The goal of each Mystery Hunt is to locate an object hidden somewhere on MIT campus. The first few hunts used an Indian Head Penny, and thus this object has become known as a "coin", even though not all of them have been actual coins. This gallery contains all the coins from the past hunts that we've been able to track down; if you know of the coins we have marked as "unknown", or have pictures of coins for which we only have sketches, please contact us at puzzle@mit.edu.
Material: Baltic birch wood; technique: laser engraving.
The 2011 hunt was based on video games, and included references to Mario, Zelda, Civilization, Mega-Man, Katamari Damacy, and Portal (from which the ultimate villain in the hunt was borrowed). The characters from the first five games appear on the coin, while the coin itself is represented in the form of the Companion Cube, an object (or, as some may argue, a person) prominent in Portal.
Material: bronze; technique: casting.
Designed by Mark Halpin
The 2010 hunt was based on the history of the hunt itself, and a sequence of events that transpired when the coin was hit by Professor Emit's Time Ray and began bouncing back in time, creating new rounds of puzzles and changing history. The two sides of the coin reflect the two parallel Hunt universes: the actual one where Hunt is 30 years old, and the alternate one, where Hunt is 300 years old. The years listed on the alternate universe side refer to the past "hunts" visited during that hunt.
Material: miscellaneous hardware, wooden plaque; technique: construction, laser engraving.
The 2009 hunt was set in the future, where participants in a gaming convention based on the game "Escape from Zyzzlvaria" got sucked into the real Zyzzlvaria. In order to, well, escape from Zyzzlvaria, the participants needed to activate the Covertly Operational Inversion Node, or the COIN, depicted above.
Material: metal; technique: casting.
Designed by Mark Halpin
The 2008 hunt was a whodunnit concerning the murder of Dr. Awkward. The coin design illustrates the concept of a classic murder mystery with a human silhouette and a fingerprint. The fingerprint served as evidence that was needed to convict the murderer.
Material: copper; technique: lathe engraving.
The 2007 hunt involved a descent into Hell to regain the solvers' lost souls. The souls were regained in the form of the coin, pictured above.
Material: metal, glass, plastic; technique: premade object with laser-etched lettering.
The 2006 hunt involved a mysterious intelligence agency known as S.P.I.E.S., which was trying to stop the evil Professor Moriarty from using the MIT Weather Machine to cover the world in eternal winter, save for one tropical island which he had purchased in advance. The snow globe was a key component of the MIT Weather Machine, which teams got to keep as a souvenir.
Material: mostly iron; technique: atmospheric friction
The 2005 hunt was themed around the town of Normalville, where a number of superpower-inducing meteorites made a landing. Progressing through the hunt involved collecting these superpowers, and the coin was an actual piece of a meteorite. Its current whereabouts are unknown.
The 2004 hunt was based on the film Time Bandits, which features a lump of coal that is actually a piece of "concentrated evil". Naturally, the coin this year was found inside a lump of coal; the coin itself was an Indian Head Penny, just like in the first Mystery Hunt.
Material: premade CD, acrylic; technique: laser engraving, color printing
The 2003 hunt was a corporate murder mystery that turned out to be taking place inside the Matrix. So, naturally, the coin was a compact disc, with an appropriate green symbol rain design and the content of the entire hunt on it.
The 2002 hunt was based on the Monopoly board game and featured a design with familiar characters. If you have an image of the actual coin, please contact us.
The 2001 hunt, also known as the "hunt of horror", required the solvers to defeat Agatha Winchester, a powerful witch who was capable of cursing MIT with unspeakable evil. In order to beat her, the teams needed to recover her bloodstone, which acted as that year's coin. This may be the first year when the "coin" was not an actual coin.
The coins from these years are not currently known. If you have more information about any of them (especially photos!), please let us know.
The 1984 hunt coin was a French Republic 10 centimes piece. The image above is an illustration; if you know the whereabouts of the actual coin and can provide photos of it, let us know.
The hunts created by Brad Schaefer between 1981 and 1983 featured an Indian Head Penny as the coin. That is what gave the 'coin' its name. The image above is an illustration; if you know the whereabouts of the actual coin and can provide photos of it, let us know.