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The Eggs Files II: Briefing.
Most of the briefing was just atmosphere patter, nothing that wasn't included in the documents I mentioned in the last entry. I did field some questions though to straighten out how things would work.
Something I had neglected to put in the documents was that everyone was on a single team, working together. This was one of the most important changes, I felt, from last year and from other hunts I've seen run like this. One of my goals was to make the hunt more accessible to people who would just be dipping their toes into the water, as it were. I think that a competitive atmosphere hinders that, since dabblers feel they need to get out of the way of the true competitors or get confused about who they are supposed to be helping. Definitely no complaints, and everyone worked well together.
For the first step, everyone was to collect thirty-two eggs hidden in and around my house. They were divided into four colors: red, yellow, blue, and green. Inside each of the eggs was a clue. Taking the eight clues of each color would suggest an object in or around my house that would contain an intercepted communique between the alien invaders. That communique could be solved to lead to a location that was within a five-minute-walking radius of my house.
The first four communiques related to the first four steps of the aliens' plan. Step 1: Gather Information. Step 2: Draw Crop Circles. Step 3: Land Spacecraft. Step 4: Kill All Humans. By foiling each of these steps, the agents learned more about the final step of the plan. Step Five, the Alien Genetiforming Dance, was a complicated process the aliens were using to adapt their DNA so that they could safely live on their conquered planet. If the agents could follow the instructions of the Alien Genetiforming Dance, they could find the birthplace of the aliens (and the berthplace of their ship) and save the earth.
I'm going to tackle each step/puzzle separately, talking about how it was supposed to run, how it did run, how it was designed, problems that arose, and what I learned. But first, I'll talk about the first eggs. They were pretty simple, and they were all found fairly quickly. Last year, I was singularly devious with my egg hiding, but this year I decided to ease up. One reason was that I had used up lots of the good spots last year, and I didn't want it to be a game of Husker Du for the returning players. Also, last year was very egg-finding based. This year, I had more to go on, so I thought that easier eggs would speed things along. I avoided putting eggs in unlikely containers, and instead I opted to place them in locations that were hidden unless you were standing in a particular spot.
Sadly, the egg that I hid the best did not survive. With great care, I had managed to wedge a yellow egg in between the citrus fruits on the tree in my back yard. The colors blended perfectly. But, just as the guests were arriving, I noticed that the cool canyon breeze had interceded, and my favorite egg was now lying exposed on the patio cement. Briefly, I considered tape, but thought better of it. Maybe next year.
Also, two eggs went unfound. They weren't noticed, so much, because not all eight of the clues were necessary for each color. One was in my hot pot (as I discovered when I went to make tea the next morning), the other was on the window sill behind my sink.
The easy eggs, and the accessible first step were a big help too, since even my parents, whom I thought would be hanging back, found it easy to get involved merely by wandering around the premises peeking around corners. Of course, as usual, the star egg sniffers were the youngest players, my cousins Maria and Maggie, who went at things with full force.
When about 80% of the eggs had been found, people began to trickle into my living room to start opening them. Pretty soon, the agents were on their way to finding the puzzling alien messages.
Something I had neglected to put in the documents was that everyone was on a single team, working together. This was one of the most important changes, I felt, from last year and from other hunts I've seen run like this. One of my goals was to make the hunt more accessible to people who would just be dipping their toes into the water, as it were. I think that a competitive atmosphere hinders that, since dabblers feel they need to get out of the way of the true competitors or get confused about who they are supposed to be helping. Definitely no complaints, and everyone worked well together.
For the first step, everyone was to collect thirty-two eggs hidden in and around my house. They were divided into four colors: red, yellow, blue, and green. Inside each of the eggs was a clue. Taking the eight clues of each color would suggest an object in or around my house that would contain an intercepted communique between the alien invaders. That communique could be solved to lead to a location that was within a five-minute-walking radius of my house.
The first four communiques related to the first four steps of the aliens' plan. Step 1: Gather Information. Step 2: Draw Crop Circles. Step 3: Land Spacecraft. Step 4: Kill All Humans. By foiling each of these steps, the agents learned more about the final step of the plan. Step Five, the Alien Genetiforming Dance, was a complicated process the aliens were using to adapt their DNA so that they could safely live on their conquered planet. If the agents could follow the instructions of the Alien Genetiforming Dance, they could find the birthplace of the aliens (and the berthplace of their ship) and save the earth.
I'm going to tackle each step/puzzle separately, talking about how it was supposed to run, how it did run, how it was designed, problems that arose, and what I learned. But first, I'll talk about the first eggs. They were pretty simple, and they were all found fairly quickly. Last year, I was singularly devious with my egg hiding, but this year I decided to ease up. One reason was that I had used up lots of the good spots last year, and I didn't want it to be a game of Husker Du for the returning players. Also, last year was very egg-finding based. This year, I had more to go on, so I thought that easier eggs would speed things along. I avoided putting eggs in unlikely containers, and instead I opted to place them in locations that were hidden unless you were standing in a particular spot.
Sadly, the egg that I hid the best did not survive. With great care, I had managed to wedge a yellow egg in between the citrus fruits on the tree in my back yard. The colors blended perfectly. But, just as the guests were arriving, I noticed that the cool canyon breeze had interceded, and my favorite egg was now lying exposed on the patio cement. Briefly, I considered tape, but thought better of it. Maybe next year.
Also, two eggs went unfound. They weren't noticed, so much, because not all eight of the clues were necessary for each color. One was in my hot pot (as I discovered when I went to make tea the next morning), the other was on the window sill behind my sink.
The easy eggs, and the accessible first step were a big help too, since even my parents, whom I thought would be hanging back, found it easy to get involved merely by wandering around the premises peeking around corners. Of course, as usual, the star egg sniffers were the youngest players, my cousins Maria and Maggie, who went at things with full force.
When about 80% of the eggs had been found, people began to trickle into my living room to start opening them. Pretty soon, the agents were on their way to finding the puzzling alien messages.