Yes. (In fact, the very fact that I'm able to share future information is itself future information!) Some kinds of information are okay to share, subject to approval.
(It's all very complicated and admittedly I don't understand the specifics.)
Per current temporal law, we were unfortunately required by the relevant agencies to remove some puzzle content from Penchant Puzzlehunt that was ruled sensitive information. We're sorry about that!
Thankfully, Penchant will still feel like a complete experience.
"Why is information from the future so controlled?"
Because that information, in the hand of the past, is incredibly powerful. (Especially geopolitical information…)
But thankfully a puzzlehunt is considered low-risk, with no sensitive info, so it was pretty easy for us to get this approved.
"Why do you post in Eastern Time if you're based in London?"
All my 2025 writers are based in America, so I set my super-advanced magic time travel box to have an extra 5 hour offset. Obviously.
So people who are much smarter than me invented this box which plugs into my device, and it syncs my internet connection with 2025! (The harder part for me is making sure the software I have is compatible with contemporary services. Bluesky was pretty easy, and Discord was much harder.) (3/3)
Many things can travel in time, but the easiest thing to transport is information. (Information is pretty lightweight compared to mass!) And when you get right down to it, a TCP/IP connection is just information… (2/3)
"How can you be talking to us if you're from... the future?"
I'm glad you asked! I have to talk around certain aspects (for obvious reasons) but when you get right down to it… (1/3)
"Will there be a story?"
No. Just puzzles.
(And not just because this is universally good advice for puzzlehunts -- although that is true too.)
"What advice do you have for people solving Penchant next week?"
Look at the meta early. (No, earlier than that.)
"Is there an approval process for what you send here?"
Yes! An organization reviews these posts and approves them for sending in 2025. (For example, the word 'jurisdiction' in my previous post was not the one I originally used! I was required to change it because it was too revealing.)
"Will I need to know future information to solve the hunt?"
No. The hunt is designed to be fully enjoyed by someone contemporaneous to 2025. (Revealing future information is also illegal in our current jurisdiction!)
"What inspired you to create multiple leaderboards for different team sizes?"
This is actually fairly standard for contemporary puzzlehunts (as are stricter AI rules and listing puzzle types). In general we tried to adhere to 2025 puzzle sensibilities; but we kept some future developments we liked!
"What font does the hunt site use?"
We use Radio Free Canada, one of my favourite font designs from the early 21st century. It was a struggle picking something available to people at the time!
"Why run a hunt in 2025?"
We wanted to go as early as feasibly possible (to prevent potential interference from world events and other hunts). 2025 was the first year where something resembling the non-Django website framework Penchant likes to use was implemented!
"Have puzzle hunters taken over the world yet?"
Not yet! There’s still a small and active community (more global than it is in this day, I believe), and many more kinds of events have evolved. World domination remains to be seen.
Any day now, though, I'm sure.
"Is this an ARG?"
No. This is a puzzlehunt. There are no ARG components to the event.
(This is on purpose: we like hunts! ARGs are very cool too, but we don’t have the resources to run something like that.)
(I’m told that you can actually block the Overview with the plugin uBlock Origin, by filtering `google.com##.hdzaWe`. I haven’t tried this myself - I don’t use google!) (3/3)
Something like Google’s AI Overview, which (at this point) automatically pops up on search, is fine. That just automatically returns some search results. Of course, caveat emptor for anything you read in it… (2/3)
"The hunt rules asked us not to use AI. Should worry about Google’s AI Overview?"
The point of the no-AI rule is to encourage people to engage with the puzzles themselves, and not dump them into LLMs. (All our puzzles were written by humans, for humans to solve!) (1/3)
At the advice of my 2025 team, I’ve made this account to publicly post answers to questions people send me. (Just clarifications! Rule changes will get emails.)
Feel free to send me questions here or on Discord (@tazarin.)! I make small edits for brevity.
Opinions are my own.
Hello! I’m tazarian, a board game and puzzle designer from the future. I’m based in London in 2054, working for Penchant Ltd to make puzzlehunts.
If you have questions about myself, Penchant, or our upcoming puzzlehunt, flick me a DM here or on Discord (@tazarin.)!
penchantpuzzlehunt.com