I don't know why, may be it's the persistence of the good summer weather, but October is shaping up to be a month of Puzzle Hunt Contests in Seattle.
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| Dude wants his horse back. |
Hunt for Odin's Horse
First up is the Hunt for Odin's Horse, October 13th and 14th in Ballard, in conjunction with the premiere of Mirror Stage's play, Odin's Horse. It's billed as the 'first green puzzle hunt': all clues are released and all solutions submitted via the Internet, and you're supposed to get there and get around via foot, public transit or (they don't mention it, but this is what I'm going to use) bike. Lone Shark Games, a company that has done other local puzzle/scavenger hunts such as the Renton Duck Hunt, is in charge of the puzzles. Apart from the 'green' aspect, the format is a little odd, in that the first day's clues (on the 13th) are optional and you don't even have to be there. If you do solve them, they just get you bonus points on the 14th, when the real running around commences.
The prize if you finish is a seat at the Valhalla banquet the night of the 14th, featuring Odin beers (tasty!) and scenes from the play. Top-scoring teams will get other, unspecified prizes (here are a couple of guesses: Odin beer. Tickets to the play). Still, they had me at free banquet.
One important point: to play on the 14th, you must register by October 7th at the website. That's next week. Teams of 3-4 are recommended, and a smartphone is required. I'm putting my team together as I write.
One important point: to play on the 14th, you must register by October 7th at the website. That's next week. Teams of 3-4 are recommended, and a smartphone is required. I'm putting my team together as I write.
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| Bike to Kent for more points |
Art Dash 4 Ca$h
The next weekend is the Art Dash 4 Ca$h, in conjunction with the City Arts Fest. Once again, the arts community comes through with a puzzle hunt. This one combines two of my favorite pastimes: Puzzle Hunts and biking. Details are sparse, but it seems like you'll be biking around King County, taking your picture at various pieces of public art. But they also promise various bike-related shenanigans like short races and footdown competitions (basically: everyone is on a bike in a circle, last one to put a foot down wins. Anything goes, but keep in mind that if you hit someone, you're probably going to fall down as well).
Minimum team size is 2. Note that if you're supposed to stick together on a bike race, the smaller your team is, the better (unless you're Lance Armstrong or something, in which case, stop slumming). On the other hand, if you can split up, larger teams have the advantage. I'll need to know the exact rules before I know whether to add more people to my team but for now, I'm sticking with two or three. Hours of the hunt are 10am-10pm, so bring plenty of energy bars.
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| Costumes and bikes. Two great tastes that go great together. |
Messmann's Messquerade
After a year off, the legendary Halloween bike/costume/scavenger hunt race Messmanns Messquerade is back on October 27. Messman put on this race/event/party for 10 years straight, then skipped last year. As I hear it, a group of friends thought it was too good an idea to let it die, so they brought it back. Requirements: team size of at least 2, costumes. This being an actual scavenger hunt, the more people you have, the more stuff you can find, so the only reason to keep your team small is because you can't scrounge up enough costumes.
Hey, it's Halloween! For costume ideas, try searching for Messquerade on Google, or let me do it for you. It's an election year, so might I suggest "Rejected Republican Presidential Candidates." Scary.
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| Hunting by the light of the moon |
Upcoming
(italics = new since last time)
- Three15er Rogaine - September 29-30, Naches. 4 hours, 9 hours, or 24 hours in the forests of the Cascades. Note that the 24-hour race is the actual, honest to goodness North American Rogaining Championships. Probably won't show up on Wide World of Sports, though.
- Puzzle Hunt 2012 - September 29, online or (I suppose) San Jose. I'm a little late on the notification here, but you can register for this charity puzzle hunt and play online. Or you could fly down to San Jose, if you're that kind of crazy.
- First Thursday Adventure Run - October 4, Green Lake. Last time, I actually won something! But the $1 beers would probably keep me coming anyway.
- Lake Sammamish Orienteering - October 7, Lake Sammamish State Park. No, you don't actually go running in the lake, silly.
- The Hunt for Odin's Horse - October 13 and 14, online and Ballard, free. See above. You must register by October 7 to compete in the live event on the 14th.
- Sunset Hill Hood Hunt - October 13. Just call it Ballard if you like. Start at 10:15, end at 11:30, find checkpoints in a 1 square mile area. Free, {but/because there are} no prizes and you have to print your own map.
- Choose Your Corn Maze Adventure - October 14, Bob's Corn Maze, Snohomish. Orienteering in a corn maze. This should be interesting. Starts early, before the maze opens to the general public, who would probably be confused by strangely-attired folks running through the maze. I don't know, though, maybe next time they should just issue the orienteers Halloween costumes and have them scare the other folks. Haunted Corn Maze!
- Art Dash for Ca$h - October 20. 12 hour (10am-10pm) Bike Scavenger Hunt for public art. Teams of two or more required. Cash prizes of some sort. I am definitely intrigued.
- Messmann's Messquerade - October 27, 7pm, Belltown, $30/person. Bike Scavenger Hunt, with costumed teams and a huge party afterwards. A Halloween tradition, back after a year on hiatus.
- Choose Your Vampire Adventure - October 27, 6pm, Lynndale Park. Orienteering with a twist. A few orienteers are 'vampires' who can steal your punch card at any time. And it's in the dark. Spooky.
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