Singapore Puzzle Hunt 2020

Singapore Puzzle Hunt 2020 was the 6th iteration of the Singapore Puzzle Hunt, with kick-off occurring on July 4th, 2020.

Pre-hunt, the website and registration page contained the following blurb about the hunt theme - "An evil villain is about to unleash a never-ending puzzle upon the country. You are our last hope. Will you step up with your fellow agents to gather a team of superheroes to counter this threat?"

Unlike past Singapore Puzzle Hunts which were held onsite in-person, the hunt transitioned into an online hunt from this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To make up for the loss of face-to-face interactions with teams and the usual event puzzle, Discord was used for virtual interactions and communications with teams. Moving the hunt online also had advantages in reducing constraints on the number of teams taking part, as well as allowing the hunt to stretch longer.

This year's hunt also had a strong Singapore theme, with familiar local references spoofing various superheroes. This is the first year since the inaugural hunt in 2015 that a local theme and references were used. Because the intent of the hunt is to expose local solvers to puzzle hunts, so generally the references and style was kept similar to other hunts to get solvers used to the puzzles they might encounter elsewhere. This hunt also thematically had a graphic novel/comic-style tie-in, which was also unusual (and a challenge) as the organizing team is small and did not have much art expertise.

Hunt Introduction
https://sgpuzzlehunt.com/2020/puzzles/introduction.pdf

Plot
The theme for this year's Singapore Puzzle Hunt was "The Infinity Puzzle" (referencing The Infinity War). Teams are agents of SGPH (Singapore Puzzlers Headquarters) tasked to assemble the Averagers, a band of local superheroes to counter the threat of an evil villain Approximate Knight from releasing The Infinity Puzzle.

There are 10 puzzles in a single round themed after each Averager. Solving 6 of these feeders unlock the meta puzzle, and solving the meta unlocks the Runaround puzzle. After solving the Runaround, the Averagers assembled by the teams successfully defeat Approximate Knight and save the country from the Infinity Puzzle.