About


HIVE: The Race to Save Time is an online puzzle game (or “Puzzle Hunt,” if you want to be technical). It takes place in the world of HIVE: Madders of Time, Book One by award-winning author DL Orton. This game is an official promotional event for the book. Please support the author by buying a copy!

About the Book:

In the not-too-distant future, Earth’s last survivors huddle inside a biodome as rising seas and relentless swarms of microdrones ravage the planet. Isabel and Diego are the last of their kind, trapped in a decaying world where hope is as scarce as food.

As the walls begin to crack and the hope of salvation fades, Isabel makes a startling discovery: the time-bending technology buried beneath their feet.

🏆 Honorable Mention for Eric Hoffer Book Award 2025

⭐️ "Engrossing doomsday thriller spliced with heart, humor, and second chances." -Publishers Weekly

Learn more at maddersoftime.com!

How to Play/Game Rules:

  • The game takes place in three rounds. Each round consists of a number of puzzles and a metapuzzle. Each metapuzzle is solved using the answers from the other puzzles in its round.
  • Clicking a puzzle’s icon opens a puzzle page with an interactive interface. An answer entry box appears on each puzzle page below the puzzle title. Entering the correct answer into this box will solve the puzzle. Incorrect guesses will be displayed below the box so you can remember what you’ve already tried. Correctly solving a puzzle may unlock additional puzzles on the main screen.
  • Each puzzle can be toggled between Easy, Medium, and Hard mode by using the radio buttons below the puzzle’s title. The default setting is “Hard” because Easy and Medium modes usually contain instructions that Hard mode does not, and we don’t want to accidentally provide spoilers!
    • Hard mode features no instructions or hints, and is best for advanced puzzlers looking for a classic “Puzzle Hunt” experience.
    • Medium mode features puzzle instructions and some clickable hints. It’s best for people who have some experience solving different kinds of puzzles, but prefer not to have to guess at what they’re supposed to be doing.
    • Easy mode features step-by-step puzzle instructions and detailed clickable hints. If you’re new to puzzles or want a less intense challenge, this is the mode for you!
  • Beyond the three puzzle modes, the rounds are also of increasing difficulty:
    • Round 1: Murderbots! features 3 puzzles based on well-known puzzle types, each with a slight twist to keep them interesting, plus an introductory metapuzzle to help show how metapuzzles work. (4 puzzles total)
    • Round 2: Isabel features 5 puzzles. Two are based on well-known puzzle types, but the other three introduce unique formats. The metapuzzle is more complex. (6 puzzles total)
    • Round 3: Diego consists of 4 “level one” puzzles, with two riffs on classic formats and two unique designs. Fixing the ladder (you’ll see what that means) unlocks “level two,” which contains 3 puzzles that are the most complex puzzles in the game. Finally, the metapuzzle is a “true metapuzzle,” requiring out-of-the-box thinking to solve. (8 puzzles total)
  • We highly recommend playing on a desktop or laptop computer for the best experience. Tablets are supported, but some functionality may not be available; we recommend playing in landscape mode. While landscape-oriented phones are supported, their small screen size may make some puzzle details difficult to view, and some operating systems are not compatible with certain site features.
  • In order to make the game accessible to players of all skill levels, there are a variety of hints and answer checks available for each puzzle, meaning not all players will play on the same level of difficulty. Because of this, we have opted not to display a live leaderboard, as such a leaderboard would encourage everyone to play on the easiest setting. You should play on the setting that feels challenging but not too hard for you.
  • Online tools like Google searches are definitely allowed! In fact, some of the puzzles are probably unsolvable without the use of such tools.
  • Although the game is played individually, up to four registered players may form a collaborative group to assist one another in solving puzzles, provided:
    1. The number of players who have ever been members of the group during the game period is four or fewer. Players are not allowed to leave a group once they have joined;
    2. The members of the group do not collaborate with anyone outside of their group, nor with any other group or its members;
    3. For the entire duration of the game, each player may only ever have been a member of at most one specific group (i.e., not one group at a time: one group in total);
    4. The members of the group do not play on behalf of one another, and no player logs into another player’s account or enters answers on behalf of another player.
  • No information from the book HIVE: Madders of Time, Book One is required to solve.
  • Miscellaneous stuff:
    • Collaborating with any non-player is strictly prohibited.
    • You may not stream or post spoilers for the game in a place where other players might see them.
    • You may not ask for help on specific puzzles on a public forum or semi-public Discord server, but you may make an open (non-spoilery) request to form a group with other registered players if you aren’t already a member of a four-person group.
    • Please don’t look at or interact with the HTML source/Javascript/CSS on any webpages on the site.
    • We reserve the right to disqualify any player for misconduct.
    • We reserve the right to change any of these rules (if it’s a major change, we’ll announce it to all registered players via email or website posting).

Who’s Behind This, Anyway?

HIVE: The Race to Save Time is sponsored by DL Orton, the author of the award-winning and best-selling Between Two Evils book series and the new Madders of Time books. Her novels have received multiple literary awards, including the BookLife Prize in Fiction, the Indie Book Award, and a Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Ms. Orton is a graduate of Stanford University's Writers Workshop and a past editor of "Top of the Western Staircase," a literary publication of CU, Boulder. She lives in the Tropics with her husband, a golden retriever mix, a Siberian cat, and a bazillion geckos. In her spare time, she's building a time machine so that someone can go back and do the laundry. Visit her online at DLOrton.com.

Game storyline and puzzles are designed by award-winning puzzle designer John Bromels of Otherworldly Adventures LLC, with assistance from coauthor Alina Khankin. John’s were also the brains behind 2024’s Who Killed Ickey? $50,000 Treasure Hunt. His puzzles have appeared in the 2024 MIT Mystery Hunt and Neil Patrick Harris’ Wondercade newsletter. John, Alina, and their coauthor Brian Widerman won the 2024 Bravo Award for Best Intro Puzzle for their MIT Mystery Hunt puzzle BADGES BADGES BADGES BADGES BADGES BADGES BADGES BADGES BADGES, and an Honorable Mention for Funniest Puzzle of 2024 for their MIT Mystery Hunt puzzle TWO OUTS, TWO STRIKES, AND….

The puzzle If Waldo Led America features original hand-drawn artwork by Eamon Hill. Eamon is a tattoo and comic book artist based in Cincinnati, Ohio.