The HackMIT 2016 Puzzle Just Launched by Erick P. '17
and it'll (probably) take you all across the Internet
It’s that time of summer again. HackMIT, one of the largest undergraduate hackathons in the nation, is opening up its internet doors for registration between July 1st and July 30th.
From HackMIT’s website:
“HackMIT is MIT’s headline hackathon, with over 1000 undergraduate attendees from around the globe. Over a 24-hour period from September 17th to 18th, hackers collaborate and experiment on software and hardware projects. This is the weekend to meet other enthusiastic hackers, push your boundaries, and realize the projects of your dreams!”
Head on over to hackmit.org to register. There is a randomized lottery to get in, but if you want guaranteed admission, then be one of first to solve this year’s HackMIT puzzle.
“Sounds good, how do I start the puzzle?” you might ask.
Well, if you’ve opened up their website, then you already started it! To continue, you have to *intructions withheld*. Last year, you had to click on the dot in “Sept. 19 & 20”, and, the year before, you had to click on the “C” in HACKMIT”. However, just because last two years involved clicking somewhere doesn’t necessarily mean this year also involves clicking somewhere. Who knows? I don’t.
These puzzles continue to blow my mind. Transcribing binary to hex code that also just so happens to be a URL, writing Python scripts to solve hashing puzzles, listening to dial tones to call a phone number, finding hidden QR codes, etc. I never successfully finished one, maybe I’ll be more lucky this year.
Photo Creds to Tara Lee, MIT Technique
If you need more convincing as to why HackMIT is a must-attend, check out Allan K. ’17’s recap of HackMIT 2013 and my recap of HackMIT 2014. You can also read about some interesting past HackMIT projects in Allan’s post Have you ever wanted to copy-paste the text in an image file? or the BostInno article ‘s Here’s What Part-Time Work Looks Like to MIT Students
P.S. High schoolers, HackMIT also throws a high school hackathon which takes place in February called Blueprint.
P.P.S. Just to be clear, this post is not part of the puzzle nor does it contain any hints. Although, that would be an interesting idea for next year…