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

No, I don’t know as much about skateboards as a few of my friends thought I did. I was a real poser. I had a skateboard but couldn’t skate. But I knew about the Bones Brigade, which is the name of this clue. Brian N. sent this clue in which is a building shaped like a gray bone. Neat! Woof!

It’s visible from quite far out, though 12/15 is pushing it a bit. I think it’s possible that it’s a recognizable building for locals. If you happen to live in the area and you know the clue already, could you let us know what this building is? I’ll post it up afterwards.

So to the word clue that Brian was going to give you. It actually took me awhile to completely put together what he was getting at. I guess I could have asked for clarification, but I wanted to figure it out on my own. Duh… I am the mental supersloth.

Anyhow, I think I will modify the clue a bit to make it a little easier:

“Sandy Waffle, Take 5″

Ugh, I’m so irresponsible when it comes to word clues. I’m like the word clue gremlin; it’s possible I might have made it even worse through unknown pickled herrings. As such, look for frequent apologies and clue drops along the way…

You’ve got until 2:00 p.m. PDT today. I think I will stick with one clue a day for now, but I am also thinking that maybe Fridays will be Fun Double Clue Day! Plus, a lot of you seem to have Fridays free (for the college kids). Ok, bang a gong, we are on…

[Edit: 10:18 PDT - I’ve actually got to go somewhere until about 1:30, so you get a second clue drop early. Actually, here are 2 for good measure: “Take 5″ is not music related. And: waffle commercials. Oh, I won’t be able to update solutions pending so don’t worry if you don’t see the number go up.]

[Edit: 12:56 PDT - Got back early. Oops, some of you will want to disregard the “waffle commercial” hint. It’s causing a lot of confusion instead of enlightenment… ]

Clue Name : “Bones Brigade”
Submitted by: Brian N.
Status : Solved (11)
Duration: 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. PDT

Solved By: James C, Mike M, Chris R, Adam, Bill P, Tony A, Tiffany, Brian G, Eric W, Mike Z, Shawn D

Word Clues : “Sandy Waffle, Take 5″
Magnification Needed: 12/15

SOLUTION TO “Bones Brigade”

Well, as I stated earlier, we’ve chucked the “Difficulty” rating for clues for now. Way too subjective…

So, say hi to “Say Hi To Your Mom”. Yeah, yeah… I know it’s not exactly the letters HI in a row. It’s more of a diagonal “HI” and even then you’ve gotta twist your head a bit. But still I thought this clue sent in by Ben O. was interesting. Friendly buildings that want to say “Hi”!

By the way, I haven’t heard songs from Say Hi To Your Mom, the band. Are they any good?

I’ve been getting a lot of clue submissions that are actually famous places or places other google sightseeing sites have already listed. It’s actually easier to use completely unknown locations, because it levels the playing field a bit. Like, there’s less chance of someone living in the same city as a famous landmark and recognizing it right away. In fact, for the last clue more than one person who lived in Texas and even near the area had no idea where the flag was. Which is as it should be!

One of the best ways to come up with a clue is to search your hometown, which is what I believe Ben did here. (Note: if you know who Ben is, don’t play this one!)

Right. So you want the word clues. Gahh.. I am so bad at these. Please, please, if you submit a clue, try send in a clever word clue so my brain doesn’t fizzle trying to come up with one:

“Somerset Maugham enjoys St. Patty’s Day in a cemetery”

Sorry, it is long. Also watch your step, you almost squished a red herring…

This is the last clue till probably Sat night or Sunday Monday but you’ve only got until 6:00 p.m. PDT. That’s when I need to bail. Now, drop those work papers and get with the program!

[Edit: 2:56 PDT - Hm… silence. Er, how about remove the word “Maugham” from the clue? That be a red herring.]

[Edit: 3.29 PDT - Eeek. I’m sorry, y’all. This is proving tough. TGIF! Um. Maybe focus on “cemetery”?]

[Edit: 4.17 PDT - Someone wrote in that they wanted to “kick my ass sideways”, so I better drop another clue: Not in MD. ]

Clue Name :Say Hi To Your Mom
Submitted by: Ben O.
Status : Solved (8)
Duration: 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. PDT

Solved By: John F, Tony A, Scott L, Jason C, Angie S, Ian T, Tina, Max

Word Clues : “Somerset Maugham enjoys St. Patty’s Day in a cemetery”
Magnification Needed: 13/15

SOLUTION TO “Say Hi To Your Mom”

I know, I know. I just got through talking about the clue schedule being in the morning blah blah, but I just had to post this clue up because it made my day (or rather, night). It’s an honest to goodness “emoticon” found by Johnny K. while surfing around google maps. Very large at 12/15, and I have a feeling that once again people who live near the area will get it right away. Yeah we’re in Texas again. Just can’t seem to get away from the Lone Star. Well, Texas never whispers (inside joke).

As to the word clues… hmm. There weren’t any provided with this submission. It’s fast becoming the most difficult part of Scavengeroogle for me to figure out word clues that are fun yet difficult, but not TOO difficult. Let’s go with “White House”, and if that’s too hard I’ll add another word clue or two later that may help. I actually am pretty sure I know what this sad face building really is… but someone from the area can probably tell us more.

[Edit: A little nudge, as promised… “White House” in a different language may help you out.]

Clue Name : Sad Texan
Submitted by: Johnny K.
Status : Solved
First Solved By : Mike Z., Robert M., Bill P., Dan K., James C., Jason C., Matt R., Blake L., Shawn D., Brian G.

Word Clues : “White House”
Magnification Needed: 12/15
Difficulty : 4/10

SOLUTION TO “Sad Texan”

E is for… Easy, Extreme, Elephant, Eels. I don’t know, think of something good! This looks like a bunch of building that happened to be arranged in the letter “E”. You can see it from really far out, 12/15. Shouldn’t be too difficult given the word clues, but I’ve been chastised about saying things are too easy before, so… searchers beware. Anyhow, Jeremy sent this clue in, but I modified the word clues to make it a bit shorter. All you get is “NY 684″. Gentlemen, start your google maps…

Clue Name : Brought To You By The Letter E
Submitted by: Jeremy R.
Status : Solved
First Solved By : Jason C., Christohper A., Colin P., Josh H., Sam O.

Word Clues : “NY 684″
Magnification Needed: 12/15
Difficulty : 3/10

SOLUTION TO “Brought To You By The Letter E”

A cool looking flower plastered on top of a building. That’s one way to bring some nature back into the urban jungle I guess. It’s not really a rose, but looks more like a daisy or something. I’m not familiar with this clue at all, but Mike says that Texans may have an easier time identifying it than people living elsewhere. His clue is: “Not quite the yellow rose of Texas”.

Clue Name : Yellow Rose
Submitted by: Mike Z.
Status : Solved
First Solved By : Frumps, Jason C., Bob N., Colin P., Wes B.

Word Clues : “Not quite the yellow rose of Texas”
Magnification Needed: 13/15
Difficulty : 4/10

SOLUTION TO “Yellow Rose”

Heyyy, so to tide everyone over until I can come up with more clues, here is our first reader submitted clue. A fun little UFO. Thank you to everyone who has sent in clues so far. P.S. the more obscure the clue (and location) the better…

So, this is another sort of experiment… I’m giving you the word clue just as Josh submitted it but you’ll notice that the “geographical”-ness of the clue is somewhat muted. “Midwest”… that’s all you get! I think this will make it a bit harder. However, on the other hand I’m thinking that it will cause the clue to be found almost exclusively by people who actually live in the vicinity of the clue. We’ll see I guess!

Oh so if you feel like it, along with the solution tell me if you are located close to the clue. This will give me some idea as to whether only people who are located near this clue are solving it.

Clue Name : Midwest Aliens
Submitted by: Josh G.
Status : Solved
First Solved By : Jason, FB, Adam M.

Word Clues : “Are there really aliens in the Midwest?”
Magnification Needed: 13/15
Difficulty : 6/10

SOLUTION TO “Midwest Aliens”

I was just wandering around at medium high magnification when I found this structure. I’m actually not really sure what it is, but I assume some sort of building complex. I was drawn not only to the interesting cross shaped roofs in a circle surrounding the larger building but also to the unusual purple color that they were. If anyone knows what this structure actually is, comment to let me know.

Clue Name : Purplex
Submitted by: Scavengeroogle Admin
Status : Solved
First Solved By : John K.

Word Clues : “North of Kansas City, up 35″
Magnification Needed: 10/15
Difficulty : 4/10

SOLUTION TO “Purplex”