Chinese New Year Hunt???
4 messages in this thread |
Started on 2006-01-03
Chinese New Year Hunt???
From: (Doublesaj@aol.com) |
Date: 2006-01-03 01:23:54 UTC-05:00
In a message dated 1/1/2006 8:18:56 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
Nils.A.Hedglin@Intel.Com writes:
2/11-12 (although this is the weekend of the Chinese New Year Hunt -
has anyone done this before, and/or is anyone else interested in trying
it this year?)
What is this? Details please.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Chinese New Year Hunt???
From: Laura Oka (laurao@elma.com) |
Date: 2006-01-03 09:54:11 UTC-08:00
Howdy!
The Chinese New Year Treasure hunt is an event put on by Jayson Wechtner, a local private detective. It happens during the evening of the Chinese New Year's Parade and leads people to interesting spots in the Financial, North Beach, Telegraph Hill and Chinatown areas of SF, all on foot.
Clues are handed out and teams hunt for 4 hours and race to find as many clues as they can and return their answers by the 9pm deadline. There is a certain amount of stealth and competitiveness involved, because you are trying to beat out other teams. Most of the time you are looking for 1-inch high letters that have been stuck into dark corners.
There is a rather high fee involved, but it's a donation to a selected charity so it's for a good cause.
You can see details at http://sftreasurehunt.com/hunts/chinese_new_year/index.html. There are sample clues on the site as well.
I used to do this every year, and once got 4th place in the regular hunt with my team, but the event became so popular that it became a bit of a madhouse, with large clusters of teams at the different locations (no stealth there!), and it lost some of its appeal for me. ("We must be wrong about clue 7--there aren't 5 other teams here looking....") That same year, we happened to walk by a restaurant in North Beach smelling of roasted chicken and garlic and that was the end of the hunt for us. Nowadays we follow the same pattern and hunt until we smell something good cooking. Or we send one person to purchase and pick up a clue set and we hang out at a bar/restaurant/someone's house working on solving the clues without turning them in. On Sunday morning we might actually go out and see in a leisurely fashion if our solutions were correct. I am due with a baby right around then, so I will probably be doing the hunt either at home or in restaurant.
If you take any kids along, they should be able to walk fairly steadily for 4 hours around town, or parents should be prepared to stop mid-hunt when the feet give out--generally 8 or 9 is the youngest I've seen out on this. At least one hill is generally involved, and possibly stairs. You also don't have to be from San Francisco to do well--a lot of the clues depend on knowing other trivia in general to find the certain street or building, and then searching more specifically at the site itself. It's amazing to see how everyone in the group is able to contribute their own bits of arcane knowledge to solve things. If you are interested in doing it competitively, a book on San Francisco history is a good thing to throw into your backpack. A truly competitively-minded team will carry a cell phone and the phone number of the Honolulu library. It's a grand way to have a fun evening and learn a lot about San Francisco and see small details of the city you might not ever have noticed otherwise.
La Loka
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 01:23:54 EST
From: Doublesaj@aol.com
Subject: Chinese New Year Hunt???
In a message dated 1/1/2006 8:18:56 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
Nils.A.Hedglin@Intel.Com writes:
2/11-12 (although this is the weekend of the Chinese New Year Hunt -
has anyone done this before, and/or is anyone else interested in trying
it this year?)
What is this? Details please.
The Chinese New Year Treasure hunt is an event put on by Jayson Wechtner, a local private detective. It happens during the evening of the Chinese New Year's Parade and leads people to interesting spots in the Financial, North Beach, Telegraph Hill and Chinatown areas of SF, all on foot.
Clues are handed out and teams hunt for 4 hours and race to find as many clues as they can and return their answers by the 9pm deadline. There is a certain amount of stealth and competitiveness involved, because you are trying to beat out other teams. Most of the time you are looking for 1-inch high letters that have been stuck into dark corners.
There is a rather high fee involved, but it's a donation to a selected charity so it's for a good cause.
You can see details at http://sftreasurehunt.com/hunts/chinese_new_year/index.html. There are sample clues on the site as well.
I used to do this every year, and once got 4th place in the regular hunt with my team, but the event became so popular that it became a bit of a madhouse, with large clusters of teams at the different locations (no stealth there!), and it lost some of its appeal for me. ("We must be wrong about clue 7--there aren't 5 other teams here looking....") That same year, we happened to walk by a restaurant in North Beach smelling of roasted chicken and garlic and that was the end of the hunt for us. Nowadays we follow the same pattern and hunt until we smell something good cooking. Or we send one person to purchase and pick up a clue set and we hang out at a bar/restaurant/someone's house working on solving the clues without turning them in. On Sunday morning we might actually go out and see in a leisurely fashion if our solutions were correct. I am due with a baby right around then, so I will probably be doing the hunt either at home or in restaurant.
If you take any kids along, they should be able to walk fairly steadily for 4 hours around town, or parents should be prepared to stop mid-hunt when the feet give out--generally 8 or 9 is the youngest I've seen out on this. At least one hill is generally involved, and possibly stairs. You also don't have to be from San Francisco to do well--a lot of the clues depend on knowing other trivia in general to find the certain street or building, and then searching more specifically at the site itself. It's amazing to see how everyone in the group is able to contribute their own bits of arcane knowledge to solve things. If you are interested in doing it competitively, a book on San Francisco history is a good thing to throw into your backpack. A truly competitively-minded team will carry a cell phone and the phone number of the Honolulu library. It's a grand way to have a fun evening and learn a lot about San Francisco and see small details of the city you might not ever have noticed otherwise.
La Loka
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 01:23:54 EST
From: Doublesaj@aol.com
Subject: Chinese New Year Hunt???
In a message dated 1/1/2006 8:18:56 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
Nils.A.Hedglin@Intel.Com writes:
2/11-12 (although this is the weekend of the Chinese New Year Hunt -
has anyone done this before, and/or is anyone else interested in trying
it this year?)
What is this? Details please.
RE: [LbNCA] Chinese New Year Hunt???
From: Hedglin, Nils A (Nils.A.Hedglin@Intel.Com) |
Date: 2006-01-03 10:15:12 UTC-08:00
Honolulu library? In Hawaii? Why that one, because it's far enough
forward in the timezones it'd still be open while the hunt is running?
Congratulations BTW on the impending letterboxer.
-----Original Message-----
From: LbNCA@yahoogroups.com [mailto:LbNCA@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Laura Oka
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 9:54 AM
To: LbNCA@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LbNCA] Chinese New Year Hunt???
Howdy!
The Chinese New Year Treasure hunt is an event put on by Jayson
Wechtner, a local private detective. It happens during the evening of
the Chinese New Year's Parade and leads people to interesting spots in
the Financial, North Beach, Telegraph Hill and Chinatown areas of SF,
all on foot.
Clues are handed out and teams hunt for 4 hours and race to find as many
clues as they can and return their answers by the 9pm deadline. There is
a certain amount of stealth and competitiveness involved, because you
are trying to beat out other teams. Most of the time you are looking
for 1-inch high letters that have been stuck into dark corners.
There is a rather high fee involved, but it's a donation to a selected
charity so it's for a good cause.
You can see details at
http://sftreasurehunt.com/hunts/chinese_new_year/index.html. There are
sample clues on the site as well.
I used to do this every year, and once got 4th place in the regular hunt
with my team, but the event became so popular that it became a bit of a
madhouse, with large clusters of teams at the different locations (no
stealth there!), and it lost some of its appeal for me. ("We must be
wrong about clue 7--there aren't 5 other teams here looking....") That
same year, we happened to walk by a restaurant in North Beach smelling
of roasted chicken and garlic and that was the end of the hunt for us.
Nowadays we follow the same pattern and hunt until we smell something
good cooking. Or we send one person to purchase and pick up a clue set
and we hang out at a bar/restaurant/someone's house working on solving
the clues without turning them in. On Sunday morning we might actually
go out and see in a leisurely fashion if our solutions were correct. I
am due with a baby right around then, so I will probably be doing the
hunt either at home or in restaurant.
If you take any kids along, they should be able to walk fairly steadily
for 4 hours around town, or parents should be prepared to stop mid-hunt
when the feet give out--generally 8 or 9 is the youngest I've seen out
on this. At least one hill is generally involved, and possibly stairs.
You also don't have to be from San Francisco to do well--a lot of the
clues depend on knowing other trivia in general to find the certain
street or building, and then searching more specifically at the site
itself. It's amazing to see how everyone in the group is able to
contribute their own bits of arcane knowledge to solve things. If you
are interested in doing it competitively, a book on San Francisco
history is a good thing to throw into your backpack. A truly
competitively-minded team will carry a cell phone and the phone number
of the Honolulu library. It's a grand way to have a fun evening and
learn a lot about San Francisco and see small details of the city you
might not ever have noticed otherwise.
La Loka
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 01:23:54 EST
From: Doublesaj@aol.com
Subject: Chinese New Year Hunt???
In a message dated 1/1/2006 8:18:56 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
Nils.A.Hedglin@Intel.Com writes:
2/11-12 (although this is the weekend of the Chinese New Year Hunt -
has anyone done this before, and/or is anyone else interested in trying
it this year?)
What is this? Details please.
Yahoo! Groups Links
forward in the timezones it'd still be open while the hunt is running?
Congratulations BTW on the impending letterboxer.
-----Original Message-----
From: LbNCA@yahoogroups.com [mailto:LbNCA@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Laura Oka
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 9:54 AM
To: LbNCA@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LbNCA] Chinese New Year Hunt???
Howdy!
The Chinese New Year Treasure hunt is an event put on by Jayson
Wechtner, a local private detective. It happens during the evening of
the Chinese New Year's Parade and leads people to interesting spots in
the Financial, North Beach, Telegraph Hill and Chinatown areas of SF,
all on foot.
Clues are handed out and teams hunt for 4 hours and race to find as many
clues as they can and return their answers by the 9pm deadline. There is
a certain amount of stealth and competitiveness involved, because you
are trying to beat out other teams. Most of the time you are looking
for 1-inch high letters that have been stuck into dark corners.
There is a rather high fee involved, but it's a donation to a selected
charity so it's for a good cause.
You can see details at
http://sftreasurehunt.com/hunts/chinese_new_year/index.html. There are
sample clues on the site as well.
I used to do this every year, and once got 4th place in the regular hunt
with my team, but the event became so popular that it became a bit of a
madhouse, with large clusters of teams at the different locations (no
stealth there!), and it lost some of its appeal for me. ("We must be
wrong about clue 7--there aren't 5 other teams here looking....") That
same year, we happened to walk by a restaurant in North Beach smelling
of roasted chicken and garlic and that was the end of the hunt for us.
Nowadays we follow the same pattern and hunt until we smell something
good cooking. Or we send one person to purchase and pick up a clue set
and we hang out at a bar/restaurant/someone's house working on solving
the clues without turning them in. On Sunday morning we might actually
go out and see in a leisurely fashion if our solutions were correct. I
am due with a baby right around then, so I will probably be doing the
hunt either at home or in restaurant.
If you take any kids along, they should be able to walk fairly steadily
for 4 hours around town, or parents should be prepared to stop mid-hunt
when the feet give out--generally 8 or 9 is the youngest I've seen out
on this. At least one hill is generally involved, and possibly stairs.
You also don't have to be from San Francisco to do well--a lot of the
clues depend on knowing other trivia in general to find the certain
street or building, and then searching more specifically at the site
itself. It's amazing to see how everyone in the group is able to
contribute their own bits of arcane knowledge to solve things. If you
are interested in doing it competitively, a book on San Francisco
history is a good thing to throw into your backpack. A truly
competitively-minded team will carry a cell phone and the phone number
of the Honolulu library. It's a grand way to have a fun evening and
learn a lot about San Francisco and see small details of the city you
might not ever have noticed otherwise.
La Loka
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 01:23:54 EST
From: Doublesaj@aol.com
Subject: Chinese New Year Hunt???
In a message dated 1/1/2006 8:18:56 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
Nils.A.Hedglin@Intel.Com writes:
2/11-12 (although this is the weekend of the Chinese New Year Hunt -
has anyone done this before, and/or is anyone else interested in trying
it this year?)
What is this? Details please.
Yahoo! Groups Links
RE: Chinese New Year Hunt???
From: Laura Oka (laurao@elma.com) |
Date: 2006-01-04 08:57:25 UTC-08:00
Howdy!
Yup, that's it.
Thanks re the littlest boxer. I am currently compiling a list of what I hope will be jogging-strollerable boxes to tackle once I am off on maternity leave and recovered sufficiently.
La Loka
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 10:15:12 -0800
From: "Hedglin, Nils A"
Subject: RE: Chinese New Year Hunt???
Honolulu library? In Hawaii? Why that one, because it's far enough
forward in the timezones it'd still be open while the hunt is running?
Congratulations BTW on the impending letterboxer.
Yup, that's it.
Thanks re the littlest boxer. I am currently compiling a list of what I hope will be jogging-strollerable boxes to tackle once I am off on maternity leave and recovered sufficiently.
La Loka
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 10:15:12 -0800
From: "Hedglin, Nils A"
Subject: RE: Chinese New Year Hunt???
Honolulu library? In Hawaii? Why that one, because it's far enough
forward in the timezones it'd still be open while the hunt is running?
Congratulations BTW on the impending letterboxer.