The Herald Hunt, formerly the Tropic Hunt, is an annual

puzzle hunt A puzzle hunt (sometimes рuzzlehunt) is a puzzle game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles. A puzzle hunt can happen at a particular location, in multiple locations, or via the Internet. In a puzzle hunt, a puzzle is usually not acc ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It was co-created by '' Miami Herald'' columnist Dave Barry, along with ''Tropic'' editors

Gene Weingarten Gene Norman Weingarten (born October 2, 1951) is an American journalist, and former syndicated humor columnist for ''The Washington Post.'' He is the only two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. Weingarten is known for bot ...

and

Tom Shroder Tom Shroder (born 1954 in New York City) is a journalist, writer and editor who worked for the ''Washington Post'' for many years. Biography Shroder is the author of ''The Most Famous Writer Who Ever Lived: A True Story of My Family'' (2016) an ...

. The Tropic Hunt debuted in 1984, and as of 2018 there have been a total of 18 Hunts (plus one played-from-home 'non-hunt'). The winners of the 2011 Herald Hunt were Jeffrey Kobal, Cheryl Kobal, and Adam Horowitz.

Early history and name change

The hunt got its name from the

Sunday magazine A Sunday magazine is a publication inserted into a Sunday newspaper. It also has been known as a Sunday supplement, Sunday newspaper magazine or Sunday magazine section. Traditionally, the articles in these magazines cover a wide range of subject ...

supplement to the ''Miami Herald'' called ''

Tropic The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

'', in which Dave Barry had a regular column. For the Hunt, the magazine, and a large section of South Florida, were turned into a large

scavenger hunt ''Scavenger Hunt'' is a 1979 American comedy film with a large ensemble cast which includes Richard Benjamin, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, Ruth Gordon, Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy McDowall, Robert Morley, Richard Mulligan, Tony R ...

/ puzzle, which has attracted thousands of people from all over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The hunt in 1998 was the last Tropic Hunt, because the ''Miami Herald'' ceased publishing ''Tropic'' magazine shortly thereafter. The ''Miami Herald'' reinstated the hunt in 2001, now calling it the Herald Hunt. It creates a special magazine section each time for the Hunt.

Format

The first two years, the Hunt was a car-based chase around South Florida, In 1986, it changed to the still current design, where Hunters gathered in one walkable urban neighborhood. Hunts have been held in

Downtown Miami Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and Park West. It ...

South Miami South Miami is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida in the Miami metropolitan area. The population was 11,657 at the 2010 census and as of 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, was 11,911. South Miami's central business district is directl ...

, Miami Beach,

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, S ...

, Coral Gables, and Hollywood. The Hunt consists of three parts. Answering the "opening questions" directs Hunters to five puzzle sites scattered through the Hunt area. Solving the five Hunt puzzles—the answer is always a number—indicates the five authentic clues on a list of dozens of numbered bogus clues. Hunters have three hours to solve the puzzles, then at 3 p.m., a sixth and final clue is announced from the main stage. This begins the "endgame", which is by far the most difficult puzzle of the day. Solving the endgame often leads to a

phone number A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...

, or directs Hunters to go to a certain out-of-the-way location and give a

password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...

to someone identified in a cryptic way. In 2007, Hunters who solved the endgame knew they needed to find a sandwich. Only when they arrived at a location marked on the Hunt Map with a sandwich, they saw a sign that said "Right idea. Wrong one." In fact, they had to go to a location on the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...

, marked with a

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

. In other words, a "sand witch." If they went to that spot on the beach, they saw a Hunt volunteer wearing a witch's hat and holding a broom.

Post Hunt

Since the Hunt became the Herald Hunt in 2001, it has been designed by Barry and Shroder. In May 2008, the ''Washington Post Magazine'' held a Hunt in downtown Washington DC, attended by about 5,000 people, including dozens who came up from South Florida. The May 17, 2009,

Post Hunt The Post Hunt was an annual puzzlehunt in Washington, DC. It was co-created by Miami Herald columnist Dave Barry, along with Gene Weingarten and Tom Shroder. The Post Hunt debuted in 2008. The most recent hunt took place on May 22, 2016. The hunt ...

attracted an estimated 10,000 participants. For the first time in 10 years, Gene Weingarten, now a columnist for the Post Magazine, joined Shroder, now editor of the Post Magazine, and Barry in designing the Hunt. The winners of the 2010 Post Hunt were John Sanders, Joe Grossman, Chris Wong, Eric Pilar, Katie Elder, Eana Chung, and Suzanne Schwartz."For Post Hunt players, more wild mind trips" ''Washington Post'', June 7, 2010. p. C3

External links

Official site
*Unofficia
Hunt Archives
maintained by Andy Wenzel -- contains puzzles, clues, answers, photos and videos from past Tropic/Herald Hunts 1984-present

References

{{coord missing, Miami Puzzle hunts Culture of Miami Miami Herald 1984 establishments in Florida Tourist attractions in Miami