EC Puzzle Hunt

EC Puzzle Hunt, titled Exploring the Countryside was a puzzle hunt organized by members of the r/PictureGame team, and run during the middle of October, 2022. The hunt was presented as a trip through the wilderness. However, as soon as the hunt started, something was off (there was no color!). Teams were sent off to explore the countryside, as well as solve puzzles from the Four Seasons in search of a solution.

Plot
The hunt was presented as a relaxing trip through nature. However, something was clearly wrong - as teams set out, they discovered that all puzzles are in grayscale, with all colors Faded Away. After solving the Exploring meta, they discovered the reasoning for that - the Seasons have disappeared. Hope was not lost however, as there was a way to restore fragments of the seasons - by solving puzzles associated with each season. Each puzzle solved in the Seasons round added a bit of color to its season on both the round banner and the background. After solving enough puzzles, teams discovered a way to restore the Seasons for good. Finally, teams to apply the final amendments and brought the countryside back to life.

Structure
Exploring the Countryside was divided into two main rounds. The feeders in the Seasons round was further divided into 4 groups of 4 belonging to each season.

Unlock guide
The Exploring round started with Field Notes, Round Trip and Cobble unlocked. Each puzzle solve unlocked the next puzzle, in this order: Entering Competitions, En Route, A Very Large Integer, Rock Climbing. The meta, Faded Away was unlocked at 5 solves. Solving Faded Away opened the Seasons round.

The Seasons round started with 1 puzzle from each season unlocked: Journal Overtakeages, Stained Glass, Squared Away and Ice Fishing. The puzzles unlocked in a fixed order, following the seasons' cycle. Most puzzle solves in the Seasons round unlocked 1 puzzle, but two of them unlocked 2 puzzles. Solves in the Exploring round did not count towards these.

1 solve: Garden Cleanup

2 solves: Too Hot!

3 solves: Back to School

4 solves: On Thin Ice, Much Assembly Required

5 solves: Summer Camp

6 solves: Butterfly Catching

7 solves: Puzzle Boxes

8 solves: Cryptoornithology, Unreal Estate

9 solves: Artistic Interference

10 solves: Star Accommodations

The Four Season Theorem meta was unlocked at 12 solves. Solving it, in turn, unlocked the final puzzle of the hunt - Emending the Countryside.

Exploring (Intro Round)

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Seasons (endgame)

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