Now that I have told you about the Pioneer Press Medallion Hunt for 2021, I want to tell you about another *different* hunt going on that is being put on by the Winter Carnival. It's being called a Scavenger Hunt because it requires you to do different things at different places to win, but in a way it's really more like a collection of 30 one clue treasure hunts with the winner being the one that solves the most. You might also be interested to know that I am the cluewriter for this!

There are three different hunts you can choose from (or if you're feeling ambitious, you could do more than one). One is the Park-e-mon-Go Hunt. It is a tour of St. Paul parks that is aimed at families and is free to play. We worked with the St. Paul Conservancy on this one and they have provided $800 worth of prizes. I suspect all of you with your familiarity with St. Paul parks should do well on this one. Or if you're tired of being cooped up inside we have the Shop, Dine, and Play Hunt. This will take you on a tour of places around the city that are fun to go to, offer good food, and/or are interesting to behold. To complete this hunt you won't have to go indoors anywhere, but if you choose to patronize these establishments, it should be a good time. Finally there is the St. Paul Past & Present Hunt for those of you who think you're up on your local history. This is the most challenging of the three hunts and will take you not just across the space of St. Paul, but also across time as you explore it's history and the sites where that history took place. These latter two hunts do have a cost of $20 per team. We're still working out the exact prizes, but they will be worth at least $500 each.

The way it works is you can register at https://www.wintercarnival.com/events/saint-paul-scavenger-hunt/ for any and all of the three hunts. After you are registered you will get a code for your team. We are using an app called Goosechase which you will need to download to the phone you want to designate as your team's official phone. At 5pm on January 28th the hunt will go live and you will enter in your code. You will then have until 5pm on Sunday, February 7th to solve as many of the 30 missions as you can. There are three types of missions. One type will ask you a question and you must enter the correct answer to score points. Another will describe a location and you must go there and take a photo or video of at least one member of your team that includes something specific mentioned in the clue. The third type of mission will require you to simply visit a location and submit your GPS coordinates. All answers will need to come from the designated phone that you entered your code into.

The team that has scored the most points by the end of the hunt will be declared the winner in each of the three hunts. In the case of a tie, there will be one mission that was designated as a tie-breaker. Whichever of the tied teams completed that one first will be the winner. If there is still a tie, there will be a random drawing. The registration will ask you to name official team members, but you are free to solicit help from as many people as you wish, depending on how many people you potentially want to split the prize with.

Having seen where each of these hunts will take you, I think it's going to be really fun. I've had some people testing out the clues and they liked them. Depending on how long the Medallion Hunt goes there will be some crossover. However you may want to take a break or perhaps you'll want to do some more hunting after the Medallion is found. So I hope you'll give it a try!

May I ask, do you get all of the 30 at once or do you have to solve one to get the next? 

You do actually get all 30 at once. You have 10 days to solve as many as you can, though one is a tie breaker and the first team among those with the highest score that gets it, breaks the tie. Thus it would be wise to do that one first. Otherwise you can do them in any order.

When you try to sign up for Park E Mon go, it says Sorry. This form is no longer accepting new submissions.

Is it truly closed?

Thanks, but I think I will do one of the other two.  Fill out the crowd, you know.