Imagine receiving an invitation delivered by an albatross! You’ve got your wand, traveled on a magical zeppelin, made some new friends, and now you’re ready for your first day at Magnificent Marigold’s Magical Academy. But before you can start learning spells, you have to face the most exciting and nerve-wracking moment: the sorting ceremony.
As you put on the sorting hat, you hear a voice. “Ah, you’re an interesting one,” it says. “Every year, I choose one student for a special challenge, and this year, it’s you. Our academy was founded by eight witches and wizards, who created four houses in pairs. I know who founded each house. There was also a mysterious fifth house, lost to time, filled with secrets and powerful artifacts. If you can tell me who founded each house, I’ll let you choose your house. But if you can also name the secret fifth house, you can join it and discover its treasures.”
The founders of each house wore different colored hats with unique symbols. No founder started more than one house. Here’s what you know:
Can you figure out who founded what and the name of the secret house?
The trickiest part of this puzzle is figuring out where to start. No single rule gives you the answer, so you need to combine them. Let’s look at rules about Longmous, as they give us a lot of clues.
Miraculo and Rimbleby both have hats with moons. This means Imaginez, who also has moons, can’t have founded Longmous. So, Imaginez must have founded Gianteye, and Funflame founded Longmous. Miraculo’s hat is red, so he can’t be in Longmous; he must be in Meramaid, leaving Rimbleby in Longmous.
Now, let’s place Septimus. Rule three says he can’t be in Vidopnir, and his yellow hat keeps him out of Gianteye, so he must be in Meramaid. The remaining founders, Deepmire and Hypnotum, both have stars, so they must go into different houses. This leaves one spot in Vidopnir for Tremenda. Tremenda’s blue hat keeps Deepmire out of Vidopnir, so Deepmire goes to Gianteye, and Hypnotum fills the last spot.
Now that the founders are sorted, let’s find the secret house. Here’s a hint: the school loves the letter M, even its motto says “M is a magic letter.” Each founder’s name has one M, and they’re all in different positions. This helps us order them from one to eight.
There’s a pattern: each founder’s name and their house have the same number of letters. This alignment doesn’t spell anything at first, but if you look at the M’s in their names, they line up to spell: M, I, N, O, T, A, U, R.
You shout “MINOTAUR” in the dining hall, and a secret passage opens. The wonders of house Minotaur are yours if you want them. But remember, being the only resident of the secret house might be lonely. So, what will you choose: the treasures of Minotaur or the friendships in the other houses?
Imagine you are at Magnificent Marigold’s Magical Academy. Create a short skit with your classmates where you act out the sorting ceremony. Use clues from the article to decide which house each character belongs to. This will help you understand the logic behind the sorting process.
Using the clues provided, draw a chart to map out which founder belongs to which house. Try to solve the puzzle on your own first, then compare your answers with a partner. Discuss any differences and work together to find the correct solution.
Design a new secret house for the academy. Think about its name, the founder, and what unique qualities or treasures it might have. Present your house to the class and explain why it would be a great addition to the academy.
Investigate the significance of the letter M in the article. Create a word search or crossword puzzle using words from the article that contain the letter M. Share your puzzle with classmates and see who can solve it the fastest.
Hold a class discussion about the final choice presented in the article: joining the secret house Minotaur or choosing friendships in the other houses. Discuss the pros and cons of each option and what you would choose if you were in the same situation.
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
—
An albatross delivered your invitation. You’ve acquired your wand, ridden the enchanted zeppelin, made some fast friends, and are finally ready for the adventure you’ve dreamed of your entire life: your first day at Magnificent Marigold’s Magical Academy. But before you can learn your first spell, you must get through the most nerve-wracking moment of the year: the sorting ceremony.
When you put on the sorting hat, you hear a voice. “Ah, you’re an interesting one. Every year I choose one student for a special challenge, and I choose you. The Magical Academy had eight founders, and they established our four houses two by two by two by two. I alone know which witches founded which. But there was once a mysterious fifth house, lost to time but full of secrets and powerful artifacts. If you can tell me who founded each house, I’ll sort you into whichever you want. However, if you can also tell me the name of the secret fifth house, I’ll let you sort into it, and you’ll inherit everything you discover.”
“The two founders of each house wore different colored hats with non-matching symbols. No founder started more than one house. Of Funflame and Imaginez, one was a founder of Gianteye and the other of Longmous. And of Miraculo and Rimbleby, one established Longmous and the other Meramaid. Finally, Septimus didn’t found Vidopnir.”
So… who founded what, and what’s the name of the secret house? Pause the video now to figure it out for yourself!
The hardest part of solving this logic puzzle is knowing where to start. No rule by itself is enough to assign a founder to his or her house, so the next best thing would be to combine a pair of rules to learn something. Rules four and five are good candidates to try that with, because they contain a lot of constraints and both mention Longmous.
Miraculo and Rimbleby’s hats both have moons, which means that no matter who ends up in Longmous, moons will be accounted for. That means Imaginez, who also has moons, can’t have founded Longmous, so she’s in Gianteye and Funflame founded Longmous. Miraculo’s hat is red, so he can’t be there, so he must be in Meramaid and Rimbleby in Longmous.
Halfway there! Now we can place Septimus—rule six keeps him out of Vidopnir, and his yellow hat out of Gianteye, so he must be in Meramaid. Of the founders left, Deepmire and Hypnotum both have stars. So each must go into a different house, taking up the remaining space in Gianteye and leaving one spot open in Vidopnir, which Tremenda must fill. Tremenda’s blue hat keeps Deepmire out of Vidopnir, so we can easily place her and, finally, Hypnotum.
Now that those founders are sorted, we can start to search for the secret house. If you don’t have it yet, here are a few hints: Pause the video now if you want to figure it out yourself!
One good strategy for a puzzle like this is to look for patterns or unusual pieces of information. First of all, there’s the school’s obsession with the letter M, right down to its motto, which translates from Latin to “M is a magic letter.” Curiously, every founder has exactly one M in their name, and each M is in a different position. That means that the M’s can put them in order, one through eight.
We know we needed to solve the logic puzzle before finding the secret house, so there must be something critical about the connection between the founders and their houses. Here’s where a pattern emerges: every founder and house have exactly the same number of letters. This allows the founders to line up with their houses quite nicely. The first letters don’t spell anything, but let’s look at the M’s in the names again and the letters they line up with: M, I, N, O, T, A, U, R.
You shout out “MINOTAUR” to a stunned dining hall, and a secret passage grinds open. The wonders of house Minotaur are yours if you want them. But being the first and only resident of the secret house would come at a high price: loneliness. So which will it be: riches or friendship?
—
This version removes any potentially sensitive or inappropriate content while maintaining the essence of the original transcript.
Sorting – Arranging items in a specific order or sequence – In the logic puzzle, sorting the numbers from smallest to largest helped solve the problem.
Puzzle – A game or problem that tests a person’s ingenuity or knowledge – The puzzle required us to use critical thinking to find the correct solution.
Founders – People who establish or create something, like a club or organization – The founders of the puzzle club organized a meeting to discuss new challenges.
Houses – Groups or categories used to organize information in a puzzle – In the logic puzzle, each of the five houses had a different color and pet.
Challenge – A task or problem that tests a person’s abilities – The hardest challenge in the puzzle was figuring out the secret code.
Secrets – Information that is hidden or not immediately obvious – Uncovering the secrets of the puzzle required careful analysis and attention to detail.
Clues – Pieces of information that help solve a problem or mystery – The clues in the puzzle guided us to the correct answer step by step.
Logic – A method of reasoning that involves a sequence of statements leading to a conclusion – Using logic, we were able to deduce the answer to the complex puzzle.
Critical – Involving careful judgment or evaluation – Critical thinking was essential to solve the puzzle and find the hidden pattern.
Thinking – The process of using one’s mind to consider or reason about something – Thinking creatively helped us come up with new strategies to tackle the puzzle.
