Snap Judgment (solution)

by Elan Pavlov, Jit Hin Tan, and David Turner

The QR code leads to a page with 6 coordinates:

• 40.635 N, 104.754 W
• 49.199 N, 8.118 E
• 46.777 N, 7.667 E
• 38.848 N, 98.590 W
• 37.650 N, 98.740 W
• 36.730 N, 76.584 W

These correspond to the following locations:

1. Pierce, CO
2. Landau, Germany
3. Homberg, Switzerland
4. Dorrance, KS
5. Pratt, KS
6. Suffolk, VA

These also happen to be the names of buildings at MIT:

1. Pierce Laboratory (Building 1)
2. Landau Building (Building 66)
3. Homberg Building (Building 11)
4. Dorrance Building (Building 16)
5. Pratt Building (Building 5)
6. Suffolk Building (Building E38)

In each of these buildings, we put up fake posters advertising for a GIS job.

• Dorrance
• Homberg
• Landau
• Pratt
• Suffolk
• Pierce

Each poster has a QR code leading to a Google Maps link. (These links redirect through our server, so non-Hunters scanning the codes learn that the posters are fake.)

1. Ciudad Victoria, Mexico
2. Hendersonville, TN
3. Edwards, TX
4. Nebo, AR
5. Ejido San Francisco, Mexico
6. Yorktown, NY

Note that there is also a Pierce Boathouse (Building W8); we put up a similar poster here linking to a page reading “This is an ambiguous location; the other one is correct.”

The first letters of the locations spell CHENEY. Outside the Margaret Cheney Room (3-310) we put up another poster linking to a page with the following text:

Chipley, Florida

Once you’ve figured out the password, please enter it below: [text field which decrypts the answer with AES]

At this point, one must notice that all of the Google Maps links used the same, highly zoomed out view, suggesting that the locations be plotted on the same map. Simultaneously, the six buildings in which we posted the QR codes with those links can be plotted on a map of MIT. These two sets of points form the same configuration on a vastly different scale.

However, Chipley, FL does not match the Cheney room. Instead, it matches the McDermott Court (a.k.a. the Dot). On the Calder sculpture in this location, we placed a final QR code linking to a page with the string “The password is: draftsmen raving hindered herbal”

Entering the password in the Cheney location reveals the answer, VELVET ELVIS.

These are the locations on campus where we put posters up:

Building 1

Near 1-125

Near 1-138

Near 1-151

Near 1-165

Building 5

Near 5-111

Near 5-121

Near 5-129

Building 11

In 11-112

Near 11-120

Building 16

Near 16-137

Near 16-177

Near 16-188

Building 66

Near 66-125

Near 66-157

Near the Ames St. entrance

Building E38

On a bulletin board in the lobby

On another bulletin board in the lobby

Building W8

Near the door

The Margaret Cheney Room

Near the door

The Big Sail

On one of the legs