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

This is actually an old Mike Z. clue from a ways back in early May. Interestingly, this is NOT the clue that he sent in but is very close to it. (Mike, sorry that means ya can’t solve this one!) It resembles a wineglass being tipped over with the contents spilling out. Hm… do you say “spilt wine” or “spilled wine” or are both OK? Whatever…

You can see it at 14/18 and the word clues for this one will be “Minus Our Minotaur”. Hm… ponder that for a bit.

Of course you are interested in your reward, right? Up for grabs is a cool National Park Service map that I got when I visited the Devil’s Postpile near Mammoth Lakes, California. I think it is actually downloadable on their site, but this is the real printed one I got from there.

I used to be a regular in the High Sierras, going there every single year. Sometimes twice in a year. What for? Why, mostly fishing and camping and hiking. Luckily, my parents were the type of people to spring for a motorhome as opposed to a luxury sedan… It surely saves on lodging when going up there. I don’t do much skiing, but I’ve also been to Mammoth for that. The more popular areas of Mammoth are hell of crowded at times though. I think certain areas are like Yosemite where you need to be bussed in if you don’t get there before a certain time of the day.

I’ve been to the Devil’s Postpile several times… very cool hexagonal rock lava structures. You should visit if you get the chance.

Bounty Name : “Spilt Wine”
Submitted by: Mike Z.
Status : Collected by Chris Re.
Time Elapsed: 10 minutes
Word Clue : “Minus Our Minotaur”
Magnification Needed: 14/18

Reward: Devil’s Postpile Park Map

Continue reading “Bounty: Spilt Wine” …

I couldn’t decide whether this looked like a pencil stub or whether it looked like a rocketship. In the end, I decided it looked more like a pencil stub but that “Rocket Ship” just sounded plain better as a name for a Scavengeroogle Bounty!

The ship can be seen from fairly far out at 14/18, though I’d say 15/18 to be safe. The word clue for this bounty is going to be: “He had a stroke when he was 24″. I think this will probably be tougher than the earlier clue. Watch your herrings… note that anything goes with bounties. I’ll definitely start to make them harder should people solve them too quickly!

Like I said, I am still experimenting with difficulty. I would, however, like for the average Bounty to last at least 2-3 days. The whole point of them after all is to give everyone something to chew on for a bit, and give me a bit ‘o breathin room to come up with clues! I hope to build up a surplus of 2-3 open bounties. This weekend I’ll try put in a few extra hours to find some. Also, I may be using some of your old clues that you sent in that were too difficult as Bounties!

The prize for this bounty is a Colorado / Wyoming AAA map circa 2002. I know, I know… these things are basically free. Well, actually you DO have to be a member to get them and there IS a price on it of $3.50… I have good memories of planning trips on AAA maps though, they are kinda cool in that respect. You can destroy one by writing on it and not worry about it at all.

But anyhow, this kind of brings me to an idea that I’m going to write more about in another post. Judy B, winner of the very first Scavenger Bounty, suggested that we have geographical “prize” donations. I think this would be very cool. It would be optional of course. If you have some inexpensive old maps, postcards, souvenirs, anything basically that you think someone else might find interesting, I’d ask that you send it in so that it could be used as a Bounty Prize… Like I said, I’ll write more about that soon, but just letting you know as a heads up. What do you think?

Ok, I’ll be quiet now while you try to find that rocket ship… good luck!

Bounty Name : “Rocket Ship”
Submitted by: Scavengeroogle Admin
Status : Collected by Chris R.
Time Elapsed: 7 hours, 5 minutes
Word Clue : “He had a stroke when he was 24″
Magnification Needed: 15/18

Reward: 2002 Colorado / Wyoming AAA map

Continue reading “Bounty: Rocket Ship” …

I woke up this morning and fired up trusty FireFox as normal. Google is my home page and I always enjoy it when they change out the graphic to fit with the holiday or other special day. This being July 20, the anniversary of the first manned Moon Landing in 1969, they changed the graphic to a moon themed one.

But not only that… usually when you click the graphic you get related Google results. This time you get Google Moon, an addition of NASA Moon imagery to Google Maps. A very cool thing… it looks like the Google staff themselves are having fun with google mashups.

I am not sure if they will keep this up forever or what (a lot of their experimental subdomains have a habit of disappearing after awhile, although many people will attempt to mirror them). Anyhow, there are only 8 notches on the zoom sliding scale, but that’s enough to play around with looking for aliens on the moon. If you find any habitations, I want half credit for it for Scavengeroogle, haha.

Actually, my favorite thing is what you get if you zoom in to 8/8. Instead of the usual “Sorry we don’t have satellite imagery at this magnification”, you get what is pictured at left. =) It’s nice to see the Google Engineers have a sense of humor. Also, the humor continues if you read their “Google Moon Help”, especially the section on the development of their lunar hosting research center… haha. I think I will apply for this…

Hi, and hi again to you ‘roogles! Come here for your roogle fix, have ye? Well, I aims to please…

I got this clue in from Robert E. (no, not Robert E. Lee of civil fame) and it is a fun and quite cute picture of a tortoise’s head peeking out of its shell. It sort of looks like it has been painted in brush strokes (I believe the black is rivers actually) I particularly like how the tortoise seems to be smiling slightly. Happy turtles!

Mr. Tortoise is visible from about 14/18. I have been in a puzzle-y mood so the word clues that Robert gave were right up my alley. Actually, I decided to modify them in the usual herringwise way. So, this MAY be a little tougher. Famous last words before hordes of correct solutions descend…

“Mass pomp And over circumstance”

Hm.. looking at it now, I may have mangled them a bit. Herringahoy. Well, if you’re having problems, don’t fret; help may be arriving soon in the form of a region drop.

[Edit: 2:45 pm PDT - Sorry I was out for awhile b4 coming home to quite a few solutions… this seems to be very doable without a region so far. Also, not as many herrings as I thought, cool! See you later on tonight…]

Clue Name : “Tortoise Head”
Submitted by: Robert E.
Status : Solved (24)
Duration: Tuesday 7/19/05

Solved By: Markus B, Katie N, Mike Be, Judy B, Scott G, Peter R, David H, Mark L, Theresa S, Jon K, Ryan F, Don R, Mike B, Jen M, Chris L, Jake M, Shawn R, Adam M, Aaron F, Steve C, Phil M, Justin, Phil D, Tim J

Word Clues : “Mass pomp And over circumstance”
Magnification Needed: 14/18

SOLUTION TO “Tortoise Head”

The other day when I was trying to come up with our first Scavengeroogle Bounty (collected by Judy B from Indiana, by the way), I noticed that there seemed to be an addition of a dynamic distance scale at the bottom of Google Maps. Now, I wasn’t sure if this was new because those ravenous Google Engineers tend to release new features left and right. But as usual the roogler Trecherus was on the ball and also noted this feature as new. So I decided to post about it.

I don’t believe this will have too much effect on the game, but it is a rather cool addition and one that I thought they would have added long ago. Thoughtfully, the map has both metric (kilometers and meters) and the U.S. stone age units (miles and feet). I would like to “convert” myself to metric but it’s just so difficult growing up with inches and feet. You can imagine how slow I drove when i was on vacation a few years ago in Canada where its km/hr. I just kept thinking I was going 150 miles an hour… LOL.

The most interesting part of the new distance scale is that it is DYNAMIC based on where you are in the current Google Map. That is, it updates automatically even while you are dragging the map around.

I found that quite interesting because you might think first that it should only change when zooming, not scrolling. However, Trecherus noted that perhaps it changes in order to account for the inherent differences from this 2-D map depiction versus true distance on a 3-D globe map. This does seem to match up, because the dynamic nature of the map is most notable when you are zoomed farther out. When you’re close in, the 3-D vs. 2-D differences are not on a scale that is as noticeable.

I think it’s great that Google makes changes to their maps as they go. It almost feels like one continuous beta test..

P.S. I chose this particular screengrab, because I was looking around and saw what seems to be a brushfire?? I dunno, some of the area around here (I-40) seems to be red or orange rock/soil, so maybe it’s not… sure looks like it though.

All right folks. Here is our first attempt at a Bounty! If you haven’t already done so, please read the post that explains what a Scavengeroogle Bounty is since they are a bit different than our normal clues.

I found this little feature that reminded me of an antique key while just surfing around Google Maps. I think this is a good starting one because it is very well defined and quite visible. You can see the key from about 14/18. Word clue for this bounty: “144 Seq”

The prize for this particular bounty is a 1999 copy of the Sonoma Valley Visitors Guide. I have another one of these so I decided to make this the first prize. It is from 1999 because that’s when my wife and I went on our honeymoon. We took a trip up through San Francisco and then through the wine country, staying in Sonoma for a little bit. The wine country was really nice… although at the time they were already starting to charge for wine tasting at many vineyards which I think is pretty sad.

Although the price on it says $5, I believe you can actually get this free buy requesting it through one of the Sonoma city visitor guide sites. Although, you won’t be able to find this “out of print” 1999 version though, hehe!

Like I said, this first one is an experiment… I am hoping that the bounty is not collected for at least a few days. In particular, I know clues have to be more difficult, but I am not sure how diffciult…

[Edit: I can’t believe how fast Judy solved this one… according to her it only took 1/2 an hour (though she did mention she had to use a dictionary of abbreviations to get “Seq”)! I’m going to have to investigate how to make the clues more difficult. I wonder if not putting any word clues might be too hard?]

Bounty Name : “Antique Key”
Submitted by: Scavengeroogle Admin
Status : Collected by Judy B.
Time Elapsed: 16 hrs, 7 minutes
Word Clue : “144 Seq”
Magnification Needed: 13/18

Reward: 1999 Sonoma Valley Visitor Guide

Continue reading “Bounty: Antique Key” …

I’d like to talk about a new feature here at Scavengeroogle. For quite awhile now we have been mulling various ideas on expanding clues beyond the “one day, one clue”. Although there was a lot of interest from you regarding a week long, full on Scavenger type hunt (and this may still happen), I was interested in coming up with an idea that didn’t take up so much time. In general, I wanted to have MORE clues going on at once, but wanted to be able to let them remain essentially on auto-pilot, unlike the current clues where I pretty much moderate them all day.

So I would like to introduce the concept of Scavengeroogle Bounties. I had this idea very early on but just didn’t implement it. What are Bounties?

These are basically clues that are (hopefully) more difficult than our ordinary clues with a time frame extending forever UNTIL THEY ARE SOLVED. A Bounty remains “Open” until it is found by one of you ‘rooglers, at which time it becomes closed. Please use the Solve A Clue form to submit a bounty solution.

You may be wondering why they are called “Scavengeroogle Bounties” instead of “Extra-Hard Clues”. Well, a bounty entails some sort of reward doesn’t it? So yes, there will be rewards for the first person to capture a bounty.

I thought a long time about what kind of rewards to give out. ‘Rooglers who have been here awhile probably know already that my financial situation is not exactly stellar. So it needed to be something that I already had and didn’t have to buy. Thus, although rewards will be different for every bounty, they will most likely be some sort of geographical-related prize, including but not limited to old maps, various postcards, travel brochures. The “prize” will be shown along with the bounty, so you can see what you can win. Please note that obviously if I use a submission of yours for a bounty, you are not eligible to win the prize!

I like the idea of geographic prizes because it sort of ties in with the nature of the game. I know that a lot of these things can be had for “free” and don’t have much monetary value, but as y’know with gifts it’s always the thought that counts… Also, since I’ll have to “snailmail” you the prize, I’ll need you to divulge your address. Of course, you can always opt to pass on the prize even if you solve the bounty.

Scavengeroogle Bounties will appear both as “posts” and will also appear in the right hand column. Like I said, they are ONGOING until found. However, like normal clues I will start to drop hints if they are not found in a set time (perhaps a few weeks?)

Please note, the first couple are going to be experiments because I haven’t yet gauged how hard one should be. I would like it if most bounties could remain for at least a week, but knowing how ravenous some of you are for clues that may not happen. In any case, this will inject more clues into the game without the need for me to continually moderate them.

Ok, I will put the first bounty up very soon… good luck!

Hi folks, here’s your clue today. First a note: I will most likely be out nearly all day and night, so I won’t get to update anything after I leave, sometime in the morning. So play nice…

Here is another backlogged clue from ‘roogler Mike M., a cool depiction of what looks almost like a ninja star. When I was a kid, we’d go to the swap meet and invariably there’d be a couple people selling stuff like that along with nunchucks and butterfly knives. Would you believe that they actually let us BUY them without parental consent? This was in the 70s though. Looking back on it, that’s pretty strange that an 8 year old kid was able to buy that stuff. The items weren’t that sharp, but still…

Anyhow, I’m going to give you Mike M.’s word clue that I modified a bit. The star is visible from about 14/18 or so. Also, I am not 100% certain this clue has not been discussed on other Google sites. So if you don’t want to spoil the fun, don’t look right away. Like I said I am not sure about it. Here you go:

“When in Rome, do as the Standing Stone People do”

Since I won’t be able to update nearly all day, I hope this won’t be too hard. I must say right off the back to watch out for a multitude of herrings flopping around… I have noted at least 2 direct herrings.

[Edit: 9:22 am PDT - Wow, I see a lot of new faces in the solutions coming in… cool! If you’re just surfing in and new to the game, remember I post everyone’s name at the END of the day’s game. Also, make sure to use the “solve a clue” form instead of leaving a comment - I won’t post your comment if it contains the solution! Ok, since we seem to be doing OK, I will leave it as is for now: I might check in earlier than I thought, maybe 5pm PDT or so…]

Clue Name : “Ninja Star”
Submitted by: Mike M.
Status : Solved (20)
Duration: Thursday 7/14/05

Solved By: Jim H, Hoblaa, Markus B, John N, Ken S, Mike B, Aaron F, Max P, The Beamer, Judy B, David H, Jonas M, Erica, TCS, Phil M, Mark L, Landis, Katie N, Nick A, Peter R

Word Clues : “When in Rome, do as the Standing Stone People do”
Magnification Needed: 14/18

SOLUTION TO “Ninja Star”

If you need further proof of how great a magazine WIRED is here you go. I was notified by ‘roogler Trecherus that he actually spotted Scavengeroogle featured in the print version of the July 05 issue of Wired Magazine! This is awesome stuff and it really made my day. Actually it really made my week as it has been slightly cruddy so far. (Sorry about the lack of a clue today, I will try get one up soon!)

I used to subscribe to Wired long ago, but I haven’t gotten the print version of the magazine for quite awhile. Primarily because I just visit the Wired Site for latest news. On that note, I know that the magazine and online version overlap in some respects but I don’t think this article is online. I haven’t searched but I assume that I would have noticed incoming traffic from Wired if we had appeared online.

[Edit: 7/20/05 - Oops, I spoke to soon. We are surely linked from the actual site in the Spawn Of Google Maps article online at Wired.com. Yay!]

The feature is on page 30 of the latest issue and is entitled “Spawn of Google Maps” by Matthew Yeomans. He talks about 5 different ways that people are using Google Maps.

We are featured in the number 2 slot of the “5 Spins on Searchable Terrain”! As you can see in the picture, they included both a picture and a little blurb paragraph about what the site does. For the picture, they actually chose to show a clue called Bones Brigade from back in early May. They also mentioned the Question Mark pier and the bell carved into farmland. From this, I gather that the article was written in early May sometime since they don’t talk about any of the more recent clues.

This is super nice that they would feature us in their article. Along with Scavengeroogle, there is the familiar “googleglobetrotting” site, as well as a LiveJournal Area 51 site, a loggin industry destruction related site, and a digital scrapbook a la Flickr. I didn’t have time to scan in all the other blurbs at high res.

So, anyhow I wanted to say thanks again for coming to visit the site once in awhile. As I said before, I am pretty amazed at the fact that people came to visit the site in the first place. Originally, it was just a project for fun that I thought would last for a couple clues or so. I guess I should get on the ball and create some more clues now!

In any case, hooray for us! Well, I was hoping they would have had some screenshots of one of the clue summary boxes so that it’d show some of your names and make you a bit famous. Hehe. Anyhow, thanks again and thanks for sending in all those clues lately…