FAQs

What is a puzzlehunt? How do I solve these puzzles?

If you’ve never heard of puzzlehunts before, here’s a very brief summary: in a typical puzzle, you receive some information and have to extract an answer out of it, which is almost always an English word or phrase. Puzzles can come in many different forms; the only real commonality is that you usually receive no direct instructions, so it’s up to you to figure out how to make sense of the information you’re given.

If you are new to puzzles and are interested in seeing some examples, or if you’re looking for some practice, we recommend looking at puzzles from other online hunts like Galactic Puzzle Hunt, Teammate Hunt, or Huntinality.

How large should my team be?

We designed the hunt for a team size of 6, and we think the hunt is best experienced in teams up to this size, so our registration caps out at 6 names per team. However, you can unofficially invite others onto your team, as long as they are not also participating on another team.

How long and difficult will the puzzlehunt be?

The hunt will contain around 40 puzzles. We expect length and difficulty to be between Huntinality and Teammate Hunt. We expect that experienced teams will be able to comfortably complete the puzzlehunt within a weekend.

I’m stuck on a puzzle. What should I do?

Here are some general puzzle tips that might be useful:

• Thoroughly check the work that you’ve already done. Fixing a small mistake or incorrect assumption can greatly help with getting unstuck.
• Get fresh eyes on the puzzle, or conversely, take a break and look at something else.
• Consider what information you haven’t used yet.
• It can be useful to put everything you have into your favorite search engine.

Remember that after hints are released on Monday, you can also use them to get a nudge in the right direction.

I think there’s a mistake in this puzzle!

Please describe the error in an email to contact@silphpuzzlehunt.com and we’ll try to correct it.

Are there any prizes?

Bragging rights! (That's all.)

Is there a physical component to the hunt? Will I ever need to be in a particular location to solve a puzzle?

No.

Is there a registration deadline?

No; you may register a team at any time until the hunt is over.

Is this hunt associated with The Silph Road?

No.

I have a question that’s not on this list!

Contact us at contact@silphpuzzlehunt.com and we’ll do our best to answer it.