Hunts by Edric

Edric runs multiple annual hunts. Edric’s Treasure Hunts are annual online puzzle hunts, and are shorter, strictly linear hunts and have traditionally taken place the first weekend of April. Edric's Puzzle Hunts and Edric's Truzzle Hunts are longer, more complicated hunts and have traditionally taken place in early July.

Treasure Hunts
At the launch of a Treasure Hunt, solvers are given an initial puzzle which, once solved, directs them to the next puzzle. After solving the full chain of puzzles in turn, solvers reach a final page which congratulates them for finishing the hunt. The first Treasure Hunt went live in 2018, and there was a Treasure Hunt every year from 2018-2022. (In 2022, the Treasure Hunt went by the name of "The Worldwide Man-Hunt.")

The first four Treasure Hunts were actually all written in the year 2018. Edric then made one of them public each April until all had been released. And this likely would have been the end of the Treasure Hunts (as Edric had switched to writing longer Puzzle or Truzzle hunts starting in 2020), except for the fact that his 2021 Truzzle Hunt suggested a bit of a "spin-off." So Edric wrote "The Worldwide Man-Hunt" for April of 2022, with its plot exploring some of the ramifications of aspects of the earlier hunt.

No such impetus existed for April of 2023, so Edric devoted his time to writing the 2023 DUAL Puzzle Hunt instead of creating another Treasure Hunt. Indeed, it is likely that there will be no further Treasure Hunts in this series unless another similar compelling tie-in or opportunity presents itself in the future.

Puzzle Hunts
Puzzle Hunts are patterned after the old Australians hunts (especially the SUMS Puzzle Hunt) and feature batches of four puzzles uploaded daily across the span of a week. The hunt cumulates in a final metapuzzle which incorporates the solutions to all 24 of the feeder puzzles in its mechanic. The first such Puzzle Hunt was run in 2020.

Truzzle Hunts
Truzzle Hunts feature puzzles which are all uploaded right at the beginning of the hunt, but with the majority of the puzzles gated behind an unlock structure and initially inaccessible to solvers. Solving initial puzzles gives solvers access to subsequent puzzles until eventually the entire scope of the hunt is revealed. The hunt cumulates in a final metapuzzle which incorporates the solutions to all the feeder puzzles in its mechanic. The first such Truzzle Hunt was run in 2021.

Historical Predecessor
Edric's first treasure hunt was created in 1994 for the people on the floor of his residence hall at Michigan State University. The hunt consisted of five puzzles/clues which, when solved and put together, would reveal the location of a medallion hidden somewhere on campus. (A current map of campus was also provided.) The prize was never claimed; the bench in Spartan Stadium under which the medallion was hidden has since been replaced; and one of the five clues was later rendered unsolvable when MSU removed a particular traffic circle to make room for the FRIB accelerator facilities.