Treasure Hunting

Lately, I been joining treasure hunt as I find it interesting and challenging. It really test your analyzing and interpreting skills and requires lot of lateral thinking. So far I have already joined 2 treasure hunt and plan to join more. Welcome to Motor Treasure Hunting. Let me do some introduction that will help you get a clearer picture of what’s in store and how to prepare for the hunt.

Most people associate treasure hunting with tales of King Solomon’s Mines, buried pirates’ treasures or even sunken ships. However to a small group of enthusiasts it is a different ball game altogether. It is not the kind of hunt where you engage in cloak and dagger stuff, meeting mysterious seafarers for old treasure maps that lead to buried treasures. Instead it is a more civil kind of hunt, a motoring treasure hunt to be precise, where you compete with others to find “treasures” and answers to questions and hopefully win a prize for all the effort.

This form of motor-sport seems to be gaining popularity and I am sure most of you have come across cars, decked out with competition numbers and advertisement decals, cruising around town usually on Sundays or public holidays and group of people dressed in identical t-shirts, clipboards in hands, wandering around looking high and low for god knows what.

So, if you are prepared to sacrifice your cozy Sunday sleep, waking up as early as 5 or 6am to drive around our congested roads and being tormented by seemingly absurd questions, then you may consider taking part in a motoring treasuring hunt. “How do I take part?” you may ask. Obviously you need a car and then you need to assemble a team.

THE TEAM
The team is usually made up of a minimum of two to a maximum of four persons. A full team of four comprises the Driver, the Navigator and two Crew Members. The driver obviously drives, the navigator has to interpret the “Tulips” and tell the driver when to turn, which fork to take etc and also alert the whole team when there are questions to answer. The two crew members handle the questions and do any necessary reference work. On top of all these the whole team also look out for answers to the questions. For beginners, a full team of four is recommended as treasure hunting is a team effort and as there are so many tasks, more men means less jobs. Four heads are definitely better than two in cracking the puzzles and four pairs of eyes are also better than two in spotting answers.

HUNT PARAPHENALIA
Regular hunters bring along calculators, dictionaries, thesaurus, encyclopaedias and reference books on plants, movies, songs, sports and famous people, places, events etc.

THE HUNT
On the morning of the hunt the cars gather and assemble at the starting point. After a final briefing the cars are flagged off at timed intervals. The “tulips” and questions are handed out at flag-off. The hunters are required to drive along a prescribed route, guided by the “tulips”, and along the way collect the required treasures. To make sure that the cars complete the whole course and not take short cuts questions are asked for which the answers can be found along the route. These are sometimes called Route Check Questions. The whole course has to be completed within a given time and upon reaching the finishing point the treasures and answers are handed in. Points are awarded for the correct treasures collected and for correct answers and the team that tally the highest wins.

THE TULIPS
The “tulips” are actually navigational instructions that shows the route of the hunt. They are so called because some of the symbols used to depict the direction of travel actually look like tulip flowers. “Tulips” give a bird’s eye view of the road, broken up into short measured sections between certain identifiable landmarks like road junctions, cross-roads, roundabouts, flyovers, railway crossings, bridges, schools and other prominent buildings.

THE QUESTIONS
In a Treasure Hunt there are two sets of questions. The first set consists of the Route Questions. The answers to these questions are found along the route.The other set of questions are the Treasure Questions. They are usually in the form of riddles. One has to solve the riddles to know what items (the Treasures) to collect or buy.

ROUTE CHECK QUESTIONS
These questions vary from hunt to hunt. They can be simple and straightforward like asking who lived in a particular house along the route, who is the president of a particular club at a certain kilometre reading or even how many flagpoles a certain hotel has. They can also be tough and tricky, in the forms of riddles, anagrams and even cryptograms. The answers to these questions are usually found on billboards, road-signs, signboards of shops etc. Some of the questions may require general knowledge and familiarity with current events to solve. Others need lots of “lateral thinking”. Below are some examples:

Types of Questions
1. General Knowledge: These are the easiest ones. Famous people, events and places.

2. Anagram clues: Very popular. Easy to set and to solve too. Look out for anagram indicators, any words that convey the meaning of mix or mixture e.g. cocktail, mixed up, dirty, confused, mad, crumpled, deranged etc.
3. Homophones: These are words that sound the same e.g. the once hot “morphin / morphine”. The indicators are ‘sounds like’, ‘I hear’, ‘heard that’.
4. Substitution: Somewhat similar to homophones, but here sometimes whole words are substituted with letters and vice versa e.g. “s” for “ass”, “d” for “donkey”, “o” for “nothing or zero”.
5. Subtraction: Remove certain letters to get answer. Indicators are words like “left”. “went away”.
6. Addition: Reverse of subtraction. Indicators: “went in”, “into”, “needed”, “required” etc.
7. Initials: In this type of questions the answers are derived by taking the first letter of the words in the whole sentence or part of it. Indicators: “heading”, ”originally”, “initially”.

Below are some examples:

Question: BUSINESS THAT BRINGS YOU GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS!
Answer : ELVIS ENTERPRISE
Reason : Business = Enterprise, Elvis starred in Girls! Girls! Girls!

Question: TRADING PLACES WHERE ALL SIDES ARE EQUAL
Answer : MARKET SQUARE
Reason : Trading Places = Market

Question: I HEAR A NUMBER AT THIS PLACE MAKING A FAIR EXCHANGE
Answer : 141 ( Number on wall )
Reason : 141 sounds like ( hear ) one for one

Question: I WILL LEAD THIS COMPANY INTO DEBT
Answer : OU SDN BHD
Reason : Putting “I” in front of ( lead ) OU makes it IOU

Question: HEARD A HARLOT WAS HERE, SO WE WENT AROUND TO SEE HER
Answer : KLINIK HOR
Reason : HOR sounds like whore ( heard ) but needs W and E around it to become W-HOR-E

Question: A CRUMPLED RED LEAF FOR A DRINK
Answer : FEDERAL CAFÉ
Reason : CRUMPLED = anagram pointer ; FEDERAL is anagram of RED LEAF ; CAFE = DRINK

THE TREASURES
The treasures to be collected can be things one can find along the route like flowers, leaves, seeds and bus tickets but more popularly things one may have to buy from shops or supermarkets. These are usually asked in the form of riddles, so one has to first solve the riddles to know what treasures to get. This is the interesting and challenging and sometimes frustrating part of treasure hunting. Try solving the following Treasure.

Questions:

1. It rhymes with snow
In one it’s hiding
Relieves you if you know
Tangy taste for points you bring

2. I originate as a milky liquid
And over time turn solid
When I was discovered, my producer mingled with nature
But in other places she is the object of man’s labour
From my producer, collect a little of me
But in my solid state, and five points are yours trust me

3. I am one of a pair used by one in a team
Without me my colleague feels he’s lost steam
But knowing man and his peculiar ways
I also grow on trees, he says
If you bring me in natural state
Five points are definitely yours, mate

4. When the body temperature gets hot
Substitute the “s” with a half “$”
A relief for your discomfort is revealed
What we require is that which dissolve in water
And effervescence occur as it changes its state of matter
Each “little tab” you bring to the huntmaster
Will ensure a point for you to gather
Bring the right number for the points you are seeking
And keep these “little tab” still with its original packing

5. To some, zones are suggested
When my name is uttered
To others, I open and close when the need arises
And not to get into a jam, be gentle in time of crises
That which the judges require
Is soft and sweet to fulfil their desire

Answers:
1. ENO, lemon flavour ( ENO anagram of ONE )
2. Natural rubber
3. “Drumstick” the edible pod from a type of tree
4. PANADOL, effervescent ( PANAS remove S and add DOL )
5. ZIP candy bar

HAPPY HUNTING !!! Who wanna join me?? Leave a msg...