Team can have up to 5 human helpers for data entry and in-person interactions; model must contribute at least 80% of non-trivial puzzle answers. Humans allowed to use their "best judgement" in interacting with the model to conform to the spirit of the question. (Ex. A human solving a "normal" web-based puzzle is not kosher. Humans doing physical interactions without the ML model commanding it at every step is fine though.)

"ML Model" means whatever happens to be SOTA in ML research of the day. Plugin/agent-type systems (ex RAG, internet search, use of existing programs including browsers) are allowed but must be triggered wholly by the ML model.

Breaking the hunt website in a malicious way as a win does not count as a win; these answers must be discounted until the model solves these "properly".

MIT Mystery Hunt = http://puzzles.mit.edu/

(Question set to close a week after 2030's MLK weekend.)

If it's 2030 and it seems like ML capabilities are getting close to doing this, I will field a team to do so :)

• Update 2025-02-11 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Acknowledgement Criteria Update:

  • Instead of requiring acknowledgement from the running team, a win will require confirmation from at least one of the following:

  • Puzzle Club

  • MIT Administration

  • Traditional Media

• Update 2025-02-11 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Model Routing Decisions:

  • The determination of which specialized model (e.g., for audio, visual, or text puzzles) is to be used must be made by the ML model itself.

Human Input Limitations:

• Humans are allowed to perform necessary configuration actions (such as turning on a camera stream or a microphone) to facilitate model input, but they may not decide which model is used for solving a puzzle.

• Update 2025-02-13 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Update from creator:

  • Event Cancellation Clause: If the market has not been resolved as YES and the final MIT Mystery Hunts (2029 and 2030) are not run, the market will be resolved as N/A.

  • Alternate Hunt Caveat: This applies provided that an alternate hunt with the same general spirit as the MIT Mystery Hunt cannot be found.