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How did the MIT IAP Mystery Hunt get started?

Back in 1980, Brad Schaefer, an MIT student, decided to organize a campus-wide puzzle competition... and did so every year until he left the institute in 1983, at which point other competitors took over the job.

For more information, see the articles in Games Magazine and Technology Review which go into more detail about the history of the Hunt.

Are you a Hunt Alum?

We would like to expand these archives. If you have information, memories, puzzles, or photos not found on this page - especially pre-1996 - please let us know! (puzzle@mit.edu). If you have hard copies for us to scan in, email us and we'll give you an address to send them to.

Previous MIT IAP Mystery Hunts

2008
Mystery Hunt 2008 asked solvers to identify Dr. Otto Awkward's murderer.
2007
Mystery Hunt 2007 involved a descent through hell after making a pact with the devil.
2006
Mystery Hunt 2006 required the agents of S.P.I.E.S. to save the world from the evil Professor Moriarty.
2005
Mystery Hunt 2005 was the hunt to save Normalville from a rain of meteorites.
2004
Mystery Hunt 2004 was based on Time Bandits.
2003
Mystery Hunt 2003 was initially a corporate murder mystery hunt, that was soon revealed to be in the Matrix.
2002
Mystery Hunt 2002 was based on the game Monopoly.
2001
Mystery Hunt 2001 was the Hunt of Horror.
2000
MH2K involved getting Dorothy Gale back to Kansas or Oz--anywhere but MIT.
1999
Mystery Hunt '99 was a race by Mystery Hunt detectives to catch the evil Carmen Sandiego
1998
Mystery Hunt '98 was about getting a degree in Enigmatology
1997
Mystery Hunt '97 was a search for Elvis, the King
1996
Mystery Hunt '96 took inspiration from the book Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter.
1995
Mystery Hunt '95 was based on the game Clue.
1994
Mystery Hunt '94 had a loose cyberpunk theme.
1993
Mystery Hunt '93 was a search for The Holy Grail (with the coin inside).
1992
Mystery Hunt '92 was a treasure hunt on Captain Red Herring's Mystery Island
1988-1991
Have info on any of these hunts? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at huntarchives@yahoo.com! Puzzles, solutions, anecdotes, photos, themes, we'll take anything!
1987
Clue sheet page 1 - gif or pdf
Clue sheet page 2 - gif or pdf
Clue sheet page 3 - gif or pdf
Extra clues given out later - gif or pdf
Answers page 1 - gif or pdf
Answers page 2 - gif or pdf
Answers page 3 - gif or pdf
1986
Note: the answers are written on the only copy of the clue sheets we've got. Maybe someday we'll white them out and post answer-free copies, but not today.
Clue sheet page 1 - gif or pdf
Clue sheet page 2 - gif or pdf
Clue sheet page 3 - gif or pdf
Clue sheet page 4 - gif or pdf
1985
Missing - email us if you've got anything!
1984
Clue sheet page 1 - gif or pdf
Clue sheet page 2 - gif or pdf
Clue sheet page 3 - gif or pdf
Update #1 - gif or pdf
Update #2 - gif or pdf
Answers page 1 - gif or pdf
Answers page 2 - gif or pdf
Answers page 3 - gif or pdf
Answers page 4 - gif or pdf
Answers page 5 - gif or pdf
1983
Missing - email us if you've got anything!
1982
This year there were two hunts - version I for individual participants, and version II for groups of participants.
Version I clue sheet page 1 - gif or pdf
Version I clue sheet page 2 - gif or pdf
Version II clue sheet page 1 - gif or pdf
Version II clue sheet page 2 - gif or pdf
Version II clue sheet page 3 - gif or pdf
1981
Clue sheet page 1 - gif or pdf
Clue sheet page 2 - pdf (sorry, no gif)
1980
Clue sheet page 1 - gif or pdf
Clue sheet page 2 - gif or pdf
Chess Competitions
Brad Schaefer ran these chess puzzle competitions a couple years before he started the Mystery Hunt. You could say they're the grandparents of the Hunt. Or second cousins once removed. Or possibly stepuncles.
Chess puzzle sheet 1 - gif or pdf
Chess puzzle sheet 2 - gif or pdf
Chess puzzle sheet 3 - gif or pdf


Special thanks to Brad Schaefer for, aside from starting the Hunt, sending us copies of everything up to 1987.

Contact: MIT IAP Mystery Hunt -- puzzle@mit.edu