I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock- 5:30 on a Saturday morning wasn't exactly my definition of "sleeping in," but it was well worth it. We were going letterboxing =)
After hearing so many great things about the original Spy vs. Spy event, my dad- X Marks the Spot -thought it'd be a good idea to go to this one and try our luck with some friends. Originally, he intended it to be myself, him, Gallant Rogue, and BullDawg. But, BullDawg got busy and, unfortunately, couldn't make it to the event. So, we decided to let a seeming double agent into the group. It was Yankee Chick, who wrote a request to join the team to Gallant Rogue, interestingly, literally minutes after Casa del Sol had told him to trust no one. We made sure she was legit, of course, and agreed to let her join the group.
So, I checked Facebook, showered, ate cold pizza for breakfast, etc., just in time to wait for Gallant Rogue to pull up. We headed out for our three hour drive and on the way, started chatting about our strategies and plots. Meanwhile, a motorcycle going around 120 raced in between our car and several others' while being chased by multiple police officers around 8:15 in the morning.
He obviously was running from the law (and not just from a speeding ticket), and it turns out he fell off the motorcycle a few miles up the road. He didn't look like he was in too good of shape when we went past, and we made conversation as we wondered how his motorcycle had ended up a good 300 yards past where he landed... It was an interesting and bizarre drive up, but we finally got there.
We were to start at Starbucks. We parked in the Burger King next door's parking lot and had 20 minutes to kill. Yankee Chick pulled up, as X went to get chips for the potluck later from the Farm Fresh across the street. When he came back, we realized we had forgotten to carve a team signature stamp... We pulled together some carving supplies and came up with a design. At first, X used the wrong team name for the design (niiiiiiiice), so we had to come up with something quickly. Rogue had a brilliant idea- our name was "Rogue eXiles" so he recommended we use the design of the Rx, as a pharmacy does. So, the design was drawn up, and within ten minutes, I had carved the stamp (Rogue finished the last corner of the X off), and we were all in matching white patterned headbands. Our team was ready to go.
Everyone but I, who was carving on the hood of Rogue's car, went into the Starbucks and got the first clue from the Special Agent Jason Bourne. It was a toilet paper roll. On it- a notice that we'd need it to for the park that had only Porta-Potties. Rogue had researched all the nearby parks and he immediately knew which one.
There was also one little detail- I was the Mole. Essentially, I held the key to the other teams' victory. The others were to tell someone a key phrase, in hopes that the person they were telling it to was the Mole. If they told the correct individual (me), then they'd get one of the five required mission stamps. The other 4 were boxes in the park that you had to get lucky in locating. There were quite a few scattered in the park, but only 4 of them were ones that would help you win the game.
We decided the best strategy to hide this fact and keep them from bothering me would be for me to play the disgruntled teen. I had one or both of my headphones to my MP3 in, trying to keep a bored look as other teams passed by and asked other members of my team if they were the Mole.
We were told at the gate that we'd need everything we'd received. X slowed us down, as he made small talk with Casa del Sol. Soon, we hurried him along and got into the park. We figured we'd solve the harder cyphers while we were fresh. Yankee Chick, Rogue, and I cracked several of the letter one, while X worked on one he specialized with. Overall, we spent about 20 minutes sitting under a small shelter working on codes.
But, we were in danger of being caught. Another group of Leabhar and Buster Bunny approached us and quickly roped us in offering to take a team picture. They had us. They told us they wanted to make a guess as to what country we were from. (We were assigned a country in the beginning that, if anyone with the two elimination stamps correctly guessed, we were out. If they're wrong, the other team gets to take the death stamp to use.) They quickly came up with a genius lie. They told us they had already taken out two teams with the stamp. Rogue decided to attempt a deal with them- we'd tell them who the Mole was if they intentionally guessed wrong. It was a great deal that we don't regret, even going back and analyzing our game.
The deal was made and the Mole stamp was quickly stamped into their book. It was something that may threaten our game, but if worst came to worst, we had an elimination stamp to try to get them out.
We had to get to some boxes and start getting on with finding the other 4 required stamps. We met Sherlock and Jason (again), and bribed Casa with an opportunity to solve Cryptex!... Bribing was incredibly legal, and strongly recommended, so we definitely knew how to pull it off. We got some other boxes, likely contained in places and with clues that are classified (well, may be used at future events like this, so I won't post any potential spoilers)...
We soon ran into Nancy Drew... But we had a problem: We had found a TON of the boxes and only gotten one of the required stamps other than the Mole stamp we already possessed... The other teams were gaining hugely, we suspected. So, we resulted to meeting with the double agent slicky kitty. We got some crucial information as to which boxes may be important to go for and which ones we probably should probably skip.....
But, there was another problem. We had told a double agent that I was the Mole. This... was a mistake.
We proceeded to go to a box that we believed contained a significant stamp. We got the box (across a bridge). But it was a dud- nothing of significance to winning the game. We were in trouble- being pursued. It was about to be all over.
We started crossing the bridge back to the main portion of the park when we encountered a group of four women. The double agent had given away who the Mole was. The group had four of the required stamps... and I was the last one they needed. But there was no escape. They had us. We reluctantly gave up the Mole stamp...
But wait! There was still hope. We had the elimination stamp. We had a shot!
And, the shot missed. We guessed the wrong country and the four women ran to the finish line... The game was over... And it had been a TOTAL blast =D
I was sad to see the game was over. It was a great time. In the end, we had skipped 6 boxes and half of them were ones we needed to win... We had gotten unlucky, but I truly think we had played a great game strategically.
So, we stuck around for the potluck. Had some fried chicken, jellybeans, and some other really good stuff =) We got some exchanges (although I forgot my signature stamp at home, so I'll be sending out quite a few copies of my signature stamp on Monday). Overall, it was an event of good company and well managed. I'd definitely do it again =)
And, on the way home, I got to sleep for a little while, so I made back some of the lost sleep this morning. But, my family will not see me until later than usual tomorrow morning. I'm sleeping in =)
~BOB~
After hearing so many great things about the original Spy vs. Spy event, my dad- X Marks the Spot -thought it'd be a good idea to go to this one and try our luck with some friends. Originally, he intended it to be myself, him, Gallant Rogue, and BullDawg. But, BullDawg got busy and, unfortunately, couldn't make it to the event. So, we decided to let a seeming double agent into the group. It was Yankee Chick, who wrote a request to join the team to Gallant Rogue, interestingly, literally minutes after Casa del Sol had told him to trust no one. We made sure she was legit, of course, and agreed to let her join the group.
So, I checked Facebook, showered, ate cold pizza for breakfast, etc., just in time to wait for Gallant Rogue to pull up. We headed out for our three hour drive and on the way, started chatting about our strategies and plots. Meanwhile, a motorcycle going around 120 raced in between our car and several others' while being chased by multiple police officers around 8:15 in the morning.
He obviously was running from the law (and not just from a speeding ticket), and it turns out he fell off the motorcycle a few miles up the road. He didn't look like he was in too good of shape when we went past, and we made conversation as we wondered how his motorcycle had ended up a good 300 yards past where he landed... It was an interesting and bizarre drive up, but we finally got there.
We were to start at Starbucks. We parked in the Burger King next door's parking lot and had 20 minutes to kill. Yankee Chick pulled up, as X went to get chips for the potluck later from the Farm Fresh across the street. When he came back, we realized we had forgotten to carve a team signature stamp... We pulled together some carving supplies and came up with a design. At first, X used the wrong team name for the design (niiiiiiiice), so we had to come up with something quickly. Rogue had a brilliant idea- our name was "Rogue eXiles" so he recommended we use the design of the Rx, as a pharmacy does. So, the design was drawn up, and within ten minutes, I had carved the stamp (Rogue finished the last corner of the X off), and we were all in matching white patterned headbands. Our team was ready to go.
Everyone but I, who was carving on the hood of Rogue's car, went into the Starbucks and got the first clue from the Special Agent Jason Bourne. It was a toilet paper roll. On it- a notice that we'd need it to for the park that had only Porta-Potties. Rogue had researched all the nearby parks and he immediately knew which one.
There was also one little detail- I was the Mole. Essentially, I held the key to the other teams' victory. The others were to tell someone a key phrase, in hopes that the person they were telling it to was the Mole. If they told the correct individual (me), then they'd get one of the five required mission stamps. The other 4 were boxes in the park that you had to get lucky in locating. There were quite a few scattered in the park, but only 4 of them were ones that would help you win the game.
We decided the best strategy to hide this fact and keep them from bothering me would be for me to play the disgruntled teen. I had one or both of my headphones to my MP3 in, trying to keep a bored look as other teams passed by and asked other members of my team if they were the Mole.
We were told at the gate that we'd need everything we'd received. X slowed us down, as he made small talk with Casa del Sol. Soon, we hurried him along and got into the park. We figured we'd solve the harder cyphers while we were fresh. Yankee Chick, Rogue, and I cracked several of the letter one, while X worked on one he specialized with. Overall, we spent about 20 minutes sitting under a small shelter working on codes.
But, we were in danger of being caught. Another group of Leabhar and Buster Bunny approached us and quickly roped us in offering to take a team picture. They had us. They told us they wanted to make a guess as to what country we were from. (We were assigned a country in the beginning that, if anyone with the two elimination stamps correctly guessed, we were out. If they're wrong, the other team gets to take the death stamp to use.) They quickly came up with a genius lie. They told us they had already taken out two teams with the stamp. Rogue decided to attempt a deal with them- we'd tell them who the Mole was if they intentionally guessed wrong. It was a great deal that we don't regret, even going back and analyzing our game.
The deal was made and the Mole stamp was quickly stamped into their book. It was something that may threaten our game, but if worst came to worst, we had an elimination stamp to try to get them out.
We had to get to some boxes and start getting on with finding the other 4 required stamps. We met Sherlock and Jason (again), and bribed Casa with an opportunity to solve Cryptex!... Bribing was incredibly legal, and strongly recommended, so we definitely knew how to pull it off. We got some other boxes, likely contained in places and with clues that are classified (well, may be used at future events like this, so I won't post any potential spoilers)...
We soon ran into Nancy Drew... But we had a problem: We had found a TON of the boxes and only gotten one of the required stamps other than the Mole stamp we already possessed... The other teams were gaining hugely, we suspected. So, we resulted to meeting with the double agent slicky kitty. We got some crucial information as to which boxes may be important to go for and which ones we probably should probably skip.....
But, there was another problem. We had told a double agent that I was the Mole. This... was a mistake.
We proceeded to go to a box that we believed contained a significant stamp. We got the box (across a bridge). But it was a dud- nothing of significance to winning the game. We were in trouble- being pursued. It was about to be all over.
We started crossing the bridge back to the main portion of the park when we encountered a group of four women. The double agent had given away who the Mole was. The group had four of the required stamps... and I was the last one they needed. But there was no escape. They had us. We reluctantly gave up the Mole stamp...
But wait! There was still hope. We had the elimination stamp. We had a shot!
And, the shot missed. We guessed the wrong country and the four women ran to the finish line... The game was over... And it had been a TOTAL blast =D
I was sad to see the game was over. It was a great time. In the end, we had skipped 6 boxes and half of them were ones we needed to win... We had gotten unlucky, but I truly think we had played a great game strategically.
So, we stuck around for the potluck. Had some fried chicken, jellybeans, and some other really good stuff =) We got some exchanges (although I forgot my signature stamp at home, so I'll be sending out quite a few copies of my signature stamp on Monday). Overall, it was an event of good company and well managed. I'd definitely do it again =)
And, on the way home, I got to sleep for a little while, so I made back some of the lost sleep this morning. But, my family will not see me until later than usual tomorrow morning. I'm sleeping in =)
~BOB~
1 comment:
It sounds like a fun time! Not just solving puzzles but interacting with others and bluffing-- fun, fun stuff! :)
The Wolf Family
Post a Comment