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

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About Scavengeroogle
    Scavengeroogle is a scavenger hunt game where you use Google maps to find the location of a particular graphical clue. (see us in Wired Magazine)

Archive for August, 2005


8/4/05 | 2:25 pm | Bounty: Square Rivers

click to search using Google MapsWhew, hello there again. If you are new to the site, thanks for visiting. There were quite a few new people coming here the past 3 days. Anyhow, I decided to start putting up more Scavengeroogle Bounties … I am still not sure about whether this works to have no word clue, but we will keep doing it that way for now till I get more prizes, and more time to work on the site.

This may be a lame one because it’s not really distinctive… I’ve called it Square Rivers, but perhaps it should have been called Right Angle Rivers. It is actually visible quite far up, at 12/18 magnification.

I’m going to experiment with something that Mark L had originally mentioned… give a VERY general description of where on the planet the clue is. I think I will go with the standard “Seven Continents” structure of Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. For the time being at least you will get a “continent hint”

The continent hint for this one is: Asia.

On that note I am also thinking of changing the terminology of “word clue” to “word hint“. It was a bit confusing because the graphical clues that are given are called “picture clues”… so I’ll call them Word Hints from now on.

click to search using Google MapsAh, the prize. Of course. This is a quickie, just a postcard, but a pretty cool one of the little town of Solvang. You see old fashioned Danish style windmills in the picture which is not that unusual except that Solvang is located just north of Santa Barbara, California.

I have been here several times, it’s a stopover for a lot of folks heading up the California Coast. But some hard-core Solvang fans make trips exclusively to there. A bit of a tourist trap. The back of the postcard reads:

Numerous Danish styled windmills, homes, store buildings, bakeries, foods, and Danish customs give this quaint village the old-world charm that has earned Solvang the title “Danish Capital of America”.

Okily dokily. Now remember, don’t spend the rest of tonight, tomorrow and this weekend on this bounty. They are meant to be something just in the back of your mind, just leisurely incubating there while you solve daily clues or ‘Roogle around for fun. I keep saying it, but don’t stress over these things!

Bounty Name : “Square Rivers”
Submitted by: Scavengeroogle Admin
Status : Collected by Mark L.
Time Elapsed: 2 days, 9 hours, 27 min
Word Hint : NONE
Continent Hint : Asia
Magnification Needed: 12/18

Reward: Solvang, California Windmills Postcard


Continue reading “Bounty: Square Rivers” …

8/3/05 | 11:48 pm | Solution: Metal Moths

This scavenger hunt clue was a bit of a toughie it seemed, though some were able to find it fairly fast. The word hint refers to Patton’s final resting place in Luxembourg… Judy B.’s suggestion was to say “Patton’s Rest” but I thought it might be too obvious, so I decided to go with “Lucks” which sounds like “Lux” which is a common abbreviation for Luxembourg.

Interestingly, quite unintentionally I guess you could say that “Patton Lucks Out” could be taken to mean “Patton’s luck has run out”. These things always seem to happen - double meaning where none was before!

Anyhow, the first solver was Tom who I believe is actually FROM Luxembourg:

The buildin on the left (aged about 20 years) , the smaller one is a huge swim arena at Luxembourg City, the building on the right, 3 years old, is a sports + cultural arena. Both are called Coque

This are indeed architectical wonderful buildings.

David H also discovered what the buildings were… I actually didn’t do much research on Patton so I didn’t even know that he was from San Gabriel which is funny because this is basically my home town! Well, I live very close by… in fact the region where I live east of L.A. is called the San Gabriel Valley:

To my surprise, it probably took about five minutes. First, I looked around San Gabriel, CA, where Patton was born. Then I Google searched Patton and Lucky and saw that it was the code name for the Third Army. From there, I went to Bastogne, thinking I was on a red herring, but it was right there.

I solved and submitted the clue a little earlier, so sorry for the double submission, but I did a little research. The building is the National Sport and Culture Center (if my French? is correct) in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.

That is also interesting that another meaning for the clue popped up, “Lucky” is the code name Third Army? I swear I knew nothing about “Lucky Forward”. Truly worlds within worlds, man.

Mark L was fast as usual:

Less than two minutes……. for some reason the clue just leaped out at me! Luxembourg and the Patton Museum…..

The word clue was kind of appropriate for Adam M who got lucky:

Wow, I found this on absolutely by luck. I had been searching in Knoxville, Ky because I searched Google or Patton Lucks Out, and just before I was about to close the window, I notice a city name Luxemburg, so I figure I’d type it Google Maps and see what I got. about 30seconds later, there it is. Total time about 10 minutes.

Chorbansi chimes in with his detective powers:

General Patton–> Battle of the Bulge–> Adrennes–> Belgium/Luxembourg. I spent sometime initially looking around Berlin, Messina and Palermo. Took me an hour to solve, enjoyed it. Thanks!

Wow, you certainly searched around a lot! Citizen notes the major problem with international clues. I have really been struggling with this too, having to do a “side by side” with an external street map. Until Google puts some more street maps in other countries we will still have issues:

About 30 minutes. Luxembourg is just a big blank in map view, so I had to use another Google map site that had a link to the American cemetary where Patton’s grave is located. I solved it in 10 after following a false lead in the Ardennes where Patton’s “Lucky Forward” fought the Battle Of The Bulge. Most of the time was getting google maps pointed where I wanted.

Moose is back in action and writes the following novel…

Finally, I get to do another ‘Roogle during regulation! I’ve been out of town and overly busy when I have been in town for the past week and a half. I actually went to Memphis last weekend and saw the pyramid while I was there, and then I noticed the pyramid bounty when I got back. Weird ‘Roogle coincidence? Or do I have a stalker?

Anyway, on to today’s clue. Took about 5 minutes. I know I came in after the region drop (or exclusion rather), but I didn’t even read that part until after I had solved it. All I did was google “Patton” and I found a website saying that he was buried in Luxembourg. I noticed that Luxembourg didn’t have too much hi-res to search, so I proceded to grind for the moths. Found them easily, good word clue. I’m assuming that “Patton lucks out” is actually “Patton’s luck is out” implying that because of his unfortunate emobilism, he met his end when his luck ran out. If that’s not what was intended, it’s how i read it nonetheless. And that’s how I solved it. It was nice to get a chance to ‘Roogle again!

By the way, that no-clue bounty is hard!

No, I’m not stalking moose. I mean, I’m not stalking you, Moose! Hehe. Last but not least is the “Other Chris R” who writes:

Wow…I spent entirely too much time on this one and I still don’t get the clue. Googling Patton sent me to Virginia, California, New York and France but nothing on Luxembourg (LUCKSembourg?). This was definitely one of the tougher ones, good find Judy B!!

And that pretty much does it for us. Not as many solutions. A side note: I have gotten some sort of “wrist tendonitis” or something from using the mouse too much. It’s not only from Roogling clues, but still I may need to cut down a bit for a week. But I still hope to get another clue up later in the week, or if not then on Monday. Till then, happy ‘Roogling!

Solution to “Metal Moths”

8/3/05 | 12:01 am | Metal Moths

click to search using Google MapsMy, my, the clues will fly. Hello there. I got this cool find from Judy B. of what looks like two moths in flight. Obviously, they are buildings of some sort but the resemblance is pretty cool. Well, they could also be alien spacecraft… but of course we all know there’s no such thing as UFOs right? Sorry, that was the government agent in me speaking…

Anyhow, the mothies are visible at a fairly respectable 14/18. You should be able to see them flutter from high up on your scavengeroogle viewing port. I have decided to mangle Judy’s clues a bit. Here you go:

“Patton Lucks Out”

I have a feeling that there may be some who don’t have any trouble at all with the clues, but I am prepared to region drop if need be! Until later on: May all your clues be live and your roogle solutions be monstrous!

[Edit: 10:10 am PDT - How’s it going? A few solutions so far, so I will wait a couple more hours b4 considering a region…]

[Edit: 12:34 pm PDT - OK, I’ll start off with a very general region clue, actually a region exclusion. The Metal Moths are NOT located in the U.S.A. That should start the ball rolling for some…]

[Edit: 12:51 pm PDT - I see a lot of people coming here from I-Am-Bored and MetaFilter … if this is you, hello and welcome to ‘Roogle central! Take a look around at some of the past clues and submit some of your own if you get a chance.]

[Edit: 6:10 pm PDT - OK, one last clue for this one: Near Belgium…]

Clue Name : “Metal Moths”
Submitted by: Judy B.
Status : Solved (10)
Duration: Wednesday 8/02/05

Solved By: Tom, David H, Mark L, Adam M, Chorbansi, Chris Re, Citizen, Moose, OtherChris, Tim J

Word Clues : “Patton Lucks Out”
Magnification Needed: 14/18

SOLUTION TO “Metal Moths”