The Harvard Hunt, 2005
Presented by the Harvard Geographic Society
http://www.harvardgeo.org

Click here to sign-up for the Hunt

What the heck is the Harvard Hunt?
Let’s get one thing straight from the start: The Hunt is NOT a conventional "scavenger hunt," okay? There will be no digging, no four-leaf clovers, no harvesting of Harvard greenery, or even rummaging through ancient manuscripts. At the Hunt, you will achieve new meaning to the term bizarre, experience the fantastic and probe answers to the great riddles of life. More than likely, you’ll be totally puzzled and amazed. But you'll have a great time, working with some of your closest friends in an incredible outdoor adventure you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

The Hunt is a unique event, a celebration of Harvard at its best.

The cost of admission? Nothing. Just sign-up online here. Pick one or two of your closest friends and choose the wackiest team name you can come up with. If we like it, you might win a prize!

What is this craze behind the Hunt?
This year our grand prize will be a SONY PSP. The first team to finish the Hunt wins.

What kinds of things will be covered?
Puzzles for the Hunt can be in any subject – trivia, riddles, mathematics, science, popular culture, history, languages – anything from the mundane or the tricky to topics often associated with Harvard concentrations. Teams are encouraged to include members diverse in interests and knowledge. Teams are allowed to bring any materials to the Hunt, and also may use materials they have at their disposal elsewhere in the vicinity with the exception of the Internet. HGS may also release some tips prior to and during the event.

When is it?
NOON, DECEMBER 17, 2005 in front of the JOHN HARVARD STATUE.
(The Hunt will likely last for ~3 hrs, depending on how quickly your team can solve the puzzles. Awards will be presented at 5pm)

How does this Hunt thing work?
Teams:
The event will proceed once we have at least 10 teams participating. Each team consists of 2-3 members. You can choose to create your own team or you can ask us and we will put you on a random team.

Harvard Hunt Operations Center:
The staff of the Harvard Geographic Society comprises the Harvard Hunt Operations Center. Hunt Operations is located in a semi-secret location. This is where the staff will oversee all aspects of the Hunt while it is running.

Requirements
Each participating team must have a designated cell phone that they register with Hunt Operations before the Hunt starts. You must have at least one cell phone available during the hunt to communicate with Hunt Operations. No switching of team members, consulting with other teams, etc. (Yes, we want you to feel the joy when you crush your neighbor’s team.)

Rules and Procedures
The Harvard Hunt contains 10 to 15 clues and locations. We plan to give out the first clue at the John Harvard Statue in Harvard Yard at 12PM noon (sharp). Though the clues are likely going to be provided on a sheet of paper by Hunt Operations, clues in general may take any form (provided on paper by Hunt Operations and/or provided by the surrounding environment).

Once the first clue is distributed, the Hunt officially begins and teams will try to solve the clue. The final answer to the clue will be another location. We plan for the second location to be somewhere in the science center. Hence, for example, the answer to the clue may be “Greenhouse Café.” When a team believes that they have found the next location, they must call Hunt Operations for confirmation of their answer. If they do not do so, their progress is not tracked by Hunt Operations, and thus Hunt Operations will not officially allow their advancement through the Hunt. For every clue that is solved and the answer revealed, each team must call Hunt Operations to confirm that their answer is correct or else they cannot proceed through the game. When the team calls Hunt Operations, Hunt Operations will either reply that the answer is wrong and tell them to keep working on the clue or that the answer is correct that they have permission to physically proceed to the next location (e.g. Greenhouse Café).

The answer to the last clue will be the physical location of Hunt Operations. The time that they arrive at the final location will be the team’s arrival time (arrival time is the time since the first clue is released at the first location until when the teams arrive at the final location). A team’s final finishing time is their arrival time plus their penalties. A certain number of teams with the lowest final finishing times will receive prizes from Harvard Geographic Society.

Penalization and Hint System:
In order to avoid teams from random guessing, each time a team gives an incorrect answer to the clue they are calling Hunt Operations about, they will receive a penalty (10 minutes) on their final finishing time.

If a team is stuck on a clue, they may call Hunt Operations for hints. For each clue, there will be a number of optional hints that the teams can choose to receive. Hints will be designed to help a team solve the clue and find the answer to the next location, so the hint may or may not directly pertain to the name of the next location.

However, with the receipt of each hint comes a time penalty. For example, there may be three hints that a team could receive that would help them find the answer to the clue. The first hint they can receive may cost them +15 minutes onto their final time, the second hint another +20 minutes, and the third hint another +30 minutes.

For teams that are especially stuck, Hunt Operations may provide them with the answer. However, Hunt Operations will provide all hints first, and then the final answer, if the team wishes. The final answer itself also costs a penalty, which may be +45 minutes. Therefore, in the above example clue, if a team is unable to do anything to solve the clue but desperately wants the answer, it would cost them +15+20+30+45 = +110 minutes of penalty.

When teams call Hunt Operations for hints, they should describe how much of the clue they have solved so far. This way, Hunt Operations may recognize that Hint 1 (+15 min.) and Hint 2 (+20 min.) would not serve the team any good, as they may already have solved those aspects of the clue. Then, if the team asks for a hint, Hunt Operations may offer them Hint 3 (+30min.) only, should they desire it.

As an added note, Hunt Operations will try to have more than one phone or phone number for teams to call. However, if the line is busy for a while, no teams may attempt to use such reason to justify that time should be deducted form their final finishing time because “Hunt Operations wasted their time while they were stuck.” Only under exceptional circumstances will Hunt Operations deduct time from a team’s final finishing time. A busy line will not be considered an exceptional circumstance – depending on the number of total participating teams, teams should expect the lines to busy at times.

What else does the Harvard Hunt Operations Center do?
Hunt Operations will create a chart that will map out every team’s time and progression through the entire game. For this to be possible, each team therefore must call every time they officially move from clue to clue and location to location. In the case there are any emergency situations, Hunt Operations will call teams to inform them.

For some of the clues, Hunt Operations may desire to leave a bag with the clues inside at the location. Hunt Operations will clear any administrative and security issues of doing so with the particular locations. In order to realize this, Hunt Operations may also visit or keep watch certain locations of the Hunt to make sure that the clue is properly distributed to the teams as they come to the location. Whether the Hunt Operation member at the location is supposed to be visible or relevant to teams that go to the location will not be revealed to the teams. In some clues, however, the member may physically be there to hand out the clues.

HAVE FUN!

Click here to register for the Hunt
Download this page as a pdf
Download the schematic (pdf)

Grand Prize: