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Scavenger Hunts

Allison Wonderland
 

As you may or may not know I wrote the clues for the new Scavenger Hunt event that the Winter Carnival had this year. We ran it through an app called Goosechase and it all worked out pretty well. However it was a unique thing and we can't reuse the clues next year. So even though you can no longer use the app to check your answers, I am attaching three PDF's that have all the clues for the three hunts (one focused on the parks, one on historical stuff, and one on fun things to do in town). All three were strictly St. Paul. And then I am attaching another three PDFs with the explanations. So maybe you can appoint someone to check your answers for you or maybe you'll come up with your best guess for each and then check them yourselves. That is all up to you. Feel free to use them with your friends or maybe as an event for work or a social group. But you're not allowed to charge money for it as the Winter Carnival maintains those rights.

PDF
Park-e-mon Go Answers.pdf
PDF
Park-e-mon Go Missions.pdf
PDF
Shop Dine and Play Answers.pdf
PDF
Shop Dine and Play Missions.pdf
PDF
St Paul Past and Present Answers.pdf
PDF
St Paul Past and Present Missions.pdf

Peeko03
 

I'm wondering if the scavenger hunt is going to be an annual event. It was a lot of fun, but as you can tell by this year's event, it was really a race to finish one clue, the tie breaker.

The reason Matt ( I believe that's the winner's name) only won 2 but didn't win all 3, was because he was a little too late to be the first one to finish the history hunt tie breaker. (I think he was 3rd)

Once you are first to solve the tie breaker, you can take your time to do the rest, because you've already won. I almost wish he had been first in that one as well. Then I would have known it was at least calculated and no one else would have had a chance.

We were the first to finish the history hunt, we completed it the first night. But because one team beat us to the "tie breaker" we lost.

I'm hoping if this is an annual event that the rules are changed. The tie breaker was so simple that whoever lives closest to the spot can get there first, so they win. The first half hour of the hunt determined the winner.

Please consider changing the rules for the way you win this contest in the future, to make it a little more fair for everyone. Thanks

From: theallisonwonderland@groups.io <theallisonwonderland@groups.io> on behalf of Allison Wonderland via groups.io <AllisonWondrland@...>
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2021 11:17:31 PM
To: theallisonwonderland@groups.io <theallisonwonderland@groups.io>
Subject: [theallisonwonderland] Scavenger Hunts
 
As you may or may not know I wrote the clues for the new Scavenger Hunt event that the Winter Carnival had this year. We ran it through an app called Goosechase and it all worked out pretty well. However it was a unique thing and we can't reuse the clues next year. So even though you can no longer use the app to check your answers, I am attaching three PDF's that have all the clues for the three hunts (one focused on the parks, one on historical stuff, and one on fun things to do in town). All three were strictly St. Paul. And then I am attaching another three PDFs with the explanations. So maybe you can appoint someone to check your answers for you or maybe you'll come up with your best guess for each and then check them yourselves. That is all up to you. Feel free to use them with your friends or maybe as an event for work or a social group. But you're not allowed to charge money for it as the Winter Carnival maintains those rights.

Allison Wonderland
 

The first time you do something it's bound to have some bumps and this turned out to be one of them. The thought was that if multiple teams were tied with a high score I thought it would be better if there was something they could do to earn the win rather than a random drawing. But it was also predicated on the idea that few if any teams would solve all 30 missions. You proved that to be a faulty assumption pretty quickly. Lol. 
Had no one solved them all, then anyone could have still won up to the end.

So yes, next year we will definitely try something else as a tie breaker. Right now I'm thinking of maybe deducting some points for wrong answers. I may also try to a GPS mission with a specific but not obvious point and the tiebreaker is the team closest to that spot. Or maybe I will think of something else. But now that I know that teams solving all 30 missions is more of a certainty, the tie breaker will definitely have to change.

I am a little surprised you thought the tiebreaker was obvious. I guess that place isn't as obscure as I thought.


On Sun, Feb 21, 2021 at 1:29 PM, Peeko03
<Peeko03@...> wrote:
I'm wondering if the scavenger hunt is going to be an annual event. It was a lot of fun, but as you can tell by this year's event, it was really a race to finish one clue, the tie breaker.

The reason Matt ( I believe that's the winner's name) only won 2 but didn't win all 3, was because he was a little too late to be the first one to finish the history hunt tie breaker. (I think he was 3rd)

Once you are first to solve the tie breaker, you can take your time to do the rest, because you've already won. I almost wish he had been first in that one as well. Then I would have known it was at least calculated and no one else would have had a chance.

We were the first to finish the history hunt, we completed it the first night. But because one team beat us to the "tie breaker" we lost.

I'm hoping if this is an annual event that the rules are changed. The tie breaker was so simple that whoever lives closest to the spot can get there first, so they win. The first half hour of the hunt determined the winner.

Please consider changing the rules for the way you win this contest in the future, to make it a little more fair for everyone. Thanks

From: theallisonwonderland@groups.io <theallisonwonderland@groups.io> on behalf of Allison Wonderland via groups.io <AllisonWondrland@...>
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2021 11:17:31 PM
To: theallisonwonderland@groups.io <theallisonwonderland@groups.io>
Subject: [theallisonwonderland] Scavenger Hunts
 
As you may or may not know I wrote the clues for the new Scavenger Hunt event that the Winter Carnival had this year. We ran it through an app called Goosechase and it all worked out pretty well. However it was a unique thing and we can't reuse the clues next year. So even though you can no longer use the app to check your answers, I am attaching three PDF's that have all the clues for the three hunts (one focused on the parks, one on historical stuff, and one on fun things to do in town). All three were strictly St. Paul. And then I am attaching another three PDFs with the explanations. So maybe you can appoint someone to check your answers for you or maybe you'll come up with your best guess for each and then check them yourselves. That is all up to you. Feel free to use them with your friends or maybe as an event for work or a social group. But you're not allowed to charge money for it as the Winter Carnival maintains those rights.

Andrea Howell
 

I had a blast with this— I did drop off once I realized I was statistically eliminated, but I still loved it.


On Feb 21, 2021, at 2:26 PM, Allison Wonderland via groups.io <AllisonWondrland@...> wrote:

The first time you do something it's bound to have some bumps and this turned out to be one of them. The thought was that if multiple teams were tied with a high score I thought it would be better if there was something they could do to earn the win rather than a random drawing. But it was also predicated on the idea that few if any teams would solve all 30 missions. You proved that to be a faulty assumption pretty quickly. Lol. 
Had no one solved them all, then anyone could have still won up to the end.

So yes, next year we will definitely try something else as a tie breaker. Right now I'm thinking of maybe deducting some points for wrong answers. I may also try to a GPS mission with a specific but not obvious point and the tiebreaker is the team closest to that spot. Or maybe I will think of something else. But now that I know that teams solving all 30 missions is more of a certainty, the tie breaker will definitely have to change.

I am a little surprised you thought the tiebreaker was obvious. I guess that place isn't as obscure as I thought.


On Sun, Feb 21, 2021 at 1:29 PM, Peeko03
<Peeko03@...> wrote:
I'm wondering if the scavenger hunt is going to be an annual event. It was a lot of fun, but as you can tell by this year's event, it was really a race to finish one clue, the tie breaker.

The reason Matt ( I believe that's the winner's name) only won 2 but didn't win all 3, was because he was a little too late to be the first one to finish the history hunt tie breaker. (I think he was 3rd)

Once you are first to solve the tie breaker, you can take your time to do the rest, because you've already won. I almost wish he had been first in that one as well. Then I would have known it was at least calculated and no one else would have had a chance.

We were the first to finish the history hunt, we completed it the first night. But because one team beat us to the "tie breaker" we lost.

I'm hoping if this is an annual event that the rules are changed. The tie breaker was so simple that whoever lives closest to the spot can get there first, so they win. The first half hour of the hunt determined the winner.

Please consider changing the rules for the way you win this contest in the future, to make it a little more fair for everyone. Thanks

From: theallisonwonderland@groups.io <theallisonwonderland@groups.io> on behalf of Allison Wonderland via groups.io <AllisonWondrland@...>
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2021 11:17:31 PM
To: theallisonwonderland@groups.io <theallisonwonderland@groups.io>
Subject: [theallisonwonderland] Scavenger Hunts
 
As you may or may not know I wrote the clues for the new Scavenger Hunt event that the Winter Carnival had this year. We ran it through an app called Goosechase and it all worked out pretty well. However it was a unique thing and we can't reuse the clues next year. So even though you can no longer use the app to check your answers, I am attaching three PDF's that have all the clues for the three hunts (one focused on the parks, one on historical stuff, and one on fun things to do in town). All three were strictly St. Paul. And then I am attaching another three PDFs with the explanations. So maybe you can appoint someone to check your answers for you or maybe you'll come up with your best guess for each and then check them yourselves. That is all up to you. Feel free to use them with your friends or maybe as an event for work or a social group. But you're not allowed to charge money for it as the Winter Carnival maintains those rights.

Peeko03
 

Yes I agree the first time will have kinks to work out. I only wanted to point out that by having the whole hunt come down to a tie breaker, it then becomes about the tie breaker and not the hunt.

We enjoyed learning new facts about Saint Paul history. Thank you for researching and writing the clues David, we appreciate all the time it must have taken you. it was a lot of fun and we're hoping it will be back next year.

From: theallisonwonderland@groups.io <theallisonwonderland@groups.io> on behalf of Andrea Howell <akh3966@...>
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2021 2:33:21 PM
To: theallisonwonderland@groups.io <theallisonwonderland@groups.io>
Subject: Re: [theallisonwonderland] Scavenger Hunts
 
I had a blast with this— I did drop off once I realized I was statistically eliminated, but I still loved it.


On Feb 21, 2021, at 2:26 PM, Allison Wonderland via groups.io <AllisonWondrland@...> wrote:

The first time you do something it's bound to have some bumps and this turned out to be one of them. The thought was that if multiple teams were tied with a high score I thought it would be better if there was something they could do to earn the win rather than a random drawing. But it was also predicated on the idea that few if any teams would solve all 30 missions. You proved that to be a faulty assumption pretty quickly. Lol. 
Had no one solved them all, then anyone could have still won up to the end.

So yes, next year we will definitely try something else as a tie breaker. Right now I'm thinking of maybe deducting some points for wrong answers. I may also try to a GPS mission with a specific but not obvious point and the tiebreaker is the team closest to that spot. Or maybe I will think of something else. But now that I know that teams solving all 30 missions is more of a certainty, the tie breaker will definitely have to change.

I am a little surprised you thought the tiebreaker was obvious. I guess that place isn't as obscure as I thought.


On Sun, Feb 21, 2021 at 1:29 PM, Peeko03
<Peeko03@...> wrote:
I'm wondering if the scavenger hunt is going to be an annual event. It was a lot of fun, but as you can tell by this year's event, it was really a race to finish one clue, the tie breaker.

The reason Matt ( I believe that's the winner's name) only won 2 but didn't win all 3, was because he was a little too late to be the first one to finish the history hunt tie breaker. (I think he was 3rd)

Once you are first to solve the tie breaker, you can take your time to do the rest, because you've already won. I almost wish he had been first in that one as well. Then I would have known it was at least calculated and no one else would have had a chance.

We were the first to finish the history hunt, we completed it the first night. But because one team beat us to the "tie breaker" we lost.

I'm hoping if this is an annual event that the rules are changed. The tie breaker was so simple that whoever lives closest to the spot can get there first, so they win. The first half hour of the hunt determined the winner.

Please consider changing the rules for the way you win this contest in the future, to make it a little more fair for everyone. Thanks

From: theallisonwonderland@groups.io <theallisonwonderland@groups.io> on behalf of Allison Wonderland via groups.io <AllisonWondrland@...>
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2021 11:17:31 PM
To: theallisonwonderland@groups.io <theallisonwonderland@groups.io>
Subject: [theallisonwonderland] Scavenger Hunts
 
As you may or may not know I wrote the clues for the new Scavenger Hunt event that the Winter Carnival had this year. We ran it through an app called Goosechase and it all worked out pretty well. However it was a unique thing and we can't reuse the clues next year. So even though you can no longer use the app to check your answers, I am attaching three PDF's that have all the clues for the three hunts (one focused on the parks, one on historical stuff, and one on fun things to do in town). All three were strictly St. Paul. And then I am attaching another three PDFs with the explanations. So maybe you can appoint someone to check your answers for you or maybe you'll come up with your best guess for each and then check them yourselves. That is all up to you. Feel free to use them with your friends or maybe as an event for work or a social group. But you're not allowed to charge money for it as the Winter Carnival maintains those rights.

Peeko03
 

David, I believe a simple solution is that the tie breaker cannot be done until you've solved all of the other clues. By doing this you also keep people from sweeping more than one category as well. 

Allison Wonderland
 

It would change things a bit but not fundamentally solve the problem. It would just mean the first team to solve all the missions would win and there would still be no chance for anyone else to win after that. This year it still would have been essentially over after 6 hours, we just would have had a different winner. And if no team had gotten them all, then no one would have gotten the tiebreaker either 

The goal is to make it so that people can take the whole 10 days and still have a shot at winning up to the last day, without it just being random.


On Mon, Mar 1, 2021 at 6:54 PM, Peeko03
<Peeko03@...> wrote:
David, I believe a simple solution is that the tie breaker cannot be done until you've solved all of the other clues. By doing this you also keep people from sweeping more than one category as well. 

crmood@...
 

I have a thought of how to make it last longer....what If all clues weren't released on the first day? Of possible eith the app, a timed release of say 5 clues each day? It could last for the whole festival and people could participate leisurely for most of it besides the day of the final clues.  Also, sometimes the titles of the clues gave away a lot, your clues would have been much harder without the titles I think. We had  a ton of fun and appreciate all the work you put into this! 

Allison Wonderland
 

Actually the titles were meant to give you a clue if I thought the clue itself was too obscure. I wasn't sure how hard the clues should be though I definitely underestimated people by thinking there was a possibility no team would solve all of them.

Spacing out the clues is a thought. The only downside would be if someone was available the first weekend but not the second for example.


On Mon, Mar 1, 2021 at 9:04 PM, crmood@...
<crmood@...> wrote:
I have a thought of how to make it last longer....what If all clues weren't released on the first day? Of possible eith the app, a timed release of say 5 clues each day? It could last for the whole festival and people could participate leisurely for most of it besides the day of the final clues.  Also, sometimes the titles of the clues gave away a lot, your clues would have been much harder without the titles I think. We had  a ton of fun and appreciate all the work you put into this! 

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