As the oldest and longest running puzzlehunt series, the MIT Mystery Hunt developed puzzlehunt mechanics that later puzzlehunts made use of, with other puzzle hunts listing the MIT Mystery Hunt as an example of other puzzlehunts. Many of them are done by larger puzzle hunting teams as preparation for in case they win this year's hunt due to having to write next year's hunt.
- Puzzlehunt CMU
has fielded teams for the MIT Mystery Hunt and has hosted a hunt of their own. One of the puzzles in the Fall 2023 hunt, "First You Visit Pallet Town", is a riff on "First You Visit Burkina Faso" from MIT Mystery Hunt 2019. - Brown Puzzlehunt has been viewed by its staff members as "a mini-MIT Mystery Hunt", in that it has elements but designed to be much easier.
- Galactic Puzzlehunt is run by Galactic Trendsetters, the writers of the 2021 MIT Mystery Hunt, since 2017. It had its start due to the team finishing relatively early in MIT Mystery Hunt 2017. They also developed the gph-site to host puzzlehunts, which has been used in later versions of the MIT Mystery Hunt.
- Teammate Hunt is run by teammate, the writers of the 2023 MIT Mystery Hunt, since 2020. It started to get the teammates more experienced in puzzle writing.
