(spoiler alert: may meta-spoil future iterations of the LOPH, if you haven’t already read other posts about it)

I knew early on that I wouldn’t be able to finish the LessOnline puzzle hunt.

I contributed to solving two of the first six puzzles, each of which revealed the combination to a locked box. Each box contained medallions for the solvers and a QR code. The QR codes led to the second layer of a larger meta-puzzle.

On discovering the existence of the meta-puzzle, I knew I would have to drop out. It was a shame, because I have never done a puzzle hunt before and I could see that the puzzlemasters had produced something amazing. But the opportunity cost of playing “for real” was just too high. There were too many other things I wanted to do, and the integral of my attention over time is [...]

---

Outline:

(01:04) Suspicion

(01:37) Sequence Breaker!

(03:22) Decision Theory

(04:32) Failure

(05:50) Afterward

---

First published:
June 4th, 2024

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PJr24aC4ziNqkfpjF/not-derailing-the-lessonline-puzzle-hunt-1

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“(Not) Derailing the LessOnline Puzzle Hunt” by Error

LessWrong (30+ Karma)