FAQ

What is a puzzlehunt? How do I solve these puzzles?

If you’ve never heard of puzzlehunts before, here’s a very brief summary: in a typical puzzle, you receive some information and have to extract an answer out of it, which is almost always an English word or phrase. Puzzles can come in many different forms; the only real commonality is that you usually receive no direct instructions, so it’s up to you to figure out how to make sense of the information you’re given.

If you are new to puzzles and are interested in seeing some examples, or if you’re looking for some practice, we recommend looking at previous online hunts, such as Galactic Puzzle Hunt, REDDOThunt, Puzzle Potluck, or the Caltech Puzzle Hunt. This hunt aims to be around the difficulty of Puzzle Potluck. This means we expect the top team to finish in a day and strong teams to finish in a weekend.

When does this start, and how long will this run for?

Puzzles are Magic will start on February 1, 2020, at 10 AM Pacific Standard Time. Answer submission will close on February 9, 2020, at 10 PM Pacific Standard Time.

How many puzzles will there be?

Around 15.

Does it cost money to participate?

No. However, if you'd like to donate to the hunt, you can do so here

Are there any prizes?

No.

Is there a physical component to the hunt? Will I ever need to be in a particular location to solve a puzzle?

No. It will take place entirely online.

Is there a registration deadline?

No.

Will I have fun with this hunt if I don't know anything about My Little Pony?

Ideally, yes! This hunt is intended to be fun whether you care about the theme or not. All puzzles have been testsolved by solvers with zero prior knowledge of My Little Pony.

Will knowing things about My Little Pony help for this hunt?

It will, but it's not necessary to know anything about MLP before starting the hunt. Part of the reason for creating this hunt was to pay tribute to both the show and the fandom, and to create puzzles that would only make sense inside a My Little Pony themed hunt.

I haven't caught up on the show. Will there be spoilers?

This hunt's story takes place approximately between the Season 7 finale and Season 8 premiere. We expect solvers will find spoilers for Season 9 while solving the hunt, so if you're concerned by this, we recommended catching up on the series finale.

Can I write code that interacts with the website?

This will not be necessary to complete any aspect of the puzzlehunt. For the sake of our server, please do not do this.

I’m stuck on a puzzle. What should I do?

Here are some general puzzle tips that might be useful:

Who’s running this hunt?

This Hunt is run by a small group of experienced puzzle solvers who regularly solve puzzlehunts, but which normally do so on different teams. Only one person in the group actually watches My Little Pony. The others just like puzzles.

If this hunt goes well, will you make another My Little Pony puzzle hunt?

We're trying to use up all our best My Little Pony-themed ideas for this puzzle hunt, so it's unlikely we'll run this again, but you never know.

I think there's an error in the puzzle, or I want a hint, or I have more questions!

Email the hunt organizers (puzzlesaremagic@gmail.com) with "Puzzle Hunt" somewhere in the subject line and we'll try to get back to you soon.