A local group called Triangulator is planning to hold a scavenger hunt here in downtown Raleigh on Saturday, August 23rd. Looks like fun to me! Their announcement is below.
(By way of the Historic Oakwood email list)
Triangulator Part Deux: City of Oaks
People of the Triangle,
Back in May we held our inaugural Triangulator scavenger hunt in Durham. Over thirty people participated in the six hour multi-media, multi-modal (sub)urban (mis)adventure.
In the Bull City we climbed, we rhymed, and we memorialized, discovering coal chutes and hidden swimming pools and secret passageways in the process. We learned about why Durham was the city of medicine long before Duke Hospitals, unearthed the ghosts of the city’s industrial past and experimented with new uses for Fufu flour and Waxy Corn. But most importantly, we were able to see Durham in new ways: finding new intrigue and beauty in the places and people we pass by every day and discovering parts of the city (sometimes right around the corner) that we never knew existed. Check out some of the photos from the event on our interactive map (circa 1923).
Now, its time to unleash this joyous rite of exploration on the state capital! Triangulator will come to Raleigh Saturday, August 23rd from Noon to 6 pm.The scavenger hunt registration will begin at 11am in Halifax Mall (behind the state legislature) with some physical warm-ups and end with food, festivities, and awards at a location to be announced. Just like the game in Durham, there will be subjective and objective questions, written questions and photo questions. But this time we’ll also be throwing in some puzzles and obstacles, including unwitting appearances by some of Raleigh’s favorite sons (and daughters).
Triangulator is very much like and very much unlike other scavenger hunts in that it involves both searches for specific items AND subjective, interpretative explorations. There may or may not be right answers, you may or may not know them and that may or may not be an advantage. Go forth and triangulate!
Schedule
Saturday, August 23rd
- 11am: Congregation. Games and Distribution of Clues at Halifax Mall (map)
- 11:45am -6pm: Scavenger Hunt in Raleigh (official questions will be within two miles of the state Capitol, but you can go anywhere for the subjective questions)
- 6:30pm: Awards, Drinks, Food, and Presentations at a downtown location TBA. It’s BYOB but we’ll have food.
Rules and regulations:
- Each team will require a digital camera (i.e. bring one if you’ve got one).
- Registration is $5 per person (includes dinner)
- Unexpected interpretation of the questions and unpredictable results are encouraged.
- Boundaries: All provided questions will be within 2 miles of the state capitol. Subjective questions can be answered from anywhere within the city limits.
- Winning teams will receive much backslapping and if you’re lucky a found chotchky.
- Teams will be formed on arrival (bring folks to play with or come and join up with others).
Why: Because we are fed by curiosity and delight for everything that is the Triangle (and by extension, our world)
How: You can use any vehicle you like though we are proponents of the world’s most efficient vehicle, the bicycle, and the game is designed with that in mind. However, we are also big fans of the world’s least polluting traveler, the pedestrian, and the game can be managed on foot.
Disclaimer: This is an ongoing process – participate at your own risk! We found with the Durham game that groups did best when they were willing to go places and do things they’ve never done before. Come ready to open yourself up to the possibilities of the city.
To RSVP email: scavenger.hunt@triangulator.org (As part of our pre-registration process, please include your favorite Raleigh event/happening with your RSVP (Triangulator *is* an acceptable option!))
More about Triangulator
With scavenger hunts growing increasingly trendy (and venture capital funds salivating over their profit potential), we should remind you (and ourselves) of why we’re organizing this event.Triangulator is about re-examining our every day spaces: thinking more critically about how we interact with the cities we live in, and becoming more interested in how we affect and are affected by what (and who) is around us. Why does the street stop being cleaned after you cross certain roads, where can you find urban fruit, how is it that neighborhoods right next to each other have different accents? These are all questions Triangulator seeks to better understand.
At the beginning of this year, a group of us got together to start talking about how we could create a forum to exchange local knowledge about the Triangle with interested (and interesting) people. We decided the best way to do it was to get those people together to play a game. Thus, Triangulator was born.
If you’re interested and would like to be more involved you should email us at scavenger.hunt@triangulator.org. We’d love your help as we try to build a community interested in feeding our collective delight in the geography around us.