CS50 Puzzle Day
2021-09-04T14:00:00-04:00/2021-09-04T17:30:00-04:00
Science & Engineering Complex
150 Western Ave, Allston MA 02134
3 hours of puzzles and prizes! Plus a free CS50 Puzzle Day t-shirt! đź‘•
CS50 Puzzle Day is an opportunity to collaborate on a team with classmates and friends on a packet of puzzles (i.e., logic problems). Among the event’s goals is to send a message that computer science is more about problem-solving than it is about, say, programming. Among the event’s other goals are prizes.
Teams of size 2, 3, and 4 allowed. Non-CS50 students welcome! Open only to residential students at Harvard University; no guests permitted this year. At least one team member must have a facebook.com account in order to submit team’s answers.
Puzzles are not programming challenges. No prior CS or programming experience needed, just logic and smarts! See some past puzzles.
Masks must be worn properly and at all times while indoors. You’re welcome to work on puzzles outdoors, weather permitting!
How to Get There
Science & Engineering Complex
150 Western Ave, Allston MA 02134
Prizes
- Grand Prize - Oculus Quest 2, for one lucky raffle winner
- 1st Prize - Portal, for each member of 1st-place team
- 2nd Prize - Portal Mini, for each member of 2nd-place team
- 3rd Prize - Snack Magic, for each member of 3rd-place team
If multiple teams solve the same number of puzzles, ties will be broken based on who submitted first! CS50 staff eligible to compete for prizes but ineligible for raffle.
Photos from Fall 2019
What to Bring
- Laptop with charger
- Pen/pencil
- Scratch paper
- Blanket or towel if you’d like such for sitting outside
How to Prepare
No preparation (or prior background or experience of any sort!) is expected. But you might find it helpful to peruse some past puzzles!
Past Puzzles
Here are Fall 2020’s puzzles and walkthroughs of solutions!
One error in the walkthrough for The Sound of Silence: there is a fifth word that gives you the five-letter answers, the statement about the silent H was incorrect.
Teammate Finder
Need a hand finding teammates? Add yourself to the spreadsheet at cs50.ly/teammates, keep an eye on it for others’ additions, and email anyone with whom you might like to form a team! A friendly “hey, like to work on a team together” email, with a little bit about yourself, should suffice to break the ice!
Quotes from Last Year
- A good activity to do with friends!
- Difficult, Challenging, but most of all, Memorable!
- Extremely fun but mind boggling at the same time
- Great fun, and I think I even have a few non-grey hairs left!
- Had the best online experience of my life. Got a chance to get to know many people from different countries. Absolutely loved the experience.
- I can describe CS50 Puzzle Day in one word as Awesome. It’s just wonderful, I feel so confident after making new friends from other parts of the world, solving puzzles with them which improved my team coordinating skills. I have learned so much from the competition and my new friends and I would love to take part in this competition every year.
- It was a lot of fun and a great way to use your mind in a different way than you usually do day to day.
- It’s brainwreckingly good!
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to CS50’s alumni and friends at Facebook for writing this year’s puzzles!