"The Da Randi Code"

As many of you know, I have prepared crossword puzzles for TAMS 2, 3 and 4, which were included in the distributed materials. For TAM5, while preparing another crossword puzzle, an idea occurred to me:

Would anyone be interested in a puzzle-based hunt around Las Vegas? Something similar to "The Da Vinci Code," in which puzzles lead people to various destinations?

This sort of activity is (a) one hell of a lot of fun and (b) one hell of a lot of work to set up. Accordingly, I was wondering whether there is any interest in this sort of activity. Participants would have to work in teams to solve puzzles that would take them to various places in Las Vegas in pursuit of some treasure. Teams would need cars.

Is there interest in this? If not for TAM5, perhaps for TAM6?

I'm SO in...

Except - I found I had very little 'free' time at TAM4 - Too many events, too many parties, so much to do, so little time. May I suggest that if you're planning a scavenger hunt that involves a car and may therefore take several hours that you plan it as a pre-TAM5 event or as 'the day after TAM5' event?

And - if I have to go to the Liberace museum again, I ain't playing...
-AH.

Good idea, but, as AH said, no time to run around town.

We could set up a "Hunt for the Amazing Message" within the premises of TAM5. Since we are moving to the Riviera, I don't know how the area will be set up, but we could place clues (and misleading clues!) around the conference room and adjacent rooms as well.

Examples:

Point to words in the books we are selling.

Small pieces of paper with numbers, letters or small riddles, put up in more or less hidden places around the place.

Count the number of light bulbs in the room.

Seek out the Man with the Magical Ring (that would be you, Brown, sporting your ring in a chain around your neck) and Answer the Three Questions to get the (next) Magic Word.

Something akin to the "Holy Grail":

BRIDGEKEEPER
What...is your name?
ROBIN
My name is Sir Robin of Camelot!
BRIDGEKEEPER
What...is your quest?
ROBIN
To seek the Grail!
BRIDGEKEEPER
What...is the capital of Assyria?
ROBIN
I don't know that!

Click to expand...

"What...is the number of this Amazing Meeting?"

"Who...wrote "Flim Flam"?

"What...is your favorite color?"

There are lots of possibilities.

I am unfortunately very unlikely to go to TAM, but the idea sounds wonderful, so I hope you do it. My sister has done a few of such puzzles for her friends...it was great fun as I have heard. I would be interested to hear how it went!

Brown said:

As many of you know, I have prepared crossword puzzles for TAMS 2, 3 and 4, which were included in the distributed materials. For TAM5, while preparing another crossword puzzle, an idea occurred to me:

Would anyone be interested in a puzzle-based hunt around Las Vegas? Something similar to "The Da Vinci Code," in which puzzles lead people to various destinations?

This sort of activity is (a) one hell of a lot of fun and (b) one hell of a lot of work to set up. Accordingly, I was wondering whether there is any interest in this sort of activity. Participants would have to work in teams to solve puzzles that would take them to various places in Las Vegas in pursuit of some treasure. Teams would need cars.

Is there interest in this? If not for TAM5, perhaps for TAM6?

Click to expand...

Sounds like fun, and I would be interested, but I would suggest keeping it within walking distance. Only a few people seem to rent cars, so you would be limiting yourself if a car was required.

I'll offer help, but I have never done anything like this before. Maybe I could do some research or something.

The Central Scrutinizer said:

Sounds like fun, and I would be interested, but I would suggest keeping it within walking distance. Only a few people seem to rent cars, so you would be limiting yourself if a car was required.

Click to expand...

We managed to get at least two dozen, perhaps more, people out to Red Rocks using 5 or 6 vehicles. I say it could be done.

I'd be up for it, although I agree that keeping it within the hotel would be more logistically sensible - you might need to ask the hotel though, they might find groups of people wandering round looking behind pictures a tad suspicious.

Joshua Korosi said:

We managed to get at least two dozen, perhaps more, people out to Red Rocks using 5 or 6 vehicles. I say it could be done.

Click to expand...

True, but some people (like me) only rented a car to go out there. Had we not gone, I wouldn't have.

Plus, how large would the teams be? Do we want to limit it to 6-8 teams, corresponding to the number of cars? Or open it up to 30 two man teams, if kept within walking distance of the hotel?

Thanks to all for your remarks.

It seems to me that the most serious constraint is time. A puzzle-based hunt usually requires several hours. If the event were to last, say, four hours, few people would have the time to spare. In other words, the event would have to be something that people specifically included in their plans, and they would almost certainly have to give up other opportunities to participate.

The event would likely have to be held before or after TAM5, not during the conference. Because so many folks have little leeway in their travel plans, it may be difficult for some to participate.

Transportation is another serious constraint. There are various well-known attractions and buildings around Las Vegas, but there are very few well-known landmarks within "walking distance" of the Riviera. Also, what constitutes "walking distance" is relative. For example, some would consider the Stratosphere to be within walking distance of the Riviera, and some would not.

To "do it right," we would need access to all of Las Vegas, having people driving all around town (but not racing) in pursuit of clues. Teams of 6 to 8 people would be nearly ideal, but given the constraints, I'm not sure we could rustle up enough participants to make it worthwhile.

Claus's suggestions about the nature of the clues are pretty close to what I had in mind: Basically, the things searched for would be things that you could see at particular sites. For example, a clue might direct you to the Mirage Hotel and ask you what is depicted in a statue at a particular site (e.g., a dolphin). This word ("dolphin") would then be used to help you decipher the next clue. In other words, the activity would not involve planting physical clues all around, as passersby could interfere with them. Also, none of the clues would involve payment of fees: it would not be necessary to buy a ticket to the top of the Stratosphere, for example, or to pay for admission to a museum. Everything would be in plain sight.

Anyway, my strong inclination is NOT to work on a city-wide puzzle hunt for TAM5. But perhaps I might follow up on Claus's suggestion, creating a small-scale version that can be played at the TAM5 site using books, DVD's, guests, etc. Such a version could be played by any number of folks at their convenience.

You could include some of the speakers as part of the clues. Requiring you to ask them a question in order to get a part of the answer.

Or you could use it as a ploy to get people to show up at the forum party for example, by having one of the clues lead you there. You could even hand out the prize to the winner at the party.

But if you don't want to force people to do the puzzle at a specific time, but whenever they feel like it, you'd have to use more permanent clues, like features in paintings or statues around the hotel, which would mean actually going there beforehand, or making the puzzle a few days before the meeting.

Using books would also work, unless they sold out of course

exarch said:

You could include some of the speakers as part of the clues. Requiring you to ask them a question in order to get a part of the answer.

Or you could use it as a ploy to get people to show up at the forum party for example, by having one of the clues lead you there. You could even hand out the prize to the winner at the party.

But if you don't want to force people to do the puzzle at a specific time, but whenever they feel like it, you'd have to use more permanent clues, like features in paintings or statues around the hotel, which would mean actually going there beforehand, or making the puzzle a few days before the meeting.

Using books would also work, unless they sold out of course....

Click to expand...

Good suggestions, all. The basic idea I had in mind would be to use the names of speakers (as I did in the TAM2 crossword) as well as publications that would be on sale as the meeting (as I did in the TAM2 and TAM4 crosswords).

The notion of using items from around the hotel is, as you suggest, somewhat complicated. It requires basically an "intelligence gathering mission" in which landmarks are identified and assessed as clue material. (In contrast, it is less of a problem to form clues based upon the most well-known landmarks in Las Vegas as a whole, because information about them can be obtained from the Internet or a good tourism book.)

In my TAM3 crossword, the idea was to solve the crossword, then solve the "secret messages" using the solved crossword as a key. I plan to put at least one secret message in the puzzle for TAM5, but in a different way.

I'd be hesitant to offer a single prize for the first person to solve the puzzle (or puzzles), but perhaps there can be a simple prize made available to the first 100 correct solvers.

Anyway, this is all still in the "thinking phase," and further suggestions are always welcome.

Brown said:

As many of you know, I have prepared crossword puzzles for TAMS 2, 3 and 4, which were included in the distributed materials. For TAM5, while preparing another crossword puzzle, an idea occurred to me:

Would anyone be interested in a puzzle-based hunt around Las Vegas? Something similar to "The Da Vinci Code," in which puzzles lead people to various destinations?

Click to expand...

The movie "The Da Vinci Code" hit the movie screens a few months ago and promptly fizzled like a firecracker dropped too early into a septic tank.

Hmm, what a strange analogy.

So anyway, I pretty much abandoned the "Da Randi Code" idea. Instead, I've put together a crossword tentatively entitled "Follow the Bouncing Ball," which features a quote from a notable person. There is a secret message in the puzzle that one can learn from "following the bouncing ball," which is hard to explain but which will make sense when you solve the puzzle.

This puzzle may cause problems for people who try to solve puzzles quickly. Not because there are obscure words in it (there are no really obscure words in it at all, which actually made construction a challenge), but because speedy solving would probably lead to errors, and if solvers are using ball-point pens, then those errors may mess up the solver. The puzzle will require the solver to think before entering answers.

American English spelling?

Brown said:

As many of you know, I have prepared crossword puzzles for TAMS 2, 3 and 4, which were included in the distributed materials. For TAM5, while preparing another crossword puzzle, an idea occurred to me:

Would anyone be interested in a puzzle-based hunt around Las Vegas? Something similar to "The Da Vinci Code," in which puzzles lead people to various destinations?

This sort of activity is (a) one hell of a lot of fun and (b) one hell of a lot of work to set up. Accordingly, I was wondering whether there is any interest in this sort of activity. Participants would have to work in teams to solve puzzles that would take them to various places in Las Vegas in pursuit of some treasure. Teams would need cars.

Is there interest in this? If not for TAM5, perhaps for TAM6?

Click to expand...

I would love this. Can I help? PM me.