Amazing Race
The Amazing Race game was run last night by Pablo Wolfus (pulky). He had teams of TopCoder members sprinting around Las Vegas taking pictures and interpreting clues that were sent to them via text message. Each time they finished a clue and took a picture, they were sent a new clue via text message.
Here were the clues they had to figure out:
First SMS they got happened while Julie (my wife) was explaining the rules:
If you were clever, you read the instructions on the flyer. Get out of here! C: before leaving take a picture of the losers who didn’t. R: Treasure Island.
(Nobody left!!! nobody read the rules off hand…)
Three minutes later they got this other SMS:
I hope you are all wearing a TC shirt… you don’t want your pictures to be disqualified… Go back to your rooms to wear one! Hurry up!
First stop: Treasure Island
C: Walking is healthy (only lazy people take the tram). Go to the Siegfried and Roy Statue, take a picture with your head being eaten.
Q: When was the statue built? (Month, year)
A: October, 1993
Second stop: Venetian Hotel
C: Go inside the venetian, find the bridges on the canal. Take a photo of the team from one bridge to another. All members must be on the photo.
Q: Go to the front desk and ask which is the most expensive room you can get at the Venetian? (name and price)
A: The Penthouse Suite, $5000
(All racers got a different price… It seems they have one price for Julie and another one for people wearing TC shirts, being part of the community has its advantages…)
Third stop: McDonalds’s in front of the Mirage
C: use straws and napkins to make some McDonalds art – take a pic, name that piece of art
Q: Who’s the last name of the singer in the frame on top of the cashiers? (second from the left)
A: Dion
(Originally I was going to ask for the employee of the month, but they didn’t have one!)
Fourth stop: Caesars Palace
Q: Which famous comedian has a huge poster on the Caesars Palace hotel facing the strip? (First from the left – you can see it from the strip)
A: Seinfield
C: Choose the funiest member of your team and film him telling a joke. (english), if you tape some stranger laughing you get double points.
Fifth stop: Bellagio (strip in front of the fountains)
C: Every day at midnight the National Anthem is played at the Bellagio. You can either wait to film it (do’h) or you can record yourselves singing your own national anthem. The fountains must be *ON* in the background.
Q: Sometimes you just need to ask the right question. Like Axel Rose in “Sweet Child O’ Mine”.
A: “Where do we go now?”
Sixth stop: Flamingo Hotel
Q: How many Flamingos you can see on top of the Flamingo entrance?
A: 20-25 (some are hidden by the trees)
And back to the Mirage!
Bonus questions:
Q: You get inside a casino that doesn’t have doors or windows or any apparent exit, how do you get out?
A: You get out the same way you got in.
Q: You are at Vegas, you know… In a standard deck of cards which king doesn’t have a moustache?
A: The king of hearts
Q: Welcome to …. las vegas!
A: Fabulous
I talked to a number of members about the contest and they all had a great time. pulky did a great job figuring out all the clues and sending people frantically around.
The first team done
