So let's get some important details out of the way:
What: The 2013 Post Hunt
When: Sunday, June 2, 2013 from 12:00pm-4:00pm (approx. end time)
Where: Freedom Plaza
Is it free?: YES!
Is it fun?: YES!
Do I need to register or have a team?: NO! NO!
Will I lose but have a great time doing it?: Almost certainly!
I'll have more updates as we get closer to the Hunt, so keep checking here, Facebook and Twitter.
I (well, not just me, but you, too!) need to thank the following people from the Miami Herald (in no particular order):
ELAINE (Happy Birthday again, Elaine!)
SILVIA
JUDI
DAVE
TOM
AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO PUT ALL THE TIME, HARD WORK, COORDINATION AND CREATIVITY INTO THE HUNT!
AND, OF COURSE, A GREAT BIG THANK YOU, TO THE HUNT VOLUNTEERS! :)
FOOD TRUCKS! YUM!
This is the second year that we've had food trucks, and the food was spectacular! I have no problem with them becoming a regular at the Hunt...
A BIG THANK YOU HERALD HUNT SPONSORS!
A HUGE thank you to Carnival Cruise Lines! Carnival was fantastic, and I heard nothing but positive comments about their sponsorship of the Herald Hunt. From the Hunt stage to the free water to the photo booths to the wrist bands to the prizes (Wow, those were some great prizes!), they such a great job that I wish they would sponsor every year. They really made things fun for everyone, young and old, whether you had a chance in the Hunt or not.
Also a very big thank you to the other sponsors of the Herald Hunt as well!
The sponsors are the reason the Hunt is able to come back each time. Without their financial support, the Hunt can not continue. They're as loyal to the Hunt as you are each year, so show them your appreciation by giving them your business!
THAT RED HEAD GUY ON THE MAP
Thanks Otis and Barbara Sweat and the Herald enough for continuing to put me next to Tom, Dave and Elaine! Also, a very warmfelt thanks to the Herald for the wonderful story they did on me before the Hunt. You have the same passion that I do for the Hunt. Making sure that you know about it so that you can plan on going and getting friends to join you is important to me. I want you to come to the Hunt, I want you to have a chance at winning, I want you to have fun...so thank you to EVERYONE for showing your enthusiasm and excitement for the Hunt, as that's what makes me do what I do for you!
THE FIRST SATURDAY HUNT DATE AND THE WEATHER
We were a week outside of Thanksgiving, so shopping (and eating) were out of the way, and the Saturday date made the Hunt more accessible to everyone. I certainly appreciated not having to go to work the day after the Hunt so that I could decompress and write up my thoughts. The weather was picture perfect once the brief rain sprinkles before the Hunt started left. The breeze was nice as it took some of the edge off the sunny day.
THE HUNT PUZZLE BREAKDOWN/REVIEW
In my continuing tradition, I offer the following review/thoughts on the 2012 Herald Hunt:
- VENUE: I love Coconut Grove as the location for the Hunt. It's not too small and not too large. Peacock Park is spacious enough for not just the Hunt crowd, but also food trucks, one of the Hunt puzzles and more. The rest of the Grove offered plenty of shade, places to eat/drink, the Barnacle...it's just a perfect setting. You didn't even have to cross any streets while you were running around trying to solve the Hunt. Very accessible and friendly area for the Hunt overall.
- DIFFICULTY: Easy to slightly challenging, but mostly because of two of the main puzzles (see below) and not the end-game.
- MY PUZZLE-BY-PUZZLE ANALYSIS: THE SIGNPOST PUZZLE: The most frustrating puzzle of the Hunt, just due to the scale of the puzzle combined with the amount of people trying to solve it at the same time. I went there early on, no one was moving at the start of the puzzle, you couldn't navigate through the maze with everyone there...so I vowed to come back later. I did, and while it was easier to get through, I'd heard that some of the signposts had been moved slightly.(not that it affected the answer, but I suppose for clarity). Even then it took a couple pass throughs to get the correct answer. I recommend that a similar type puzzle needs to be in a larger area so it can be spread out more.
THE ART BASEL PUZZLE: Second most frustrating puzzle of the Hunt. I've been reviewing discussions that others have had regarding this puzzle, and I see both sides of the argument that the answer could be 9 or 15. However, adding to the mix is that somehow...somehow...there were at least two different handouts for this puzzle that had very slightly different wording (one word difference..one had 'to' and the other had 'with' in a certain sentence). So those people who thought that they had to count EVERYTHING that appeared (trying to avoid spoilers here) were thrown off for a bit. I was able to meet up with Tom during the Hunt and tweeted about it:
The challenge here is that you had the actor (how did he keep a straight face throughout the entire day?!) talking about the "finality, termination, endings and stopping points". Taking that intrepretation, combined with "STOP." in large letters at the top of the handout, you'd get one answer. However, that didn't give you the correct answer; you needed to count ones that were not termination or stopping points. I view this puzzle answer as ambiguous and misleading. It would have been better had the obvious incorrect answer that I'm referring to (and which Dave told everyone at the Hunt was wrong, right before the final clue announcement) had NOT been a clue on the clue pages. That would have told everyone that they were wrong and they could have gotten the correct answer.
My team was prepared with both answers, so once we were told that one of them was wrong, we knew the other one was correct. But it still messed up a lot of people, and ruined the end-game for some.
THE CRUISE SHIP COMEDIANS PUZZLE: Easiest puzzle of the Hunt. And it included free punch on a nice day in the park.
DANCE LESSONS PUZZLE: One of the more fun puzzles of the Hunt. You had a very spirited Hunt volunteer dancing silly to Psy's "Gangnam Style".You followed the named moves that they provided and learned what you needed to do to solve the puzzle. Fun, easy, entertaining...
...and my team still got it wrong.
THE SHIPS PUZZLE: Second easiest puzzle at the Hunt, and not considered the easiest because you had to walk the farthest to get to it. But it was on the beautiful grounds of the Barnacle. You had everything you needed in the one spot, provided that you could see what was at the end of the dock. I did hear some complaints that people couldn't tell what was next to the dice.
THE FINAL PUZZLE: This was an easy end-game. If you had all the correct clues, the final clue told you what you needed to look at in the final clue to get your next instructions. From there, Hunters only had to go to one location and deciper the instructions and then head back to the main stage area. One team figured it out early without needing the final clue. While my hats are off to them for figuring it out, it could have been more competitive for everyone if message at the telephone number that Hunters dialed didn't go active until 3:00pm. I think that would have made for a much more interesting finale.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS...
I'm changing the style of the recommendations this year. Here we go:
* Please bring back Tropic Magazine, even if it's only for the Hunt weekend. There are so many talented writers and people in South Florida that you have more than enough content to fill a special edition of the magazine, and make the Herald Hunt more like the Tropic Hunts of old. Your readers and Hunters alike would appreciate it...
* Please consider selling small posters of Otis Sweat's great work with the Hunt maps! People would buy 'em!
* Go back to the stylized t-shirt designs that don't feature Tom and Dave on them. Don't get me wrong, we love Tom and Dave (and Otis' drawings of them!), but the t-shirt designs that don't feature their faces are more popular with the crowd.
* Keep Carnival as a sponsor!
IN CONCLUSION
Last but NOT least, I continue to thank YOU, my fellow Hunt fanatics! You come here to my site, you follow me on Twitter, you join the fun on Facebook, all because of your love of the Hunt. This year I had more people than ever come up and say 'hi', let me know how they enjoyed the article about me from the other week, ask me about why I'm spying on a sunbathing alligator with binoculars and more. You are the best, and the Hunt spirit lives on because of YOU!
While I work on this site, we all need to work to ensure that we keep the Hunts going in the future! Please, do everything you can to make that a reality: write a letter to the Herald editors thanking them, tell the sponsors thank you AND give them business if you can, and buy your Hunt shirts each year! This level of strong interest contributes to making the Hunt an ongoing community event, and keeps us having fun each year after year.
If you can't get today's paper, don't fret...there will be copies at the Hunt tomorrow.
YOUR OFFICIAL 2012 HERALD HUNT WEATHER UPDATE!
The weather forecast has been bouncing around lot this week. We've gone from a 60% chance of rain to 0% to 20%. Basically figure it'll be partly cloudy, possibly a stray shower, and it will be breezy throughout. The semi-official hour-by-hour Hunt weather forecast currently is (as of 7pm):
12:00pm - 78 degrees - 0% chance of rain
1:00pm - 78 degrees - 0% chance of rain
2:00pm - 78 degrees - 10% chance of rain
3:00pm - 77 degrees - 20% chance of rain
4:00pm - 76 degrees - 20% chance of rain
Bring your sunblock!
WHAT TO BRING
Here's our recommendations on what you should bring:
- You and your Hunt team
- The Hunt Special Section
- Cell phone (at least one per team member is best) (NOTE: Out-of-towners: Your cell phones don't work here, sorry. You may as well go home now...)
- Notepad
- A small dose of insanity (to keep you balanced from the Hunt insanity you'll encounter) (NOTE: Out-of-towners: Be dead serious throughout the Hunt. Don't even crack a smile. We need you to stand out so we know who you are.)
- Pen and pencils
- A backpack, messenger bag or something along those lines to carry your stuff.
- A hat (Sun, folks, sun!)
- SUNSCREEN! (You're still in South Florida!) (NOTE: Out-of-towners: Wear your Gore-Tex, our weather is very unpredictable...see above.)
- Money (for the awesome food trucks, as well as any other incidentals)
- An understanding of how to get to the Hunt! The Hunt Stage is in Peacock Park, and there's parking all around Coconut Grove. The Grove is not huge, so don't be too worried if it seems you're parking far away. (NOTE: Out-of-towners: Park here. It's not far enough too far from the Grove.)
HUNT STRATEGY TIPS
1) The Hunt starts promptly at noon Eastern time! (NOTE: Out-of-towners: Our time zone is 30 minutes off from yours.) Get to Peacock Park by 11:30, ESPECIALLY if you're going to partake of the food trucks!
2) Try to find me beforehand and say 'hi'! I'd love to meet ya!
3) Do NOT be distracted by sports. There will be plenty of time to cheer your team(s) on after the Hunt.
ANNUAL OUT-OF FROM-TOWNER TIPS
- One (hyphenated) word: Gore-Tex. (See above.)
- This year's Hunt is at the new Marlins Stadium. Directions can be found here.
- Take the "Hunt-schmunt!" attitude. There's gourmet food trucks! Gorge yourselves...that's a prize in and of itself.
- There are plenty of bars in Coconut Grove, so drink heavily during the Hunt (but have a ride back home or to your hotel ready).
- The Herald Hunt special section was in yesterday's paper. Sorry if you didn't get one. I guess you can't play after all.
WHAT I WILL BE WEARING
For those of you who want to find me, I'll put a photo of me on Twitter tomorrow morning so that you can easily find me. (Like finding a red-head at the Hunt is hard...).
YES, THAT'S ME ON THE MAP!
I'm poking my head up around E16-17. You can use that as a visual reference for me, although I will not be carrying binoculars...nor spying on sunbathing alligators...
SPEAKING OF TWITTER!
All throughout the Hunt I'll be tweeting with personal updates. Follow me (@tropichunt) and post using the #HeraldHunt hastag! Don't forget to use Instagram, share your photos and use the #HeraldHunt hashtag, too!
WRAPPING UP
That's all for now. Get your Hunt special section, study it, get your rest and meet up at the Hunt stage in Peacock Park before noon! Good luck!
DAVE WILL BE ON THE RADIO TOMORROW!
Dave doesn't have one...he has TWO radio appearances tomorrow! First up is Paul and Young Ron, where Dave should be on between 8am and 9am. You can listen online if you aren't near a radio. Later, at noon, Dave will get a bit more serious and be on Florida Roundup on WLRN (he's not there to advertise the Hunt, but he may reference it). Funny or serious, Dave is always insiteful and worth a listen. Each of the shows have podcast and/or MP3 downloads that are available afterward, so give them a shot if you can't listen live.
HUNT SPECIAL SECTION AVAILABLE TOMORROW!
The Hunt special section should be in tomorrow's Weekend section of the paper. Also, follow me on Twitter so that you can find out exactly when the section is available online and how you can find it!
YOUR (UN)OFFICIAL HERALD HUNT WEATHER FORECAST
As of 9:19pm today, here's the weather outlook for Saturday (and it's lookin' mighty goooooood!):
12:00pm - 78 degrees - 0% chance of rain
1:00pm - 78 degrees - 0% chance of rain
2:00pm - 77 degrees - 0% chance of rain
3:00pm - 77 degrees - 0% chance of rain
4:00pm - 76 degrees - 0% chance of rain
That's right, sunny and no rain. BRING YOUR SUNSCREEN! You'll need it!
TWITTER HUNT TRIVIA
Have you been following me on Twitter yet? If so, you found out today (unless you're as obsessive with the Hunt as I am and have kept track) that if you totaled up all the main puzzles that the Miami Herald-related Hunts have had, there have been exactly 100 different puzzles so far! That's a lot of originality and hard work, not just in coming up with them, but the execution of them as well. So hats off to Dave, Tom, Gene (Gene did help out with just under half of those Hunts!), Elaine and all the other folks at the Herald and the volunteers who helped bring the past puzzles to life and will be conitnuing to do so this weekend!
Make sure to follow me to learn other Hunt tidbits about the Hunt as the final hours count down!
YOUR (UN)OFFICIAL HERALD HUNT WEATHER FORECAST
As of 9:43pm today, here's the weather outlook for Saturday:
77 degrees, scattered showers with a 30% chance of rain!
The forecast remains the same as it was yesterday, and I don't expect it to change much.
ANNUAL HERALD HUNT MEGA UPDATE IS COMING!
Gets lots of Herald Hunt facts/suggestions all in one place on Friday! Until then, I leave you with the video below, and will see you tomorrow with more updates...
SOCIAL MEDIA: GET *YOUR* WORD OUT BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE HUNT!
Help build the Hunt fame before, during and after the Hunt by using the hashtag #HeraldHunt on your tweets as well as Instagram photos! The more visible the Hunt is to the public, the easier it is to keep interest in the Hunt growing and attract awesome sponsors like Carnival! Snap a photo, tweet and/or Instagram it, and include the #HeraldHunt hashtag...it's that simple! I'll be doing it throughout!
YOUR (UN)OFFICIAL HERALD HUNT WEATHER FORECAST
As of 10:27pm today, here's the weather outlook for Saturday:
77 degrees, scattered showers with a 30% chance of rain!
While the outlook for the Hunt is the same, the front that I was referring to now seems to fizzle out, with little to no chance of rain on Friday or Saturday nights, so we're looking to be in fine shape for the Hunt!
ALMOST LAST CALL TO GET YOUR WACKY TEAM NAME ENTRY IN
Do it! Do it NOW!
Check back tomorrow for more Hunt news! And follow me on Twitter for some useless useful Herald Hunt trivia!
EARLY ACCESS TO THE HUNT SPECIAL SECTION!
You heard it here first! The Herald Hunt section will publish with the Miami Herald's Weekend Section of the paper this Friday, November 30! It should also be available be available on the Herald website at some point on the same day (although you may need to be a subscriber to get a digital version of the section). I will do my best to confirm for you if/when it's available in the physical paper as well as online, so follow me on Twitter or look for updates at the Tropic/Herald/Post Hunt Fans group on Facebook before you spend time/money looking at it. If you get ahold of it before I put a notice up, email me or send me a message on Twitter or post to Facebook and I'll help get the word out.
Special thanks to Dan Streit for passing along that information!
WANT SOME INSIGHT ON HUNT STRATEGY?
Speaking of the Facebook group, Nick Murado offered some of his strategy on how he approaches a key aspect of solving the Hunt. From personal experience, I can tell you that Nick is very, very good at this and he WILL win the Hunt one day. At the same time, while he describes some of his methods, I still think he is able to 'zen' them more readily than the average person...
YOUR (UN)OFFICIAL HERALD HUNT WEATHER FORECAST
As of 9:48pm today, here's the weather outlook for Saturday:
77 degrees, scattered showers with a 30% chance of rain!
It looks like we have a front that's coming through Friday into Saturday; there's a 60% chance of rain Friday night and Saturday night, and the Hunt's right between that, so keep your fingers crossed for a nice day with no rain!
More updates tomorrow, including more info on the Carnival Fun Zone and other ways you can participate with the Hunt via social media!
The Tropic/Herald Hunt Archives database is online and provides more details about the previous Hunts than ever before! If
you have something to contribute, please let me know and I will send you details.
All submissions will be properly credited.
What was the Tropic Hunt? What is the Herald Hunt?
The most fun you'd ever have going insane! Seriously,
it's a wacky, zany race across areas of South Florida
that the Miami Herald's
Tropic Magazine held (approximately) every year from
1984 through 1998. Thousands of people searched for puzzles,
strived to solve them and then put resulting
clues together in order to win fabulous prizes. Sadly,
The Miami Herald discontinued publication of Tropic
Magazine shortly after the 1998 Hunt.
However, in 2001,
the Hunt made a triumphant return (sans Tropic Magazine) as the Herald Hunt!
And the Herald has been keeping the tradition alive by presenting new Hunts every year since 2001!
Many thanks to everyone at the Herald who have reaffirmed their commitment to
keeping the Hunt alive, and to Tom Shroder, who is now a senior editor at the Washington Post, but
continues to make time to work with Dave on this wonderful event!
I have been through all of the Tropic/Herald
Hunts, with the exception of the one you did from your
own living room (what I call the 'non' hunt).
PLEASE READ THIS!
I am merely a fan of the Tropic/Herald Hunt.
While I have had some experience setting up scavenger
hunts and my own version of the Tropic Hunt, I
do not have the resources available to assist others who
are organizing their own similar hunts. I
genuinely would like to help, but there are
many other pages on the 'net to look up this sort of
information. Right now my focus is to maintain this online
'museum' dedicated to the Tropic/Herald Hunts, from which you
may use the resources here to create ideas of your own.
Click on a year below for more
information or pictures.
Please Contribute to the Archives!
I hope to archive all the previous hunts with
these web pages. If you have pictures or puzzles
(or stuff that was handed out at some puzzles)
that I do not show here, please let
me know!
About the Author (Andy Wenzel)
I have participated in every
hunt since the first one was held (with
the exception of the 'non' Hunt), come
close to winning a couple of them, but
overall am a loser like everyone else. To
this day, I find it hard to describe the
Hunt properly. Nonetheless, I have managed
to create two 'hunts' of my own while
attending the University of Florida (The
U.F. Hunts I & II). I strongly
encourage everyone to come out,
participate, go mad, boo Tom Shroder and Dave Barry &
the folks at the Miami Herald/Washington Post, and have
a great time!
Tom Shroder, Gene Weingarten, Andy and Dave
Barry! (2008 Post Hunt)
Email
me if you have any
questions/comments/stories/archive
submissions!
Legal Stuff
All trademarks/copyrights/whatever
are held by whoever they belong to (most likely
the Miami Herald and Washington Post). I merely am someone who is extremely fond of the Hunt and
wish to document it in all its glory!