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Scavenger Hunt Part 1 Rules

At-Home Scavenger Hunt Rules: Part 1 (General)

J. Sachs, 13 Jun 2020

Version 1.01

Overview

Goal: to submit an entry which scores the most points based on a predetermined scoring procedure as outlined in Part 1 and Part 2.

Your entry will consist of a collection of up to 10 items that meet the criteria as outlined in Part 2. Each item has a score from 0 - 100 points, and depends on a base score from 0-10 and a multiplier from 1-10. The maximum total score is 1000.

All entries must be submitted as a series of digital photographs, each containing one of the items, and an identifying token.

The scavenger hunt will occur over a 24-hour period, to be fair to entrants in different time zones or with different schedules. (Spending one hour gathering items should be sufficient to collect a decent entry.)

Details

Scoring

  • Scoring entries
    • Each item has a score from 0 - 100 points
    • The score of the entry is the total score of its items (0 - 1000 points)
  • Scoring items
    • The score of each item is the product of its base score and a multiplier
    • The base score is between 0 and 10 points, and depends on the item meeting a specific criteria or category specified in Part 2.
    • Items that are invalid are 0 points (and it is best not to include them in your entry)
    • Valid items are between 1 and 10 points
    • The multiplier depends on how many different entrants submitted an item from the same category:
      • 1 entrant: 10×
      • 2 entrant: 5×
      • 3 entrant: 3×
      • 4 entrant: 2×
      • 5 or more entrants: 1×
    • At most one item per criteria/category is allowed (for example: if the criteria is "US coins minted in 1983" then a nickel and penny both minted 1983 would be considered from the same category and only one could be submitted.)

Submitting entries

Each entry should contain up to 11 photographs depicting the items in the collection and an identifying token.

Identifying token

The identifying token is a set of either 1, 2, or 3 irregularly-shaped objects of your choice, that must appear in all photographs next to the items in question. Its purpose is to deter cheating, namely searching for pictures of valid items on the Internet.

The token has no relationship to the scoring rules; it's just there as a kind of signature or mark. It should be distinctive and unoffensive.

Photographs

Each item in the entry should be in one photograph, along with the identifying token (if the token is more than one object, then all objects should be included)

The photographs should clearly depict details of the item that would allow an ordinary person to verify that they meet the criteria needed for scoring.

The last photograph should contain the token along with either of the following:

  • one of the participants in the team submitting this entry
  • the front page of a newspaper with the date of the contest (for those of you who are camera-shy)

Photographs should be uploaded to an online photo-sharing service (e.g. imgur, flickr, Google Photos, Facebook, etc.).

Entry submission format

The entry submission should contain:

  • URL link(s) to photographs as described above; this may be one link per photograph, or one link to a collection of photographs
  • The list of items; for each item:
    • a description of the item
    • the category or criteria it belongs to
    • the base score
    • a reference to a photograph of the item, which is either:
      • a URL link to the specific photograph
      • the title of a specific photograph in a collection (example: "Photo 1" or "P1080234" or "Red zebra toy"

Entry deadline

The entry deadline is the end of the 24-hour period: the entry submission must be received before the entry deadline.

Example rules and entry

This section is for sample illustration purposes; see Part 2 for the rules of a specific scavenger hunt.

Example rules / scoring procedure:

All items must be produced from commercial or official sources (in other words, don't draw, print, build, or otherwise create your own item -- it needs to be a manufactured item)

Category Base Score Requirement
1 3 Food packaging showing something edible with a face illustrated on it
2 2 A United States coin minted in the year 1983
3 5 A United States coin minted in the year 1959
4 2 A takeout menu from a restaurant whose name contains the letter K
5 4 A takeout menu from a restaurant whose name contains the letter X
6 3 CompactFlash card, capacity of at least 1GB
7 5 CompactFlash card, capacity of at least 128MB but below 1GB
8 7 CompactFlash card, capacity below 128MB

(etc.)

Sample entry

Category Base Score Description Reference
1 3 Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal box P2270923
2 2 1983 quarter P2270925
4 2 Phuket Thai takeout menu (contains K) P2270924
8 7 CompactFlash card, capacity below 128MB P2270927

Suppose a total of 3 people submitted items in Category 1, 2 people in Category 2, and no one else in Category 4 or 8, then this entry would score:

Category Base Score # people Multiplier Item score
1 3 3 3 9
2 2 2 5 10
4 2 1 10 20
8 7 1 10 70

for a total of 109 points.

P2270923

P2270924

P2270925

P2270927

Revision history

Version Date Description
1.00 12 Jun 2020 Initial release
1.01 13 Jun 2020 Added uniqueness specification

© 2020 Jason M. Sachs

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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