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

Ah, nice long weekend = me getting to work on more Scavengeroogle. While everyone is out barbequeing, I am posting scavengeroogle clues. Interestingly enough, I am still PC-less. I seem to be getting by other than the fact that nearly all my important files were on the windoze machine that is now collecting dust.

Anyhow: Cluemaster B, or as you may know him as Aaron B had sent me a bunch of clues and some were meant to be bounties. Here is one of them: I am at a loss what to call this, it’s sort of a circle inside a square and since I’ve just seen a Discovery Channel special on Area 51, I think I will call this clue “Crop Circle Square”. It is not enormous like some of our other ones, but still can be seen at about 16/18. I am going to give the continent hint for this one: North America

I am crossing my fingers (many times) that this bounty will last a little longer than our others, but not as long of course as the dastardly Compass bounty that remains unsolved to this day. In any case, today I went to the Pasadena City College Swap meet to look for some prizes. I picked up 8 postcards for a quarter a piece so these are going to be your bounty prizes for now. I would have picked up more but it was just too blazingly hot standing in the sun flipping through them so I had to finish up and pay.

First up is this cool postcard from Fairbanks, Alaska that looks like it’s from the 70s with those scalloped edges. The front of the postcard depicts a mile marker that says Mile 1523 End of the Alaska Highway which I guess is in the middle of Fairbanks. There is mileage to other place including: 527 to Point Barrow, 558 miles to Juneau, 529 miles to Nome, and 10,316 miles to the South Pole.

Bounty Name : “Crop Circle Square”
Submitted by: Aaron B
Status : Open
Word Hint : NONE
Continent Hint : North America
Magnification Needed: 16/18

Reward: Fairbanks Alaska Postcard from the 70s

Happy hump-day to you all. Looking forward into a long weekend, it feels very good to hit the middle of the week. I wasn’t going to put this clue up at first because it looks like a Green Pacman and if there is any one category for clues that have been oversubmitted, it’s pacmen. Just take a look in the Oklahoma Panhandle and other areas if you don’t believe me.

However, many of these pacmen, or “partial circles” as clue submitter Jordan likes to call them, are extremely large or even visible only a low res. This one is relatively small, and sort of cute. So I decided to give him a chance in the spotlight.

By the way, how many of you are old enough to remember obsessing about the “patterns” for the original standup Pacman video game? I remember they even had paperback books with patterns, like “How to Beat Video Games”, haha. I used to know a pattern but for some reason it was only good after the “2nd Apple” level so I was on my own until then.

He’s still visible at 15/18 so you can see him from decently far out. With word hints, it was very difficult to come up with some that weren’t too easy. I think I will go with a mutated variation of Jordan’s for now, hope this is not too tough:

“Sylvia Plath’s view is evergreen”

You should look forward to a few more bounties which I am planning on throwing up over the weekend which should be a bit more difficult! In any case, roogle on…

[Edit: 9:00 am PDT - Definitely a first… no solutions waiting for me when I got up this morning. I fear that I’ve botched the word hints, ugh. Let’s try for a region drop first: Northwest U.S.]

[Edit: 11:47 am PDT - Wow, I must have really messed up the word hints. Ok, getting right down to it: What did she write?]

[Edit: 2:55 pm PDT - Sorry, this is proving to be frustrating for a lot of people. I tell you what, I’ll just give one of Jordan’s original word hints. I would like to see how the difficulty would have changed. Here you go: “A nice view of the local bell”]

Clue Name : “Green Pacman”
Submitted by: Jordan
Status : Solved (12)
Duration: Wednesday 8/31/05

Solved By: Tim J, Mike B, Justin, Judy B, Dunkfu, Matt, Mike H, Aaron B, Dan M, Mark L, Astro T, Jesse P

Word Hints : “Sylvia Plath’s view is evergreen”
Magnification Needed: 15/18

SOLUTION TO “Green Pacman”

Er, hello again. What’s this… more than one clue launched in a week you say? The sky must be falling. Well, Scavengeroogle was recently featured on TV! They did a short 5 minute feature on G4’s Attack of the Show (Sarah’s Damn Good Websites) so I figured I should probably put up a clue today so new players coming in have something to try out. (BTW, if you are new to playing, you might want to check out the FAQ first)

Actually, I got a whole boatload of excellent clue submissions from Aaron B. the other day (who thoughtfully provided word hints with each one) and I decided to start going through them. Up on tap today: turn your head 45 degrees to the right and you’ll be able to see these Butterfly Buildings a little more easily. We seem to like insect based clues a lot (previous ones include Metal Moths and Bug Hunt).

The butterfly is available at a 14/18 magnification or so, pretty far out. As for word hints, like I said Aaron has provided some which I haven’t really altered too much. Let’s see how it goes with:

“Sullivan’s Pal in the Desert”

Whah? Yeah. I think I will drop a region clue as soon as I get up in the morning if there are no solutions in. Hey guess what, I’ve been conscripted to do some more painting at my folks’ house. Hooray… well, this means I’ll be checking in periodically only. So don’t worry if you don’t see the “Pending Solutions” incrementing. Ok, have a good weekend…

[Edit: 9:45 am PDT - Urgh, I just got up. Couldn’t go to sleep till about 4 am. Anyhow, I woke up and there was like a billion emails in my mailbox. The clue and word hints seem to be doing well (lots of fast solutions) but I think I will still give a general region for those first time players: Southwest U.S. It’s off to painting for me, see you after lunch!]

[Edit: 7:56 pm PDT - Sorry no updates all day. Just finished painting awhile back. The fumes were amazing, and not in any good way. So anyhow I’m happy to report quite a few solutions to thee butterflies. I gotta close down this one in a few hours so I can write up the solution and go to sleep. Hope to be back with some new stuff early next week…]

Clue Name : “Butterfly Building”
Submitted by: Aaron B.
Status : Solved (24)
Duration: Friday 8/26/05

Solved By: Jordan, Pete B, Jerry R, David H, Kyle L, Mike T, Ryan F, Judy B, Mike B, Shawn D, Amy M, Bernd, Mike M, Chorbansi, Tim J, Richard K, The Beamer, Sara D, Mark L, Moose, Jeff H, Brian J, Katie N, David M

Word Hints : “Sullivan’s Pal in the Desert”
Magnification Needed: 14/18

SOLUTION TO “Butterfly Building”

Good morning (or night for you insomniacs). I’m writing this clue up from my parents’ house right now. My PC is still on the blink which is the reason for that. Getting used to the software in our Powerbook though, in case I lose my PC again. I’ve been a bit down in the mouth for scavenger hunts out lately, but maybe I’ll get more inspired with this whole back to school thing.

Anyhow, this clue from Brian Z is of a pretty cool looking “peacock”… I think they are gardens which is why I’ve named the clue Peacock Gardens. Imaginative, to say the least. What it also reminded me of was the Spirograph drawing toy, though I don’t suppose many remember that. I had a crapload of the wheels and everything…

I have a feeling this is one of those clues where it’s either extremely simple extremely difficult depending on where you start. Wait, that’s how ALL of our clues are. But I really am at a loss to make up some word hints, so I’ll provide a variation of Brian Z’s:

“Curvy Tigress”

Yup, that’s all you get. Oh, also the peacock gardens are also viewable at 15/18. I will be dropping a region clue hopefully. I’ve been working out of my parent’s house during the day lately (would you believe I’m painting their fricken house) so I’ll try see if I can’t take some breaks to check in once in awhile.

[Edit: 9:45 am PDT - Well, looks like the clue is going OK. I am actually on the Powerbook again, probably not painting my parents house today and thus will be able to update periodically. Let me start off with a general region (which is probably apparent to a lot of people already even if they haven’t found the clue): Middle East.]

[Edit: 12:18 pm PDT - I’ll be out for about 4-5 hours but will check back around dinner. Looks like we won’t need more clues drops for today… see ya all soon.]

Clue Name : “Peacock Gardens”
Submitted by: Brian Z.
Status : Solved (21)
Duration: Wednesday 8/24/05

Solved By: Mark L, Markus B, Judy B, David H, Chorbansi, Mike M, Matt, Bryant, Trecherus, Aaron B, Mike B, Gitar2ech, David M, Charlie D, Sara D, Mike H, Jen S, Pete B, Bryce H, Tim J, Astro T

Word Hints : “Curvy Tigress”
Magnification Needed: 15/18

SOLUTION TO “Peacock Garden”

Now turn your head 90 degrees clockwise and you’ll see what Citizen of Trantor sent in as a clue the other day. Yes, the prime heavy breather from the 70s himself - Darth Vader. Or, as I like to abbreviate him as - DV.

I think good ‘ol DV has donned some funny looking spectacles or something over his helmet. Maybe they’re to increase his Schwartz, haha. He also looks remarkably like an octopus with some missing tentacles.

Whatever he is, you can see him at 14/18 magnification, maybe even higher up if you’ve got eagle eyes. I have as usual, in my nefarious ways, roogle-mangled the good Citizen’s word hints to suit my own dastardly ends. And therefore you shall feel the wrath of the following:

“100 Years of Blue Jays”

That is all. A region may or may not be dropped. And if you should see Princess Leia tell her that she’s scheduled for, erm… detention in cell block SCAV-1. Rooglers, May the Schwartz be with you…

[Edit: 9:44 am PDT - We seem to be doing pretty well with Lord Vader so I’ll hold off on any more hints for now!]

[Edit: 2:35 pm PDT - Darnit. I am already half a “Mac” person but this latest “windows update” fiasco that I just had is pushing me closer and closer to abandoning PCs altogether. The computer just keeps restarting over and over and all I did was a Windows Update. It was completely 100% fine until I did the update. Sheesh. As such, expect many delays over next couple of days as I try and recover the crap off that computer.]

Clue Name : “Darth Vader”
Submitted by: Citizen of Trantor
Status : Solved (18)
Duration: Thursday 8/18/05

Solved By: Markus B, Antti L, Janne K, Jerry R, Mike B, Mark L, Tina, Jon G, Trecherus, Mike K, Steve M, Aaron B, Other Chris R, Tim R, Dan M, Justin, Tim J, Cindy B

Word Hints : “100 Years of Blue Jays”
Magnification Needed: 14/18

SOLUTION TO “Darth Vader”

Hey there Scavengeroogle Bounty Hunters. This was a weird looking series of paths or roads that have been carved into the shape of what I am going to call for lack of a more interesting term - Arrow Man.

Turn your head about 45 degrees clockwise and you’ll be able to see him better. His arms look like arrows, hence the name. His feet look sort of like the feet on the V.I.N.CENT robot from the 1979 movie “The Black Hole”. Don’t ask me how I know that, because the answer will be that I have the little robot plastic toy from 1979…

Anyhow, I’m not sure what this figure is, if it’s intended to be a man-like depiction or if it’s just a random series of paths that look like a man. Maybe one of you can tell me. This feature requires 16/18 magnification to see it which is pretty close in… the contrast is also quite light which may give some difficulty. The continent we are in is: South America.

I just got a “prize” in the mail that I sent away for, so I’m offering it up here. It is the Las Cruces, New Mexico Official 2005-2006 Visitor’s Guide. Now while a lot of people think of New Mexico as just a big desert or perhaps the home of the Trinity Atomic Test Site, there is a lot to like in this vast and complex Southwestern recreation area. I just like the wide open spaces in general which is why it appeals to me. I’ve been to the state a few times and it is pretty magnificient.

Las Cruces is located about 225 miles south of Albuquerque and near the border with Mexico. Some of the area attractions include Aguirre Springs, The Bicentennial Log Cabin, Fort Selden State Monument, White Sands National Monument, and the Historic village of Mesilla. You might also be interested in The Whole Enchilada Festival in downtown Las Cruces in Sept 23-25 where they’ll make the world’s largest enchilada. Yeah. Yum.

OK. Enough enchilada talk, get crackin on the bounty!

Bounty Name : “Arrow Man”
Submitted by: Scavengeroogle Admin
Status : Collected by: Aaron B
Time Elapsed: 5 hours, 4 min
Word Hint : NONE
Continent Hint : South America
Magnification Needed: 16/18

Reward: Las Cruces, New Mexico Visitor’s Guide

Continue reading “Bounty: Arrow Man” …

Found this sort of cool configuration of buildings and swimming pools(?) that sort of look like a honeybee. Or perhaps it’s a paper wasp instead. I’m not sure, the only thing I know for sure is that this is going to be your latest bounty.

This feature requires about 14/18 magnification in order to see it. I’ll give a continent hint again: Asia.

I’ve been a little short of prizes but Judy B came to the rescue the other day with a Scavengeroogle Bounty care package. I should have some more scavenger hunt prizes coming up soon but this will definitely hold me over for awhile.

Judy’s in Indiana, specifically near Notre Dame and has thoughtfully sent over a bunch of geographic prizes from there. Unfortunately, one of the main things I’m sure that you’d all like to talk about is Notre Dame football, Fighting Irish and whatnot… but I actually know zilcho about football, so… er, anyhow. Well, I do know that Notre Dame has a pretty long history, established in 1842 according to the postcard. The first up are going to be a set of nice postcards. Postcard one is of the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore and postcard two is of Notre Dame Stadium.

I know a lot of you are in college (or work at colleges) so you probably can tell me much more interesting things about Notre Dame than I can look up on the web. Thus I’ll refrain from any long winded descriptions. All right, luck and leprechauns be with you, fighting irish and all that…

Bounty Name : “Honey Bee”
Submitted by: Scavengeroogle Admin
Status : Collected by Mike M.
Time Elapsed: 13 hours, 38 min
Word Hint : NONE
Continent Hint : Asia
Magnification Needed: 14/18

Reward: Notre Dame Postcards

Continue reading “Bounty: Honey Bee” …