Story

It’s another sunny day at Stanford Math Tournament, and Sym, May, and Tess have been running around all day.

“Have you prepared anything for puzzlehunt?” Tess asked.

“No. I thought May was preparing things!” Sym said.

The two walked over to May. “What’cha doing?” Tess asked.

“I’m playing πreboy and Eulergirl: Element temple.” May said, intensely focused. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, pressing the WASD keys with the fervent passion of a Pro Gamer.

“Do you mean Fireboy and Watergirl?” Tess asked.

“No! That’s a CoolMath Game. This is a Cooler Mathier Game. Now shush and let me focus!” May cried, returning to her game. If it were possible, she managed to press the arrow keys with even more force, skillfully maneuvering the characters to their exits. “I don’t want to lose the game :(.”

“Is the game timed?” Tess asked.

“It is.” May said, breathing a sigh of relief as the game signaled her success.

“Wow, that sure sounds familiar.” Sym said, turning to look at you. “Fastest team wins! But don’t be like May and ignore your friends while puzzle solving. This is collaborative, and the number one priority is that everyone has fun!”

“Yes!” You say, acknowledging understanding that teamwork and friendship are important before beginning the puzzle hunt.

May shrieked, jolting Sym back to the world. “There’s something wrong with the laptop!”

The laptop in question was jerking around violently, as if possessed.

“Eek!” Tess shouted, jumping back.

“Wait, y’all, there’s something on the screen…” Sym said, pointing at the text. “It says, ‘You’re really bad at this game.’”

“Rude.”

“πreboy and Eulergirl want revenge for the number of times you failed.” Sym continued reading off the screen.

“As I said, rude.” May said, crossing her arms.

“They’re going to make a series of video game levels to trap you while they take over your life … and the world?” Sym cried. “Hey, that actually sounds kind of fun. Let’s do it!”

“I don’t think we have a choice,” May said, as the laptop grew larger and larger until they were tiny in comparison.

“But what about SMT?” Tess shouted, as she was sucked into the laptop screen. The three characters fell through the laptop, awaking at the home page of πreboy and Eulergirl: Elements.

Sym fell on the ground first. “Wow, that sucked. But hey – look! I think those are the first levels…”