BAPHL XII: Bodacious Azote-Phlogiston Hibernal Luaus
Belated (Arguably Postponed) Holiday Leftovers

Event Summary

Date
BAPHL XII took place on April 25, 2015 in the Harvard Square area from 11am to 6pm.
A total of 49 teams participated: 37 in the Blizzard (Competitive) division and 12 in the Flurry (Casual) division.
A record-setting total of 28 Blizzard teams and 2 Flurry teams successfully completed BAPHL XII before the 6pm wrapup.
Overview
BAPHL XII was intended to be the first ever winter BAPHL. The theme encompassed three of the main winter holidays: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Festivus. Unfortunately, Phlogizote was woefully unprepared and they missed all three holidays, and then, well, there was some other major puzzle event in January. And then there was sooooooooooooooo much snow. Anyway, by the time Phlogizote got it together, it was well into Spring (the day after Arbor Day, no less), but they figured that trying to write a hunt that incorporated Easter, Passover, and Mother’s Day would take them well into Autumn, so they decided to go with what they had written.
The hunt started with a grab bag: each team got a present that determined where they went first (Christmas party, Hanukkah candle lighting, or Festivus dinner). Each holiday comprised a set of puzzles and a meta puzzle that explained why BAPHL XII had been delayed. After completing all three holidays, teams completed a New Year’s puzzle, and then an Arbor Day puzzle, to fully understand why BAPHL XII was happening when it happened.
Final Results
Blizzard Teams    Finish time (pm)
plugh   2:17
Mystik Spiral   2:19
More Mystik, More Spiral   2:26
111 Mice   3:03
✈✈✈ Galactic Trendsetters ✈✈✈   3:29
Large Scantron Collider   3:31
Castle Scrivener   3:32
Scalene Zoa   3:39
The Natural 20s   3:42
A Song of Death & Fire   3:50
Jeff Shen??   3:53
Win, Lose, or Banana!   3:54
General Hooker Entrance   4:24
Engima Machine   4:47
1cool3me   4:52
Super Cow Powers   4:56
[citation needed]   4:57
Are You Down With Milk??   5:14
Abecedarians   5:16
Do Not Write Below This Line   5:24
Bonfire   5:36
A Song of Ice and Death   5:38
Cetacean Needed   5:39
Aem..T........   5:42
Unseen Travelers   5:45
Baby Velociraptor Raises An Objection   5:46
ET Phone In Answer   5:52
This Space Intentionally Left Blank   5:59

Flurry Teams
  
Finish time (pm)
Updog   4:45
Control Group   5:38
Photos
See some of the Coinuka entries and event photos here!

Puzzles and SolutionsTop

Prologue
  Introductory Materials     Blizzard   Flurry   —
Christmas
  Christmas Intro   Blizzard   Flurry   —
  A Cartridge in a Spare Wii   Brie Frame   Blizzard or Flurry   Solution
  Falling Words   Joon Pahk   —   Flurry   Solution
  Holdin’ Kings   Kevin Wald   Blizzard   —   Solution
  Skypers Typing   Ben Smith, Eli Barrieau, and Jenny Gutbezahl   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
  Suisse Surveying — part 1
  (location-specific*)
  Ben Smith, Phil Steindel, and Joon Pahk   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
  Suisse Surveying — part 2
  (after solving part 1)
  Blizzard or Flurry
  Christmas Meta   Team Phlogizote   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
Hanukkah
  Hanukkah Intro   Blizzard or Flurry   —
  Coinuka — part 1   Aaron Fuegi, Susan Glass, and Jenny Gutbezahl   Blizzard or Flurry   Solution
  Coinuka — part 2
  (after completing part 1)
  Blizzard or Flurry
  Hashnukkah   Kevin Wald   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
  Khaaaaanukah   Jenny Gutbezahl and Joe Cabrera   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
  Xanaku
  (location-specific*)
  Jenny Gutbezahl and Ben Smith   Blizzard or Flurry   Solution
  Hanukkah Meta
    (choose either the
     streamlined version ...
  Team Phlogizote   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
    ...or the DYI version teams
     were given pre-assembled)
  Blizzard   Flurry
Festivus
  Festivus Intro   Blizzard or Flurry   —
  Festivus Activity Book
  front and back covers
  Blizzard   Flurry   —
  Sitting Through the Ring Cycle   Susan Glass, Jenny Gutbezahl, and Katie Hamill   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
  Moving Furniture   Kevin Wald and Joon Pahk   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
  Coupon for missing page   Blizzard or Flurry   —
  Hurling Bricks   Joe Cabrera and Ben Smith   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
  Reading the Comments
  Section
  Ben Smith, Eli Barrieau, Phil Steindel,
  and Kevin Wald
  Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
  Festivus Meta   Team Phlogizote   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
  (A mini-Festivus pole (any dowel or stick around 7/8" in diameter) was supplied for this meta,
  but with clever thinking it can be solved without one.)
Final Metas
  Meta Meta 1:
  Happy New Year!
  Kevin Wald, Joon Pahk, Katie Hamill,
  and Ben Smith
  Blizzard   Flurry   Solution
  Meta Meta 2:
  Happy ... Arbor Day?
  Team Phlogizote   Blizzard   Flurry   Solution

*These supplementary visual aids may help you solve the two location-specific puzzles:
  Suisse Surveying photo
  Xanaku photos

CreditsTop

Puzzle construction, event design, and organization
Team Phlogizote: Eli Barrieau, Joe Cabrera, Brie Frame, Aaron Fuegi, Susan Glass, Jenny Gutbezahl, Katie Hamill, Rex Miller, Joon Pahk, Ben Smith, Phil Steindel, and Kevin Wald
Cat Herder-in-Chief
Ben Smith
Cat Herder Pro Tem
Jenny Gutbezahl
Graphics and visual design
Joe Cabrera

FAQTop

The pre-event page with all the details leading up to BAPHL XII is archived here.

ThanksTop

Test solvers
Eric Berlin, Alex Boisvert, Michelle Bonchuk, Mike Booth, Rich Bragg, Katherine Bryant, Rich Buckman, Emily Dietrich, Annwn Dupuis, Rob Elkind, TK Focht, Neville Fogarty, Dwight Freund, Andrew Greene, Tyler Hinman, Brent Holman, Dean Howard, Evan Jacover, Seth Kleinerman, Sarah Leadbeater, Bruce Leban, Roy Leban, Andrew Lebrun, Parker Lewis, Philip Loh, Arsene Lupin III, Jeffrey Marman, Ashley Maudlin, Jonathan McCue, Kelly Moutsos, Dan Nichols, Tanis O’Connor, Matt Peairs, Eric Prestemon, Scott Purdy, Wil Sambole, Adam Smiles, Thomas Snyder, Jason Sproul, Marc Sweetgall, Juleah Tabak, Matt Tabak, Julia Tenney, Lee Walsh, Josh Ward, Justin Weinbaum, Scott Weiss, Sandor Weisz, Sarah Weisz, James Williams, Roger Wolff, Lynn Woolcott, Dana Young, and Kenny Young
Special thanks to
Hubert Hwang, The Big Quiz Thing, and Gnomon Copy

ContactTop

Email baphl12@baphl.org with questions about the BAPHL XII event.

Email baphl@baphl.org with questions about past or future BAPHL events.

Back to main BAPHL page