This year’s MIT Mystery Hunt featured an escape room-themed puzzle that was as brilliant as it was hilarious.
The Wizard’s Escape
The Wizard’s Escape was a 30-minute audio recording of 4 people playing an escape room horribly. You can hear them roughly describing the puzzles… and then you hear how they break, guess, and luck their way through the game.
It was up to the puzzler to use their audio cues to figure out how they were supposed to solve the game. I loved this puzzle on so many levels and it is freely available:
Attempt The Wizard’s Escape.
Whether you solve it or not, it’s worth listening to the audio. It’s really funny.
The solution and walkthrough are also available.
Puzzle Hunt Puzzles
If you aren’t familiar with puzzle hunts, they are their own beast… and the MIT Mystery Hunt is the annual final boss of puzzle hunts.
A couple of years ago I wrote a puzzle hunt primer specifically for the first Cryptex Hunt. That primer will help you get a handle on the concept. (You can disregard all of the Cryptex Hunt-specific information.)
A Personal Note on this Puzzle
The Wizard’s Escape is kind of special for me because after a few years of supporting other people in solving Mystery Hunt puzzles, this was the first puzzle that I was able to finish for my team.
I’ve been working hard to level up my puzzle hunting abilities and at this year’s Mystery Hunt, it really felt like my efforts had finally yielded tangible results.
Oh my gosh! As an escape room owner, these characters are a little too realistic. Wow.
Hahaha maybe I should have put a trigger warning 🤣