Tag Archives: scavenger hunt

| Fun, Montreal

Scavenge: Impossible

I like scavenger hunts. I’ve participated in one or two, and provided the items on the list don’t involve doing anything illegal, too embarrassing or too impossible (University of Chicago, I’m looking at you), I look forward to participating in future ones.

I missed one last weekend, the Impossible Montreal scavenger hunt, which was actually far from it.

Three teams participated, making videos and taking pictures to complete their tasks. As an example, here are each of the three groups performing their own haka:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YRr1ftziWA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAiCgzMyklg

There were other fun things, like doing a Rick Mercer-style rant about Rick Mercer or eating as many steamies as possible. Another one was Peter Mansbridge/Wendy Mesley slash fiction, that’s just too good an idea not to link to, so here they are: The Sub-Librarians, The Flying Feltchions, #swag (bonus pointless references to Mutsumi Takahashi, Debra Arbec and Lori Graham in the latter).

The full list is here (PDF, after some humourously-crafted rules). Each of the participating teams used Tumblr accounts to upload pictures, video and text of their exploits, which you can find here:

  1. First place: The Sub-Librarians
  2. Second place: The Flying Feltchions
  3. Third place: #swag (pronounced “hashtag-swag”)
| Fun, Montreal

Third Montreal Underground City Scavenger Hunt

Alex and Kristin check their lists during the first scavenger hunt in 2008

It’s been a while since the last one, but a third Montreal Underground City scavenger hunt is being planned for next Saturday afternoon.

The idea is pretty simple: A scavenger hunt (relatively tame – no stealing stuff or doing anything illegal) whose items can all be found within the confines of Montreal’s underground city. Players are forbidden from leaving the underground city or taking the metro.

Participants are to meet at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 5, at the food court at Central Station. More details at the website or Facebook page, or the Gazette article I wrote about the first hunt in 2008.

| Fun, Montreal, Navel-gazing

Underground Scavenger Hunt 2: Can you do better than me?

Winners of the second Montreal Underground Scavenger Hunt

For those of you who missed the underground scavenger hunt a few weeks ago, above is the winning team (they were also the only team with four players, which helped). But if you divide the score by the number of players to get a proportional score, I alone come out on top. So in a way I won.

In any case, there’s no real reason why you can’t try it out on your own if you have an hour and a half to spare. Here’s the list of stuff to find in the underground city:

  • Cinéma du parc monthly handout
  • One-cent stamp
  • Car rental company business card
  • Something with the Travel Cuts logo
  • La Mini lotto results from last night
  • Two medical professionals’ cards (must be two different doctors in two different offices) (2 points)
  • Chopsticks
  • A store reward card application
  • Underground parking stub
  • A packet of brown sugar
  • A beer coaster
  • A catering menu
  • Three spa treatment pamphlets
  • Something with the Bluetooth logo (your cellphone is not eligible)
  • Something Hanukkah-related
  • Something Halloween-related
  • Nightlife Magazine
  • Weekend edition of the Metro newspaper
  • The old Bell logo
  • A flyer for a Montreal-area attraction (must be in the 514 area code)
  • Four napkins from different coffee chains (must have establishment’s name on it) (2 points)
  • Something that smells like a green/granny smith apple (+1 if it is a granny smith apple)
  • A banking services flyer (2 points)
  • A bus schedule for a route with the number 3 in it (+1 if it’s bus #3)
  • A photo of an outdoor pool with people swimming in it (must have a member of the team in the photo) (5 points)

I got 15 points. Can you do better?

| Fun, Montreal

Underground City Scavenger Hunt 2

Alex and Kristin check their lists during February's scavenger hunt

Alex and Kristin check their lists during February's scavenger hunt

After a successful event in February with about 40 in attendance, a second underground city scavenger hunt is being organized next weekend on Facebook and through other channels.

Here’s the details:

Saturday, Nov. 8, 12:30pm at the Central Station food court (which is near the gates for the Deux Montagnes commuter train line). The game starts at 1pm and ends at 3pm at the same place.

No entrance fee, age limitations or secret code words.

What you need to bring:

  • A team of between one and four people
  • A bag (you know, to put all your stuff in)
  • Some money (at most $5), though if you think you can get everything for free go nuts
  • A camera (anything, even a cellphone camera, will suffice)
  • A watch or other time-telling device
  • Comfortable shoes

For those of you who weren’t aware of the previous hunt, you can read my post about it, which includes a full list of the items people were searching for. It’s almost all stuff that’s worthless and can be picked up for free in the underground city. You can also read the piece I did for The Gazette about it.

Robin inspects the goodies

Robin inspects the goodies

For those who were there in February, organizer Robin (that’s her above) has made some tweaks to the rules for this time around, mostly concerning what happens when a team arrives late (which happened a lot last time, causing many items to be disqualified). Also note that the meeting point is different.

There’s no RSVP required, but doing so on Facebook would help with estimating how many people will show up.

| Fun, Montreal, My articles

The underground city scavenger hunt

Underground City scavenger hunt participants

I have to admit, part of me totally expected last weekend’s underground city scavenger hunt to be a complete dud. It’s happened before with these organized-on-Facebook just-for-fun events. Facebook had 35 people attending, but those numbers are always hyperinflated due to the way Facebook works.

As it turns out, there were 39 participants, and that was way more than was needed to have fun.

For my article in today’s Gazette, I spoke to organizer Robin Friedman while boyfriend-and-co-organizer Jody McIntyre was registering people. I then followed a team through the two-hour hunt.

Photos, the list and more after the jump below.

Continue reading →

| Fun, Montreal

Flashmobbing is cool

Improv Everywhere, the New York City-based scene-causer, has another mission up, which involved dozens of people freezing in place at Grand Central Station for exactly five minutes. They’ve also started up a social network for people from elsewhere in the world to connect. Here’s the Montreal group, which so far only has three members.

Speaking of this kind of unauthorized fun in public places, a scavenger hunt is being planned in the underground city next weekend. Facebook has over a dozen participants confirmed.

For those of you with moral objections to that site, here’s the details:

Saturday, Feb. 9, 3pm-5pm
Top cloor (Niveau Cinéma) of the Eaton Centre, McGill metro
Sign in when you arrive at the checkpoint with your team name and members (up to three)
This is a free, all ages event

Rules:

  • Do not leave the underground city. You are using the honor system.
  • You will need:
    • a bag
    • a bit of money (no more than 5$)
    • something to take pictures with (a camera phone is OK)
    • something to tell time with
  • Time – You have from when we release you until 5:10 on the judges’ timepiece (official time). If your entire team is not back by then, only what has arrived will be counted.
  • Points will be awarded once per team for each item on the list brought to the finish.
  • Judges’ decisions are final