Mathcamp 2009 Puzzle Hunt. Opening Assembly.
Sunday, August 2nd 2009. 9am. Canada/USA Mathcamp is taking place at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. A sign in the schedule board had announced a special lecture by a visiting speaker and we are all together in the auditorium waiting for it. Dan introduces Mr C.S. Pancake --played by Waffle. Mr Pancake is a distinguished professor that has come to Mathcamp to tell us about his latest invention: a time machine. A few prototypes of the time machine are in the table in front of him. Pancake starts his lecture, which is utterly absurd and unintelligible. Soon, camper Casey is bored. She is intrigued by the time machines. She approaches the table and takes one. As she touches it, it starts producing a sound.
PANCAKE: What are you doing? Put that down! That is not a toy.
Casey looks at Pancake, looks at the machine in her hands, thinks for a moment... and sprints outside the classroom. Pancake grabs a second machine and sprints behind her. We can hear the sound of the machines.
PANCAKE: You are not prepared for time travel! You do not know what to do! You could change the past and alter the future!
As Pancake leaves the room, the lights go out. A few seconds later music starts. It is "Girls just wanna have fun" by Hannah Montana. A few more seconds and lights come back. A big banner saying "WELCOME TO CHEERCAMP" hangs from the blackboard. Alfonso, Brenda, Yuri, Dan, and Don stand in the middle posing. They are wearing cheerleading outfits (pink `I am too pretty to do math'-Tshirts, pink miniskirts, and pink pompoms). They perform a fascinating cheerleading routine which ends with applause. Among the applause, the audience starts noticing that Pancake is back in the room looking at the cheerleaders with disbelief.
PANCAKE: Oh, nyo! ... I think I know what happened. I chased that camper, Casey, but I could not catch her. She kept on doing things and altering the space-time continuum. I guess that now Mathcamp is... Cheercamp?
CHEERLEADERS: Goooo, cheercamp!
PANCAKE: [Facepalm] I could not catch Casey, but as I was chasing her through time and space I grabbed these clues. But I cannot make sense of them! They look like puzzles. Will you help me? Make teams or something and try to figure them out!
ALFONSO: Every squad send one cheerleader down here to pick up those... things!
Your team receives a folder with the following four puzzles:
You also receive information on two freebies:
With that, you retreat to your assigned room.
Happy hunting!