My Saturday Part II - We Are The Champions!!!
I had a race to get to!
Today was the day of the Great Honolulu Hunt! The race was to start at 1:00pm at Aloha Tower, which our team figured out by deciphering the initial clue.
There were approximately 12 teams that competed and after we signed the waiver forms we received our set of 6 clues and we were off! For those not familiar, this race takes place all throughout Downtown Honolulu and makes you search out landmarks and monuments while also implementing clever word puzzles to solve while also interacting with actors planted at strategic locations to give you additional clues. Whoever solved all 6 clues and then solved the additional puzzle that those 6 clues give you hints to in the shortest time is the winner. You're allowed 1 free phone call for help if you're stuck but if you call more than once, there's a 20 minute penalty. There are also hidden gems along the way that give you a 20 minute deduction from your total time for each one you find.
Almost all the teams started at this fountain to try and solve their first clue since it was the closest to Aloha Tower. Here's Wayne's World getting his feet wet! Yeah, hardcore baby!
I read the MidWeek article describing their race experience and their winning finish time was 1 hour 43 minutes. My goal going into the race was to finish in the top 3 so I kept an eye on the clock as we were proceeding.
After the first clue (a real stumper, by the way) it was looking a bit gloom. But our team got a rush of momentum and soon we were solving clues left and right. (Sorry, but no pics for this part. I don't want to ruin the surprises for those who may want to participate in the future) We ended up literally running all over Downtown, solving puzzles, discovering hidden plaques, and even singing love songs to a cowgirl! Fun stuff!
After we solved 5 of the clues and only had one left, I was feeling pretty good about our chances. We finally got the 6th and final clue solved (we needed some change to do so) and started on solving the final clue that would lead to the finish line. After a group effort deciphered it, we went to the finish area and discovered that we were the first team there! The race master wouldn't tell us our time or give any indication of where we were in relation to the other teams but since we were first there, it was looking good, although we didn't find any of the gems that would give us 20 minute time deductions. So we sat there hoping that no one would finish within 20 minutes of us.
However, another team called in with the final clue just 3 minutes after us. If they had found even 1 bonus gem, we were done. Slowly, teams started making their way to the finish, and I could hear teams calling in for help and one team even gave up.
After about an hour and half of waiting, we finally got the official results. We won the race! We had an official time of 1 hour 22 minutes (take that, Team MidWeek!). When the racemaster announced our time, he called it "astonishing". The 2nd place team finished at 1:25 and luckily they found no gems as well. The 3rd place team finished with a time of 1:34 after a 20 minute deduction (they found 1 gem).
So what did we win? A golden elephant and a treasure chest full of candy! Here's WW triumphantly picking up our prize:
A closeup of the booty:
Our margin of victory turned out to be only 3 minutes so I'm glad we decided to run at those times that we ran from one clue to the next. That might've been the difference.
The race was lots of fun and even educational. The clues were not too simple where they insulted your intelligence and yet not impossibly hard to solve either. It was a very well executed project. I'm really proud of our team as we totally used teamwork to find and solve clues and no one slacked off or held anyone back. We kicked butt!
So anyone who's into this type of thing should definitely check it out! But you better watch out for Team Hops and Cran! We're the ones to beat now, baby!
Today was the day of the Great Honolulu Hunt! The race was to start at 1:00pm at Aloha Tower, which our team figured out by deciphering the initial clue.
There were approximately 12 teams that competed and after we signed the waiver forms we received our set of 6 clues and we were off! For those not familiar, this race takes place all throughout Downtown Honolulu and makes you search out landmarks and monuments while also implementing clever word puzzles to solve while also interacting with actors planted at strategic locations to give you additional clues. Whoever solved all 6 clues and then solved the additional puzzle that those 6 clues give you hints to in the shortest time is the winner. You're allowed 1 free phone call for help if you're stuck but if you call more than once, there's a 20 minute penalty. There are also hidden gems along the way that give you a 20 minute deduction from your total time for each one you find.Almost all the teams started at this fountain to try and solve their first clue since it was the closest to Aloha Tower. Here's Wayne's World getting his feet wet! Yeah, hardcore baby!
I read the MidWeek article describing their race experience and their winning finish time was 1 hour 43 minutes. My goal going into the race was to finish in the top 3 so I kept an eye on the clock as we were proceeding.After the first clue (a real stumper, by the way) it was looking a bit gloom. But our team got a rush of momentum and soon we were solving clues left and right. (Sorry, but no pics for this part. I don't want to ruin the surprises for those who may want to participate in the future) We ended up literally running all over Downtown, solving puzzles, discovering hidden plaques, and even singing love songs to a cowgirl! Fun stuff!
After we solved 5 of the clues and only had one left, I was feeling pretty good about our chances. We finally got the 6th and final clue solved (we needed some change to do so) and started on solving the final clue that would lead to the finish line. After a group effort deciphered it, we went to the finish area and discovered that we were the first team there! The race master wouldn't tell us our time or give any indication of where we were in relation to the other teams but since we were first there, it was looking good, although we didn't find any of the gems that would give us 20 minute time deductions. So we sat there hoping that no one would finish within 20 minutes of us.
However, another team called in with the final clue just 3 minutes after us. If they had found even 1 bonus gem, we were done. Slowly, teams started making their way to the finish, and I could hear teams calling in for help and one team even gave up.
After about an hour and half of waiting, we finally got the official results. We won the race! We had an official time of 1 hour 22 minutes (take that, Team MidWeek!). When the racemaster announced our time, he called it "astonishing". The 2nd place team finished at 1:25 and luckily they found no gems as well. The 3rd place team finished with a time of 1:34 after a 20 minute deduction (they found 1 gem).
So what did we win? A golden elephant and a treasure chest full of candy! Here's WW triumphantly picking up our prize:
A closeup of the booty:
Our margin of victory turned out to be only 3 minutes so I'm glad we decided to run at those times that we ran from one clue to the next. That might've been the difference.The race was lots of fun and even educational. The clues were not too simple where they insulted your intelligence and yet not impossibly hard to solve either. It was a very well executed project. I'm really proud of our team as we totally used teamwork to find and solve clues and no one slacked off or held anyone back. We kicked butt!
So anyone who's into this type of thing should definitely check it out! But you better watch out for Team Hops and Cran! We're the ones to beat now, baby!
posted by Myong Choi at 10:57 PM
2 Comments:
Congrats! Looks like fun and sounds pretty tough. But then again, you had the brains and brawn of Wayne's World on your team. ;)
haha yeah right! But it was fun! It was a total team effort and we got a free beer at then end! Not bad for $15!
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