Rules & Tips

What is this?

This is the Stanford Math Tournament 2026 Online Puzzle hunt.

In this hunt, there will be three sets of two puzzles, and one final round with a meta puzzle. The meta puzzle uses the answers to your previous puzzles, so keep track of them! To reach the next round, you must solve both puzzles correctly, and then the next round will unlock.

What is a puzzlehunt?

In a puzzle, you're given a sheet of paper with information on it. You have to figure out what to do with the information, and find an underlying pattern or insight throughout the puzzle. You can find more information on what a puzzlehunt is here.

How many people can be on my team?

Teams of up to 6 people! We recommend working together in-person, but virtual is fun too!

How do answers work?

Each answer is a word or phrase using characters A–Z. Lowercase and uppercase submissions are ok!

What is the policy on internet/LLM usage?

Internet usage is highly encouraged! Use it to search up things you don't know, and find locations you don't know! Most puzzles won't require anything more than the front page of google.

We do not allow LLM usage for this online puzzle hunt. Frankly, LLMs will not be too helpful for solving these puzzles anyway, and the fun of solving a puzzle comes from figuring it out yourself! Give it your best shot! You can solve the puzzle :D

How can I ask a question or ask for a hint on a puzzle?

DM the SMT 2026 BOT /question. In the subject section, type/select Puzzlehunt. Then, write your question in the next box and send it! We'll answer.

Some puzzling tips!

• Indexing starts at 1, not 0
• Almost everything in a puzzle is important, from the title to the flavortext (captions)! If you're stuck, check the flavortext and title again to see if there might be a hint there.
• Character (ie Sym, May, Tess) and author names are never relevant to puzzles.
• Puzzles can have multiple steps, but these will always be clued in some way, and solving steps should feel plausible. If your thinking is getting extremely convoluted or out-there, it's probably not right. EX: if you find yourself solving an integral, you did something wrong.
• You don't need to solve the entire puzzle to guess what the answer is! Once you have a few letters/parts, try using context clues to guess at the rest.