Scavengeroogle: A Google Maps Scavenger Hunt To Waste More Of Your Time On

This was a slippery, elusive little kiss that many people had trouble with. I had a feeling it would be tough though. Jeremy R’s original word clues did not provide the pun (”Simple, Ought” = “Simplot”) and only mentioned the potato king:

“Chocolate kiss for the potato king”. Or something like that. This little lake sits on the massive lawn of J.R. Simplot, the man who sells McDonald’s most of their fries. Even the Boise locals won’t know the lake (or pond I guess), although the potato king clue might tip them a little.

I had thought it would be too difficult without additional information, and even with the added pun it might be difficult. Nevertheless, Oregonians seemed to benefit slightly from knowing about that company. Justin said:

Being from Oregon, I got the clue right away. It refers to J.R. Simplot, who founded a company that makes potatoes. It took under five minutes, it just happened to be in the first place I found in Boise.

Steve M. also notes:

Started at 9:13 Ended at 9:15 i fell right on top of it . i think being that i live in oregon i knew about the idaho potatoe thing thats why i got it so fast .But maybe it had more to do with luck lol . have a good day

Wait, but how does living in Oregon clue you into knowing about potatoes in Idaho… is it just by proximity? Interestingly, two of our most popular locations for clues have been Texas and Idaho… I think the east coasters are starting to feel left out so I will try and find some more clues not on the west coast soon.

Chris R writes:

This one was a bit difficult. “Simplot” led me south of Boise to the Sports Complex. Still a good clue.

When I did a refind, searching on Google first, I went east of Boise actually to Pocatello, Idaho (where they have some sort of track and field event). Going directly to Simplot Industries physical address puts you due south of the clue. But that wasn’t enough info for most people. It was tough to give clues without actually saying “look for Simplot”.

Jim M said:

Stuck in Coeur d’Alene for the longest time, until the Boise clue, then stumbled onto Simplot.

That’s interesting because I think someone else submitted a clue that had to do with Coeur d’Alene (was it you, Jim?) AND with potatoes as well.

Peter R picked up his first solution.

Took me about 20 minutes. Figured out Idaho right from the start, but got lost when I googled “Plain Idaho” (thinking simple=plain) but then I stumbled across the simplot, searched around Declo (his hometown).

I looked at the clue picture again, thought that it looked like a pretty big house so I just searched around Boise for a bit.

My First ONE!!!!!!!

I don’t blame you all for not getting the bad, bad pun; I had to make it up quickly so it wasn’t really that strong. Robert M wrote:

Got a real late start, so I got all the clues beforehand. Took me about 20 minutes.

Still don’t get the “Simple” part though.

And Ted S said:

Ohhhhhh…i get it now. Simple, Ought = Simplot. I was having a lot of trouble with that one. I found the lake first and then I was like, “Now what the hell does that clue mean?” I switched between satellite and map and they were out of sync (at least on my computer) but once i found the road it made sense. Tough clue, I like it.

Also interestingly, the clue is located right on a “googlemap seam” that is not stitched together exactly. (Probably could also be a reason the satellite and street maps are out of sync) That actually threw me a bit, because I was seeing double of certain things. These seam discontinuities crop up pretty often, and people have even sent them in as clues (roads to nowhere, etc.)

So, I will see you Friday at the usual time. Remember Monday we are off so we’ll probably return on the Wednesday after that…

Solution to “Hershey Kiss”