Welcome to the �2022 Pi Day Puzzle Hunt!

**This slideshow is not part of any puzzle.**

(a week late but shhh)

Meet the writers!

Junzhi

Has never had a good pie

Lynna

Is pie?

Annie

Hates pumpkin pie

Michelle

Does not hate pumpkin pie

Hunt Structure

1

Hunt Levels

1 intro �puzzle + 2 easier puzzles

You’re Invited… (Level 1)

3 intermediate puzzles

Time’s a-Ticking (Level 2)

3 slightly harder puzzles

Supply and Demand (Level 3)

3 hard puzzles

Uphill Climb (Level 4)

a final puzzle that uses all of the previous answers!

Seated and Set (Meta)

find the finish line and win!

Dinner’s Served (Finish Line)

Rules & Guidelines

2

Rules

• Don’t share answers or accept help from other students.
• Feel free to use any other available resource: the internet, calculators, textbooks, etc!
• Teams can redeem two personalized hints a day. You can ask for hints via your personal hint request channels in the Discord server. The more you tell us about what you’ve solved so far, the better we can help! You can ask for these two hints at any time, but we will be responding mostly during lunch and after school.
• If you have any other questions regarding the hunt (not related to solving the puzzles), message us through your team channels :)
• You can check how teams are doing on the scoreboard on the website!

Join the Discord :)

https://discord.gg/jSfsXhMN3b

​

Join our discord to request your daily personalized hints + to get information and updates as the hunt progresses!

​

Single Puzzle Submissions

• Verify individual puzzle answers using the format (all lowercase!):�bit.ly/pi22[answer]

A screen like this will appear to let you know you’re right!

• Fill out the form bit.ly/pi22time to let us know that you’ve completed a puzzle!

​

Level Submissions

• Once you have solved all of the puzzles in a level, put the answers in alphabetical order, all lowercase to gain access to the following level’s story, as well as a Google Drive folder containing all of the level’s puzzles!

bit.ly/piday22[answer1][answer2][answer3]

• *Remember that for Level 1, this includes the intro puzzle!

​

​

Remember, we’ll be awarding Jolly Ranchers to the first team to solve each level!

(Redeemable only once per team)

Our Advice

3

Some tips & tricks for solving puzzles :)

Methods

• Indexing: this is a very common puzzle mechanism! When you find yourself with a number + a sequence of letters, try indexing, which is taking the nth letter of a word.

→(6) archimedes = m

• Alphanumeric: you can go back and forth between numbers and letters based on a letter’s location in the alphabet.

→ 16 9 = pi :)

• Flavor text/wording: if wording in a puzzle sounds kind of weird, it’s probably intentional! We’re likely trying to nudge you in some direction.

Advice

• Use your hints!
• Don’t be afraid to ask us if you’re confused or have any concerns! We may not always be able to answer, but you can always check.
• Don’t overthink!
• Remember to always check your work and have fun! :)

Resources

• “Have you tried…” guide to the MIT Mystery Hunt – not always relevant but it might get your gears turning
• Harvard and USC have made similar ones
• Reverse Image Search – we will forewarn, Google reverse image search or other software like TinEye are key to solving some puzzles!
• Wonderfully Wordy Websites – Word Unscramblers, Onelook, Nutrimatic
• The internet! – The internet is your friend!! We encourage you to scour for ideas if you get stuck!

Poster Puzzle

4

SO TRUE

Poster Puzzle Explanation + Answer

• Organize pies by the word on their tin - “Four”, “Carl”, or “1979”
• Reorganize the pies in their groups by the # of holes at the top
• Solve the riddles below each pie
• Combine the tin-word and the two riddle answers to form one big riddle
• Solve! (x3)

Poster Puzzle - Four

• Insignia
• Midway
• Four

Sign

Poster Puzzle - Carl

• Balloon
• House
• Carl

Up

Poster Puzzle - 1979

• Apocalypse
• Blank Space
• 1979

Apocalypse ___ (1979)

Now

Poster Puzzle - Results

Congrats to the teams who finished the poster puzzle!

• The Fibonachos
• Benevolent NFT Billionaire Lynna the 50ft T-rex Fanclub

​

We will award you your Jolly Ranchers at the closing ceremony! :)

With all that being said…

The Plot

5

You’re invited…

You’re Invited!

It’s 5 am. The room is dark, your bed is warm. Outside your curtained windows, the first birds rustle in their nests, preparing for the day and you, bleary eyed, regret everything.

​

You hate your job.

​

It’s been a few months since you’ve taken up the catering job. And it wasn’t your choice, either! Billy just kept on pestering you about “Oh, there’s an empty spot at my workplace.” “Oh, it’d be great if you worked there as well, I’ll finally have someone to talk to!” “Oh, the benefits are great! Health insurance, you know?” “Oh, the work isn’t that bad. We basically get to wander the streets all day!” And well, times were tight, you know? It really didn’t sound that bad. So you signed up, and one week later, Billy quit.

​

You aren’t friends with Billy.

​

But you yourself still haven’t worked up the courage to quit. Sure, you have to wake up before the crack of dawn and sure, you’re subject to the most annoying human beings on the planet who don’t know that spilling red wine on white tablecloth stains it, but you have health insurance! The opportunity cost of having a functional sleeping schedule is far better than the horrors of frictional unemployment, is what you say to yourself every day. And that remains the same today, as you pick up your phone to turn off your “WAKE UP GO WORK” alarm, then swipe right to check the weather for today. It should be su- why does it say Thursday April 14 wait go back no it does say that oh it’s

It’s Thursday.

You’re Invited!

You don’t work on Thursdays.

Why are you up at 5 am on a Thursday.

​

…Maybe you made an error setting up the alarm for this week. Anyhow, it’s best if you don’t think too much. The more you think, the more awake you get, and the less time it’ll take to pass out again. It’s a lose-lose situation.

​

Your phone screen lights up as you turn, hand on the covers, ready to disintegrate back into bed. A text message. Who’s up at five texting people, anyways? Crazy.

​

​

Oh.

​

You hate your job.

But wait!

Take a look under your seat for you own special invitation :)

Name: _______________

Precalcu-Jesus

Date: _______________ Pd: _____

Speed Trig Quiz

10 marks

Evaluate each trig function exactly. CALCULATORS ARE NOT PERMITTED!

C

???-???-????

??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???