It all started in June of 2020 when Pat "Truck" Moriarty wanted to create something to help stifle the boredom brought on by staying home during the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown. He posted a simple puzzle on his YouTube and Facebook accounts, which he called Puzzle #1. It was a simple puzzle with a one-word solution.
Not long after, the puzzles included real world treasure hunts in the state of Minnesota, and by the end of summer, just as Puzzle #4 was being plotted out, Pat was featured in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, bringing his puzzles and hunts to the attention of the larger treasure hunt community-- and holy crap it is quite an amazing community!
Since 2020, the puzzles and hunts have gotten much more complicated and ambitious, and as such, have become much more infrequent. However, Truck has been writing the next installment of his brain teasers since 2022, and it is by far the largest, wildest attempt at a treasure hunt yet. Planned release for the next adventure is July of 2025.
Truck Puzzles are always free to participate in, so if one is active, you never have to worry about paying an entry fee. Generally speaking, the hunts have alternated between armchair internet puzzles and actual boots-on-the-gound hunts, that only take place within the borders of the state of MN.
The "Puzzles" link on the nav bar above leads to summaries and multimedia for the ten completed puzzles that have happened so far. The last one, Puzzle X, happened in April of 2023. The summaries spare no details and are a great place to check out the mechanisms of how each puzzle worked and the solutions for each.
Pat's had his hand in creative endeavors of all sorts over the years, but his day job is Insurance Agent, operating an independent insurance agency for Minnesota residents in need of Auto, Homeowners, and other personal insurance. He resides in Cottage Grove, MN, with his wife Ang. They have two adult children who've grown up and moved out!
He founded the Home Run League, an adult wiffleball league, in 2004. Based in Eagan and Hopkins, MN, it's still going strong today and has been widely regarded as the top wiffle ball league in the country for most of its 20+ year history. Pat is also a part-time musician; you can find him belting out lead vocals for local cover/dance band "Triple Dog Dare" a couple times a month at the local bars.
The COVID pandemic took many of those passions away, temporarily. With a knack for puzzles and numbers, Pat found a way to fill the void by creating puzzles and then turning those puzzles into treasure hunts. As life slowly started to return to normal, the puzzles have slowed down, but the writing for the next experiences are ALWAYS happening.