The Red Pumpkin Hunt View Comments
Saturday was the Red Pumpkin Hunt, put on by the husband/wife team at Hannah Games. Let me preface this post by saying that I am extremely competitive. Always have been. I almost passed out from heat exhaustion after the Metropolis Race Around the ‘Lou because I ran from downtown to Lafayette square, didn’t eat all day, and barely had any water. (and went for margaritas afterward, but that’s not important)
So Friday night our team of four headed over to Utopia Studios on 39th and Park (right around the corner from us!). There were tons of people there! 134 teams signed up for the red pumpkin hunt, at around 4 people a team, that’s over 500 people! That’s a huge jump from the 35 teams that were at the last Hannah Games event. Since there were so many people, they split us up into two hunts – North and South. We got our South packet of clues and headed downstairs. They also staggered the start so that 134 cars wouldn’t be leaving at once. Unfortunately, we were in the last group to go. That meant we were automatically 6 minutes behind at the start. That was upsetting because we were one of the first 5 teams to register.
With Zack driving we took off to the first location, Grand Reservoir. We used the black light they gave us to find the clue on the statue’s leg. The second clue only said the West side of Tower Grove Park, but because the hint was in Easter eggs, we knew it was probably at the birdwatching area (thanks geocaching!). If you’ve never been to that area of the park, check it out, it’s pretty neat. We went on to the 3rd and 4th clues at St. Marcus Park and Willmore Park. We were on the way to the 5th clue when I realized I had lost the answer sheet! We raced back to Willmore Park and started looking on the ground. It was pitch black and the ground was covered in leaves. I thought our hunt was over. By some miracle, Tammy found it! Game on! We couldn’t make any more mistakes.
Clue #5 was at Forest Park in Kennedy Forest along the boardwalk. By this time our lungs were burning from running in the cold air. The 6th clue was at a castle on Grand between Page and 70. It took us a while to find this one. Finally we saw some cars ad headed straight there. The last clue was back at Utopia Studios.
With all our riddles completed and our answer sheet filled out, we headed to Broadway, North of the Edward Jones Dome. This is what lost the hunt for us. We drove up and down Broadway 3-4 times, for about 20 minutes. We went to Bistro on Broadway, Pure Pleasure, and then finally, I saw the “Biker’s Paradise” sign above Shady Jack’s. DUH! We ran in and found two teams. The South red pumpkin was found about 15 minutes ago, Mark said. BOOOOOOoooooo. Damn it. We stayed at the bar and watched a team from the North hunt find their pumpkin. We came in 4th out of 134 teams, not too bad I guess, but I could have used the $500 (divided by 4).
All in all, it was an awesome scavenger hunt and yet again, Hannah Games did not disappoint. They always run an organized, efficient, and fun event. They were also great at communicating with us before the fight, especially when enough teams registered that they had to run TWO hunts. Definitely check out some of their upcoming events if you want to play an awesome game around the city. Their next one is on December 5th and is a Stocking Stuffer hunt. You can bet we’ll be there.
You can check out all the clues (and answers) on their website.
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