KK Challenge 3

Quite an amazing hunt—an unofficial hunt which attracted 20 teams. Oh I have a lot to tell! But first, here are the results:

(1) Alvin Wong, Bernard Liew, Christine Netto, Audrey Chin (89/100)

(2) Robyn Mahoney, Benjamin Liew, Charlene Liew, Daniel Liew (76/100)

(3) Johan Amilin, Siti Nurhanaa, Siti Nur Liyana, Johari Jan (73/100)

(4) Francis Omamalin, Eileen Yeoh, Lee Tze Jim, Moina Liew (73/100) — lost on treasure total

(5) CK Tan, CL Teo, Leslie Yew, Frederick Samson (72/100)

(6) Benedick Bisoni, Oliver Bryan, Mizal Khan, Max Bisoni (71/100)

(7) Anny Chin, David Wong, Gan Po Tiau, Molina Gan (68/100)

The format of the hunt was like this: 35 route questions @ 2 points; 5 challenge questions @ 2 points; 4 treasures @ 5 points. Maximum score of 100 points. In addition, I've also thrown in 3 tie-breaker questions which carried no points, but to be adopted as the first tie breaker in the event of tie scores amongst teams. All to be accomplished within 5 hours plus 30 minutes penalty time.

For the first time in the KK Challenge series, I've included a challenge. Hunters were required to name 5 cartoon characters, i.e. Mulan, Jasmine, Fiona, Melody and Belle. These are from 5 famous animation movies. I didn't think it was a very tough challenge, rather it was something to break the monotonous format of a pure hunt. Having said that, however, many teams fell for my trick anyway; they couldn't tell the difference between Ariel and Melody. So remember, folks, Ariel has red hair, whereas Melody, black!

As always, I've designed the hunt having considered the psychological aspect from the hunters' point of view. I set relatively "easy" questions up to Q16 or so. And then suddenly the following 5 questions or so were tough—I mean really tough! Well, at least tough for the Sabahan hunters. It was interesting to observe how the hunters reacted to the sudden change in the pace of the hunt. In the end most of the teams bottle-necked at Lintas Square, which was also the Challenge Station. As I had expected, most teams were unable to resist the temptation to linger on for too long—far too long—in their attempt to solve the clues within that sector. And of course eventually most of them got into time trouble and had to rush through the remaining questions of the hunt, which were equally tricky.

In spite of spending well over 90 minutes in Lintas Square, most teams failed miserably in answering the questions there. What's even more painful was the fact that because they were rushing through the remaining questions, they were unable to solve some easier clues due to insufficient time. These are not new hunters we are talking about here, mind! They are seasoned hunters and have been in the business for many years. This reminds me of what grandmaster Vincent Woo commented in the RR Blog some time ago: We just never learn!

Having said that, however, I must point out that the champions did not fall into my time trap. I envy them for their discipline in forcing themselves to make a move when it's time to do so. I must interview them one of these days to discuss about their amazing discipline!

And now some of those interesting questions and analysis:

TB1) Fifty fifty.

ATB1) CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

This was the first tie-breaker question located in Lintas Square. It's the notorious Double Jeopardy. The centre of the word EXCELLENCE are the 2 letters, "LL", which are the Roman numerals for "Fifty fifty". Only the winning team solved this question.

Q18) The old fashioned and good business.

A18) YEE LOK BILLIARD SALOON

THE written in the old fashioned way is YE; and GOOD is ELOK in Malay. A moderately tricky question in my opinion. However, surprisingly no team managed to crack this clue! Now I know it looks very, very solvable from the comforts of your home. But trust me, folks, when you are out there under the hot sun, with precious time ticking away, it is not that easy.

Q20) A pride of our city?

A20) LIONS CLUB OF K.K. HOST

A well answered question, but I was amused that some strong hunters missed this. It is easy to forget that "A pride" can also refer to a group of lions.

TB3) Tempat pertama seperti dicantumkan.

ATB3) TIBARAT SDN BHD

pertama is an initial indicator. Therefore, Tempat pertama refers to "T" at the beginning of the word "Tempat". seperti is ibarat, a word that is rarely used in daily conversations. It is more commonly used in classical Malay and poems etc. The word is within the same family as bagaikan, umpama etc. No one managed to crack this tie-breaker clue. But later on, the winning team told me that they didn't even bother to work on it, since they're running short on time. A sound strategy, since dropping this question can allow them to work on the remaining questions. Bear in mind that tie-breaker questions carried no points in this particular hunt.

Q30) Located on the west of the east for a milk producer?

A30) BR SDN BHD

Again no one managed to crack this clue. We are looking for something found on the signboard which, if located on the left (west) of the word EAST, would give us something that would agree with MILK PRODUCER. The question mark at the end of the sentence signals some sort of word play.

The BR, if located on the left (west) of EAST, would yield BREAST, indirectly a MILK PRODUCER.


And these are some of the many faces of the hunt...

Final briefing

Happy faces before the hunt

Painful faces during the hunt

Baffled by the Centre of Excellence

Maria Rowan & kids—happy to name cartoon characters


No, the jaw didn't drop any further than that

The KK Challenge 3 has seen mixed fortunes of the hunters in KK. Some regular hunters, apparently suffering from "a bad day", fell out of contention. On the other hand, some new hunters took over their positions. A new breed of hunt maniacs are beginning to show their true colours. I see all these with great excitement. Truly, this was the sort of development that I had hoped for since the first time I organized the KK Challenge hunts.

While setting the questions for this hunt, I was itching to throw in some more of my masterpieces. But I had to suppress my itch. I have learned my lesson. The idea is to attract new teams into the game. And indeed the KK Challenge series have achieved this. During the first KK Challenge, I only attracted 14 teams. Then 16 teams in KK Challenge 2. And yesterday, I've managed to attract 20 teams. Hopefully the trend will continue in future hunts of the KK Challenge series.