Brief rules: A photo that a team member takes is as good as the item itself. The first team to turn in an item gets a 20% bonus for that item. Bike teams get a 20% bonus on all items.
We made up one item (sardine peeler) just to see what would happen. A lot of people showed us the key on a sardine can, a few gave us carrot-peelerish things, and one team took a video camera to Williams-Sonoma and taped every hand tool on the rack. ("We're sure it is in there somewhere!") One guy handed a metal tent stake with a small hole in the center. I said, "Ok, a sardine peeler." He looked confused for a moment, then nodded vigorously. It was supposed to be counted for "tent stake".
Many people mentioned how complete strangers got into the fun of it. Police officers let their badges be rubbed, bakeries gave away Mexican wedding cookies, etc.
Another good story came from "an official document of someone with the initials PZ". Tracie remembered that she'd met Paul Zeller at Marty's party. So they called Marty. It turned out that he lived about 100 miles away, but they called anyways. Paul was a little confused and amused, but he FAXed his driver's license to a nearby Kinko's, and Tracie's team got full credit. :-)
Explanatory notes are in square brackets ([ ]). These did not appear
on the original list that the hunters got.
Points - Description
30 - a piece of gtoste [cheese, though we misspelled it]
10 - a catnip mouse
30 - instructions for making haggis
200 - an official document of someone with the initials PZ
30 - a sewing machine bobbin
50 - a wooden clothespin
70 - a skate key
100 - a luggage tag to Chicago (ORD)
70 - a poster in french
50 - a tent stake
20 - a golf tee
30 - a Jacob's ladder
100 - a Mexican Wedding cookie
30 - What is the zip code of Mt. Kisco, NY?
20 - a periwinkle crayon
200 - Wooden TinkerToys: a rod and a spool-connector thingie
30 - a crossword puzzle from today's SJMN completed correctly
10 - a spider
100 - a 16-oz glass Pepsi bottle
30 - a glossy ad for a guitar
50 - a sardine peeler
20 - what is today's headline in the LA Times?
30 - a map of Narnia or MiddleEarth
300 - an ashtray from Ceaser's Palace
20 - a catalpa leaf
40 - what is pi to 30 decimal places?
100 - a New Year's Eve card
20 - a small sheet of bubblepack
40 - a business card of someone who works at Adobe
400 - the statue of Father Junipero Serra that is on I-280 [this is
VERY large. One team took a video of it.]
30 - a video with Cary Grant in it
100 - a box of generic macaroni & cheese
20 - a 12-sided die
40 - a 3" styrofoam ball
70 - Lycopersicon esculentum [tomato]
60 - There is a man sitting on a bench near the Syntex art gallery.
Find out what the exact title of the document that he has is.
[the man is a sculpture; the document is the annual report]
100 - some sheet music for a piano, violin, and flute trio
30 - What does the cornerstone at the First Baptist Church of Palo Alto say?
60 - a pencil & paper rubbing of a police/fire badge
50 - a horehound drop
400 - an 8" floppy disk
20 - a packette of ketchup from MacDonald's
60 - the number of class diamonds at Stanford
30 - a piece of junk mail postmarked NY
80 - the book A Talent For War
30 - a napkin with fish on it
150 - a postcard that says "Mountain View" on its non-stamp side
20 - a pencil and paper rubbing of a license place from out-of-state
30 - When does train 148 arrive at Burlingame?
50 - a beret
200 - a beret in a color Ducky doesn't have
100 - question #1 of the attached ME 200B final; show your work
For the words crankshaft, tarragon, muon, phlebitis, and crucifix,
photocopy (in its entirety, with the name of the publication and
date visible) a published article with:
70 - one of the words
200 - two of the words
350 - three of the words
500 - four of the words
Godhood - all five words