Things not defined here but worth finding out about if you don't already know what they are:

anagram

caesar's square

cipher

crossword

jigsaw puzzle

nonogram

palindrome

riddle

rot13

sudoku

wordsearch

:: what are they talking about?

backsolve

Backsolving is essentially a technique used to determine solutions by working backwards. If, for example, you know the answer to a particular metapuzzle, it's often a simple matter of deduction to figure out what the answers are for the puzzles that feed into it.

bennie

Short for 'benefit', bennies are the generic name for the awards given to teams for completing any of the optional Challenges (often through the expenditure of some challenge system-specific currency). They can be in the form of free hints, free solutions, freebies, or any amount of bonus points less than the point value of a correct puzzle answer submission. Typically, they represent a boon to the team that receives them but they can also take on the form of penalties that the aforementioned team can inflict upon others.

bonus point

Typically, teams accumulate points by way of correct answer submissions. Another way to increase scores is to be awarded bonus points. Bonus points can be obtained through certain bennies but are also available by way of such things as the Veteran Hunter Bonus, The Newbie Hunter Bonus, and The Swag Bonus. Regardless of origin, bonus points are added to the team's total score post-multiplier.

challenge

Challenges are activities designed to parallel the puzzle portion of the hunt. Not as mentally stimulating as the puzzles, they are designed to be a fun break from all the brain trauma (usually taking the form of board game activities) and, by way of the bennies awarded through their successful completion, a means to make the puzzle-solving easier. Challenges are never available at the start of the hunt, usually requiring some opener to unlock them.

final puzzle

The Final Puzzle is the name given to whatever is indeed the last puzzle needed to complete the hunt in its entirety, thus solving the mystery surrounding the event. Sometimes it can take on the form of the grand metapuzzle. Other times, it's another puzzle that is unlocked by solving the grand metapuzzle.

flavor text

The text accompanying any puzzle is called flavor text. It's there to provide context and reinforce the event's theme (ie, flavor) as well as subtly clue certain ideas or concepts to better reach the correct answer.

freebie

Freebies are essentially free wrong answer negations. Their point value is always the same as how much a wrong answer penalty would cost (thus canceling them out). If unused at the end of the hunt, they become bonus points.

gimme

A gimme can describe one of three things: a ridiculously easy puzzle that either does not take much (if any) effort at all to solve or has a blatantly obvious solution, a challenge that is equally effortless to complete, or any portions of the hunt that were not completed in time for the event (or were erroneous) and instead confer completion status to the team automatically.

grand metapuzzle

The grand metapuzzle is the larger puzzle formed from the answers of all the metapuzzles in the hunt. Though it in itself is a metapuzzle, it is scored as a standard puzzle (at half value point-wise) and awards no multipliers. Sometimes the grand metapuzzle is the Final Puzzle. Occasionally, it serves as a kind of opener to access the Final Puzzle.

hint

Hints are a form of assistance given by the hunt staff to a team who is unable to solve a particular puzzle. If nudging can be considered a gentle push in the right direction, Hints are fingers pointed directly at the way to go. Hints reveal the puzzle's solution method without outright giving the answer. There is nothing subtle about a Hint. Whereas nudges are free, Hints deduct points from the puzzle in question. Only a set number of Hints can be requested per puzzle.

huddle

Short for "Team Captain Huddle", the huddle is a gathering of captains at the beginning of the hunt wherein announcements are made and event-specific details are given. Presumably, this information is then disseminated to the captains' respective teams.

metapuzzle

A metapuzzle is a large puzzle formed from the answers of smaller (standard) puzzles that specifically feed into them. Unlike other puzzles, successfully answering a metapuzzle doesn't award a flat point value. Instead, metapuzzles award a multiplier of as much as 1.5x to the toal points awarded for the puzzles that comprise them. When Hints are requested for the solving of a metapuzzle, the multiplier takes a hit.

method

Though the answer to a puzzle is all well and good, if you don't know how to arrive at it (ie, what the solution's method is), then it does you no good. When requesting a Hint, teams will be asked what their approach is and that will determine if they need a Hint used up or not. It's kind of like math and showing your work.

nudge

Nudging is a form of assistance given by the hunt staff to a team who is unable to solve a particular puzzle. It is not as blatant as Hints and are often as simple as telling the team in question whether or not they're going down the right direction. Though they cost nothing, nudges can not be requested.

opener

Openers are certain puzzles or puzzle events that do not award the same number of points for their completion as a standard puzzle (they are worth half) but rather allow access to other (previously inaccessible) portions of the hunt. All Challenges are considered locked until their opener is completed.

oversolve

Submitting an answer that has gone a step too far in its solving is what is referred to as oversolving. Occasionally, teams will think that a particular answer arrived at is a puzzle in and of itself and will attempt to solve that. For example, a puzzle solution may resolve to the word "radar" but the team may think that the actual answer is "palindrome" because "radar" is one. Sometimes the simpler answer is the right one. Oversolved answer submissions are always penalized. (Compare with undersolve.)

penalty

Penalties are negative adjustments made to a team's score. Regular penalties are meted out when an incorrect answer submission is made. These points are subtracted at the end of the hunt (ie, post-multiplier). Some bennies provide a mechanism to inflict penalties on other teams. Hint penalties are done pre-multiplier, thus subtracting from the total score a puzzle can yield (see Hints).

perfect

A Perfect is a special rating conferred to a competing team for doing all of the puzzles and all of the Challenges that make up a particular hunt. They do not need to have a Perfect score (ie, the most points possible) nor the highest score.

photo run-around

Any run-arounds that require the use of a digital camera to capture photographs of either an event transpiring at a certain location or the discovery of scavenger hunt items.

post-multiplier

Points (bonus points or penalties) are often described as post-multiplier or pre-multiplier. Post-multiplier means that the points affect the team's final score at the end of the hunt. Being outside of any multiplier, the resultant point value is at face-value (this can mean a small bonus or a small penalty applied to the team's final score). (Compare with pre-multiplier.)

pre-multiplier

Points (bonus points or penalties) are often described as post-multiplier or pre-multiplier. Pre-multiplier means that the points affect the net points for a metapuzzle group (usually taking on the form of a hint penalty associated to a particular metapuzzle grouping). Do note that this happens before the metapuzzle's multiplier is taken into consideration, thus affecting the total points earned for that group. Being within the bounds of a multiplier, the resultant point value is larger than face-value (this often means a large penalty). (Compare with post-multiplier.)

puzzle or standard puzzle

The hunt is comprised of individual games or problems that require ingenuity and persistence to solve or assemble. Completing these awards a team a set number of points and, typically, an answer that can feed into a metapuzzle set for more points.

red herring

A red herring is something specifically designed to mislead. Or it's simply a fish. A cute fish.

registered team

A registered team is one who has officially entered the competition and is acknowledged by the hunt staff as active participants of the event.

run-around

Any puzzle that requires physically exploring or otherwise visiting an area is considered a run-around. Traditional scavenger hunts are run-arounds if only because they require participants to pretty much run around to get the sought ater pieces.

team bonuses

Team Bonuses consist of those bonus points conferred to a team based on the status of their component members. The Veteran Bonus, Newbie Bonus, and Swag Bonus make up all the Team Bonuses.

team captain

The team captain is the one member who is the sole point of contact for issues regarding answer submissions, hint requests, and the usage of bennies. Having one person per team with this responsibility thwarts the possibility of another team falsifying submissions for another team as well as introduces some semblance of order within the team. Though the title connotes some kind of leadership, it is really a designation for ease of convenience.

theme

Rather than have the hunt be simply a collection of disparate puzzles with no relation to each other whatsoever, each event has a theme or story that links the various ideas together and gives it some focus.

undersolve

Many puzzles have multiple steps in their solving. Given that pretty much all puzzles resolve to one word, arriving at the answer "The opposite of no" and submitting that as the puzzle's solution would be an example of undersolving it. Take it one step further and the final and correct solution would be "yes". A team is never penalized for submitting an undersolved answer (that is headed in the right direction). (Compare with oversolve.)

whodunit

The whodunit is the puzzle that resolves to, in the hunts that involve a mysterious murder, the identity of the killer. More often than not the whodunit is the Final Puzzle (whether or not it is the Grand Metapuzzle is a separate issue). Sometimes, the whodunit isn't an actual hunt puzzle but rather something clued at from the various pieces of flavor text laid out in the hunt's puzzles. Figuring this out (despite the lack of a puzzle as a vehicle to deliver it) awards a bonus.