Date #12 - The Quest Eternal

For Date #12 we went ...

on a Scavenger Hunt.

While researching ideas for dates, I came across this Boston.com recommendation of things to do for under $25.  A company called Stray Boots (very cute) has created a unique, fun way to sightsee by turning it into a scavenger hunt called: The Game. It's played entirely via text messaging on your cell phone. They started The Game in New York, and expanded into Vegas and now Boston.

When I clicked onto their website http://www.bostonthegame.com/ I discovered that the first 300 players in Boston would get to participate for FREE. This was a no brainer. When purchasing our free tix (regularly $20 per person), I had to designate the neighborhood to explore: Back Bay or Beacon Hill. When I asked TH if he had a preference, he immediately responded Back Bay. And his reason....less hills, of course. Heaven forbid we have to do anything strenuous on a date!

We had planned to play The Game a few Sundays back, but it was too cold to be outdoors for 2-3 hours (see date #10). The good thing about the tickets for this event is that they are good for up to one year, and you can play on any day, at any time (although many of the stops won't be accessible if you decide to play at odd hours, say on your way home from a pub crawl). And if you're a really slow player, they give you up to seven days to complete the scavenger hunt.

On the Sunday we finally played, it was sunny, in the high fifties, one of those rare glorious spring days in Boston....we only get about a dozen of them in this season that never lasts more than 10 minutes around here. A perfect day for a scavenger hunt.

Of course, no adventure starts without a 'discussion'...and this discussion involved HOW we would get to the starting point at Mass. Ave and Newbury Street. I proposed taking the bus to Copley Square....but TH reminded me just how FAR that would leave us from the starting point. (I checked, they are three-quarters of a mile apart...and that's driving - you can take far more shortcuts when walking.) So TH prevailed in the discussion and we took the car. Because it was a beautiful Sunday, and meters weren't in effect, of course there weren't any open parking spots so we drove around, and around, and around for a good half hour before TH finally found a parking space. And Yes it was right on Newbury Street, but it was over behind Kenmore Square....a quarter mile away. So maybe TH was right. Maybe not. We'll see.

Once we were at the starting point, I activated our account on the cell phone and we received our first instructions that took us around the corner to an ice cream shop on Newbury. We answered the question correctly, but didn't stop to sample the wares.

Next stop was the firehouse on Boylston where we needed to find the year it was built. Of course we asked the first firefighter we encountered, and he confidently told us 1888. When I sent the text, it came back as incorrect. The firefighter insisted he was right, and even handed us his business card with a link to a website. Apparently JM is the firehouse historian. He even took us inside where three of his co-workers were gathered around a TV set and they all confirmed the date was 1888.

When I sent this information back to The Game monitors, I had apparently missed the next clue which sent us over to Berklee...and they recorded that answer as incorrect as well. But just when I started to think that this was a completely pre-recorded game with no actual interaction (we were planning on quitting at that point) the monitor responded and told us to check out the north wall of the firehouse. Lo and behold, just to the left of the front doors where these firefighters log many hours sitting, we found a plaque that sure enough said 1887. Firefighter JM was so stunned he took a picture of it and retreated inside to update the website. LOL....we weren't off to a very good start.

But those were the only two questions we missed. From there we went to a bar on Boylston, over to the Prudential Center where we had to find several clues and then back out again and over to Newbury Street once more. Some of the stops involved taking pictures of team members posing with certain statues, etc...and you had to send them in to earn points. I'm not crazy about providing pictures that this company now owns and can publish wherever they like...so I made them as vague as possible. It helps that I have a crappy cell phone camera and that I was the one taking the photos, so only TH is visible. I doubt these pictures would help anyone pick him out of a police line-up.

From Newbury we traveled down Exeter, to the Commonwealth Mall, down Comm. Ave to Dartmouth and back to Newbury. The last 11 clues were all in Copley Square, which was really a great place to hang out on this gorgeous spring day. Many of the clues were found in the architecture of the buildings we visited. And may I add that we just don't construct buildings the way they used to. These buildings are works of art and built to stand the test of time. A great part of our history.

The best thing about this scavenger hunt was that we learned quite a few things about Boston that we never realized.  We've walked/biked/driven the Commonwealth Mall many times, but never really understood what many of the statues represented. And who knew that the names of the Boston Marathon winners and their race times are engraved on the sidewalk in the square?

I was shocked to learn that Trinity Church actually charges $7 admission just to go in and look around. It was surreal visiting the Old South Church (which was free by the way) where there was someone up in the loft playing some eerie church music on the massive pipe organ that really is a thing of beauty in itself.

Three of the clues to this game we solved very easily. Instead of visiting a specific site to find a clue, players are instructed to ASK A BOSTONIAN. I'm proud to say that we aced those 3 questions.

The very last challenge (there were 31 all together) was to take a picture of your entire team in the reflection of the infamous mirror windows of the Hancock Tower. This tallest skyscraper in Boston was completed the year after we were married and, despite the windows not being structurally sound when it first opened...it's still standing intact - and so are we!

When we sent this picture as the last text...here was the message we received:

Congratulations! You just finished the Copley Square & Back Bay zone! Your score is 330.

Really?? That was it? I'm not sure what I expected, but it seemed pretty anticlimactic after we'd just spent almost three hours exchanging text messages!!  But wait....one more text message did arrive. Had we maybe beat out other teams playing that same day or week? Did we win dinner at Legal's?

No sireee. Indeed not.

Like all good tourist attractions that make sure you exit through their gift shop so they can pluck some more money out of your pockets....this is the final text we received:

To purchase another ticket, visit www.newyorkthegame.com or call 877-787-2929.

So even though we received free tickets, they weren't sent to me in exchange for a blog review. Therefore, here's my unsolicited review that reflects my opinion alone.

First: this is a great date idea. We scavenged for almost three hours, but could have spent much longer had we stopped for ice cream, drinks, or dinner at the food clues, (but we had just enjoyed a wonderful buffet brunch that morning with our Supper Club). Or we could have shopped in the Pru Shoppes or on Newbury. We did hang out a bit at the Hempest where the clerk actually knew that they were a stop on the scavenger hunt and readily provided the clue for us (Grassachusetts). At all of the other places where we mentioned it, however, well let's just say...they were clueless.

Second: This would probably be more fun with more people. But if you are doing this with a bunch of friends...save your money and just have one person buy the ticket. You only use one cell phone (team leader) during the entire game....so how would they know how many are in your group? For all they know you could be a lonely businessman with nothing to do and want to see the city. Okay, I know this is dishonest...but really?? Just remember not to text pictures of your entire group if you only paid for one or two.

Third: and about those pictures..I don't believe they'll deduct points if you don't send them in, as long as you text the clue that's supposed to accompany each picture. And if they do deduct points....who cares? There is no grand prize. For that matter, there is no teeny prize either. Just be wary of sharing your photos.

Fourth: Make it more of a competition. On the website it mentions competing against other teams....but are you supposed to provide your own challengers? You really don't have to work very hard to solve all the clues correctly (assuming you don't ask those firefighters), and making it a timed event would probably take some of the fun out of it. But there should be some incentive to get it right.

Would we do this again? Yes definitely, if it was available in another city we were visiting, or if they were giving away free tickets again! The organizers did select great locations to stop at and they provided fun facts. It's a great way to sightsee and learn about the area.

So the scavenger hunt ended and guess where we were? At Copley Square.

Remember that 'discussion' we had before we left home? About how long a walk it would be from Copley to the starting point? So instead of boarding a bus home right from where we were standing in the square....we now, after already walking for close to 3 hours, had a ONE MILE walk back to the car. (I just hate that I'm always right)!

But did I say, "I told you so?" Nope. Instead I said...."we're stopping at Pinkberry's on the way back." Needless to say, on such a great day, Pinkberry had a line out the door and up the stairs, but it was worth the wait. And there wasn't any guilt attached to those calories after all the walking we'd done. A perfect ending to a perfect date.

And what, you may ask, is the quest eternal? That's the name of the statue in front of the Prudential Center. I worked at the Pru when we were first married, and I used to walk by this adonis every morning. Great way to start the day!

One of the photo ops for the scavenger hunt asked a player to replicate the statue's pose...

so TH did the honors.

It's a remarkable resemblance, don't you agree?

And so the quest continues!

Oops, I almost forgot....one more thing I need to share....

There has been yet another blue velour sighting.....TH donned the blue once again on April 12th.

Do you think he's done yet?!