braun, Paul & Storm, and Barb Purdy.

Photos of the 2010 Hunt were taken by Dave Shukan.

Cast

Imelda O'Doul: Elizabeth Levin
Stuart Emit: Wes Carroll
Kyle Lamb: Dave Shukan
Jill Cotton: Julia Sabin
Mike Everett: Paul Melamud
Joachim LeFay: Mike Sylvia
Patrick Merks: Darren Rigby