BAPHL 9

Any unsigned commentary below was written by Dan Katz and may or may not represent the opinions of the other Sons of Tamarkin.

Successes

Editing and testing puzzles: I don't think we did anything groundbreaking when it came to editing and testing puzzles, but we did both things (as one should) and ended up with a fairly strong set of fair puzzles. One thing that helped was having two real-time group tests using remote testers, including simulating the addition of location-based puzzles by giving these groups those answers after a fixed amount of time (as if they had an extra team member that was off solving them).

Making the event travel-friendly: This was a Providence event, and we knew most of our solvers didn't live in Providence and would be going out of their way to participate. We wanted to make the event as friendly as possible for them. This included scheduling the event to occur soon after the arrival of a train from Boston, making the starting and finishing location the train station so there was no navigation necessary once participants arrived, starting and finishing near a parking garage for those who were driving, and providing a set of warm-up puzzles that could be solved during the train ride. These were especially important for our Providence BAPHL, but every BAPHL has some teams from outside the city, so scouting out parking options is much appreciated.

Having solutions written before the event: Puzzle-solvers were required to submit full solutions to their puzzles, and we had printouts of these at every puzzle location. This made it easier for staff members to hint puzzles, even if they didn't write them. It also made the next point possible...

Having the post-Hunt website staged before the event: On Friday, we had most of the website that would appear after the Hunt written, and puzzle/solution files were all staged and ready to go. This allowed us to post the puzzles and solutions less than 24 hours after the event ended. This might sound like overkill, but before the event, everyone constructing is still focused on it, and afterward, no one is. If you don't have everything up in the next two days, it's likely to take a long time to appear.

Allowing teams to arbitrarily choose location order: We liked the freedom this would create for solvers and its potential to spread teams out, but ultimately, it probably didn't add much for teams and it forced us to use a lot of staff, and frequently make phone calls to track down where certain teams disappeared to. It was worth trying, but the cons outweighed the pros.

Writing unshrinkable puzzles: A number of our puzzles were too difficult in draft, and as a result we did our best to edit their difficulty. But some puzzles are easier to do that with than others... When your puzzle centers around seven 7x7 kropki or a fairly large Rows Garden grid, there aren't really elements you can remove from the puzzle. When constructing, it may be a good idea for the constructor to keep in mind how the puzzle can be downscaled if it turns out to be too time-consuming, and if there isn't any way to do so, that sometimes might be a red flag.

Not anticipating puzzle difficulty by location: The issues above were made worse by the fact that lots of our "problem" puzzles fell into the same round. We probably should have allotted answer slots to easy/medium/hard puzzles... that's not always easy to gauge, but at least it gives you targets.

Not starting puzzle-writing early enough: All of our puzzles were written and printed in time for the event, but the last few weeks were more stressful than necessary, and at least one rookie constructor had feelings hurt due to harsh criticism when a puzzle needed to be rehauled in a hurry by someone else. For an early April event, we began vague planning in December, and didn't have an answer set until about two months before the event. More time should be allotted for actual puzzle construction than that, especially for new constructors.

Holding the event in early April: We wanted to have it later, but PAX East, Easter, DASH, and other issues got in the way. It thankfully didn't rain or snow, but it was cold and windy. The closer to May you can program a spring event in New England, the better.