Difference between revisions of "Orientation Orienteering"

Revision as of 13:07, 16 May 2011

This hasn't happened yet, but the basic idea is, for Fall 2011 orientation, put a puzzle around campus for freshmen to solve. There would be one starting clue in each of the freshmen dorms, and then other clues scattered about campus. Help plan it this summer!

KGB Participants

We'll need help planning and executing! We haven't worked out all the planning details yet. We need to design some props. Some stuff will need to be checked up on (to make sure clues don't go missing or whatever) during Orientation week.

So far, on the team, we've got...

• eforney
• Bubbles
• tbroman
• tvaughan

Stickers/Recognizable Emblem

We're thinking of using a circular symbol with the words "Chaos Reigns" (a mannerism of Bubbles and eforney which was made popular during Booth) to reassure the freshmen that they are in the right place or direct them in vaguer parts of the orienteering. The emblem sadly cannot be directly related to the KGB (Student Activities frowns on orgs advertising a lot to freshmen; we already break that rule of thumb with Scav Hunt). We're thinking some sort of circular thing with "Chaos Reigns!" (a mannerism used by Bubbles a lot during Booth) printed, inspired by the Discordian Society's "Hail Eris" logo used on these posters.

The emblem will be...

• printed on the poster in 1a
• printed on any tip poster in 1c
• stickers on the stairwell in 1c
• printed on the trifolds in 2
• stickers on the lamp posts and their midpoint in 3
• stickers on the picnic table in 4a
• printed on the ciphers/message in 4a
• stickers on trash cans near the fountain in 4b
• stickers on the bus stop in 5
• printed on the message at the bus stop in 5
• printed on the message at the bus stop in 6
• stickers near the Roselawn sign in 7a
• a giant banner/stickers hanging out in 7a (with 8 at 9?)
• stickers near the Compass in 7b
• stickers leading them past Purnell in 7b
• printed on any message we leave in 8
• printed on the message at the very end

Checking In by E-mail

Participants will receive bits of an e-mail in the first couple of clues

• Orient_________________@gmail.com in 1a
• ______ationOri_________@gmail.com in 2
• ______________enteering@gmail.com in 3

They will be asked to e-mail OrientationOrienteering@gmail.com (or similar) when they've made progress so we can see if people are playing and reassure them that we are real/not rapists. ^^

Helpful Tips

It's important to be nice to freshmen! We're never trolling them during this orienteering (even though that's super fun). Instead, we hope to teach them some cool things about our campus and Pittsburgh.

Like...

• the student ID is a bus pass
  • don't take the 28X unless it's to the airport
  • any other bus from the Morewood stop will go past Pitt along Forbes and then Fifth
  • take a 61* to get from Oakland to the Maggie Mo end of campus
• DinEx is used at Entropy
  • sometimes on charity!
  • sometimes on upperclassmen friends?
• textbooks can be purchased on the cheap by looking on the cmu.misc.market bboard

Route (walked and plotted by Bubbles, Broman, and eforney)

• Clue 1a: freshman dorms
  • a poster in every freshmen dorm
  • will have "Orient_________________@gmail.com"
  • will say something like: ".Ascend .there Go .word thirteenth the note and sentence backwards the Read"
    • Do we want a more direct reference to the Number Garden or are we assuming that they'll associate backwards messages with the Number Garden?
    • Maybe reference a "cardinal garden" or something like that...
  • the backwards sentence refers to the Eddington quote prominently displayed in...

• Clue 1b (1b instead of 2 since we don't leave any notes here): the Number Garden (Kraus Campo)
  • the thirteenth word in the backwards sentence is "Entropy"...

• Club 1c: Entropy
  • maybe leave a poster here reminding freshmen that DinEx is spent here and that extra DinEx (DinExEx) is a good way to donate canned food to charities
  • there will be some stickers on the stairwell nearby, leading them to...

• Clue 2: the UC study area overlooking the pool
  • here there will be little paper trifolds on tables, some sort of mock advertisement for free parking for Playfair
  • trifolds will have "______ationOri_________@gmail.com"
  • something about applying for free parking on the roof of the parking garage near Gesling...

• Clue 3: the roof of East Parking Garage
  • stickers mark two lamp posts (visible above cars)
  • stickers also mark the midpoint of these two lamp posts
  • here we can tape a piece of paper with "______________enteering@gmail.com" and an arrow pointing across Forbes to...

• Clue 4a: the swing/picnic table/pavilion area near Doherty Apartments
  • this is a low-traffic area since no freshmen live in Doherty Apartments
  • we'll probably just have a plain old message taped up "GJ so far. E-mail us so we know how awesome you are! And then head to the Cathedral of Learning. You can use your student ID to take any bus (except the 28X) going toward that really tall phallic building over there. Just get off at Fifth/Atwood (or whatever that is). Don't forget to take the cipher to the fountain!"
  • the cipher is some mechanism using the text on the plaque next to the fountain at Bigelow entrance to the Cathedral
    • Basically, we were going to have a piece of paper with the logo found on the plaque on top and underscores where each letter is on the plaque. Some of these will be red or numbered or something, and you're meant to look at the corresponding letters on the plaque to spell the message
  • we'll also have a folder with sheets with this picture and cipher stuff for them to take to...

• Clue 4b: the Cathedral of Learning's front fountain
  • the cipher uses the text in the plaque to say something like "forbes and schenley dr dino bus stop"
  • that should be enough for them to find...

• Clue 5: the "Forbes/Schenley dino bus stop" near Dippy the Diplodicus
  • There'll be a sign on the bus stop telling them to take a 61anything to Forbes and Margaret Morrison where...

• Clue 6: the Margaret Morrison/Forbes bus stop
  • another taped message greets them, this one slightly more cryptic: "Take a break and smell the Roselawns. The seventh one is the best."
  • from this bus stop you can see the sign saying "Roselawn Apartments" so they'll head to...

• Clue 7a: Roselawn 7
  • since KGB folk live here, they can put KGB stuff in their windows or whatever :)
  • we're thinking of getting a huge sheet/banner with our emblem to hang from the tree outside Roselawn 7
  • some sort of device (haven't decided what yet) tells them to go to the Compass Rose near Resnik Cafe, and follow it whatever direction (North West? as marked by the compass rose, not the real, correct direction) as far as they can

• Clue 7b: The Compass Rose pathway
  • the direction leads along the Corridor, the large sidewalk past Resnik/West Wing/UC/The Cut/Purnell and onto the Pausch bridge to Gates
  • stickers should be put at Purnell implying that they should pass Purnell, not go into Purnell, kind of forming a path

• Clue 8: Gates-Hillman, floor 5 bridge entrance
  • inside they are greeted by another message or something saying something about "winding down" or a "downward spiral" (perhaps a mock stress relief reminder poster?)
  • down the Helix they go to...

• Clue 9: Gates-Hillman, floor 3 bulletin board (near Tazza D'Oro)
  • This is as far as we've planned!
  • Newell Simon to Wean to CFA to...
  • send eforney, aleibowi, and tbroman your ideas
  • or contact us if you just want to participate/playtest

• Clue the last: MM A14 (or whatever room we have next semester)
  • a message: "You've made it, but the prize isn't here yet! Come back to this room on Monday at 4:30. Be sure to mention <some silly phrase for the first member of your party to say when Bubbles asks for something uninteresting about you. Anyone have ideas for this?>"
  • the prize may or may not be FREE SKITTLES FOR EVERYONE (or maybe something else since Skittles aren't kosher and some people are diabetic &c &c eforney cares about that kinda stuff run-on sentence)
  • also comrade points!