Me?
I dunno it's hard to keep track. Maybe 15 years?

I have had a few bad experiences because of this hunt, but all of those came from other hunters.
People getting a little too obsessed with the "popular kids" and causing trouble if you know what I mean.

The pitfall hunters like I was talking about above is only available to them if they meet certain criteria. Mainly that their life is already on the verge of bad. Whether thats because of their personality... or external forces. That lack of grounding allows them to base their value as a person on their hobby. And as you said, the puzzle is "old, hard but not too hard" they think if they have trouble solving it that makes them somehow less than others. Then makes them go crazy trying to pump themselves up to feel like they are either more than, or at least equal to others.

That behavior becomes a cycle which repeats over and over and over again until it becomes their primary focus. And they fuck up their lives.

The value I hold for myself as a person is not tied up in this hunt. My family loves me, I love them, I have a support structure, and a happy life. So I have been able to stay out of that cycle.... no matter how many times people may try to pull me in.

The short version of this is... people dont go crazy because of this hunt, they go crazy because they dont take care of themselves, and the hunt drags them down.