New Contests - See me with ideas

[russ]

All,

Part of what makes Defcon so incredibly successful is you. I'm posting this announcement looking for serious (or sometimes not so serious) contest ideas for DC15. If you've been tossing around an idea in your head and just want to see if it's feasible, shoot me an email or post in here.

-Russ
russ@defcon.org

[converge]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

I think a russr look-a-like contest is in order. Or maybe a 'goons of defcon' look-a-like. Or maybe just a 'Hug Chris without dying' contest. ...

Hell.. I and others swear I've seen Dataworm in several opposing places at the same time. Spot Teh Clone.

[erehwon]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

Hell.. I and others swear I've seen Dataworm in several opposing places at the same time. Spot Teh Clone.

Chalk up Robert Morris Sr. to that short list, All that time spent at Bell Labs and NSA and I'm sure mastering teleportation was one of those black project achievements...

[russ]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

I really have no clue where to go with this thread now. haha

[TheCotMan]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

I really have no clue where to go with this thread now. haha

^^^^^
I think I spotted a russ look-a-like! What do I win?

Several ideas for contests have been proposed in this section. There has also been discussion in the ToxicBBQ space of contests at the toxic BBQ, like BBQ sauces, food prep, and generic BBQ games (volleyball, frisbee, etc.).

Contests on "hacker crafts" have been proposed too. One of the last suggestions was for people to bring their craft-work to the forum meet for judging. This resurfaced again in the form of a suggested contest in performance art.

After the story behind leeto burrito was explained, there was interest expressed from several people in playing such a game if it was known ahead-of-time to actually be a game/contest.

A marksmanship contest was suggested and evolved into a suggestion for people to use nerf-like weapons in a room of targets as a contest.

[converge]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

I think people are assuming that contests have to be too big of a production and/or out of their grasp to do something cool. In reality, the contest room acts as a pseudo-chill / breakout area in itself.

Want to run a contest? .. fill a glass/candle/costco-cheesepuff jar with a specific number of LEDs and have folks passing through guess how many are in the jar. What do folks win? .. well, it could be an announce that they guessed the correct number of LEDs ... it could be a JAR FULL OF LEDs!!

The goal of contests should be to:
) relate to the scope of Defcon (within restrictions of the hotel and local authorities)
) make people think
) be creative
) be fun

This could be an innovative tic-tac-toe rendition, a live action or cardboard version of Defcon monopoly (pwnopoly? replace money with chars and overflow buffers on machine squares?)... or how about new ways of heating pizza to the correct edible temperature, least sogginess, at the fastest rate of completion? (ala beer cooling contest).

CTF wasn't always the huge production it is. Think of the original Wardriving contest. It was a bunch of dorks driving around with a laptop and antenna!?! Contestant commitment doesn't have to be astronomical. Neither does the contest organization. Think it, fucking do it!


Here's a side thought. Short of tangible prizes? I know there are LAN gamers out there that play at Defcon .. not my personal choice of spending the con, but hey. What if prize for your contest was a 5 minute slot to play on a small closed LAN game? this sounds lame, but wait. What if Russ pulled together a handful of systems, installed Unreal Tournament, and set at least one of those systems to project to the Contest Area big screen for others to enjoy.. ok.. a little better.. but wait! What if Russ also conned DT, Priest, and/or other notable Defcon attendee to sit down at a system-of-honor ... where folks on the other systems had their chance to FRAG DT.

ok.. maybe, maybe not. But let your mind wander for 5 minutes .. just 5 .. maybe 4 minutes. Think of something cool and submit a contest idea to Russ.

== eof for psa

[Thorn]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

Not one I want to run, but how about some sort of "Rube Goldberg" invention contest? Describe the final action that the machine must perform, (e.g. "Throw a cream pie at Chris") and then score on number of steps to complete (more the better), fastest time (offsets _too_ many steps), creative use of beer cans, number of items stolen from the Scavenger Hunt, etc., etc.

[hackajar]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

I was tossing around this idea of a "Hacker Gauntlet" with some of the locals here.

Anyone remember that fat camp movie? Where people had to go though certain booths and get questions correct before going on to the next phase?

imagine this: Several strings are attached to posts with zip pulleys a fixed to strings(think Hooters order taking zip lines) you must "route" a "packet" across pulls in under 3 "hops" and in less then 10 min. (some pulls may have tension stronger, think slower link on Internet).

Thoughts?

[LosT]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

Rube Goldberg - love the idea Thorn-

I just ran a Rube contest at the school-

LosT

[PhreakerD7]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

I haven't been to any cons or anything, so excuse me if I say something already tried.

But I personally think the idea of playing a game with the DefCon goons would be sweet. Play it on a huge screen, hundreds of people watching. Maybe make it to where the first five people to own a certain box get to play live with the DC goons.

I think its a good idea, converge.

[czarina]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

Strip poker?
Rubber Duck Race?
Geek poetry contest?
Paint ball?

[[Syntax]]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

Paintball had crossed my mind, but where? not to mention the TSA.

They released a statement specifically for paintball guns. Paintball guns can be packed as checked luggage, but the co2 canisters must be empty and have the valve removed. (Which voids most warranties and is dangerous since they arent designed to be disassembled by end users)

I read an article a few years ago about someone who was killed by a co2 tank when the valve broke loose from the bottle.

Everyone would have to buy empty tanks at walmart or something, then fill them somewhere. Not overly expensive. But then TSA has been reported as confiscating paintball guns even after they released the statement that they can be packed.

Go figure.

Heres some fields in Vegas.
http://www.pbreview.com/fields/30/

I was just reading that Vegas has a 12,000' indoor paintball area.


Heres the TSA guidelines for paintball gear.
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtrav...rial_1745.shtm

[AlxRogan]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

Everyone would have to buy empty tanks at walmart or something, then fill them somewhere. Not overly expensive.

The ass-tastic websites of those fields didn't have any information about rentals, but I know around here most fields will rent equipment, including tanks. I haven't seen them that will rent nitrogen, but they will almost always rent CO2 tanks, so that might be an option assuming TSA won't confiscate your marker. Just like anything else of significant value that the mouth-breathers have control over, might be worth just shipping it out and back.

[hackajar]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

Why bother scouting a field? Shouldn't we just design one?

[converge]

Re: New Contests - See me with ideas

As frustrating as it could be for some, there is also something to be said about throwing everyone onto a 98 special or whatever the field happens to be renting .. flatten out the equip gap.

This is something that has come up nearly once a year for .. since I can remember. It usually fails due to:

1) TSA
2) Vegas Heat
3) Being Offsite
4) Being a complete offset from typical Defcon debauchery
5) Cost/Chaos ratio
6) Sobriety of players .. or lack of