Rules of the Game

To make sure you get the most out of the Advent Puzzlehunt, we highly recommend you read the following rules. There aren’t many of them, and going over them will greatly improve your gaming experience.

Useful Information

The game is managed through our online game system. You’ll find all instructions there, and you’ll submit all your solutions in the system as well.
You can log in to the game system on multiple devices at once using the same username and password for all your team members. In the team settings, you can change your team name and fill in the names of individual players.
The Advent Puzzlehunt includes 23 puzzles. A new puzzle will become available early each morning, every day from December 1st to December 23rd, 2025 (CET).
A puzzle remains visible until you solve it, at which point the instructions are hidden. Be careful, though—there are penalties if you solve a puzzle on a different day than when it was released (see the Scoring and Leaderboard section below).
Whenever technically possible, each task / puzzle is published in the game system and as a downloadable PDF file that can be printed on a standard black-and-white A4 printer.
The puzzles are always available in two languages: Czech and English. It’s up to you which version you solve. Both language versions are designed to be of equal difficulty.

What You’ll Need to Play

A registered team (you’ll need your company/group’s registration code).
A computer, tablet, or mobile phone with an internet connection.
A printer and writing tools will also come in handy.

Scoring and Leaderboard

You can enjoy the game just for fun, or you can track your team’s performance on the leaderboard. All teams can see their own results and the results of other teams from the same company/group.
If your company/group organizer has enabled the global leaderboard, your teams can compare their performance with other participating teams outside your company. Otherwise, you’ll only see the results of your colleagues. (If you want to change this setting for your company/group during the game, just let us know!)

Teams on the leaderboard are ranked by points earned (primary criterion) and total game time (secondary criterion).

Points are awarded as follows:
- Solving a puzzle without a hint: 10 points.
- Solving a puzzle with a hint: 5 points.
- Viewing the correct solution: 0 points.

Game time is the sum of the time taken to solve each puzzle plus any penalties.
- Your game time starts the moment any member of your team first views the puzzle and stops the moment the correct solution is entered into the game system. (So, it doesn’t matter if you first view the puzzle at 9:00 AM or 4:00 PM. What matters is the time taken from that moment until the puzzle is solved.)
- In the advent game, we encourage teams to solve tasks on the day they are released. If a team views a puzzle on a day other than when it was released, we add a 60-minute penalty for each day of delay. (For example, a task was released on December 2nd, but a team viewed it on December 4th at 1:00 PM and solved it 15 minutes later. Their game time for this puzzle would be 15 minutes + 2 x 60-minute penalties (they viewed the puzzle two days late) for a total of 135 minutes added to their overall game time.)

General Rules

The solution to a puzzle is always a single, meaningful word (a password) that you enter into the game system.
The game system is not case-sensitive and ignores any diacritical marks in the solution.
If you enter an incorrect password, you won’t be penalized. However, after three incorrect attempts in a row, the system will require a two-minute pause before you can submit another answer.
The puzzles are not interlinked; each one has its own solution.
We use the English alphabet (26 letters, Czech ‘CH’ counts as two letters).
If you spot a printer icon (🖨️) in a puzzle’s title, we recommend printing it out — solving can be easier that way. And if you see a speaker icon (🔊), don’t forget to turn your sound on.

Traditions from Around the World

With each task, you’ll find interesting facts about Christmas traditions from different countries. These texts do not contain any part of the puzzle, but they might inspire you while you’re solving!

Fair Play

Please play fair. We trust that you will! And we kindly ask you not to share the puzzle or the solution with anyone. This allows everyone to fully enjoy the game. Thank you!

We wish you a wonderful time solving and a beautiful holiday season!

— The Cryptomania Team

Frequently Asked Questions

Will there be puzzles on weekends?
Yes! It’s up to you when you find time to solve them—whether it’s during a team lunch, a video call, or an evening gathering.

Why does the game end on December 23rd?
Christmas Eve is family time. We believe you should enjoy it to the fullest, without any puzzling on December 24th.

Do we have to print the puzzle instructions?
Most puzzles don’t need to be printed and can be solved directly on your screen. Printing (on black-and-white A4 paper) can be helpful if you like to take notes. For the tasks where we think printing is practical, you’ll be notified before you open the puzzle so you don’t lose any game time.

Can we see how we’re doing compared to other teams?
Yes. You’ll find a leaderboard in the system. The person who organized the game for you may have chosen whether you’ll compare your performance only within your company/group or with other players as well.

What exactly should we enter as the solution?
In most cases, a single meaningful word. If that’s not the case, we’ll let you know in the game system. However, this doesn’t mean the solution can’t be a phrase like “the code is linden” or “the password is the Czech national tree.” In that case, you would only enter the word “linden” into the game system. The game system is not case-sensitive and ignores any diacritics.

What happens if we enter a wrong password?
You won’t lose any points for a wrong answer. But after three incorrect attempts, the system will require a two-minute pause.