The puzzlehunt starts on and ends on , at which point puzzle solutions will be available.
Teams have a maximum size of 6. You may not create multiple accounts or be on multiple teams.
A few puzzles will be available at the start, and the primary way to unlock new puzzles is by solving puzzles. Once a metapuzzle is solved, the next round of puzzles is unlocked.
Teams that complete the hunt will be ranked by the time at which they finish. Teams that do not complete the hunt will be ranked by number of puzzles solved and tie-broken by earliest last solve time.
Solving
Each answer is a string of letters A–Z. Lowercase letters will be changed into uppercase, and any other characters will be stripped before checking for correctness.
You have 20 total guesses for each puzzle. If you legitimately run out of guesses and need more, feel free to contact us, though we won't grant your request if we see that you were, for example, guessing random thematic answers, or brute-forcing all 10-letter words.
Incorrect guesses or using lockpicks will NOT affect scoring.
If you submit 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 until you get the correct answer.
Hints (Lockpicks)
Teams start with 1 lockpick available. Lockpicks are freeform hints you can ask to get help on a puzzle. Starting on , teams will receive 1 Lockpicks every twelve hours.
You can use a lockpick to get help on a puzzle. This can be something like a nudge in the right direction (i.e. you give us your progress on the puzzle and we’ll try to get you unstuck) or an answer to a question (e.g. “Which answers to these crossword clues are wrong?”).
If you feel that we didn't help you, feel free to email us at info@thegrandhunt.com and we can help further. Please try to reply back to the original email, or include the previous responses, so we know what we have told you so far.
We will do our best to help you pick locks as fast as possible, but please understand if it takes some time to get to you :)
If you are out of lockpicks, but are completely stuck, please let us know through email. We want people to have fun solving puzzles and will be more generous for casual teams.
Hint Challenges (The Locksmith)
"Hint Challenges" are opportunities to earn additional lockpicks, accessible from the main page as "The Locksmith".
The Locksmith's shop will be available throughout the first weekend of the hunt. The first challenge will be available approximately 6 hours into the hunt, and will be refreshed approximately every 12 hours until Monday, August 12th.
Accessibility
If you are colorblind or have difficulty differentiating between colors, please email us and we will do our best to accommodate!
Most website elements are mobile friendly, but the website is designed to be viewed on a desktop.
This hunt uses Google Drive for copyable spreadsheets, and two puzzles feature using free versions of Spotify and YouTube. Google Drive is a convenience and should not block your ability to participate in the hunt. But if you cannot access free Spotify or YouTube, please email us.
Other
You may use any external sources for help, including other people, as long as they aren’t helping other teams and aren’t actively participating in the hunt. It is encouraged to use the Internet!
All domain-specific knowledge related required to solve puzzles should be searchable on the web.
It won’t be necessary to look at the HTML source/JavaScript/CSS on any webpages for any puzzle, but you’re welcome to look anyway.
We reserve the right to disqualify any team for unsportsmanlike conduct.
We reserve the right to change any of these rules. If there’s a big change, we’ll announce it to all teams.
If you have any questions about these rules, or if you want to contact us for any reason, email info@thegrandhunt.com. We will get back to you as soon as we can.