Hello! This post contains instructional pointers for people who wish to participate in WiCS’ Cryptic Hunt 2020: Waterboarded Witless.

General Rules

1. This hunt is only open to Ashoka University students. All the members in your team should be currently enrolled in Ashoka University as a student. If you are an alumnus, you are welcome to participate, but you will not be rewarded for finishing the hunt.
2. We realise that a lot of you are confused about the registration process. We are sorry for the confusion - we have now made changes to our hunt logistics. You should be able to participate even without registering. On the hunt portal, please make sure you (and your teammate) use only one Ashoka email ID for the hunt.
3. You can participate individually or in a team of two. Yes, you can participate individually. It doesn’t matter what you filled in the registration form. If you want to participate with another person as a team, please go ahead. There is no need to inform us if you decide to change your team. Hope the flowchart below clarifies things:

1. There will be 16 levels in all: 15 total levels + Level-0 (where you have to enter the answer to a clue mentioned in the first email you received to proceed to Level-1).
2. The answers can only have lowercase alphanumeric characters (no space or special characters). If the answer is “Tanvi’s toy tiger”, the only acceptable answer is “tanvistoytiger”.
3. You have infinite number of tries for each questions. However, please note that only the right answer will take you to the next level.
4. We have tried to include as many possible combinations of answers as possible, but if you do not get the answer right, keep trying.
5. Please fill in your queries/doubts/help regarding the portal/questions on the portal in this form. This form will be active only between Saturday, 12 PM and Sunday 11:59 PM. This has been created so that we can respond to your queries in a more efficient manner, since emails can get lost sometimes. We will try to respond to you as soon as possible. Having said that, please note that we will not entertain questions about questions from the cryptic hunt that are emailed to wics@ashoka.edu.in.
6. You can use form to reach out to us if you are stuck with anything. Also follow us and be on the lookout for further hints on our social media. ;)
7. The help form mentioned above is also linked under the ‘Rules’ tab of the cryptic hunt portal.
8. We will be available for answering queries only between 10 AM and 11:59 PM on both the days. Please be kind and respectful to us in the language you use, we will be trying our best to help you out with all your queries.
9. Please note:
   1. Each team must have a team name or username. You will be prompted to enter this username when you login for the first time.
   2. Each team can use only one Ashoka email ID. If your team has two members, you cannot login with both your email IDs. Doing so can result in disqualification from the hunt.
10. Lastly, remember to have fun!

Additional Rules

But what’s a cryptic hunt?

• A cryptic hunt is an online quiz that is broken down into levels of increasing difficulty (if we’re kind). Each level has a picture or text clue that you have to solve!
• Right answers entered in the text box take you to the next level.
• You can attempt the question any number of times, but only the right answer will lead you to the next level.
• You can participate individually or in teams of two. However, you cannot register twice or switch between individual/team participation without informing us a priori.
• Registration is open to everyone regardless of their major or gender.
• No technical background will be assumed. If you know how to Google to get information, you should be fine.