Idle Loop • Puzzles • 2020 Puzzle Safari

2020 Puzzle Safari Photos

This year, social distancing required a change from Microsoft Puzzle Safari's usual point-scoring method of running around campus to collect stamps in a logbook. The organizers came up with a fun and creative substitute for that, having the teams take photos of various items or concepts.

We loved the variety of pictures we were asked to take (and how they often linked thematically to the corresponding puzzle), so we're sharing our favorites here.

After solving a puzzle (worth one point), we were given the guidelines for a photo to take and submit, earning us an additional 5-10 points. Anyone on our team of four could take the photo, but it had to be original and taken that day.

The photos might require us to do something silly, create an object, find some obscure items, or demonstrate an abstract concept.

Here are a few of the photos we took. The text above each shows the instructions we were given.

"Submit a picture of you on 1 leg on a hopscotch pattern in your driveway. The hopscotch pattern must be visible."

"Submit a picture of you hugging a tree." [Cathy says: This seemed so perfect for me!]

"Submit a picture of your body forming a bridge between two pieces of furniture at least 3 feet apart (feet on one piece, hands on another)."

"Submit a picture of you swinging for a homerun with something that is not a baseball bat."

"Submit a picture of you with a stack of at least 6 books balanced on your head. No hands!" [sadly, we didn't get this submitted in time]

"Submit a picture of a living animal other than a dog, cat, or human."

"Submit a picture of a house of cards, at least 3 stories tall."

"Submit a picture of 3 pieces of rope or string demonstrating 3 different types of knots. Label the knots."

"Submit a picture of a home-made 3D model of a water molecule made out of marshmallows and toothpicks or similar materials."

"Submit a picture of at least 5 rocks stacked into a free-standing tower."

"Submit a picture of hope springing eternal."

"Submit a picture of something that does not exist."

"Submit a picture of science."

"Submit a picture of a spoonerism." [whoops! that should be a rook, not a knight; Tom says: It was a long day!]