One more day ....

One more day till the end of 2010 .... and it sure looks like the "ritual" will continue yet again ..... Sigh ......
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Its the end of the year again ......

Two more days till the end of 2010 ...... its been a yearly year-end "event" for the past few years now ...... wondering if the "ritual" will continue yet again ......  

Kelab TV3 Demam Bola Treasure Hunt

Date - 3rd July 2010

Entry fee - RM250

Team members - Aik, KC, Ming & Wern

This hunt, was officially the final hunt, the original Team Meeples participated in together for 2010.

If my memory doesn't fail me (since I lost the briefing notes), the hunt consisted of 35 cryptic questions, 5 treasures, and two challenges, which involved the following:

Kicking football

A representative of each team, were supposed to knock down three bottles in a "goal", to score a maximum of ten points (3 points for each bottle, and 1 bonus point if all 3 bottles were knocked down). Each representative was given two shots at the football. First one would be a trial shot, and the second would be the actual shot. My personal opinion, this was completely luck based!

World Cup Trivia

Each team had to answer 25 questions based on the World Cup (current and historical). With Google, it was not surprising to have most teams answer all the questions correctly.

In this hunt, what "upset" our team the most perhaps, was the fact that a third challenge which was supposed to have taken place, were cancelled on the day itself.

Now, during the briefing on the day before the hunt, hunters were shown a video. As the CoC had informed hunters that some of the questions would be based on the video, Aik had smartly captured the video using his camera and sent it to the rest of us the night before.

To prepare for the above "challenge", Ming and I spent approximately two hours going through the video screenshot by screenshot, to identify all the football players, teams, and matches the scenes were captured from. Satisfied we were, that we had done all we could to ensure that no points would be "given away" unnecessarily.

As luck would have it, when the CoC arrived to set up the final challenge, the video couldn't be "screened"!! And for obvious reasons, with the "consensus" of other teams, the CoC decided to cancel the challenge. It was even more upsetting when the CoC decided to merely show us the questions, as it was even more evident to us that we could've answered it all for sure!! *pulkssss*

And we eventually walked away with ninth position, with the following goodies:

Yes, the hamper was half my height.  >.<

Mengo Green Hunt 2010

Date - 26th June 2010

Entry fee - RM200

Team members - Ming, Wern, KC & Xiang Yee

A week after the J&J hunt, we participated in the Mengo Green Hunt, which was an LRT hunt, in conjunction with the theme "Go Green".

A few days before the hunt, Ming attended the hunt briefing conducted in the evening. Surprise surprise! Two treasure questions were provided during the briefing! Ming texted me right away, and immediately we realised that despite no deciphering needed for the treasures, one of the treasures (i.e. Field Notes pencil) proved challenging to obtain.

After much Googling n' contacting the store (i.e. CzipLee @ Bangsar), Ming sped off after the briefing in hopes of purchasing the "special pencil" before the store closed. Ngwak ngwak ngwak .... he arrived just in time to see the shutter close!  *stressss*

And so early the next morning, Ming dropped by CzipLee again between his appointments. As luck would have it, the shop was still closed (despite the opening hours stated on the website)! And finally, on the third attempt an hour later, we finally managed to obtain the said treasured (literally!) "treasure".

 The two treasures: Field Notes Pencil & Recyclable Bag (with the word "Green" displayed)

Hunt day arrived, and we headed off to the meeting point happily, having secured both required treasures, only to realise that ALL other teams had accomplished the same!! *bwekz ... syok sendiri ni ....*  

After being flagged off by YB Elizabeth Wong, the four of us embarked on our LRT tour from station to station. As Ming had smartly borrowed his colleague's monthly pass, I managed to save on cost incurred going in and out of the stations! Wheeeeee ...  :p

Hunting on the LRT proved to be VERY difficult, especially for us "amateurs". Signboards were zooming past us as the LRT sped off, which equated to answers zooming past us as well! To spot a correct answer, hunters must already have an idea of what it was they were looking for. And for amateurs like my team, it was literally impossible to attempt deriving the answer by "working backwards".

It was also frustrating when at a particular station, we were required to walk out of the station, cross the road to the opposite side, before we were able to take the train back to the previous station again. At mid point, we finally made a strategic decision to split the team up. Ming and XY went ahead to solve the final questions at KL Central, whilst KC and myself continued on solving questions on the LRT routes.

A wise strategic move? It has its ups and downs of course. With only one set of tulips and miscommunication between the team members, KC and I ended up having to rush to the end point as we had no idea how far the distance was. On the flip side, Ming and XY managed to solve most, if not all of the questions at KL Central. Kudos to Ming too, for putting in the effort to run far far away to purchase a green mango (one of the treasures), which ended up securing us a happy 7th position.

Nevertheless, despite the various obstacles faced, I personally really liked the questions crafted by the COC. Would have enjoyed it a lot more had it been a motor / walk hunt though. Satisfied? Definitely. Would I go for an LRT hunt again? Hmmm ... we'll see.  =) 

Johnson & Johnson - Amazing Explore Hunt Challenge

Date - 20th June 2010

Entry fee - RM240

Team members - Ming, Wern, KC & Dao

This hunt came very highly recommended by one of my ex-colleagues back in EY. Was informed that goodie bags were great, and that the cryptic questions were easy. Would definitely agree to both.

However, what we did not expect were the number and type of activities we were required to perform! Neither did we expect the allocation of only 40 / 150 points for cryptic questions! *whines ... confirm jialat di .... *

Format of the hunt consisted of cryptic questions and 5 "stages" of activities as follows:

Cryptic question - 40 points

Stage 1:

KL Tower Picture Hunt - 24 points

In this activity, two members (KC and myself) were required to identify logos and pictures located around the vicinity of KL Tower, based on eight pictures (parts of logos / pictures) provided. Trust me when I say that it wasn't easy!

Tower Walk - 16 points

At the same time, the two remaining members (or at least one member of each team) were required to climb up the stairs of KL Tower. As the two fittest members of our team, Ming and Dao took up the challenge and they both succeeded!!! Apparently, Dao ran up the whole way without stopping once too! Pro-nessssss ..... and from what I understood, most hunters actually sat down by the stairs along the way to catch their breath before resuming the climb. A definite jialated-activity for the "older" hunters I must say ......

Hot Window Spot Hunt - 10 points

Upon climbing up the stairs, the two members were then required to obtain the answers for two cryptic questions by spotting through the binoculars. Thank gawd for Dao who was familiar with KL area, our team suceeded in answering the questions even before looking out the windows! *wheeeee*

Stage 2:

Football challenge - 9 points

In this stage, a team member was required to kick a football through "holes on a wall". Dunno how else to explain la ... go figure. :p  KC took up the challenge and managed to get one through, scoring us three precious points! Apparently, that was the average score for all teams! *phewww*

Stage 3:

Paintball - 10 points

In this stage, two members of each team were supposed to grab two flags, whilst avoiding being shot by .... uh well ... "shooters"? Now, imagine a scenario where two shooters (and by that, I mean professionals!) were standing behind two barrels, aiming their paintball guns at the flags. Two team members would then be running towards the flags (i.e. towards the shooters), and automatically becomes moving targets which were ironically, moving nearer n' nearer the attackers!

Predictably, many teams decided to wave the white flag and left the challenge immediately for fear of being shot at at close range. Damn, it hurts ok! Doesn't help the fact that whether or not a team was able to obtain the flags was entirely at the mercy of these professional paintball "shooters".  >.<

Stage 4:

Lost Shape Of Atlantis - 21 points

In this task, a member was required to get into the swimming pool, look at the puzzles scattered on the floor of the pool, and dictate to the members standing by the pool side how the pieces of the puzzle were supposed to be placed. Sounds pretty simple huh! Guess what? We ended up queuing for a whole freaking hour before we could finally proceed to PERFORM the task, which only took one minute.  =_='''

And just as we thought the hunt was over ....... Jeng Jeng Jengggg ..... came challenge 5 !!!!! Which was ......................

1.  Transferring lil' worms with the mouth from a tray to another
2.  Placing a snake around a team member's shoulder!

Both Ming & Dao were the heroes performing the two tasks. Uber geli okay !!!! *shudders* 

Needless to say, evidently from the post above, I was pretty much useless throughout the whole hunt. Nevertheless, managed to come home with these goodies ...... 

End result? 17th position. Worth it? Go figure.