We got to the final location at about 10, then Jana's team at like 2 or so, the Redbear's team a little later, then AW's work team. Not sure about the last 2 teams.
I will give you my account of it not that I plain rembering any of it!! lol!! I started drinking at what time was it!!! 11 I think some where in there?? Who knows!! :cool: :cool: :cool:
The final result was the team of Spider Monkeys was the first to arrive at the final location which was supposed to be...well I won't say yet in case anyone hasn't heard and wants to figure it out for themselves. But it turned out the hours of the place were not what the website I was looking at said they were. Instead of opening at 9am, they opened at 4pm. But there was a place nearby that served breakfast so we went there instead to set up shop. So anyway, the Spider Monkeys found us there at about a quarter after 10. There they had to make a choice between the following items:
1 cubic centimeter of gold (at $898 a troy ounce)
A half ton of gasoline at $2.95 a gallon
50,000 yen
1 mile of pennies (end to end, not stacked)
$100 in average quality baffalo nickels
1 cubic meter of skim milk (at $3.29 a gallon)
1 pound of ibuprofin (at $9 for 100 tablets at 200mg each)
1 acre of laser printer paper (at $7.99 ream)
The Spider Monkeys were under the impression that Finders Keepers was hot on their trail so they worked fast and furious. As it turned out, Finders Keepers wouldn't show up until about 4 hours later. By then the Spider Monkeys had had enough time to double check and triple verify each calculation and so it was no surprise that they picked the most expensive item. Finders Keepers apparently had all the answers around 8am, but got hung up on the final puzzle. The next two teams to come in were the Carlson Banks Dance Academy followed shortly thereafter by Bloodbath and Beyond. These two teams had actually visited every single location whereas other teams had found the missing items in pictures by finding similar pictures online. Consequently that may have slowed them down a bit, but they did have fun seeing all the different places. The Cookie Bakers, who I had favored to win, didn't stroll in until about a quarter after 5pm. About that same time I got a call from my singles club saying they were giving up as circumstances had reduced their team to two people, neither of whom were great puzzle solvers. And those were the results.
I'm going to try and post the puzzles on here, though they are all in Word and Excel formats. The pictures I made with a special graphics program. I think I can make pdf's from it though.
Heavily worn. Major designs visible, but with faintness in areas. Head of Liberty, wreath, or other major features visible in outline form without center detail.
Sounds pretty average to me. There is no such thing as an "average" grade when it comes to coins.
thanks david for providing the nice and challenging tune up for the PP hunt - this is a nice change of pace to say the least. You really put time and thought into this - was fun to "watch from afar" as people tried to decipher and decode!! I thin you may have set a new standard for future hunts of yours!!
We had a great time, and we got to stretch our brains a bit. Since Tim's claiming a moral victory - we will too: We were the only team that got a good night's sleep and visited all the picture places. So, we had fun - thanks, AW!
Thanks again, David, for an awesome hunt! Your hunts are always the best and you really outdid yourself...very clever, indeed! I can't even put into words how much fun this was...
Congrats to all of the Spider Money team!! :grin: :grin:
So the things I've been asking people if anyone else wants to add an opinion:
How did the timeframe work? Would it have been better to start early on a Saturday and do it for only 12 hours? Start on a Saturday noon and go for 24 hours? Start Saturday night and go for 24 hours? I'm kind of leaning towards a Saturday 9am start time and aim to finish by Saturday night,with the post party at the final location. That would likely mean knocking off a few puzzles though.
Would people have rather had a bigger prize instead of paying for pool and darts (or potentially food) at a Winner's Ball?
It's been suggested each team should maybe have to take a picture of someone on their team at each location to force them to visit each location.
Were the puzzles too hard? It seems a couple of them were. Or maybe the associated picture was just too easy to find on it's own and people simply bypassed it because they could.
Otherwise, there seems to be interest in doing it again, both from the participants and from my Mason Lodge. So looking at the calendar, I'm thinking August 9th as that is still before the Fair and also before the Renaissance Festival (another group of crazy people that might get into this). Having worked out the details on this inaugural run, we hope to have a lot more teams the next time around as well as a bigger prize perhaps.
I think earlier on Friday night like 6:30 or 7. That gives everyone an earlier start on noodling so we're not all brain dead.
I think having to have pictures of a team member at every location isn't necessary and would mean that everyone - even those checking things alone - would need a camera. However one finds the right whatever should be good enough to solve the puzzle or clue. And we don't have a clue what gas prices could be come August.
In my opinion, just having a place for a gathering at the end of the hunt is good enough.
I don't think a bigger prize would motivate more of us to participate. Most of us are really into hunts for the hunt itself.
The puzzles were clever. This was our first time through this so I wouldn't worry about them being too hard.
I agree with the last two posts, keep the start on Friday evening but make it at 5:30 or 6 instead of 8. I like the idea of making each team take a picture of someone in front of each location. As far as extra prize money vs. pool/darts/food, obviously I would take the extra money. However I don't know that I'd be saying that had my team not won.
A very special thanks to the members of Team Finders Keepers - You guys kick ass. We worked perfect together. Thanks for allowing for us to use your pad as clue central Jake.
I would suggest an earlier start as well. And I also like the idea of actually having to go to the place to close out the clue. As fun as it was to fly through and find the pictures on-line, I did enjoy hitting the actual spots in person. When would you ever get see Jake and I freezing outside a church waiting for it to open for the day? :litesmile: I was jealous of Bear's team, both because they visited each spot in person and because they got some sleep. Being the first to find the plaque outside the entrance to the Conservatory was the kind of a Big W experience I was hoping for.
Another part of the hunt I really enjoyed was the cool place the clues took us to. I never seen a cooler restroom! :cool:
Thanks again AW - as Becky said, you really outdid yourself on this one.
Thanks AW for the awesome hunt. I loved the new format and think that this type of thing will only grow as more people hear about it.
The starting time was fine for me. I think you could get away with moving it up to 6 or 630, but am not sure how much of a difference this would make.
I could go either way on the idea of taking a picture at the location. It was fun searching for the photos online and then determining if we couldn't get them online to go out and find them. It was also be fun to spend more time driving around as opposed to a hunt headquarters.
The difficulty of the puzzles was fine. The morse code one was nearly impossible, but I understood that you wanted to have some unique puzzles and that one definitely qualified.
One thing I would say is if it's possible to avoid places that close that would be best. It didn't happen due to the online thing, but there could have been a "catch up" point at the Guthrie which would have sucked for teams that stayed up all night trying to get an edge.
Overall, lots of fun. The sooner you can nail down the date and details of the next one the better, I will definitely help promote it. Also maybe have a free agent pool for teams of less than 5 or people that want to participate but don't have a team.
While I agree that would be interesting and fun, it is typically pretty difficult for a cluewriter (puzzle writer) to determine how long it will take teams to figure out a puzzle.
http://www.bullrun.com/ basically they raced across the country but had to make choices along the way...do this...longer....do this shorter but risky (like no gas stations) etc..
Fortunately I only got the parking ticket...One of my other teammates got the speeding ticket. Pretty lame, if you ask me. I told him to tell the cop he was on a scavenger hunt but he apparently didn't.
thanks fo a kick AZZ hunt AW!! it was just Right!! don't think you could have done it better!! It will be hard to out do your self!!
Who All is Going to the winners ball!!!
I am saving my kitchen passes for the PP hunt!
R
congrats to the winners!
I know you put much time into the preparation for this hunt. Your efforts are very much appreciated.
1 cubic centimeter of gold (at $898 a troy ounce)
A half ton of gasoline at $2.95 a gallon
50,000 yen
1 mile of pennies (end to end, not stacked)
$100 in average quality baffalo nickels
1 cubic meter of skim milk (at $3.29 a gallon)
1 pound of ibuprofin (at $9 for 100 tablets at 200mg each)
1 acre of laser printer paper (at $7.99 ream)
The Spider Monkeys were under the impression that Finders Keepers was hot on their trail so they worked fast and furious. As it turned out, Finders Keepers wouldn't show up until about 4 hours later. By then the Spider Monkeys had had enough time to double check and triple verify each calculation and so it was no surprise that they picked the most expensive item. Finders Keepers apparently had all the answers around 8am, but got hung up on the final puzzle. The next two teams to come in were the Carlson Banks Dance Academy followed shortly thereafter by Bloodbath and Beyond. These two teams had actually visited every single location whereas other teams had found the missing items in pictures by finding similar pictures online. Consequently that may have slowed them down a bit, but they did have fun seeing all the different places. The Cookie Bakers, who I had favored to win, didn't stroll in until about a quarter after 5pm. About that same time I got a call from my singles club saying they were giving up as circumstances had reduced their team to two people, neither of whom were great puzzle solvers. And those were the results.
I'm going to try and post the puzzles on here, though they are all in Word and Excel formats. The pictures I made with a special graphics program. I think I can make pdf's from it though.
looks like the team that took the buffalo nickels won... :wink:
Good G-4
Heavily worn. Major designs visible, but with faintness in areas. Head of Liberty, wreath, or other major features visible in outline form without center detail.
Sounds pretty average to me. There is no such thing as an "average" grade when it comes to coins.
For all that don't know, I'm just giving AW crap.
It only seems reasonable considering our recent infatuation with asterisks in the wake of Barry Bonds.
in reality we blew the lead we gained by working through the night by missing something that should have been pretty easy to figure out.
I believe you should still have my comcast email address.
Congrats to all of the Spider Money team!! :grin: :grin:
I helped a bit as well...not as much as I thought I would...
I didn't solve a single puzzle :smile:
all I did was go to a few locations for the team..
How did the timeframe work? Would it have been better to start early on a Saturday and do it for only 12 hours? Start on a Saturday noon and go for 24 hours? Start Saturday night and go for 24 hours? I'm kind of leaning towards a Saturday 9am start time and aim to finish by Saturday night,with the post party at the final location. That would likely mean knocking off a few puzzles though.
Would people have rather had a bigger prize instead of paying for pool and darts (or potentially food) at a Winner's Ball?
It's been suggested each team should maybe have to take a picture of someone on their team at each location to force them to visit each location.
Were the puzzles too hard? It seems a couple of them were. Or maybe the associated picture was just too easy to find on it's own and people simply bypassed it because they could.
Otherwise, there seems to be interest in doing it again, both from the participants and from my Mason Lodge. So looking at the calendar, I'm thinking August 9th as that is still before the Fair and also before the Renaissance Festival (another group of crazy people that might get into this). Having worked out the details on this inaugural run, we hope to have a lot more teams the next time around as well as a bigger prize perhaps.
I think having to have pictures of a team member at every location isn't necessary and would mean that everyone - even those checking things alone - would need a camera. However one finds the right whatever should be good enough to solve the puzzle or clue. And we don't have a clue what gas prices could be come August.
In my opinion, just having a place for a gathering at the end of the hunt is good enough.
I don't think a bigger prize would motivate more of us to participate. Most of us are really into hunts for the hunt itself.
The puzzles were clever. This was our first time through this so I wouldn't worry about them being too hard.
Grats Monkeys! Way to step up.
A very special thanks to the members of Team Finders Keepers - You guys kick ass. We worked perfect together. Thanks for allowing for us to use your pad as clue central Jake.
Another part of the hunt I really enjoyed was the cool place the clues took us to. I never seen a cooler restroom! :cool:
Thanks again AW - as Becky said, you really outdid yourself on this one.
What was funny was I got a call at work from iceman, regman, or bfg..not sure who in the rush of phone calls I was getting...
but I than called mucky and told her to go to KittyKatClub...she asked me why and how they figured it out...
I told her I'm not sure it was confusing...
I didn't find out for over an hour how they figured it out...and who figured it out..
what I found out later was that Mucluck called the other guys and said try this...
good thing she called them and not me as I am sure I would have gotten to "kitt" and quit...
The starting time was fine for me. I think you could get away with moving it up to 6 or 630, but am not sure how much of a difference this would make.
I could go either way on the idea of taking a picture at the location. It was fun searching for the photos online and then determining if we couldn't get them online to go out and find them. It was also be fun to spend more time driving around as opposed to a hunt headquarters.
The difficulty of the puzzles was fine. The morse code one was nearly impossible, but I understood that you wanted to have some unique puzzles and that one definitely qualified.
One thing I would say is if it's possible to avoid places that close that would be best. It didn't happen due to the online thing, but there could have been a "catch up" point at the Guthrie which would have sucked for teams that stayed up all night trying to get an edge.
Overall, lots of fun. The sooner you can nail down the date and details of the next one the better, I will definitely help promote it. Also maybe have a free agent pool for teams of less than 5 or people that want to participate but don't have a team.
would be fun to be forced to have options..
Such as:
1) you can drive to a location that is 30-45 mins away..and its an easy find for a clue.
2) or figure out the riddle to find it with in short drive.
drive to duluth find a special location...you collect $200 and pass go.
http://www.bullrun.com/ basically they raced across the country but had to make choices along the way...do this...longer....do this shorter but risky (like no gas stations) etc..
1 speeding ticket: $120
1 Parking Ticket: $34
1 removal from St. Paul Park police
Priceless.
Only one parking ticket here, I think BFG received that one.
DWI task force ..and needless to say...I know I'll never drink more than 1 or 2 in that area again.
12-20 cops on patrol on two roads is just scary.
didn't get a ticket....
we saw car tracks going up there and a park cop there coming to kick us out!!
personal JOE 2300