Physical Object Answers

Physical Object Answers are a way for hunts to subvert the expectation that answers should be a string of letters. A unique feature of live, in-person puzzle hunt, giving solvers a physical object that represents their answer to a puzzle can be confusing, but when done right it can create a very special solving experience.

Hunt Application

For consistency purposes, generally a round with an answer that is a physical object will only contain puzzles that also have physical objects for answers. In addition, these types of answers are very difficult to pull off, due to the logistical requirements of giving every team an object upon solving, unless the object is significantly cheap or easy to obtain. This logistical problem is even more difficult if attempted during fully remote hunts: while it may be possible to giving a 'virtual' physical object in the form of telling teams something along the lines of 'your answer is this statue' and specifying that it is not the image but a theoretical physical statue that they don't access to, this has not been attempted in any modern hunts.

Notable Examples

• Yellow (MITMH 2005) (web) - The only MIT Mystery Hunt round in which answers were physical objects. While the first meta for this round only used the names of the items, the second meta actually used the items' qualities, like their 3D symmetry and color.

See Also

• Hunts that use Physical Object Answers