KK Challenge 3—Review

I haven't been posting articles in my blog as frequently as in the past. I have been quite hectic at the office; as well as arranging this and that prior to KK Challenge 3. There's more to tell about the hunt...

As mentioned, for the first time ever, I've included a challenge into my KK Challenge series. I selected 5 cartoon pictures and required hunters to name those characters. I suppose kids had a slight advantage in the task. Well, to be quite honest, I didn't know that I'd have kids in the field that day. I only came to know very, very late—in fact too late to make any changes to the challenge. Hunters in KK have more or less similar attitude as those in KL—they are generally last minute people, if you know what I mean. But anyway, when I was setting the hunt, I was not influenced; and I don't have to explain my decision to anybody.

Interestingly, for the first time ever, my KK Challenge saw the participation of an "official master" based on the Timeout Solutions' list. I first got to know Maria last year during the Sutera Habour-Angkatan Hebat Treasure Hunt. Back then, I wasn't aware that she's a master. She said that she had hunted before "in a galaxy far, far away". I thought she was gonna hunt with her red panties worn on the outside; with a huge red-coloured letter "S" on her chest. But we wouldn't want that kind of publicity. My KK Challenge hunts would have been banned because of that!

I was pleased to note that during the morning of the hunt, before the flag off, the hunters were all very cheerful. I didn't see any sleepy faces. I could actually feel the excitement in all of them. During the final briefing, I announced that I would be providing an original set of question papers, plus 2 extra copies to each team. And then suddenly there was a big round of applause from the crowd. I never expected to get that kind of reaction for the extra 2 copies of question papers.

After the flag-off, my wife and I went to the shop in Sunny Garden for a quick breakfast. To my horror, I met Gan Po Tiau's team, happily having breakfast there too! I couldn't detect any sense of urgency in them at all. They took their sweet time with breakfast; spending about half an hour having noodles and occasionally exchanging ideas on the questions of the hunt. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me. Otherwise that would have been a good scene to include in my blog. I might even frame up the picture! But nah... on second thought, I'm sure it would have been crazy to do that.

I am sure if they sell liquor in that shop, perhaps Gan would even have some. And I would have joined them too! Then again, that's not such a good idea, because I'd talk rubbish when I drink. So perhaps it was a blessing after all. Anyway, just in case the rest of the hunters saw us that morning, please be assured that we didn't plan to meet up in that restaurant. I was sort of bumped into Gan; and sort of tagged along for a bit.

I am glad to say that the hunt went smoothly throughout the day. Although the hunters were driving faster for the final homestretch (as usual), all arrived safely at the finish station. I was a bit worried if any of them would get involved in an accident. I have not secured any insurance for the participants, you see. It would have been a bit messy if they had an accident. Perhaps next time, I should seriously look into the insurance thing—after all, even maids are required to have insurance, right?

By the way, as a side issue, had there been an accident, we were not very far from the general hospital. So that is a bit of a comfort to know too. But of course that doesn't really mean much. In fact the doctors might do more damage to the patients, if you know what I mean. But no worries, if the doctors negligently cause any loss—for example, if they wrongly injected something into the arm, thus causing the loss of that arm, then it's possible to sue that hospital for the doctor's negligence.

It was such a hot day for a hunt. It must have been a torture walking around in such a weather. But the hunters braved the hot sun and presevered till the end. As I have reported earlier, most of the hunters eventually got into time trouble and arrived at the end station with barely seconds to spare.

There were a few surprises in this particular hunt. But perhaps the most outstanding one was the fact that some strong teams did not even bring me this treasure:

Yes, ring is found within,
A drink that is suitable for a teenager perhaps,
Bring me a can containing 300ml.

A treasure which was meant to balance off the trickier ones. Yet it turned out to be "difficult" all the same. The third, fourth and sixth teams didn't submit this treasure. I bet they saw the answer in their minds immediately after they clocked in at the finish station. It is strange that under time pressure even the seasoned hunters can crumble and all the game plans out of the window!

The strange ending was that the Gan's family (yes, they got the above treasure), in spite of "wasting" a good half an hour on breakfast that morning, ended up in seventh place, beating many other teams which were so diligent from the beginning to the end. Funny how events can turn out in a very unexpected way.