Scavenger Hunt II
 

A while ago (6+ years) a group of forum users (Kazoo Club) ran a Scavenger Hunt on the forum. The premise was very simple: solve a riddle and find a part of the forum. The answer to each riddle was the URL of a page accessible to all members. Back then it was limited to threads, posts, or user profiles.

It worked like this: the contest was broken into twenty rounds. In each round a cryptic riddle was presented by one member of the group. The rest of the forum (staff included) tried to solve it. There was no specific time limit but if it went on too long hints were given. Once a member of the group agreed that the riddle was solved, a new one was presented. There was no fixed timetable for this, so everyone had to keep alert. After all twenty riddles had been solved the person who correctly solved the most riddles won a prize.

The purpose was ... just for fun. It was also community building, encouraged the use of the forum search features, and drew attention to areas of the forum less frequently visited... but that was just a bonus.

I liked this idea and thought it would be a really good idea to run it again as many of our current users weren't around for the original. So here is what I'm proposing:

We don't have a club to run it this time, and I'm not very good at creating riddles... so I want forum members to submit riddles. It'll add a new dimension to the challenge. Submissions need to be sent to me directly by private message, in the form of a riddle obviously, presented exactly as it should be posted. The PM should include an explanation of the riddle and have a URL answering the riddle. I will test and approve the riddles to ensure they can be solved by a regular member (i.e. the URL isn't private). If all is well with the submission I'll put it on a list. You can submit as many riddles as you like (the more the better), but I don't guarantee when, or if, I will use a riddle, even if approved.

The rules will be similar to the original hunt, with the exception that the URL can now point at: the wiki, the social groups, and other things that didn't exist originally provided they are directly connected to the site/forum.

Once we have enough collected the contest will begin in earnest, following basically the same outline as before. If I don't get enough riddles the content will just keep waiting until I do. I will probably only use one riddle from each person in each twenty-round run to be fair on everyone.

When everything is ready I'll ask Kairin to post one of the riddles, in this thread in the riddles thread, for the forum as a whole to solve. Kairin will post no more than one riddle per day. It will probably be less frequently and as before there will be no strict pattern to when the next riddle posted! If the current riddle is unsolved after two weeks, the author of the riddle will get 1 point towards their hunt total and in addition to 50 reputation points for the submission being used. If the riddle is solved, the first member to solve it (post the URL with a justification) gets 1 point towards their hunt total.

After twenty riddles have been solved, the winners will be announced. Any tie situations will be resolved by more riddles, or by some other challenge as I see fit. The main prizes will be awarded accordingly:

1^st Prize:

• $50 gift voucher*
• 750 reputation points.

2^nd Prize:

• $25 gift voucher*
• 500 reputation points.

3^rd Prize:

• 250 reputation points.

If the riddles keep coming, the contest will continue in twenty-round runs. Prizes might differ though, subject to my finances ;).

Any questions?

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* ...for a major on-line retailer of their choice, subject to approval. Other currency equivalent option possible again subject to approval.
Edits are in red.

That's one great idea NightWish :) I scrolled trough the old thread and found that this is very amusing :D

My first question is: Is the member which riddle gets accepted allowed to participate in other 19 riddles guessing or not?
Second can you explain me the prize, meaning what is the voucher for?

One of mine suggestion is that if the riddle is about post/thread that those thread/post's are at least from 2009 - 2011. Because it will be very hard to find a post/thread from a couple of years ago :)

Absolutely!

The structure of the contest positively encourages you to do so. There wouldn't be much point in getting a point for a really tough riddle that no one could solve, if you could only get that 1 point in total, because you'd never win the contest that way!

Basically it is just a mechanism by which we can give out prizes without having to ship money around. See Wikipedia's Gift Card article for the rough idea of what I meant. If the winner can think of a better way of getting something of equivalent value I'd be open to suggestions.

I know I haven't won any riddles yet but have you considered paypal for money transfer?

Not really, but I would if the winner really wanted to do it that way.

Seems pretty interesting. Count me in. :)

One more question :)

How many links can one members submit as answer to the riddle? I noticed in the first Scavenger Hunt many submitted many links. So can I submit several links and does all of that links need to be in one post or can I make several posts with different amount of links?

You can post as many as you like within reason :). I'd suggest you stick to one answer per post and avoid posting more than one answer at a time; wait to see if you got the answer wrong before trying again. Also, you need to justify your answers, simply guessing or posting lots of random URLs isn't going to work. ;)

Don't worry too much about the "riddle answering" part just yet though, as people need to be thinking up the riddles first, or there won't be any to solve!

This seems quite interesting :D You can defiantly count me in.

sounds like so much fun! I can't wait.

I know I won't most likely be able to solve any of the riddles but regardless .. this sounds fun.

Have you gotten any riddles posted to you yet NightWish ?

By the way .. What exactly was that Kazoo Club, and the prize from the previous content for 2nd and 3rd places .. if you or anyone else knows ?

None yet, sadly. As for what the Kazoo Club is/was and "the third prize"... that's not something I can't answer :heh: Unless one of their number reappears and explains we'll probably never really know.

Gee, I need to come to this section more often... almost missed out on the fun.

Does this mean we can include ANY page (for example page X from SOTM Y years ago), as long as it's on the forum and accessible by all?

Technically yes. Unless the page is notable, however, writing a riddle, that clearly distinguishes it from the other pages, might be tricky. In the previous contest people stuck to specific posts or threads, which I would suggest people do in this case. Keep in mind that the riddle has to be solvable. It might be very hard to solve, as was the case with some of the riddles in the original contest, but it must have a solution that can be arrived at by deduction and searching.

Cool, I love this idea. I'd definitely participate.

Sick out of my mind and looking for something to write. I'll try my hand at making up some riddles. ;)

so are we still in creating the riddle? or the competition already begun?

seem fun tell me if you need help

As usual the alert message looks almost like you got banned (again). :heh:

Lol. I suck at riddles. Count me in!