MIT Puzzle Club and Grad Unified Theory are excited for you to join us for BAPHL 26! All local historians are hereby invited to discuss Boston's Alternate Past Hypothetical Lore on Saturday, May 2nd, from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
All of the casuals have heard about the Puritans and the Tea Party, but we’re confident they’ve got it all wrong. We have lots of theories, but we need your help to gather key pieces of evidence and determine the true origin of this bizarre city.
Basic Information
What is this?
BAPHL is the Boston Area Puzzle Hunt League, a recurring series of puzzle hunts in the Boston area.
Teams are given challenging puzzles that require various logical, lateral-thinking, and creative skills to solve. There is also an element of exploration which requires teams to visit certain locations during the completion of the event.
When and where is BAPHL26 happening?
BAPHL 26 will be Saturday, May 2, 2026 from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. The route will be outdoors, starting and ending in Boston Common, which is accessible via the T (Park Street stop). Solvers should expect to walk around 3 miles over the course of the route. More details will be shared with registered teams in the week leading up to the event.
How do I register?
Registration for BAPHL 26 is now closed. We hit our capacity for teams in mid-to-late April and kept a wait list open until the scheduled end of registration, Monday, April 27 at 5:00 PM EST.
How much will it cost to participate?
BAPHL 26 will cost $40 for a team to participate. BAPHL is a fully volunteer written and run event, so all of your registration costs go toward puzzle production and other overhead.
What is the recommended team size?
Teams should be between 3-6 people. If you (and possibly a partner) do not have a team to puzzle with, please fill out the registration form for your group of 1-2, and then we will match you to a team.
Puzzle Information
What kinds of puzzles will there be?
Every hunt is a little bit different. If you want to get a sense of the types of puzzles there could be, you can check out some examples from prior BAPHL events: BAPHL 23, BAPHL 24, or BAPHL 25.
How hard will this hunt be?
There will be two divisions: Normal and Hard.
If you’ve never done any full-day puzzle hunts before, you really have a goal of finishing, or if you’re coming from Puzzled Pint, then Normal mode is for you — we’ll make sure to provide more guidance and hints so that you can keep solving and having fun.
Hard mode is aimed at folks with more experience with longer puzzle hunts such as the MIT Mystery Hunt, Puzzle Boat, or past BAPHLs.
How long is the hunt?
BAPHL 26 will consist of approximately 20 puzzles of potentially wildly varying lengths. Puzzle difficulty is always hard to estimate, but we expect that the hunt as a whole will be on par with the difficulty of past BAPHLs.
We recommend planning to spend all day on the hunt. Our ending location is Boston Common, so there will be opportunities to sit and socialize with other participants if you finish early. And if you’re concerned about finishing, we will have volunteers available all day who are eager to provide as much or as little help as required or desired for you to accomplish your goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
You’ll want lots of solving supplies — paper, pencils, scissors, tape, highlighters, markers, rulers, etc. You’ll want to bring clipboards, since you may not be able to find seating at a table along our route. All of our stops will have bench seating, but a picnic blanket or lightweight camp chairs might be a good idea if you'd like to spread out.
You’ll want to dress for comfort while walking and solving outside. In May in Boston, this probably means lots of sunscreen, water, and good sneakers, but you should obviously check the forecast and adjust appropriately.
We’ll get wet, and we’ll all be a little sad. If it gets really bad, we’ll make some adjustments to the route and puzzles, but you should be prepared for whatever nature may bring.
That's probably good with us! The hunt is written with teams of 3-6 in mind, but our #1 goal is for you to have fun; if a smaller/larger team helps you do that, we're happy to oblige. Feel free to indicate this on your registration form amd/or email baphl26@baphl.org with any requests or questions.
We'd be happy to share as much information as possible. Please email baphl26@baphl.org with any questions!
Dang, we were looking forward to seeing you! All puzzles and solutions will be posted following the event, so a remote post-solve will be possible. We are also interested in expanding our test-solving cohort; please email email baphl26@baphl.org with interest.
That's not a question!* You should email baphl26@baphl.org and we will get back to you ASAP. (*Yes, I stole this joke from Mystery Hunt sites.)
Never Asked Questions
Have you ever seen that horse statue in the Paul Revere Mall? We have irrefutable proof that it's been placed here by some kind of extraterrestrial entity. Come help us share that evidence with the world!
Well, some """historians""" would tell you it's the Old Powder House in Somerville. But we're pretty sure that some of the local brutalist architecture rose straight out of Hell before then.
The Mayflower is old news! We've heard from reliable sources that there are Viking ships buried under Lechmere Canal Park - at BAPHL we'll piece together the truth.
Last week I saw someone with at least seven cats right around Evans Way Park… It seemed like they were being ordered to do the cats’ bidding, and I realized that this simply must have been happening for hundreds of years!
We were wandering around the city in the middle of the night as we often do, and we just overheard someone in Central Square telling us that everything we thought we knew was a lie. That simply made too much sense, so we immediately opened our eyes to all these alternate past possibilities.
We are planning a later event right outside of City Hall Plaza, to show those in power what we’ve learned!
