Image Answers

Image Answers are a way for hunts to subvert the expectation that answers should be a string of letters. This often leads to initial confusion by hunters, until they realize that the answer is actually the image itself, rather than a clue to some object, which can lead to a great "aha" payoff.

Hunt Application
For consistency purposes, generally a round with an Image Answer puzzle will entirely contain Image Answers. Another consideration, especially for online hunts, is that the submission box generally can only accept a typed string, instead of an image. Some hunts have use emoji or other pictographic symbols to generate a similar effect.

Notable Examples

 * Section 2 (MIT Mystery Hunt 2003) - In this round, answers were actual images, and semantic properties of these images were used in the meta. Answer submission was done via phone callbacks, allowing teams to describe the image to be called in, and the running team to have some leeway in accepting descriptions.
 * Creative Pictures Studios (MIT Mystery Hunt 2020) - In this round, answers were emoji that had to be entered into an answer checker. Since different platforms show emoji differently, special care had to be taken to ensure that the emoji displayed matched what the puzzles were cluing.
 * Round Deux (CMU Hunt Spring 2022) - In this round, answers were all single Unicode characters that had to be entered into an answer checker.