Comments on: The Geek Olympics

By: doombot » The Geek Olympics: Now With DRAGONS!

doombot » The Geek Olympics: Now With DRAGONS! — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:52:35 +0000

[...] couple years back, I wrote a post about the MIT Mystery Hunt. I called it “the geek olympics,” as this is an event for people with esoteric [...]

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:09:23 +0000

Thank you! I didn’t realize that the comic was shown in the wrap-up. (Are those things taped/online anywhere?) I guess I should write something up about this year’s Hunt, too, seeing as how I was actually able to show up in person finally…

By: Glenn Willen

Glenn Willen — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:01:36 +0000

I’m afraid I’m about two years late getting to the party, but I loved your comic two years ago at hunt wrap-up, and I still find it hilarious. :-D

–A member of the Manic Sages, who will win this damn thing one day, we swear.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 18:20:00 +0000

Thanks, all. Makes me feel like it’d be nice to draw more comics, if only not for that pesky grad school… (And seeing some other team names makes “Lake Effect Snow” seem to make more sense to me, too.)

By: Gen

Gen — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 18:20:00 +0000

Well, I also enjoyed the spy comic and I was no so strung out or sleep deprived as the rest. When it comes to puzzle solving of the MIT Mystery Hunt variey I am essentially useless. Though if they include dragons next year (as you suggested) then I might be a bit more enthused. Have you noticed that the more time you see the the word puzzle written out the less it looks like a word and the more it looks like a wakced out shape?

By: zandperl

zandperl — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 22:07:00 +0000

The spy comic did not have to be funny in any fashion. The requirements were exactly as stated: “draw a spy comic.” Photographs probably would not have been acceptable (b/c not drawn), ditto ninjas (w/o spies), and ditto music or interpretive dance. That’s all there was to it. :)

The Hunt is not much more coherent in person. It’s only in retrospect that you start to understand it. There are a set of some 100 puzzles, but you only have access to around 2 or 3 at first. Each puzzle you solve unlocks other puzzles. Puzzles are in groups, and when the group is solved the solutions together form another puzzle (called a meta-puzzle), and solving that unlocks further groups of puzzles. Eventually the metas are combined to reveal the “runaround” phase, a physical treasure hunt that only 2-3 teams get to each year.

Each individual puzzle has at least two levels. Dan and Tony were working on something where the first level of “solution” was “draw a spy comic.” You did the next level in drawing it. Your drawing had them return a simple one- or two-word passphrase (called the “answer”) that we then had to correctly spell for the HQ. Only after that part is the puzzle “solved” and new ones unlocked. And yes, often the “rules” of each puzzle have to be figured out as well.

As for the team name, it came out of a free association session and kinda stuck. It was a happy coincidence that in this year’s storyline, Professor Moriarti was trying to build a doomsday device that would cover the world in snow, except his fabulously expensive tropical real estate.

By: Etaoin

Etaoin — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 08:27:00 +0000

Hey, this is Reuven, one of the local folks from Lake Effect Snow… a few of us are hanging out with some of the people from Physical Plant, the team that ran the hunt — the comic came up in conversation, and they informed us that they LOVED it. A couple people were cracking up just thinking about it.

Just thought you’d like to know. :)