Hunt Information

What is Brown Puzzlehunt?

Brown Puzzlehunt 2025 is the third annual puzzlehunt run by current Brown and RISD students.

In a puzzlehunt, participants compete in teams to solve puzzles. Puzzles can come in many different forms; the only commonality is that there are usually no direct instructions, so it is up to you to extract an English word or phrase from the information given. You can read a longer introduction to puzzlehunts here.

This hunt is designed to be a relatively easy introduction to puzzlehunting for beginner teams. We expect this year's Brown Puzzlehunt to be roughly the same length and difficulty as last year's hunt. If you are looking for some practice, we recommend looking at puzzles from other online hunts such as Galactic Puzzle Hunt, Teammate Hunt, or Puzzle Potluck.

When and where is this happening?

This year, Brown Puzzlehunt is offering three different ways to participate across two weekends. You can hunt in-person, hunt fully remotely, or purchase a Box.

In-Person Event

If you come to campus, you'll get to do events, physical puzzles, interactions, and the in-person runaround! The In-Person Event will run from Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 4:00 PM UTC to Sunday, April 13, 2025 at 11:00 PM UTC, at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

All in-person participants need to print and fill out this waiver ahead of time in order to come to campus. We will collect these at kickoff.

You don't need every person on your team to come to campus to be an In-Person team. One is fine (although they might have their hands full going to every event and doing every physical puzzle!) If you are part of an In-Person team but aren't on-campus, you'll still be able to access the non-physical puzzles through the website.

Remote Event

If you can't come to Brown's campus, you can do our online-only event. This runs from Saturday, April 19, 2025 at 4:00 PM UTC to Friday, April 25, 2025 at 4:00 PM UTC. (This is a different weekend than the In-Person Event!)

There are two different ways to participate during the Remote Weekend. You can participate fully remotely, or you can purchase a Box.

Remote + the Box

In early March, we will be selling Boxes to 50 remote teams (first come, first served). If you get a Box, you will be able to do most or all of the physical puzzles (because you'll have them with you!) and you'll receive cool merch.

Check out the Box section for more details.

Fully Remote (No Box)

If you don't receive a Box, we will provide fully remote-accessible versions of all physical puzzles. You will be able to solve every puzzle in the hunt even if you are fully remote.

Which experience should I sign up for?

If you can make it to the In-Person Event, we highly recommend you do so. You'll get to do all of the physical puzzles, in-person interactions, events, and the in-person runaround.

If you get a Box, you won't be able to do the in-person interactions, events, or the in-person runaround. However, you will get to do all of our physical puzzles, and you'll also get cool merch!

If you participate as a fully remote team (with no Box), you'll still be able to solve every puzzle in the hunt. This experience will be similar to other online-only hunts that don't expect any in-person involvement.

Essentially, we are designing three different hunts. We're working to ensure that these are each enjoyable, fully accessible experiences.

What are the Boxes?

In early March, we will be selling Boxes to 50 remote teams (first come, first served).

The Boxes will each contain:

• A pin
• Stickers
• As many physical puzzles as we can fit inside it

If you get a Box, you will be able to do most or all of the physical puzzles (because you'll have them with you!)

Who can get a Box?

We will mail a Box (at no additional cost) anywhere in the United States.

If you're outside the United States, we're sorry; we're not able to send you a Box this year! International shipping at scale is a really hard problem.

You could send a Box to a friend in the US, and get them to mail it on to you; but we won't be able to vouch that those Boxes will arrive, and we won't be able to track them. You'll have to weigh up the cost and the risk yourself.

How much will a Box cost?

Brown University policy prohibits us from selling the Boxes at a loss. The Boxes will therefore be priced to cover materials, tax, surcharge, and shipping, with no profit margin.

As such, we don't know exactly how much they'll cost yet, but we imagine that it will be in the $20 - $25 range. We're working on getting the price as low as possible!

If you know you might want a Box, but you don't think you can afford it, we can arrange something for you. Please contact us at brownpuzzleHQ [at] gmail [dot] com and we'll find a solution.

We don't make any money off of the Boxes. If you want to support the hunt, consider donating to Brown Puzzle Club!

How many puzzles will be inside a Box?

It's hard to say (because everything is up in the air at the moment) but we're planning to have at least 6 puzzles be in the Box. Maybe more, but no promises.

You'll also get cool merch!

I'm interested in getting a Box. What should I do?

Register a team (with an email you actually check), and indicate that you're interested in purchasing a Box. When more news about Boxes is available, we'll email everyone who said they might want a Box. (We'll also put out general community announcements, but giving us your email is the best way to stay informed.)

Who can participate in the hunt?

Brown Puzzlehunt is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. We've taken steps to ensure that every puzzle is accessible to remote solvers, except for the final runaround. Teams familiar with Brown/RISD culture may have some advantage in solving puzzles.

We recommend teams to be around 6 to 8 people. The maximum team size is 10 people, but there is no minimum team size - you can still have fun with a team of 2! Students and those new to hunting are encouraged to build teams on the larger side.

Additionally, for your team to win the In-Person Event, you must have at least one current Brown/RISD student on-campus. If you do not have a current Brown/RISD student on your team, you will be able to do the final runaround, but you will not be able to win.

Any team can win the Remote Event, regardless of team composition.

I'm coming to campus. What do I need to know?

Waivers

All in-person participants need to print and fill out this waiver ahead of time in order to come to campus. We will collect these at kickoff.

Being Respectful

Brown University is not a playground for puzzlers; it is also a live university, with classes, students, faculty, research, and other events happening all the time. If you're going to be on-site, please be respectful of both the community and the campus.

Brown Puzzlehunt will not require you to do anything illegal, immoral, or untoward, including accessing unauthorized spaces. If you think that a puzzle is asking you to do something dangerous, against the law, or disrespectful, stop and think. If you're really not sure, please contact us and check.

Solving Spaces

If you are going to be on-campus, we will need you to let us know where your HQ is. This is the location where you will be spending most of your time solving puzzles while you're on-campus. If you are a student team or have student members, this might be a dorm common area or an apartment near campus, or a noise-tolerant space like the Student Center or some floors of the SciLi.

If you need a place for your team to work during the hunt, let us know during the registration process and we will try to accommodate you. Our ability to allocate classrooms like this will be limited, so we will prioritize teams which do not have other spaces available and who register in advance.

Minors

Unfortunately, we are not in a position to accommodate minors on-campus (participants who are not Brown or RISD students and who are under the age of 18). Sorry! However, minors are welcome to participate remotely, and teams with minors can still send other participants who are over the age of 18 to campus to participate.

How do puzzles work?

All puzzles will be visible on the website. This is where you will submit your answers and receive new puzzles. Some puzzles will be available at the start of the hunt; solving puzzles will unlock more puzzles.

Each answer is a string of letters A-Z. Answers are not case- or space-sensitive.

You have 20 total guesses for each puzzle. If you run out of guesses, contact us, and we would be happy to grant more. Random guessing and brute-forcing are discouraged.

If something on-campus is part of a puzzle, the website will direct you towards it first.

How do hints work?

When puzzles drop, teams will gain one hint request every three hours, which you can use to ask for help on any puzzle. This can be something like a nudge in the right direction (i.e. you give us your progress on the puzzle and we will try to get you unstuck) or an answer to a question (e.g. “Which answers to these crossword clues are wrong?”). You can only have one open hint request at a time.

If you are a beginner student team or a team with a strong on-site presence that is not in the running to win, we will also visit you frequently to check on your progress and help you along. If you are struggling, do not hesitate to reach out — the event is meant to be fun, and we want to ensure no hunter is left behind! If you want someone on HQ to come and visit you, you can email us at any time.

What else?

You may use any external sources for help, including other people, as long as they are not helping other teams and are not actively participating in the hunt.

Use of Google is not only permitted, but essential. You may also benefit from other online tools, such as:

• Online wordplay solvers like nutrimatic, qat, or OneLook
• Logic puzzle solvers like noq
• Reverse image searching tools like Google Lens or Tineye

You may not publicly stream a solve of our hunt when the hunt is live. We reserve the right to disqualify any team for unsportsmanlike conduct. We also reserve the right to change any of these rules. If there is a big change, we will announce it to all teams.

If you have any questions about these rules, or if you want to contact us for any reason, feel free to email us at brownpuzzleHQ [at] gmail [dot] com.

Who's making this hunt?

Officers

Club President: Megan Carlson ('26)
Club President: Erin Finn ('27)
Puzzle Director: Thomas Gordon ('26)
Tech Director: Alex Wang ('27)
Tech Director: Chloe Qiao ('27)
Art Director: Bailey Merlino ('26)
Art Director : Eliot Geer ('27)
Testsolving Director: Arnav Singhal ('26)
Events Director: Jack de Haan ('28)
Factchecking Director: Chloe Johnson ('28)
Factchecking Director: Noah Elbaum ('28)
Story Director: Philip Yao ('28)

Puzzle Writers

Jeremy Fleming ('25)
Cerulean Ozarow ('25)
Megan Carlson ('26)
Malcolm Certain ('26)
Kaylee Gallagher ('26)
Thomas Gordon* ('26)
Veronika Grytsai ('26)
Chai Harsha ('26)
Bailey Merlino ('26)
Arnav Singhal ('26)
Phil Avilov ('RISD '27)
Audrey Feigin ('27)
Erin Finn ('27)
Aren Guralp ('27)
Chloe Qiao ('27)
Alex Wang ('27)
Nate Chinman ('28)
Nicholas Cressman ('28)
Jack de Haan ('28)
Noah Elbaum ('28)
Chloe Johnson ('28)
Gabriel Nelkin ('28)
Eric Wu ('28)
Philip Yao ('28)

Art Team

Jaclyn Cohen ('26)
Bailey Merlino* ('26)
Eliot Geer* ('27)
Phil Avilov (RISD '27)
Chloe Johnson ('28)

Technical Team

Stella Zhang ('25)
Jaclyn Cohen ('26)
Thomas Gordon ('26)
Veronika Grytsai ('26)
Brian Xu (Masters '26)
Aren Guralp ('27)
Yi Lyo ('27)
Alex Wang* ('27)
Chloe Qiao* ('27)
Jack de Haan ('28)
Eric Wu ('28)