June 30th was a great day to be playing Least Dangerous Game. Not only was there a $15 Cheapo gift certificate to be one, but the hiding place was more than perfect for social interaction.

As you can certainly tell be the title of this entry, the hiding spot was Matt’s Bar in south Minneapolis on Cedar Ave.

It was another week of hangman, as players texted in guesses that turned this:

“xxxx xx xxx xxxx xxxx”

Into this:

“HOME OF THE JUCY LUCY”

With a simple internet search, or any knowledge of the Twin Cities, players would be turned instantly to Matt’s Bar. So who won?

(more…)

With many people out of town for the long weekend, I wasn’t sure how well Least Dangerous Game would got. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about.

It was another beautiful Saturday, despite what our local weather personalities tried to tell us. A perfect day to hide inside at the Brave New Workshop! The Brave New Workshop was kind and generous enough to put forth the hiding spot and prizes for the Memorial Day weekend hunt. Let’s get down to the clues that brought the winners to me.

West of the Mississippi.

Yes yes. Not much of a clue. Sadly, I was found too early for my “first espresso machine West of the Mississippi” clue. That’s right. Founder Dudley Riggs brought the first espresso maker to his cafe west of the mighty river.

Bob Dylan has a lifetime ban.

It’s true! Bob Dylan was drunk and belligerent at a production once, and had to be removed from the theater. Take that, son of Minnesota! Host to many funerals.

Host to many funerals.

The Hennepin theater was once home to Flanagan’s Wake before it moved to its home at the St. Paul Palace theater. Poor Flanagan died over and over and over. So many funerals.

Over 250 original products.

The Brave New Workshop has put on over 250 original products. They do a fine job of topical satire, and you are missing out if you have never been.

Came home in 2002.

After much market analysis, it was concluded the the Brave New Workshop would be better suited to the surroundings of Calhoun Square. A new theater was built and renovated, and opened to mild success. In 2002, the Workshop moved back to its current location. The old new theater is now inhabited by ComedySport.

COX

Just simple code. The Brave New Workshop, or BNW, is one letter away from COX. Take every letter down a step in the alphabet and you’ll see BNW.

A City Pages best of 2007.

Who received the City Pages honor of Best Theater for Comedy? I’ll give you one guess!

Vapor herbs we know

An anagram. Get used to them!

Founded by a circus performer.

Founder Dudley Riggs was actually an acrobatic performer in the circus with his family! He took a bad spill, putting him in traction. As he lay in the hospital, the show had to go on and his family continued on. At that point, he decided maybe the circus wasn’t the place for him. And that’s how it started.

Derived from Aldus Huxley title.

The Brave New Workshop title was taken from the Aldus Huxley book Brave New World.

And that was enough information to bring Aaron Landry and his friend…Brian(?)…to my location! They each received tickets to the Brave New Workshop as a prize!

Arriving just seconds later was Ryan! Really, it was just second. Aldus Huxley led everyone right to me.

But with the winners in place, there was another surprise! The Brave New Workshop was kind enough to offer 50% off tickets to anyone else who showed up after the winner!

So I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And at 4pm, I left. Because no one else showed. Huh. Oh well. At least I was found! And by three people! It’s almost a record!

Saturday has come and gone, like it does every week and will continue to do. Least Dangerous Game has finished the weekend with success. The $15 Punch Pizza gift certificate has been claimed. Here is how it happened.

Slightly before noon was on the table, and the first general clue was sent out.

East of the river.

Simply meaning, if you were in Minneapolis you’d be well served to get your behind over to the St. Paul area. If you need me to explain this more, then you will never win. Let’s continue.

OK, 1 Al wed nothing

You may be asking yourself what that means. Anybody? Anybody? It’s a phone number.

My hiding space this week was the Minnesota Historical Center Library. The phone number of said location is 651-259-3300. Go ahead and look at your phone. It all works out, with “nothing” equaling “00.”

Time passed as it is known to do. At 12:15, I sent out this nugget.

I’m New Here

A simple search of the internet with “I’m New Here” and “Minnesota” will show you that the Minnesota Historical Center Library hosts a class every Saturday on how to use the library. Dewey is probably involved in the proceedings.

By 12:30, I am pouring over a book about the before and after of the Twin Cities. Old pictures versus new pictures of the towns. It is fascinating. Before I become to fascinated, another clue goes out.

TRACEABLE RHINOS RETRY NOISY MINT

Another anagram. It’s Minnesota Historical Center Library! Don’t let a rhino in though. They will make a lot of noise, and make photocopies when they are not supposed to.

At this point, our winner cracked the code. But they had to still get to me. At 1:00, what would be the final clue went out.

A type of berry, for the unlearned.

If you call it a “li-berry,” you need to stop that.

At 1:20, Alan showed up in the quietest room I’ve ever been in. Alan, if you recall, won Least Dangerous Game on April 28th. This makes Alan our first double winner!

The fastest time record still stand. Mark from Chicago holds on to his record of 1:10 in the Foshay hunt.

So congratulations to Alan! He will be enjoying delicious pizza! If you have never been to Punch Pizza, you are missing out.

Be prepared for next week’s Least Dangerous Game! We have another wonderful sponsor with a prize valued at $50! And everyone who comes after the winner will receive benefits as well! Get ready to come and meet other players! It will be a great Memorial Day weekend!

It looks like people were actively searching for me on Saturday, as showing in Paul’s comments on the previous post. It looks like he ended up very near by on chance alone.

It also looks like Twitter had some data farts on Saturday. Ooooo, data farts. I bet I can market that! Anyway, here are the two clues that were sent, but never received and published by Twitter.

This Cashew is Now a Zune

The actual exhibit at the Soap Factor was titled This Mango is Now an iPod. Cashews and mangos are both of the Anacardiaceae family. That’s a flowering plant bearing fruits that are drupes. Who knew?

And now, on to my favorite clue.

Will you find me, or will the AFRO TACO SPY?

Afro taco spy is an anagram for Soap Factor. It turns out that I love anagrams.

Anywho, there is what you missed, for what it’s worth. Get your thinking caps on for this coming Saturday, when we do it all over again!

The day had finally come. It was an extremely pleasant day in the Twin Cities, with temperatures hovering at about 70 degrees. Sitting in the shade would bring a smattering of goosebumps to your exposed skin. On this lovely day, no one in the Minnesota metro area found where I was hiding.

More probably, no one was properly looking. The clues weren’t terribly hard, and a quick search of Google would have revealed much. But the difficulty isn’t properly observed from my own eyes. Let’s see how the events unfolded.

Taking off from my home at 11am, I down 394 East. 94 would have been my rode of choice, but it is summer and that means road construction blankets the city like the first heavy snow of the season. Reaching downtown Minneapolis, I crossed the mighty Mississippi by way of Hennepin Avenue. My target for the day was in the Minneapolis Riverfront District. Before I settled down for four hours, there was a prize to be purchased.

Punch Neapolitan Pizza is where I picked up the $15 gift certificate that nobody claimed. It’s a shame, as Punch makes pizza so good you’ll cry until your abdomen cramps up.

With gift certificate in bag, it was time to walk to my hiding location. This week’s hiding spot was the Soap Factory on 5th Avenue and 2nd Street SE.

While the Soap Factory was once an actual soap factory, it is now a gallery for artists. Here, this blurb says it better than I will:

The Soap Factory supports artists and their work not only by providing exhibition and studio space on an unprecedented scale, but also by providing a skilled staff to aid artists in realizing new work, by paid stipends to both artists and curators, and by securing press articles and critical reviews of shows in a unique gallery space with a national profile.

There you are. An art gallery that I had never heard of before. The perfect setting for the week’s Least Dangerous Game. Let’s get into the clues. The first one was set out at noon, as expect.

Very near the river.

A simple and vague clue started the day. “East of the river” or “West of the river” didn’t seem appropriate for the day. I was two or three city block from the Mississippi. Very near indeed.

(more…)