Welcome to the 2024 (and fourth) iteration of MDSC Puzzles! We hope this will be an enjoyable side-activity during the week. There are a whopping 2450 challenge points up for grabs through these puzzles, so solving them will heavily increase your chances of winning some sweet sweet MDSC merch!

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What is the "PMCM Intern Match"?

• The "Intern Match" is our name for the 2024 MDSC Puzzles (aka. the Puzzle Hunt).

What are these "puzzles"?

• These puzzles are of the “puzzle hunt” style. They require lateral thinking to solve, and are all related to medicine.
• These puzzles do not come with instructions (otherwise, where's the fun)! Discovering the hidden trick(s) is part of the puzzle! If you don't know where to start, that's OK, try a few different things until you hit the right track.
• Check out our archive (links in the navigation bar up top) for examples of previous years' puzzles.
• These puzzles are not jigsaws.

Overview

• There will be seven puzzles this year.
• The puzzles will be released daily at 10am from Monday 24th June to Wednesday 26th June.
• Solution submissions for all puzzles will remain open until 10am Friday 28th June. After this time, the solutions will be released, and no further submissions will be accepted.
• While the Puzzle Hunt concludes at 10am Friday, please note that Challenge Points for the purposes of awarding MDSC prizes will be tallied at 12pm Thursday. After this point, the Hunt continues but further submissions will not contribute to the MDSC Challenge prizes.

Points system

• Each of the seven puzzles are worth 250 challenge points.
• A bonus 100 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 solutions and 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).
• To check a possible solution, 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, I love PuZzLeS!!123 is treated as ILOVEPUZZLES.
• The solution checker will automatically award you points upon a correct solve.
• You have 30 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 each 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

• Keep an eye on the announcements on the home page for important puzzle-related updates, including notifications of errata.

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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. But obviously you need to be one to be eligible for MDSC Challenge prizes.

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!

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Credits

• Allen Gu (PGY2)
• Daniel Tao (PGY1)