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Urban Challenge 81

Posted by michael from the this-is-jeopardy dept.
The NYT has a piece about Urban Challenge, a combination scavenger-hunt and Trivial Pursuit played in an urban setting. Looks like fun.
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Urban Challenge More

Urban Challenge

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  • since when did "urban" stop meaning "sprawling suburbs" to meaning "inner city."
  • I'd rather pay cash for that program where you get kidnapped off the street and have to escape (couldn't find a link to it), than wander around a busy city looking for shit and get really kidnapped.

  • The Dallas event was great! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by openbear ( 231388 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:58PM (#7187272)
    I participated in the Dallas UC [urbanchallenge.com] and it was a blast. It really gives you a chance to learn about local history.

  • I've done something like this (Score:3, Funny)

    by StarmanDeluxe ( 648985 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:59PM (#7187277) Homepage Journal
    But, of course, thanks to awesomeness of my calc professor, you had to work massive algebra and calculus problems to find the next checkpoint. And, naturally, it was over not just Los Angeles, but all of LA County. Not a single person in the class (about 90) won.

  • Google Cache (Score:4, Informative)

    by BizidyDizidy ( 689383 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:59PM (#7187281)
    Because registration is a pain, regardless of what people say.

    Read about it here [nytimes.com]

    This looks like a lot of fun, if I was more of a runner.

    • It doesn't require running (although you're not gonna win without running). My wife and I participated in the Austin challeng. We're nowhere near fit and walked pretty much the entire course, and still came in smack in the middle of the standings. We took about 3:15 to finish.

      It was a lot of fun, too.
      • We're nowhere near fit and walked pretty much the entire course, and still came in smack in the middle of the standings.

        You must remember that many /.ers think "too much exercise" means "leaving the basement".

        And "exhausting journey" means "getting beyond WiFi range of my home WLAN".

        And "Strenuous Trek" is a code phrase for what they did when they last played their collection of "Seven of Nine of Borg" videos. (Yeah, they got "assimilated".)
    • "Because registration is a pain, regardless of what people say."

      You registerred to Slashdot and posted this commment. How much harder is NYT registration?

      Honestly guys, ya do it once and then it's done. If you're willing to register to Slashdot, then why's it such a BFD to register with NYT? It's not like NYT stories here are rare.
      • I think once the homeland of department security figure out that the same PC is accessing slashdot (pro Linux==pinko commies) and the NYT(left wing radicals acc to such levelheaded radio personalities such as Michael "not my real name" Savage and Rush "send druggies to Switzerland" Limbaugh, they'll take your PC and ship you to Guantanamo Bay.
      • I can't post to Slashdot without registering. I can get NYTimes articles without registering. Also, NYTimes doesn't seem to care; indeed, they set up a system to facilitate it. It's way easier to click the google cache inevitably posted, and I'm not giving away information for marketing purposes. Since no one had posted it this time, I decided to.
        • "I can't post to Slashdot without registering."

          Yeah you can, you post anonymously.

          "Also, NYTimes doesn't seem to care; indeed, they set up a system to facilitate it."

          Fair point.

          " It's way easier to click the google cache inevitably posted"

          Why? First you have to go into the comments section, then you have to scroll down until you find it. Or, you could register once, get cookied, and never worry about it again.

          " I'm not giving away information for marketing purposes."

          As a general practice, I
          • Well, I'm not whining first of all. I'm providing a service to people who want it (which is obviously not you). You might argue that my comments to the effect of "registration is a hassle" were whining; in some sense they were, but honestly I was trying to preempt the kind of whining that you offer.

            Whenever someone posts one of these, which many people find helpful, people seem to complain about them. You are one of these people. If you don't like them, don't use them. I don't care either way; it's not li

            • "Well, I'm not whining first of all. I'm providing a service to people who want it (which is obviously not you) ... Whenever someone posts one of these, which many people find helpful, people seem to complain about them. "

              You're right. I shouldn't have jumped you about it. I'm sorry.

  • Geocaching! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by c_oflynn ( 649487 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:59PM (#7187282)
    I still think Geocaching [geocaching.com] is more fun.

    Its just you (and maybe some friends), no real pressure. Plus its an actual trek (ranges from in-city, to some caches are ones that need Scuba or moutain gear or whatever).

    And with geocaching you've just got your GPS, a compass, and maybe a topographic map (if you can get one). None of this fancy cell phones with internet to tell you answers stuff ;-)

    -Colin

  • Username / Password for NYTimes (Score:3, Informative)

    by c_oflynn ( 649487 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @09:02PM (#7187297)
    For NYTimes just use:

    username: plasticuser
    password: plastic

    Compliments of plastic.com

  • Suburban Challenge (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 10, 2003 @09:13PM (#7187337)
    Travel to various checkpoints using only your SUV.
  • Check out the DC Hunt, it's a similar scavenger hunt/trivia game/bar crawl.

    No website that I can find, however, as it's organized each year by the team that won the preceding year's hunt.



  • for the cities they are in. Not only that you pay them money for it. I'm not paying 100 bucks for a self guided tour around a city.

    mck

  • Did similar at Java One (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Call Me Black Cloud ( 616282 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @09:43PM (#7187428)
    JavaOne's Urban Adventure [thegogame.com] was similar. Teams were given 2 cell phones and had to run around SF gathering information to answer questions (or if you wanted a break, answer questions about Java). There were also actions to perform to get an answer - my team had to find the right person waiting for a cable car, join hands around that person and sing "You are my sunshine". You received questions based on your location (GPS phone) so you didn't get a question that required your team to travel across the city.

    It was more fun than I probably made it sound. Definitely a highlight of this year's JavaOne (along with Borland's party, where they rented a nightclub, hired a great band, and paid for all the drinks. BYOC (bring your own chick)). Oh yeah, there was something about Java at JavaOne as well...

  • google link (Score:2, Informative)

    by elykyllek ( 543092 )
    google link [nytimes.com]

  • Go Game (Score:4, Interesting)

    by gornar ( 572285 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @09:57PM (#7187470)
    Also good, if you're on the west coast, is the Go Game [thegogame.com]. Same theory, and as a veteran of 3 games, I can attest to the organizer's wit and the game's fun, though technical snafus have been common. They use public games to beta-test ideas, and make most of their money from private functions.

    • Re:Go Game (Score:2, Informative)

      by mac-diddy ( 569281 )
      The Go Game is just one of many different kinds of games out there. Here is an FAQ I wrote up for a game I hosted a while back. It was before the Urban Challenge was out, but it still applies.

      What is a this all about? There are several types of these events: "games", "mini-games", and "road rallies". They are often compared to scavenger hunts and treasure hunts, though they are usually much more complex. The hosts of the event spend months planning the events, preparing and testing clues, and recruiting



    • One caveat about Go Game: Do not under any circumstances give them a valid email address. The purchase email lists from various sources and send tons of spam.
      Of course, if you're one of those people whjo prefer not to do business with spammers, than maybe you'll avoid them altogether.
  • It's a product to "promote bonding" and "team building" for those incapable of bonding or building teams on their own.

    Or, more likely, it will be sold to managers who feel "left out of the team" and thus feel it's the rest of the office's fault, little realizing that the office is a well oiled team who's main business is trying to get work done without managment wasting their time with "team building exercises."

    It looks as equally manufactured, artificial, plastic and fun as all other such bonding/team bu
  • Watch too much HBO and you see Midnight Madness, a movie themed on a similar challenge. Showing here [imdb.com]. Starred Michael J. Fox in his silver screen debut, and was the first Disney movie to ever earn the PG-13 rating.
  • I'm hosting two upcoming games in Michigan, one this fall [umich.edu] and one next spring [umich.edu].

  • Geek Challenge (Score:3, Funny)

    by Nom du Keyboard ( 633989 ) on Saturday October 11, 2003 @12:10AM (#7188047)
    Checkpoint 2^nth-1: Divide the increase in the stock price of SCO by the number of lines of non-GPL'd SCO code in the current Linux kernel.

    If quotient is positive, go to the nearest topless bar.

    If quotient is negative, go to the nearest topless bar.

    If quotient is imaginary, get out of Darl McBride's wet dreams and go to the nearest topless bar.

    On a Divide by Zero exception, pat yourself on the back and go to the nearest topless bar.

    (Programmer's note: while we recognize that the GO TO statement is considered ill-structured and obsolete, we also appreciate that geeks understand legacy code.)

  • Some wearable computing gear, with net access. Search in style.
  • I was one of the folks at a checkpoint for "The Big Onion" this year in NYC. Fun? These poor guys where out mountain biking in "severe thunderstorms", had to make it through the crowds outside Yankee Stadium post Clemens 300th win, were supposed to kyack down to the Statue of Liberty (USCG call that off due to the weather)

    It got UGLY
  • Demeter might be the name of the goddess who was credited with winter, but in Roman mythology, not Greek. Ceres is the proper Greek name, and though Demeter will also yield the proper answer, it's alot simpler to use Ceres. (3+5+18+5+19=50 50/5=10).

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