The Code

The Code: a TV show and a Treasure Hunt

The Code is a three-part TV series about maths in the world around us, presented by Marcus du Sautoy, that aired in July 2011. Why do bees make hexagonal honeycomb? Who is in charge of the flight of a flock of swallows? How can dozens of wrong answers make a correct one? The secret lies in The Code...

That’s not all, because The Code was also a treasure hunt! We hid clues in each episode of the show as well as in a series of online games and on our blog, and in the summer of 2011, viewers from across the UK dived in to find out where we'd hidden a secret treasure. Our three finalists - Helen Bennett, Pete Ryland, and Dave McBryan - battled it out at our Finale in Bletchley Park, with Pete Ryland pipping the others to the post and winning the treasure.

But while the hunt is over and the treasure found, you can still replay the treasure hunt online!

How does the treasure hunt work?

There are three parts to the treasure hunt: The Codebreakers, The Ultimate Challenge and the Finale.

There is one Codebreaker for each episode, which you'll use to keep track of the clues associated with that episode. When you spot a clue in each of the episode's clips or in one of the flash games, or by solving a puzzle on the blog or completing a community challenge milestone, you can enter it into the Codebreaker for that week.

Each Codebreaker will give you a password every time you change one of the clues. Once you have entered all six clues, you should write down the password you receive. After you've completed all three Codebreakers, you'll have three passwords. These will let you unlock the Ultimate Challenge!

The Ultimate Challenge is a beautiful 84 page book of puzzles that contains everything from easy mazes, Sudoku and trivia to fiendish brainteasers - and you need to solve them all and unravel the deeper puzzles in the book to solve The Ultimate Challenge!

Since the treasure hunt is over, unfortunately you can't take part in the Finale, which was held at Bletchley Park on September 10th 2011 - but you can still watch it online and find out what happened!

Please check the Frequently Asked Questions for more details, including our Treasure Hunt Tips if you get stuck.