Answers to the 2026 Cville Puzzle Hunt
When teams arrived at IX Art Park they were given a bag with a map and possible answers page, a pen, a red bag of jellybeans, an ad for a cake shop, a WTJU sticker, and a pair of scissors.
Teams were given the coordinates of the initial puzzles which were located at:
Neon Soul
The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society building
Front Porch parking lot
Decades Arcade
Puzzle 1:
Sally’s Slices
at Neon Soul
Hunters were given a flyer for Sally’s Slices, a cake shop that claims to be “a cut above the rest.” Hunters likely noticed that the ad for Sally’s Slices looked similar to the ad the Undercover Cakes that they received in their hunt supply bag.
People also likely noticed that the ad for Sally’s Slices had dotted lines suggesting hunters should cut out pieces of the cakes. If hunters cut out the pieces indicated and laid the Sally’s ad over the Undercover ad, then they read the message "scratch sniff.”
This was meant to cue hunters to scratch and sniff the sticker provided in the hunt bag. Teams that smelled the sticker likely noticed that it smelled of lime. There was a lime icon on the map at Light House Studio.
Hunters who went to this spot saw a cake, ostensibly made by chef Anna Graham. The cake message read “Over Fifty!” This is an anagram for “forty-five.”
45 was the answer to this puzzle.
This corresponded to the clue: 2 3 5
Puzzle 2:
Nana’s War Cake at Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society
Teams were given a recipe for Nana’s War Cake. A note at the bottom of the recipe told hunters that Nana liked to keep her recipes a secret. The note asked hunters if they could “unwrap” the mystery insisting that they “have this in the bag.”
Teams likely noticed that the amount of each ingredient in the recipe was missing, each replaced by a square made up of tiny multi-colored pixels. Hunters who read the note literally and unwrapped the jellybeans in their bag were able to use the red cellophane bag to hold over the pixels and read the secret messages:
peas in a pod
turtle doves
size fits all
seasons.
Filling in the beginning of these common number phrases that use numbers got you: 2 2 1 4. The “ands” that appeared in between each ingredient indicated that hunters should find the sum of the 4 digits.
The answer to this puzzle was 9.
This correspond to the clue: Click on the
Puzzle 3:
Pie Lattice Weaving at the Front Porch
Hunters were given a sheet with a sheet with a picture of a pie that had a random assortment of letters on it. The same sheet had strips to cut out. Teams were also given a QR code that took them to a website with a recipe for blueberry pie.
Most hunters guessed that weaving the cut out strips in the correct manner would reveal a message on top of the pie. The introduction to the recipe indicated that weaving the top of a pie can be the hardest part, but they shouldn’t worry because the recipe will “go over (and under)” all the steps in detail. Hunters who read the rest of the recipe likely noticed that the words “under” and “over” appeared several times in each recipe step. Hunters used the unders and overs to correctly weave each strand.
If correctly woven, the top of the pie read “look at the tee.”
Hunters who looked at the t-shirt noticed that the lattice in the piece that was removed had a 46 drawn into the lattice.
The answer to this puzzle was 46.
This correspond to the clue: You are looking blue
Puzzle 4:
Chef Tracy’s Shopping List
at Decades Arcade
Volunteers at Decades Arcade handed hunters a note from Chef Tracy that said “call me” and gave her phone number.
Teams that called the number heard a voice message that said: “I need you to pick up some ingredients. First get steak, green tea, and thyme. Then get a leek flour and mussels. The last ingredient is very important but you’ll know the spot once you’ve located the other items.” Hunters likely noticed that there were drawings of homophones for each of the ingredients listed by chef Tracy.
First, teams should have traced a line through:
the wooden stake
the green T in Water St
the clock
Then, traced a separate line through:
the leaky pipe
the biceps
the flower
The two lines made an X. The X happened to also be on a picture of a shopping list that also had an X on it.
Hunters should go to this location on the map. At the location, teams saw an A-frame chalk board that Advertised “Pie Dough, Lo-cal.” Sticking with the homophone theme, hunters likely noticed that there was a doe with a pi marking.
This icon was exactly at coordinate 4D, a homophone for forty.
The answer to this puzzle was 40.
This corresponded to the clue: This is how you roll
The End Game
Hunters who solved the initial five puzzles had the following answers and clues from the possible answers page:
9 - Click on the
40 - This is how you roll
45 - 2 3 5
46 - You are looking blue
On the IX Stage, the end game started with a cooking demonstration title “The ABCs of Wartime Baking” hosted by Able Baker Charlie.
As Charlie walked viewers through the steps to make a carrot pudding, four actors walked across the stage:
a person dressed as a fox
someone holding an oboe
a person carrying a Jolly Roger flag
a person dressed as a king
If hunters realized that the people walking through the cooking demonstration were meant to represent individual letters from the WWII phonetic alphabet, referred to as the Able Baker Charlie code, then they got the word FORK.
If they pieced this together with the clue they collected from the answer 9, Click on the _________ , then they now had the instruction to click on the fork. Teams who remembered that they had been on only one website during the hunt went back to the pie weaving recipe and clicked on the fork.
This hidden link took hunters to Sally’s Slice Delivery Service. This website had a phone number where you can text your icing flavor, cake type and filling. There were six flavors in each category that hunters could choose from, each flavor was listed in a different colored font.
If hunters looked at the next three clues they collect: This is how you roll, 2 3 5, you are looking blue and then consulted their map likely saw that there was a blue playing piece on the game board. If teams pretended to roll a 2 then 3 then 5 as the blue piece, then they landed on:
purple
orange
blue
This meant that teams should text Meringue Carrot Buttercream to the delivery driver.
Teams who did this got a text response that read: “Your order is ready. Meet me at the candy tower.” The candy tower is the tow truck located on Oak St. Hunters who went to this location met a delivery driver who gave them a fortune cookie.
The fortune read: Lucky #s 59 J14 2 K4 56 6B 6 19 IX. If hunters used the possible answers page to decode the numbers and the map to decode the coordinates then they got the message: Go to J14. Do your best mime cracking an egg. Get the stuff and return to IX.”
Teams that went to J14 on the map were greeted by a mime.
If hunters mimed cracking an egg then they were given an empty pie pan and a recipe for “WTJU Pie” which simply read “make the pie” and the only ingredient listed as 130 grams of whipped cream.
When teams returned to IX with their pie pan they were given a bottle of whipped cream to make a pie. The team that got closest to 130 grams were awarded third place regardless of when they finished.