Pencils Down
2 April 2007It was a dark and stormy…er…day. Murphy made sure to pack up his law and bring it along. Twitter was as good as dead for the majority afternoon. And yet, there was plenty of fun to be had with the Least Dangerous Game.
Here are the clues that were given, in the order given:
- Zip code 5510X
- I’m not an apostle, but I know their Saint.
- If you know your history for the day, you’ll be well on your way.
- I’m wearing a yellow shirt with toast spreading jam on itself and a brown cardigan, if you didn’t know.
- He stopped sleeping near here in 1934.
- John Dillinger stopped sleeping .1 miles from here in 1934.
- What observation did Superman make to his arch enemy about his driveway?
- I am not at the governor’s mansion
- Isn’t Lexington Parkway grand?
- What is the scariest deer in the forest?
And that was that. Some terrible puns and riddles thrown in on a murky and cloudy day. So how did everything work?
Ed Kohler of the Technology Evangelist found me within about 45 minutes due to dumb luck. With the partial zip code and St. Paul and his disposal, he checked into any location on Grand that had wi-fi. As luck would have it, I would in the Caribou Coffee on Grand just east of Lexington Parkway.
This coffee shop was located .1 miles away from where the FBI shot John Dillinger in the leg as he fled from the Lincoln Court Apartments. That event occurred on March 31st, 1934.
The next two and a half hours were filled with frustration focused at Twitter and a delightful conversation about technology. Rarely, if ever, did the conversation turn towards the weather. If you are having an interesting conversation with and interesting fellow, the conversation should never turn to the weather.
Elsewhere, in St. Paul, Ang(ie) Dezelske and Aaron Landry had joined forces to track me down.
You must be made aware that Ed and Aaron were in contact by text message. Ed was playing dumb and allowed Aaron and Ang to continue searching in the Minnesota rain. Of course, I didn’t bother Twittering that I had been found and kept updating them with clues.
While Ed used dumb luck to find me, Aaron and Ang were being much smarter. Apparently, Ceaser Chavez was born on March 31st. There was also a Chavez street in St. Paul with plenty of coffee shops. Shoot, that would have been brilliant! I’ll have to try harder next time.
After a few cups of a coffee and some sort of pasta salad, Aaron and Ang made their way to Grand and found me. We all had a good laugh, and more technology and general life discussion was had.
Against all odds, the first test run of Least Dangerous Game turned out great. I met a lot of interesting and wonderful people, and was inspired to keep this weekly event moving.
There is so much to do in the Twin Cities. Wait, no. It’s Minneapolis/St. Paul now? Nuts to that. There is so much to do in the Twin Cities. So many places to see and people to meet. Least Dangerous Game is a wonderful catalyst to get people together, and a great way to explore the cities you thought you knew.
All comments and suggestions are more than welcome! I want to make Least Dangerous Game as fun as I can for as many people as I can. I’d be happy to hear from you.
Also, if anyone knows how to turn a 3G2 into a MOV file, I can post some video of the weekend’s event.
What a grand day out!
P.S. Check out Aaron’s photos from the gift certificate “ceremony” on Flickr.
3 Responses to “Pencils Down”
April 2nd, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Aric, this is such a great concept! I looked for about 60 minutes before I had to move on with my Saturday. Twitter wasn’t working, so I was using my phone’s tiny Web browser to pull up clues. Very frustrating! Hope Twitter has its act together for the next hunt! -g.
April 2nd, 2007 at 5:30 pm
I wish i was still back in MN to play! unfortunately i’m down in KC for school- but it’s really nice following along and trying to make some educated guesses. It’s been some time since i’ve roamed the streets of the twin cities and it’s comforting just hearing about it. Maybe i’ll start my own game here in KC!
-Erin
April 2nd, 2007 at 5:41 pm
It’s a wonderful game for learning more about your city along with the people in it. Anyone in another city is more than welcome to start their own hunt. It’d be evil to keep this to myself.