Puzzle Hunt

On Friday, the Forum was packed with students on the edge of their seats as they waited for the official beginning of the 2019 PEA Puzzle Hunt. The Hunt, a weekend of puzzles and mysteries, challenged multiple teams to split off into their allocated rooms and to spend the next few days cracking puzzles. The event ended on Sunday evening with five teams finishing and Team Zucchini Fam taking first place.

Puzzle Hunt is a student-run event based around solving increasingly difficult puzzles. Answers from past riddles are used to solve later ones, which ultimately lead to one final mystery, the “Meta Meta.”

The preparation for this event began at the end of last Spring, when the PEA Puzzle Hunt Headquarters (HQ) team was decided. Led by Seniors Andrew Loevinger and Miranda Derossi, members of HQ instantly began writing puzzles and planning out the storyline. “A good amount of preparation went into this year’s hunt,” HQ member and senior Bryce Morales said. “The past week or two, we’ve really [been] putting in lots of time finishing the puzzles and putting everything together.”

Since its inception four years ago, Puzzle Hunt has received very positive feedback. “[Puzzle Hunt] is a very popular event, with over 100 people participating,” Student Activities Director Joanne Lembo said. “All the storylines are thought up by the Puzzle Hunt organizers. The adults are involved only to chaperone and help with logistics.”

Both students who were new to the Puzzle scene and experienced solvers had a good time this year. Upper Penny Brant appreciated the opportunity to participate in the event for the very first time. “Originally, I didn’t want to participate in Puzzle Hunt because it was AP weekend, but, I ended up going to just see what it was. It turned out to be a very fulfilling and educational experience that I was really happy to get.”

Upper Alta Magruder expressed her appreciation for the break Puzzle Hunt gave her. “Exeter is stressful. You’re constantly using your mental brain power,” she said. “Sometimes, you need to use your brainpower for something good. You have to use your brain and your mental capacity for fun stuff and Puzzle Hunt is one of them.”

Three-time Puzzle Hunt participant and upper Claudia Sanchez agreed. “Puzzle Hunt always exceeds my expectations. Prep year, I was a bit over my head, but, each year we’ve been doing it, we get more of an idea of how to go about solving problems,” they said. “It’s really just a great experience to spend time with my friends [and] even though it’s mentally exhausting, it’s really fun.”

Derossi mentioned that one of her favorite aspects of the PEA Puzzle Hunt is that people can choose [to] dedicate as much time as they want to to solve puzzles. “One of the greatest things about Puzzle Hunt is that it’s as much commitment as you want. If puzzles aren’t really your thing, you can just go in with a group of friends and try for like an hour or two and then stop. But if you’re really into it, you can keep going for the whole weekend. It’s really just a way to spend time with your friends, in the same room, just trying to solve puzzles.”

Four-time Puzzle Hunt participant and senior Piper Bau echoed Derossi’s statement. “I really like being in the same room as my friends and working together to figure something out,”  she said. “There’s something really fun about the environment in the room you solve puzzles in. Puzzle Hunt isn’t something you can do by yourself; you have to do it with other people.”

To some, Puzzle Hunt has more significance than a game. “[Puzzle Hunt] teaches you the values of thinking outside the box,” Brant said. “I think a lot of the time, things are very straightforward here, but Puzzle Hunt makes you think differently. It’s really fun to get to know the people on your team, especially if you have a bunch of people from different backgrounds.”

Sanchez also encourages new puzzlers to join future hunts. “[The PEA] puzzle hunt is really just one of the best weekends of Exeter, of the whole year. If you can get a group of your friends together and do it, it doesn’t matter if you don’t completely know what you’re doing, HQ will make sure you have a fun time and will help you along. Just getting one puzzle done is a great experience.”