MDSCFone

About

Welcome to the 2023 (and third) iteration of MDSC Puzzles! We hope this will be an enjoyable side-activity during the week. There are a whopping 8000 challenge points up for grabs through these puzzles, so solving them will heavily increase your chances of winning some sweet sweet MDSC merch!

What are these "puzzles"?
  • These puzzles are of the “puzzle hunt” style. They require lateral thinking to solve, and are all related to medicine.
  • Check out our archive (links in the navigation bar up top) for examples of previous years' puzzles.

Instructions

Overview
  • There will be eight puzzles this year.
  • Two puzzles will be released at 9am each day from Monday 26th June to Thursday 29th June.
  • Solution submissions for all puzzles will remain open until 9am Saturday 1st July. After this time, the solutions will be released, and no further submissions will be accepted.
Points system
  • Each of the eight puzzles are worth 500 challenge points.
  • A bonus 500 points will be awarded for any puzzle solved within 24 hours of its release.
  • Points earned through puzzles will not automatically be tallied in the MDSC App; instead, the App will be updated with puzzle points daily. For real-time scores, go to the scoreboard to keep track of earned puzzle points.
Puzzle solution submission
  • The solution for each puzzle is a short string of letters (ie. comprised of only the 26 A-Z letters of the English alphabet).
  • If you think you have the solution for a puzzle, enter it into the solution checker associated with that puzzle.
  • The solution checker is case-insensitive and will strip all non-letter characters from your submissions before evaluating them. For example, if you guess I love PuZzLeS!!123, the solution checker will treat this as ILOVEPUZZLES.
  • The solution checker will automatically award you points upon a correct solve.
  • You have 50 guesses for each puzzle. If you run out of guesses, email mdscpuzzles@gmail.com and we will give you extra guesses if we see that you haven't just been spamming random stuff.
Hints
  • For every puzzle, a hint will be released 24 hours after the puzzle's release; this can be found on the relevant puzzle page.
  • Contrary to previous years, please don't message Allen or Dan for custom hints as we'll be busy during the day lol.
Announcements

Miscellaneous instructions

Can I work with my friends in a team?
  • Yes! Just ensure all members of your team submit correct guesses if you all want the points.
Do I need to be a UniMelb student?
  • No. Anyone can take part.
What materials are allowed?
  • You can (and should) use any resource at your disposal, including the Internet, Google, Wikipedia etc.
What if I run into a glitch on the website?
  • We strongly recommend using Google Chrome on a computer or a large tablet to view these puzzles. Website performance may vary on mobile devices and other browsers.
  • This website hasn't been extensively debugged. If you notice a bug or technical issue, email us (mdscpuzzles@gmail.com).
  • If the website crashes, be patient and it will be fixed in due course.
Most importantly, have fun!

Credits

  • Allen Gu (PGY1)
  • Daniel Tao (MD4, MDSC Assessments Officer)