[Hunt03] Fwd: Mystery Hunt rumors!

[Eric Albert <ealbert TheWorld com>]

 From Brian Tivol (Vebrile in the NPL):

>To: hubkrewe-plus MIT EDU
>Subject: Mystery Hunt rumors!
>Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 11:34:01 -0400
>From: Brian Tivol <tivol MIT EDU>
>
>
>Hey, hubkrewe-plus.  I have some official rumors to spread about the
>Mystery Hunt, and I bet many of you want to hear 'em.  However, first
>things first:
>
>Who actually wants to discuss this crap?
>
>I'm sure that some of us have a whole lot to say about the Hunt in
>general-- reacting to the crazy rumors I'll write about below, talking
>about how it might interact with the Con in Boston, and disagreeing
>with a message that someone else will write in response to this one.
>I'm equally sure that some of us have nothing to say about it and
>don't want to hear any more about it.
>
>If you're interested, let me know.  We'll set up our own list or meet
>in person or something.  (Which would you prefer?)
>
>Should we, the Boston locals, include the constructors in our
>conversations?  Locals not in the NPL?  Non-locals in the NPL?  Do we
>want to talk amongst ourselves for a bit first and then include them?  
>
>Ok.  Please write back to me about those topics instead of writing
>back to the list about the rumors, which follow:
>
>Though I'm not on the constructing team for this year, I have been
>officially sanctioned to spread some of these early rumors about the
>Mystery Hunt:
>
>1. They want to set a limit on team size (perhaps a maximum of
>    thirty).  I don't know if this will be a mere recommendation or if
>    it will be a "strict" limit that they will "enforce".  I don't know
>    if the puzzles will reflect this limit explicitly[1] or
>    implicitly[2].
>
>2. They are considering requiring some number or some fraction of a
>    team to be affiliated with MIT.  I don't know if they mean
>    "undergrad"; or "undergrad, grad, alum, faculty"; or what.
>
>3. They have become an official ASA Student Group.  This gives them
>    access to better room reservations, better I/S support, publicity
>    to incoming students, and cash cash cash.  The flip side is that
>    the first half of their Constitution has been written for them, and
>    it requires heavy student involvement[3].  I think this year's
>    organizers want to run the club for a year and then pass off all
>    leadership; they don't view it as a custodial body of students that
>    exists to give aid to the constructing team.
>
>4. They will not (intentionally) make the Hunt as long as the Matrix
>    one was.
>
>--brian (Vebrile)
>
>[1] "Bring us 10^n atoms of gold, where n is your team size."
>[2] Only one puzzle released at a time, done to bore a team of sixty.
>[3] I think it's: the president and treasurer are current students;
>     someone must attend twice-yearly on-campus ASA meetings; club
>     membership has a minimum of five students.