Found! Lego Puzzle Piece

For the past few years, the pyramid puzzle that I kept as a souvenir from coed astronomy's excellent SF Leisurely Mini-Game has been missing a single Lego. Today I found it! And somehow I feel more complete.

Man, did I only blog about three times last year? I have to do better. Unfortunately, I kind of got burned out on writing from (a) the creative writing class I took and (b) all the email communication writing that was needed for DASH 3.

I suppose there's also (c) I haven't had time to write any lengthy recollection of events; (d) I've thus far been unsatisfied with any pic hosting service that would allow me to include pics with said stories; and even (e) I've become completely dissatisfied with the look of this blog and figure I need to put more effort into completely redoing it before writing more.

But hey, today a missing Lego made me want to write again. Go fig.

Quick WHO Game Thanks, Photos, Facebook, and a Forum

I just wanted to send out a huge thank you to the organizers of the WHO Game, both in Seattle and here in the Bay Area. GNUs and Noses had an excellent, extremely fun time!

Photos - http://goo.gl/4zf42. Thank goodness for "auto photo upload".

Official Facebook Group - WHO GC is using this Facebook group with links and photos.

Forum - http://goo.gl/a56GZ. This is the link to the Puzzle Hunt Forum's WHO Game board.

Videos may be on their way.

Seattle's WHO Game - Worst Weekend Ever

Tremendously wonderful news! For the first time six years, since before I began playing puzzle hunts, there's going to be a Game in Seattle. The World Henchmen Organization Game sounds like tremendous fun but for one thing: It takes place June 17-19. Oh man, what a terrible weekend to pick! June 17th is my daughter's birthday. June 18th is a good friend's birthday. June 19th is Father's Day!

The only way the Silly Hat Brigade and Los Jefes could have picked a worse time would be the weekend before, when my wife and I are celebrating ten years together.

*le sigh*

Help find puzzle hunt resources!

One of the best thing about the Puzzle Hunt Forum (which is going to be turning 1 soon) is when new people find it and post messages about their interest and experienced players encourage them. Their usual question, though, has been "This is so cool! What do I do now?" To that end, I'm trying to put together a comprehensive (ha!) list of resources for the newbie puzzle hunter, instead of them having to try and navigate the entire web to find every morsel of puzzle hunt-related info (like I did).

If you, as one of the three readers who accidentally reading this, have information that could or should be listed, please visit the Getting Started/Resources thread and post! Right now, only a few things are up and are mostly things that I could locate without doing any real research (lazy, busy, trying to be less sedentary, etc.). Info websites, blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, etc. are all welcome as long as they regularly provide puzzle hunt related info. For example, a Twitter feed from a Galactic Puzzle King who only Tweets about golf probably wouldn't make the list, but one from a mechanic who regularly posts about their puzzle hunt experiences would.

Final Thoughts on Puzzle Hunt Origins

Tracing the origins of the puzzle hunt/The Game has been a lot of fun for me. I enjoy history; more specifically, I enjoy understanding the thin strands of history that bring the reasons for modern activities and traditions to light. Finding out about the connection from DASH to the BANG to the Standford Game to BARF to Midnight Madness to Donald Luskin's Games of the 70s to The Last of Sheila to Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins' Halloween Hunt of 1968 has been a pleasure.

Finding out how Sondheim and Perkins came up with the idea, however, has been filled with frustration and speculation. I have no idea how to contact Sondheim. At his age (81 in March), I half-expect to hear of his demise any day, before being able to find out what touch of genius set the wheels in motion to produce the puzzle events that I so enjoy to this day.

So I've guessed that Elsa Maxwell, the self-proclaimed inventor of the treasure hunt, was his inspiration, whether consciously or not. Sondheim was mentored and lived with the Hammerstein family, and I've read that Hammerstein's frequent collaborator, Richard Rodgers was at one of her parties. I would assume, then, that either Sondheim at some point was at one of Elsa's parties, or learned of them from Rodgers.

So then how did Elsa Maxwell come up with the idea of a treasure hunt? I've already mentioned that Treasure Island had implanted the idea of treasure maps into the public consciousness, but I wanted something more direct than that. So I checked out R.S.V.P.: Elsa Maxwell's Own Story from the closed stacks at the local library and read through it.

I was prepared not to like Elsa. From what I had read elsewhere, she was someone who simply decided to be famous and set about it by throwing tons of parties and inviting the rich and famous. Making friends with those who attended, she became used to an extravagant lifestyle that was often funded by those friends. She seemed like a coat-tail rider who took advantage of her friends' wealth and connections.

In reading her book, though, I found her quite likable and someone I had more than a little in common with. She defends herself, saying that her friends were always trying to give her things in thanks for all that she did, and that it would have been rude to not accept. She made a lot of people happy, at least for the little while they were at her parties. I don't have the exact quote, but she said that many members of the jetset were so bored with their lives, that her parties were a small breath of fresh air. They even made a movie based on her parties, My Man Godfrey, which challenged party-goers to venture out into the real world. It was a fun book, though admittedly Elsa does seem a little self-absorbed.

Throwing treasure hunts was mentioned only briefly, late in the book, with no thoughts on how they came to be. However, earlier on, she does relate a story about a socialite friend of hers, Countess Dorothy (Taylor) di Frasso. In it, Dorothy is told by a Canadian prospector that he has a treasure map that he'll sell to her for the unbelievably low price of... whatever. Anyway, the young naive countess takes it as real (Elsa mentions that fake treasure maps were all the rage those days) and sets out to find it.

This real-life treasure hunt turned into a major disaster. Doing a search, I was able to turn up a 1939 Time magazine article about it. It details all the things that went wrong with the ship and crew, and how the treasure's supposed location was all but desolate:

They reached Cocos. Only vestiges of life on the barren island were so many picks and shovels left by previous treasure hunters, that "it looked like an abandoned WPA project." With Countess di Frasso offering suggestions, the crew "dug hell out of that island," but they found only rocks.

I have no evidence that this fiasco inspired Elsa Maxwell to come up with treasure hunts as a party game. However, Elsa knew the countess, and knew of the trip, and was always looking for ways to spice up her parties. But until some other, more concrete information comes in, I'm satisfied with this as at least a plausible explanation for the ultimate roots of the puzzle hunt.

Quick 2010 in Review

I keep meaning to write some in-depth accounts of our experiences during the 2010 puzzle hunt season, and always thought I'd get to it before the start of the 2011 season. But that happened thirteen minutes ago, so all I have is a quick rundown.

Unfortunately, 2010 was filled with uncompleted hunts for us, which as a team that tends to pride itself on finishing events, is really kind of a downer. Obviously, there are some hunts that one team or less finish, but for some reason it really felt like my brain wasn't working right last year.

2 Tone Game - The real highlight of the year for me, which unfortunately, came early. Given, Jonathan and I spent the day in San Francisco enjoying Larry Hosken's well-designed and clever hunt. We completed everything, no hints, though really late at night. It would be nice to be able to forget it all, so I could go back and solve it again.

Shinteki Decathlon 6 - A last minute playtest with Andrea, Given, Dan, and myself. Had a lot of fun together, but got crushed when we were a few minutes from solving a long, complex puzzle only to be told time was up. Didn't finish.

BANG 23 - Our team of Andrea, Given, Jonathan, Ivan, and myself felt off-kilter for some reason. We never hit a groove with the clues, which seemed more conference-room style puzzles than BANG style. Our unofficial "No hints!" motto lead us to take an hour to solve a clue that 90% of teams solved in ten minutes. Didn't finish, but then, I think only six teams out of sixty did.

Odd Man Out - I brought a team of relative newbies to this treasure-hunt style event that had been advertised as easier than a BANG. It turned out to be much more difficult than a BANG and featured several puzzles that could have used a few more rounds of playtesting. As one of our teammates said, "If I wanted problems this convoluted and messy, I could have just stayed at work." Didn't finish, ended up with a total score of 0.

Ghost Patrol BANG - Having enjoyed the Ghost Patrol Game playtest so much, we were really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, the first clue caught Andrea, Given, Jonathan, and I so off-guard, we were unable to solve it even after looking at all of the hints. This and our return to horrible navigation problems (I mostly blame the inexplicably obfuscated map) cast an ominous shadow on the rest of the hunt and I'll admit, my heart wasn't fully in it. Which is unfortunate, because everyone else seemed to have a really good time. It felt like our brains were stuck in the wrong gear the entire hunt. Didn't finish, got lost on the way to the end location.

But we did have a really good time hanging out with Debbie and Dann beforehand. This led Andrea to say that we should have an event where puzzle hunt people can just get together and and hang out for a few hours, without puzzles to distract them. Jonathan pointed out that, unfortunately, without puzzles, no one would show up.

Sparkly carbon detractors

When I was a kid, I watched a documentary on PBS with my grandfather about the diamond trade. I saw that miners were kept separated from their wives for months at a time, were treated like animals, and caged at night. I heard how the money made from the trade fueled terrible wars. I learned how De Beers had engineered this, so that diamonds, a rock so plentiful that there are enough in the world for every man, woman, and child to have a cup full of them, have had their prices and social value artificially inflated.

Is it any wonder I've had a negative view of the "forever" stone, which can be burned with a blowtorch? And how I despise it when men are often judged by how big a rock they get their fiancées? And how it angers me that De Beers snuck their product into Hollywood as subtly as the cigarette companies?

A long time ago, I lost a friend over my vehement feelings. Since then, I've learned not to judge people on what they desire. Everyone has their own choices to make in life, and who am I to sit in judgement? To each his/her own.

But I was pleasantly surprised at a recent thread on fark.com about stories that people shared about their engagement rings. I've copied what I found to be the best of them here.


- My engagement "ring" was a laptop. I told my fiance that if he was going to spend $3K on me, I wanted something I could use and not some useless piece of jewellry. It's 4 years later and I still use the laptop. The $100 ring he also bought me has been sitting in a jewellry box for the last 3 years. - Altrissa


- My wife refused to have a diamond in her engagement ring. The jewler got pissed off and said, "Diamonds are always in engagement rings!" To which my wife replied, "Diamonds are made of the same stuff as pencil lead. Why would I want something so common?" It was magnificent. - tetsoushima


- My dad saved the change he had in his pockets when he came back from Vietnam the year I was born. My wife went to him before the wedding and got one of the half-dollars he had and took it to an old-timey blacksmith who hammered it out into a ring. Somehow he managed to keep both the year and the "In God We Trust" legible around the inside, while the outside just has a hammered silver look. - Skyd1v


- We had a talk about this, and to my pleasant surprise, she was totally against a real diamond for several reasons, some ethical some financial. She understands the ridiculousness of throwing money away on a stone that doesn't appreciate in value and is hard to sell. She's also a little more than horrified by the human cost in the trade of diamonds. That line of thought, among many other reasons is why I married her, she's the best! - EbolaNYC


- My wife and I wear wedding rings that cost $1 each. That's one dollar. Per wedding band. We weren't going to have wedding rings, but we were going through her stuff just prior to getting married, and she found two dollar-store rings that her daughter had given her. They just happened to fit us...They're dull grey "pot metal", and they're *our* wedding ring. - SpinStopper


- My cousin told her future husband that she wanted anything but a diamond. Her boyfriend's father said he should just get a cruelty-free diamond, and the father would pay the difference. My cousin patiently explained that she didn't even want a diamond at all, because getting a cruelty-free one is still feeding into the culture, and she'd much prefer a lab created gem. The father threw a fit and to this day makes snide remarks about how unfeminine she is. - These Colors Run So You'd Better Go Catch Them


- I told my husband that a diamond was unnecessary, since they are made of carbon, the most plentiful substance on the planet, and not even remotely rare. Even if they are pretty and sparkly. Hubby is a bit of a traditionalist, and wanted to do things "right," so we looked at diamond solitaire engagement rings, and I honestly didn't like how big, huge rocks looked on my finger. I told him if he really wanted to get a diamond, to get a small one and not spend a lot of money. So he did. My ring is very modest with a visible inclusion; according to the paperwork, the lowest quality they'll use as a gemstone, and that's just fine with me. His ex likes to jam her enormous stupid ring in my face because she thinks the fact that she made her idiot of a husband spend the equivalent of a couple of monthly housing payments on a hunk of carbon means something; to me it just means he's a dumbass. - Jennaratrix


- I didn't want an engagement ring, period. The tradition annoys me, especially the fact that other women make such a huge frigging deal about it. - MidnightSkulker


- My husband made me a gold Claddagh with a garnet, then he designed the wedding band to nest into it. The band has two small diamonds in it, and I have no idea where they came from (other than Rio Grande Jewelry supply). Didn't want a big rock, they just get caught on everything. - k1yok2tog


- I just don't find cut diamonds that pretty, though my sister (who makes jewelry) did show me the allure of things made with unrefined Canadian diamonds. She and her boyfriend pretty much feel the same way about the diamond trade though and have been picking out their own stones to go into a ring - especially since she can get a very nice yellow beryl PLUS accent topazes AND get the ring custom made in the southwest for cheaper than a lot of diamond engagement rings. - spyderqueen


- The engagement ring the wife has is a simple silver band that I made myself. Our wedding rings are also simple gold and silver bands, no decorations, though one is gold on silver, the other silver on gold. We chose the simple rings and wedding and used the money we didn't waste there to put a down payment on a house later. - Jormungandr


- My friend's boyfriend had a mutual friend who's a jeweler create a ring with a huge-ass cubic zirconium (about 1" in diameter). The mounting is sterling and it's absolutely perfect for my friend, though she admitted she wasn't likely to wear it a lot (she's an artist and works with her hands, and she's never been big on jewelry). But she loves it and no animals or miners were hurt. - Dwight_Yeast


- I love my engagement ring far more because it's a gorgeous blue-purple synthetic alexandrite. No child miners. No blood diamonds. It didn't cost my husband an arm and a leg (there are better things to spend money on). It's unusual and different and nice. I never understood the point of diamonds anyway, since I can't tell them apart from glass. - NeedsMoreCoffee


- My wedding ring is blackened tungsten carbide with a laser etched batman symbol. His is the opposite, with the batman symbol blackened. Started off as a 'joke' ring, because we didn't want to rush into buying an expensive ring. But we exchanged them with our vows. There's no other ring I want now. Sparkly metals and rocks are overrated - just because it's expensive doesn't make it special... and Batman is forever. - SusanCreature


- Fark.com: Where no one admits to liking shiny pieces of carbon. - Trillian Astra