2022: The Year of the Dolphin
Wait. Puzzlepalooza 12? Wasn't the last one Puzzlepalooza X? What happened to 11? Did COVID eat it up? Something strange going on there...maybe there is some sort of puzzle in it.
Anyway, after two sad, puzzleless years, Blair's May tradition of Puzzling madness returned to the campus by...or at least near...Sligo's waters. Chaos abounds as Jerkules (Heracles's younger, nastier, and perhaps unhinged-by-jealousy brother) has kidnapped your dolphin and is holding it for ransom. Only by completing his twelve puzzling labors do you have any hope of rescuing the poor beast from his maniacal, evil-villian laughter.
Sixteen teams headed the call to puzzle, solving the inscrutable, cracking the unfathomable, and discovering the unknowable.
And this years winner? Well, none other than The Eyes of Tartarus, who took home not only the overall victory, but also the Iron Puzzler prize. Congratulations to Jason An, Sumin Choi, Charlotte Doughty, Jocelyn Hao, Jefferny Lin, Jason Liu, Maulika Masson, Leela Mehta-Harwitz, Arjun Oberoi, Vinay Raman, Ashley Thommana, and Eric Wang! Tartarus not only won, but their win was historic, as they defeated the Curse of the First Day...they are the first team in Puzzlepalooza history to be in first place at the end of day one and still hold on and win at the end!
As with other years, the Puzzle Lords would like to share some puzzley goodness from Puzzlepalooza, so here is an easy puzzle and a harder puzzle to peruse....
The final scores? Here they are:
[click to enlarge]
Of course, winning is nice, but there is nothing quite like winning Puzzlepalooza's Coveted Spirit Award. So congratulations to this year's winner, Caesar Salad.
And to round up the major awards, the Puzzle Lords would like to give a collective better luck next time to the First Losers, a title this year bestowed upon the Screeching Apples.
Finally (of course!), the Puzzle Lords need to thank all the volunteers and alumni who came out ot help make Puzzlepalooza 12 the success that it was. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
And remember, Puzzlepalooza 2023 is only seconds away!