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.
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.
Labels: 2010, BANG, BANG 23, BANG 29, ghost patrol, ghost patrol BANG, odd man out, Shinteki, shinteki decathlon 6
posted by Skott at 9:11 AM
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