ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

[hackajar]

Here's a quick list of things you will need to be fully geared up, if compeating. I kinda wish we had something like this three years ago!

1.) Money - we spent ~$500 each year, though some good social engineering could very well fix this
2.) Digital Camera - Judges won't know what you did, without proof!
3.) Video Camera - Sometimes a photo DOESN'T say a thousand words, but motion video does!
4.) Transportation - Sometimes you have to go on recon, we always paid extra to have a car in front of valet for those quick runs
5.) Room at Hotel - Need somewhere to build a 30ft straw or host a geek girl strip off, your best bet is in a local room
6.) Printer - Don't ask me how many points we never got for lack of a stupid printer!
7.) Beer - It's easy to bribe goons and judges with this stuff, if you can find it.
8.) Start Early - Some items and tasks we could only do on Friday, remember things close on Saturday and Sunday, so be wise!
9.) Memorize the phrase "It's for the Scavenger Hunt" - nuff said

I'm sure I'm missing something else in there, please add to my list!

-Vegas 2.0
Defcon 14 Scav Hunt Winners

[KeLviN]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

Here's a quick list of things you will need to be fully geared up, if competing. I kinda wish we had something like this three years ago!

1.) Money - we spent ~$500 each year, though some good social engineering could very well fix this

WTF?! what kind of social engineering costs 500$! hellz no. i think we spent 24$ total for the whole team. and that was for consumables (which we consumed!) And we beat the snot out of you!

2.) Digital Camera - Judges won't know what you did, without proof!

this is usually implied by the list item starting with "a picture of...."

3.) Video Camera - Sometimes a photo DOESN'T say a thousand words, but motion video does!

This is not a "need" item like he says. just a cool toy for recording cool stuff. most recorded things can be done with a judge in attendance or infront of the booth. dont let lack of a video camera prevent you from starting/joining a team.

4.) Transportation - Sometimes you have to go on recon, we always paid extra to have a car in front of valet for those quick runs

must be nice to be made of money and buy your way to victory (once in 5 years of trying....) some items will require you to go off-site. just prioritize your list correctly. while the other teams are off site spending time to get a high point item, you have time to do 5 medium point items.

5.) Room at Hotel - Need somewhere to build a 30ft straw or host a geek girl strip off, your best bet is in a local room

why does this require a room? whats wrong with someone else's room? or a dark corner? or a refridgerator box? all empty space is usable space.

6.) Printer - Don't ask me how many points we never got for lack of a stupid printer!

kinko's 2 blocks over. 10 cents a sheet. not exactly free, but not exactly 500$ either. I've never lost a single point due to lack of printing ability.

7.) Beer - It's easy to bribe goons and judges with this stuff, if you can find it.

If you're hunting right, you'll have time to consume some too!. goons will take your beer, but i think it's a bit of an assumption you're gonna get something useful in return....

8.) Start Early - Some items and tasks we could only do on Friday, remember things close on Saturday and Sunday, so be wise!

is this even advise?

9.) Memorize the phrase "It's for the Scavenger Hunt" - nuff said

why does this help? I always said "it's for starving African paraplegic Christian midgets with cancer", but every one has there own SE style. i think people should find their own verbal groove.

I'm sure I'm missing something else in there, please add to my list!

-Vegas 2.0 Defcon Scav Hunt 14 Winners

Defcon 10,11,12,13 Scav Hunt runners up?

[hackajar]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

Defcon 12, 13 runners up. Never competed before that

Lost to BS Item in 12 (soda tabs, that were brought BEFORE con started, you had enough to beat out everyone with out even doing anything on the list). Though it's still true you had more points then us without it. Certainly a de-motivating situation all the same.

Lost by 200pt in 13, poor management of time.

Due note, this is a list of items to assist, not exactly "must haves".

More Social engineer = Less money spent. That was my intentions with that advice.

Start Early, a good example of what I meant: If your looking to get a pic with the Nevada Cost Guard, do it on Friday or don't do it at all!

At the end of the day, just looking to start a thread that will stir up some more interest in the Hunt this year. Not trying to get into a "who's more efficient then who" flame war.

[KeLviN]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

simmer down. all in fun. just contributing and what-not.

[astcell]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

simmer down. all in fun. just contributing and what-not.

You can always tell who already has a black badge. They're the calm ones. j/k

[hackajar]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

You can always tell who already has a black badge. They're the calm ones. j/k

I got one of those too! I just forgot to switch to decaf

[astcell]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

...I just forgot to switch to decaf

Is that what you tell police officers?

[hackajar]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

Is that what you tell police officers?

For the most part, but the LEO's love me all the same

[KeLviN]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

Seriously though people, If this is your first or second year at Con, do the scavenger hunt.

It will get you around con alot more than if you're trying to figure the place out on your own.

You'll meet people, have fun, get a reputation as "that guy that did that (list item #x) that one time!" and walk away with a whole lot of cool stories.

You can make a team, find a team, or be the team. I've seen 1 person teams operate at competitive levels. hell, stand in front of the booth and demand that someone join your team!

and bring a digital camera. really.

[yamamushi]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

Just throwing in my two cents from the 2nd place team:

Have a team member whose purpose it is, is to do the physical items. like drinking a bottle of champagne, or tattoo remover, or eating a pack of gum, or getting written on, or smoking a cigarette through your nose. Splitting it up between the team will only lead to an incoherent mess.

Also, you will be spending quite a lot of money if you don't know what you're doing. So hackajar was right about the social engineer portion. And if at first you don't succeed, get another team member to ask for you, and then another, and another. I remember it took 4 different tries to finally convince the dart guys from last year to lend us one of their precious darts.

Split the team up into pairs, that way each pair can take out related items.

Be prepared for scav hunt to own your defcon experience, if you end up like us, you wont see any presentations, you'll be spending the entire time hunting for items. Like being up at 5am after a night of drinking, to put together macaroni and cheese pictures of mr. T.

And most of all, have fun!

[HighWiz]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

Seriously though people, If this is your first or second year at Con, do the scavenger hunt.

It will get you around con alot more than if you're trying to figure the place out on your own.

You'll meet people, have fun, get a reputation as "that guy that did that (list item #x) that one time!" and walk away with a whole lot of cool stories.

You can make a team, find a team, or be the team. I've seen 1 person teams operate at competitive levels. hell, stand in front of the booth and demand that someone join your team!

and bring a digital camera. really.

I agree with Kelvin, doing the scavenger hunt is a load of fun, especially if you're willing to go big and go the extra mile. You'll most definitely have a bunch of great stories about things you or your team mates did, from building a snow man in vegas (londo) to put someone in a piece of luggage to making a sculpture of goatse to getting dog piled by 10 people.

And while you can only have 5 people on your team, it's always good to have friends help. Kaddydid and some other made some great contribution to our team the year we won.

And you really do make a lot of friends and meet a lot of people while doing. It does take up a lot of your time, but in the end it's well worth it.

[astcell]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

I hope the scoring software works well. I saw one team upset that some things were never scored that were definitely done.

Maybe the software was written by the same guys who do electronic voting machines?

[HighWiz]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

I hope the scoring software works well. I saw one team upset that some things were never scored that were definitely done.

Maybe the software was written by the same guys who do electronic voting machines?

Someone always complains about contest xyz not being far. Hopefully if it was real they went and talked to the judges about it.

[ck3k]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

I just saw this thread and had to post.

..part of the SE is buying the stuff and then later returning it ;)

I had a great time, however it took quite a bit of work and effort, not to mention the help of many many people.

I have my badge and don't plan on doing it again....yet.

[octalpus]

Re: ScavHunt - Tips and Tricks

As a member of the winning team for a few years, I have to say that the spending money thing is ludicrous. If you're buying your win, you're not really winning. It circumvents the entire spirit of the hunt. I remember one year the team that lost to us tried to buy their win. While we were out getting a lot of little points for getting out around the con and Vegas, they were buying all the things we chose to pass up or otherwise acquired without the involvement of a pocketbook. They even tried to get last minute points with a fat donation to the EFF. While any donation to the EFF is laudable and we certainly appreciate their support, they found out that it's just not the way to go about winning.

We had WAY more fun AND our pockets weren't empty at the end of it. Oh yeah... and we won.