Our team name was the Flux Capacitors - it's from the Back to the Future movies if you don't have a clue what that is. We had t-shirts made with a picture of a flux capacitor with the words "Go Flux Yourself". In addition to the shirts, we each had on some accessories from different eras from the Back to the Future movies. I was 50s, Evan was from the "future" 2015 and Megan was from the 80s.
The day started off at about 11am at Stoney's Bar and Grill on 11th and Lincoln. This was where we had to check in...then wait for an hour...and then get our first clue of the day. At noon, they unfurled large pieces of paper with the first clue on it:
Here is the order that we solved the clues:
Clue 5: Who shot 'em? Start just outside of Boston, in the town of Brookline, MA. Follow this town's most prominent native to the city of his untimely end. Now, recall the name of a television patriarch from this city to find your checkpoint. You'll find this checkpoint in Uptown between streets with the surnames of the first U.S. President and the first American Idol winner.
>>Ok, so we didn't even search that Boston crap, I just read the title of the clue and thought, J.R. (from Dallas)? Then Megan quickly thought of the bar, J.R's, and sure enough it was between the streets of Washington and Clarkson. And ta da! Here was our first check point:
(Ok so the we meant to go to clue 2 next, but we couldn't find it right away so we went to clue 9 next)
Clue 9: You're so thematic...This California Street Cafe will reveal its name in the circled letters of the following clues:
1. Temperature taker: ----(-)------ >>Ther(m)ometer
2. Dispute that Pluto is this: ----(-)- >>Plan(e)t
3. Introduced the Model T: ---(-)- ---- >>Hen(r)y Ford
4. Name of this clothing company (it showed a logo): >>Qui(c)ksilver
5. Phoenix Suns home court: (-)- --(-)--(-)- ------ >>(U)S Ai(r)wa(y)s Center
The circled numbers spelled: MERCURY. >>Mecury Cafe on California St.
There was a butt-ton of racers out front trying to get a photo, so we took one from the middle of the street:
We finally figured out clue 2, and after some backtracking (about 10-15 minutes worth, ouch) we found it.
Clue 2. Watch out for the hand grenades...This one has 2 parts. Part 1: What recreational game is being described below?
An outdoor game played between two people (or two teams of two people) using four of what a filly might wear for protection and two throwing targets (stakes) set in a sandbox area. The game is played by the players alternating turns tossing the four "protective objects" at stakes in the ground, which are traditionally placed 40 feet apart.
An outdoor game played between two people (or two teams of two people) using four of what a filly might wear for protection and two throwing targets (stakes) set in a sandbox area. The game is played by the players alternating turns tossing the four "protective objects" at stakes in the ground, which are traditionally placed 40 feet apart.
Part 2: When you figure it out, head to a lounge located within 1/4 mile of Lawson Park where you need to go inside and look for the Odell Staff and play a game of chance.
>>Ok, so while we knew pretty quickly that the game was horseshoes, we didn't know the lounge they were describing. Also, Lawson Park is a really dinky park and really shouldn't have been used as an identifier in my opinion. And that 1/4 mile distance was questionable. Finally, we did a search on "horseshoe lounge" and found the right place. The game of chance was Yahtzee. You had 5 chances to throw a yahtzee or a full house to get 5 minutes deducted from your score. Well, we sucked and didn't get either. So we just took our picture and off we went.
Purple Mountains: Take 1 photo of three people wearing Rockies caps. CAPS ONLY! People in photo cannot be participating in CitySolve.
OR
Majesty: Take photo(s) of 2 different items with Will and Kate.
>>So as we were headed to another clue, I saw a picture on a newspaper dispenser (is that what they are called?) with an ad for Rockies on it. I re-read the clue and no where in it does it say that the people have to be REAL people. So we all scrunched in and here is what we got:
Clue 3: Watch your mouth! This one has 2 parts. Part 1: This four letter word isn't a swear word at all, but rather a place that Bono and Sinead O'Connor might go to grab a pint and talk about The Emerald Isle. Part 2: Once there you must find the Yelp Staff who will instruct you on what to do next. You'll find it within 3 blocks of Coors Field.
>>Megan almost immediately knew this one was Fado's right by Coors Field. When we got there, there was a clue having to do with something about finding a county in Ireland that share's it's name with something you put on a hamburger. I didn't even finish reading the clue before Evan and Megan ran inside. Megan went straight for the Ireland map on the wall in the bar and found a county called "Mayo" that was the answer. Personally, I'm not a weirdo (like my sister in law, Amy) who puts mayo on cheeseburgers, but whatever. :)
Clue 1: Take that Will Shortz...Solve the 7 clues below to find the checkpoint in LoDo. Hint: One of the clues is not part of the check point. Hint: Tow of the clues must be combined to form one word.
(So this was actually a crossword puzzle, that I won't draw out, but below are the clues)
-Conjunction used to connect words and phrases >> AND
-If a pinball player moves the cabinet too violently this happens >> TILT
-Where the Nuggets and Avalanche play >> PEPSI CENTER (this was the first hint, not part of the check point)
-A restaurant or other commercial establishment serving food >> EATERY
-Any short pleated skirt worn by men in the Scottish Highlands >> KILT
-Short for public house >> PUB
-First name of the actor who played the character "Al Bundy" >> ED
>>With the words "TILT" and "KILT" Megan immediately thought of the place on 16th st. called the Tilted Kilt. Here, we had to take a picture with a Denver Fireman. Yes, please!
After the Tilted Kilt, we took the 16th street shuttle all the way down to Civic Center Park to complete the checkpoints on the other side of town.
Clue 4: Anyone know of a good doula? From the synopsis below, figure out the hit movie which was released on Jesus's birthday in 2007:
A tale told over four seasons about a 16 year old high school junior in Minnesota who discovers she's pregnant after on event in a chair with her best friend. She finds one in the PennySaver personals, contacts them, tells her dad and step-mother, and carries on with school. The chosen parents, upscale yuppies meet the pregnant teen, sign papers and year unfolds.
You'll find this salon on East 8th Ave.
>>I've seen this movie a bunch of times and knew from the first few words it was Juno. Juno Salon on 8th ave was pretty easy to find.
Part 1: The inaugural season of the rockies - the distance in feet from home plate to second base (rounding first base) + Jason Giambi's Rockies jersey number (divided by) the number associated in baseball with the SS position + number of days in a leap year = ???
Part 2: When you find the checkpoint go inside to find the iX MiXer staff for your next challenge.
>>Ok, this one kinda slowed us down, it was a lot to look up. I almost called my brother, who is a Rockies freak, because I knew he would know some of these things off the top of his head. Luckily, after some google searching we solved the equation: 1993 - 180 + 23 (divided by) 6 + 366 = 672
Located at 672 Logan Street is the restaurant, Govn'rs (sp?) Park. Here, we had to play that game where you try to bounce quarters into a shot glass for time off your final score. Again, we sucked and got none. But we did get a free sample of some weird beverage.
Clue 6: Mural, mural on the wall...find this awesome art piece between 9th and 7th avenues and the famed street in NYC that runs through Times Square and a street that shares the same name as a US President who fought in the Civil War. (they showed us a picture of the mural in question)
>>The NYC street was Broadway and the US President was Lincoln. So we went to the right area and kinda just followed some folks to find this mural on the side of Le Central.
Clue 10: We skipped! I still don't know how to get the right answer on this one, but turns out it was Wahoo's Fish Tacos. Meh, whatever...
Ok, at this point we were done and joyfully headed towards the finish line. It's important to note that by now, my legs and feet were so sore I wanted to cut them off. I was tired and hot and so ready to be done. Evan's poor feet had blisters, but Megan was still spry as ever. Pft. It was VERY tiring running/walking all around Denver! But it was a TON of fun and I really liked solving the clues and getting to see parts of Denver that were new to me. I would definitely do it again next year...assuming I do some physical conditioning before hand. And here is how we did...
Out of 310 (!!) teams, we placed.....57th!! With a time of 2 hours and 23 minutes! We didn't qualify for the national race in Vegas (only the top 25 teams did), but I think that's pretty damn good! Especially because it was our first time and we certainly didn't run that much. The first place team had a time of 53 minutes! Now, they could have gotten some bonus questions (There were 2 bonues - like find 3 people wearing tiaras, someone with a bucket of kentucky fried chicken and some other weird stuff that would give you time off your score, we didn't get any) and they could have gotten the challenges that we did not to reduce their time, but my gosh, they must have been running the entire time. Anyway, all in all it was a blast and look for the Flux Capacitors to dominate next year!
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