Night and Day
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| Not this time, bridge. Not this time. |
First, Night and Day went pretty much as I expected. I had about the right amount of time to plan a route that hit all the checkpoints. I was told by the course designer that they added a couple of checkpoints in West Seattle just so I wouldn't sweep the course. And they were way out of the way, but I went there, anyway. By 5 hours (out of 7) into the course, it was clear I wasn't going to sweep, but I kept on plugging, and ended up arriving back just on time with 3210 out of 3600 points, easily enough the top score. I missed about 8 checkpoints, all near my work/home, and could probably have gotten them given another 45 minutes. In all, I rode 78.5 miles.
Best moment: there were 2 checkpoints on either side of the Fremont Bridge, and I just wanted to pop across the bridge to visit the south one, then go right back. As I was crossing, I thought to myself, "I hope the bridge doesn't go up." Then I saw a tall sailboat circling in the water near the bridge. Uh oh. But just before I left the bridge deck, I saw the answer to the checkpoint. So I stopped, made a U-turn, and went back to the north side. Just as I left the bridge deck, the bells went off announcing the bridge was opening. Success!
Worst moment: I was clearly not sufficiently trained, as I bonked at the finish and had to get a ride for the 2 miles back from the finish to my house. Maybe next time, I'll pack another sandwich.
Ready Player One
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| Master the ostriches, win a car |
The Ready Player One contest, on the other hand, I did not come close to winning. But as it turns out, no one else has, either. Coming home Tuesday night expecting to start a marathon video gaming session, I instead discovered that the final challenge (to win a DeLorean) was to beat a world record in 1 of 4 arcade games: Joust, Robotron, Tempest, or Black Tiger. With visions of marathon sessions (such as in the great documentary King of Kong), I quickly decided there was no way I would win. As did many other people.
On further review though, there is hope. First, other games have been added since the challenge was announced (Pac-Man and the Atari 2600 version of Joust so far), with promises of more to come. Second, no marathon records have been chosen, so no 60+ hour sessions at a console wearing an adult diaper required. Instead, Ernie Cline (author of Ready Player One and the man behind the contest) has chosen 'tournament' records, where the game play is harder and you have a limited number of extra lives.
Still, the challenge is formidable, not least of which because you have to set the record on original hardware. For example, there is apparently only one Joust arcade game in Seattle, 2 Robotrons, and no Black Tigers or Tempests (a fair number of Pac-Man consoles, though, and Atari 2600s are not hard to find). Not only does this make it hard to set a record, it makes it very difficult to practice; unless you have an arcade console at home, the 2600 record seems much more beatable just because you can practice all you want at home (and also, the emulators for 2600 are apparently much closer to the real 2600 experience than emulators you can get for arcade consoles).
Once the initial reaction subsided, the most reasonable objection to the contest was voiced: the most likely person to break a record is someone who's already broken a record. Granted, you also have to pass the first and second gates, but these are trivial compared to breaking one of these records, so it seems likely that someone who already has a record catches wind of the contest, knocks off the first and second gates in a weekend, then sets to work breaking their own record. A car worth around $20K is not a bad payoff for the work, and given the low (probably non-existent) salary of a professional videogame champion, I can't say I'd begrudge anyone who took that route.
Finally, today there was a final twist: perhaps recognizing the difficulty of the task, or perhaps just hedging his bets, Ernie introduced a new rule that says if no one clears the third gate by September 30, he reserves the right to create a fourth challenge ('Extended Play'). Probably Ernie hasn't yet figured out what that fourth challenge is, but still, there's a fair bet I'll still be writing about this on October 1st (when the fourth challenge, should it come about, will kick off).
Coming up
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| Geocache puzzle of the week |
(italics = new since last time)
- Gumshoe 5K - August 3-12. A charity event where you walk around Greenwood and solve a puzzle using clues you find along the way.
- Rabbit Hole Alleycat and Sprint - August 4, Cool Guy Park. Put on by the organizers of the UW alleycat earlier this year. Should be fun.
- Choose your own Paddle Adventure - August 5, UW Waterfront Activities Center. Canoe orientering. Rent a canoe, or bring your own (kayaks are okay as well). Don't forget the sunscreen, and watch out for thick lilypad patches and swans (those guys are nasty). Note that this ends at 12:30, so the registration is open early (9-11am).
- BEAST race #4 - August 7, Issaquah. Did I ever tell you about the time I was on a BEAST race in Maple Valley and the course got me so confused I ended up going to the other end of the Cedar River Trail before I realized I was heading east instead of west? Bring a compass.
- Evening Orienteering - Wednesday, August 8, Luther Burbank Park, Mercer Island. If it's sunny, bring your bathing suit and have a swim afterwards.
- Pirate P"arr"ty - August 8, Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center. For the kids, includes a treasure hunt.
- Great Urban Race - August 11, starting at Jillian's. Amazing-race style event.
- Lauren Jackson Bobblehead Hunt - week of August 18. Like the Sue Bird hunt before, I assume, which means clues released via Twitter and Facebook. Prize is tickets to a Storm game (plus a bobblehead). All the Sue Bird prizes were found at businesses affiliated with the Storm. Just sayin'.
- Seattle Rep's Theatrical Scavenger Hunt - August 18, noon. Win Seattle Rep tickets for life! Instantly become Foursquare's Mayor of the Bagley Wright.
- Bainbridge Street Scramble - August 18. I assume this will be kind of like the Chilly Hilly, except with more checkpoints, better weather, and fewer people who fall over at the bottom of the hill because their derailleurs rusted out over the winter.
- TRIOBA Sprint Adventure Race - August 18, Ellensburg. 20-30 miles of biking, 5-15 miles on foot, no paddling, 5-10 hours total. If you're looking for the next step after BEAST races, this would be a good place to start.
- 2012 Geocaching Block Party - August 18, Fremont. It's International Geocaching Day, so break out your GPS devices and head on down to Fremont, headquarters of Groundspeak, which runs geocaching.com. Various urban geocaching activities ensue. Other events take place during the week, including one the next day at Snoqualmie Pass...
- Going APE at the Tunnel of Light - August 19, Hyak. At the east end of the Snoqualmie Tunnel, on the John Wayne/Iron Horse Trail. For those who like their geocaching more rural. Or for those who like going into a 50-degree tunnel on a potentially hot day. Bring a flashlight.
- Scavenger Hunt - August 21, 3pm, Northeast Branch Library. Ages 12-18 only. Heads will roll if they don't visit Top Pot.
- Amazing Ring Race - August 25. Free entry. Prizes: a local jeweler puts up a ring purportedly worth $15,000. 2nd prize is also nothing to sneeze at. You run around a small area downtown solving clues using a mobile phone application called SCVNGR.
- Choose Your Own Adventure #3 - August 25, North SeaTac Park. Orienteering where you find as many checkpoints as you can in 75 minutes. If you ever lose your bearings just wait for the next plane to come by and remember the airport is due south.
Still going on
- Book Scavenger hunt - Seattle Public Library's Teen Summer Reading Program.
Puzzle cache of the week: Beet Code - identify some music, find a cache. I don't like beets as a rule, but these beets I like.
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