About

What's the Key Clues Challenge?

The Key Clues Challenge is a puzzle hunt for the University of Waterloo community (including students, alumni, faculty, staff, and postdocs), (mostly) run by members in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo. Despite that, none of the puzzles will need any specialized mathematics knowledge to solve.

A puzzle hunt? What's a puzzle hunt?

It's a puzzle-solving competition! A puzzle hunt typically features a series of puzzles and a final meta puzzle. Usually, the meta puzzle is not solvable without solving most (if not all) of the other puzzles. For a more comprehensive description of a puzzle hunt, check out this blog post. Anyway, Key Clues is a puzzle hunt.

I'm not sure if this is for me; how can I find out if it is?

Drop by the Key Clues kickoff party in the DC Fishbowl on Monday January 20, 2025 at 15:00. You'll get a sneak peek at two of the puzzles from the competition ahead of time, and speak to some of the Enigmatologists (the writers of the puzzles). If you decide it's something to try, you can register then. It may even be a place to find other people like you, looking for a team!

While waiting for the kickoff party, you can check out some past puzzles in our archives.

Does my team have to be physically on campus to participate?

No. But you cannot win the grand prize without finding the location of the final box on campus. There may also be a few puzzles which are unsolvable without having at least one member of your team on campus. You can still compete for glory on the leaderboard though!

Sounds great, but none of my friends want to solve puzzles with me. How can I find better friends?

You can register as an individual here. Before the hunt begins, we'll place you in a team with other people like you.

Awesome! When can I register?

Registration is open now, and you can register any time until the end of the competition (23:59 on February 3, 2025).

These puzzles don't have any instructions! What do I do?

Figuring out what to do is part of the puzzle! Remember that the end goal of every puzzle is to get a short phrase or one-word answer—how you do that is up to you. If the puzzle has pictures, try starting by identifying them. If the puzzle looks like a more traditional puzzle (word search, crossword, maze, sudoku), try treating it like a traditional puzzle. For more tips on solving these kinds of puzzles, read this puzzle-solving guide or Brian Chen's "Have You Tried?".

Will we need the story to solve the puzzles?

The story will not be needed to solve any of the non-meta puzzles.

Last time there were keys. Where are the keys this year?

We will not be using physical keys this time.

There's a mistake in one of the puzzles, what do we do?

Email us at KeyCluesChallenge@uwaterloo.ca, and we will tell you whether or not there is an error. If there is an error, we will fix it as soon as possible.

I have an infrequently asked question. How do I ask it?

First, check the rules page to see if it is answered there. If it is not, reach out to us at KeyCluesChallenge@uwaterloo.ca, and we will answer your question. Hey, maybe you asking the question will change its status from infrequently asked to frequently asked.