WHAT IS THE SCAVENGER HUNT? AN OUTLINE.
0) To participate, sign up, whether as an individual or as a team, by emailing sheila.chainstory *at* gmail.com.
1) Individuals can sign up early, seek to form a team and then tell us who the team are :)
2) On the morning of the first day of the Scavenger Hunt (the Thursday just before Mayweek) a list of around 500 items will be released. UPDATE: The List has been released.
3) These items are things to find, and/or act out, and/or draw, photograph or video. A few involve competing with other teams, or solving puzzles.
4) During most of 10:00 till 20:00 on Thursday, Friday and up to 15:00 on Saturday, Judges will be available to score your items. A couple of contests will be at a particular time or place.
The Judges will operate out of a Picnic Fortress, and thus often have picnic food available for participants :)
5) The main points of the activity are having fun and meeting people.
6) Items are awarded points; it is always possible to score at least part of the points with partial efforts :)
7) The team with most points wins, gets a trophy with their team name on it to keep for the year, and, customarily, gets to run and judge next year's Scavenger Hunt :) Moreover, we reiterate, the main point of the activity is that it is fun, good clean fun: laughing with people rather than at them :)
8) There are 3 sections of serious rules you must read to participate: Conduct, Safety and Disclaimer. And one section of detailed rules of Scavenger Hunting itself. These are for now provisional rules, in the sense that further Conduct, Safety and Disclaimer rules may be added (but not subtracted).
9) The Cambridge University Scavenger Hunt website this year is hosted at /CUSH-Scavenger-Hunt. Following previous years’ successes, we are hoping to put photographs of interesting items on the website soon after we get them...
CONDUCT RULES
0) Most importantly, be friendly during all parts of the activity.
This certainly includes between team members, toward members of other teams and toward the judges.
1) No `isms' or `phobias', and toward not only legally-protected folks but also others as well: Non-Binary, Ace, Poly, Kink, Pan, Survivor, Bullied, Closeted or Fluid peoples.
Also no discrimination on grounds of age or occupation: any Cantabs or ARU people are precisely as welcome as people at Cambridge; Grads, Mature Students, Postdocs... all equally welcome etc etc.
2) To be involved in the Scavenger Hunt is to consent to be met.
But not a card to intrude beyond welcome.
It is a promise that all actions carried out in connection with the Scavenger Hunt is grounded on friendly conduct.
3) As the Scavenger Hunt is a friendly and fun activity, do not get carried away and do anything you will later regret.
As a friendly and fun activity, there is no excuse for nasty or inappropriate behaviour during the activity or over its organizing.
4) A person is upset if they say they are, and without having to say why. Apologies are expected, as are non-repeats of what caused it.
5) If you so wish, you are entitled to view the activity as an icebreaker game rather than a competitive event.
6) You can however view your own participation in the Scavenger Hunt as competitive.
What you cannot do is put pressure on others to view it that way, or expect or presume that others are viewing it that way.
Finally, real-life nastiness or irresponsibility will never be excused by competitivity: it is the type of 'sporting' competitivity in which both team-mates and other teams' participants and judges are valued and respected.
7) In the unlikely event that you and some other team's participant were to really not get on well, come and see the judges separately.
If you feel that some other team's participant that you really don't get on with is constantly in the scoring area, it can be arranged that the judges ask for one more more other teams to leave the area so you can score your items in their absense.
8) None of the competitions with other teams require or condone use of physical force.
SAFETY RULES
1) No Scavenger Hunt items are any kind of excuse for bothering, alarming or elsewise causing a nuisance or inconvenience to members of the general public.
2) No Scavenger Hunt items are illegal, or any kind of excuse to break the law, let along bring yourself to the attention of the police.
Do nothing illegal, or which could be mistaken by onlookers as criminal or terrorist activity etc.
3) This year, none of the Scavenger Hunt items involve messing around in university property, or intruding into any parts of it where you don't belong.
As such, if you get portered etc during the course of this Scavenger Hunt, we waive all responsibility since none of our items are connected with intruding into any parts of university property.
If you were to be portered in the course of borrowing items from a friend, say that what you are doing is borrowing items from a friend rather than mentioning the scavenger hunt or any of its organizers as some kind of further reason.
If stopped by porters while visiting a friend, the usual thing to do is to comply with being removed while offering to phone your friend to accompany you into and then out of that piece of university property.
We also recommend you carry Uni ID all the time if you have any (or the Cantab equivalent of it).
4) None of our items or activities involve, or excuse, causing material damage.
5) If you can't provide a reasonable explanation for exactly what you are doing to any Police Officers, members of the public, Porters, Fellows... who challenge you over doing it, then you shouldn't be doing it.
Scavenger Hunt activities stay entirely within what the public and the police tolerate.
The Scavenger Hunt does not condone any course of action that leads to confrontation with people in authority.
6) Exercise common sense at all times.
7) Participants are entirely responsible for their own behaviour.
8) You participate in the Scavenger Hunt at your own risk.
9) No Scavenger Hunt items involve, or condone, harming your team members, other teams' members or the judges.
10) If an accident should occur, contact the emergency services when appropriate.
11) People who feel unsafe in the absense of certain others aren't to be separated from team mates. This is to be taken into account if anyone's recruitment effort generates more than one team of paticipants.
Somewhat similarly, people saying they're up for alliances with other incipient under-sized teams does not mean they agree to form team with whoever; they can say No to whichever further propsed merger involving their growing team.
Personal safety concerns of anyone present always take precedence over rules or 'team tactics' as regards splitting up.
This includes respecting personal space issues and personal boundaries, as well as not losing or leaving behind team members in unfamilar territory, especially if they've made it known they don't feel safe out and about by themselves.
12) No photos or videos are accepted if anybody in them did not consent to being in the photo or video.
13) If you feel the organizers have neglected any aspect of your safety, be welcome to inform us immediately.
Raising Safety or Conduct rules concerns is no excuse for unfriendliness, greatly aiding in creating a high standard of Safety and Conduct.
14) Stop the Hunt. In the unlikely event that you know or feel that there is a breach of Conduct or Safety rules during a Scavenger Hunt activity, the immediate way to deal with it is by clearly stating the phrase "Stop the Hunt".
14.1) Stop the Hunt stops the activity until all participants present understand why it was evoked and that the reason for it no longer applies.
14.2) Stop the Hunt covers all Conduct and Safety matters, immediately stopping the activity to nip the problem in the bud. By this, Stop the Hunt is the most significat practical rule in the set...
14.3) Stop the Hunt moreover includes "Stop the Hunt: one of us is causing it".
14.4) Stop the Hunt is also how Conduct rule 4) is implemented, said rule also specifying the nature of what happens during all cases of "Stop the Hunt: one of us is causing it".
MORE DETAILED RULES OF SCAVENGER HUNTING
SIGNING UP AND TEAMS
1.1) In signing up, give your team-mates' names and a team name...
Team names are usually one or both of Silly and Descriptive.
Team names like "X and the Y's" have been popular in the past, e.g. indicating that a team captain X recruited several people with something in common Y :)
1.2) People signing up individually are welcome to indicate they're up for alliances with other individual entrants or small teams.
1.3) The maximum team size is 5.
1.4) If your recruitment effort mobilized more than 5 people total, you can enter multiple teams. These score separately.
1.5) Obviously, there’s not much we can do if you have a small team and lots of friends helping out on individual items.
In fact, teams are encouraged to have assistants.
This moreover specifically includes assistants who aren't present in person, thus allowing for meaningful indirect participation (something which a lot of Closeted, Bullied and Survivor folk appreciate).
1.6) However, if any items mention "a team member" or "the entire team", then we’re going to insist on exactly that.
1.7) Substitutions will be considered should a team member have to miss a significant portion of the scavenger hunt, for instance due to examinations.
ITEMS AND OBTAINING THEM
2.1) The Scavenger Hunt list will be put up online on our website at the start of the hunt; printouts of it will also be available from the judges at the start.
2.2) The Scavenger Hunt list is divided by theme into sections.
3.1) Most of the entries in the list will be items.
These are typically worth a static number of points.
We haven't the time or inclination to fully detail each entry, so try to get the most obvious thing implied by what is written.
We are usually pleased with good fakes however; these can score most of the points the actual item would get you.
Additionally, if you can bring us something that is not the item we intended, but in some way makes a pun or play on words with, what was written, kudos, we’ll probably give you the full points. The same applies to use of lateral thinking... Judges are also currently discussing adding interpreting scavenger hunt item submissions along the lines of bribes in similar light :)
3.2) Creativity and the difficulty of obtaining the item are also rewarded.
3.3) We principally wish for you to physically bring us the item in order to score the points.
However for items where photographs or videos are implied, we encourage submission via email attachment to the judges, as long as you also notify us in person.
Even if not, some partial pointage will be awarded for photo or art versions of the item, especially if puns, play on words, lateral thinking or 'artistic licence' are manifest.
3.4) When you are bringing items to score, please tell us the item number to make it easier for us to give you the points.
3.5) Those items that include a superlative adjective (largest or longest for instance) will be ranked at the end of the hunt and then the points stated will be awarded to the largest or longest item presented for that item.
The second item will score four fewer points, and two fewer for each subsequent ones.
The maximum points for these items is 3 x (Number of Teams) + 4.
3.6) We will not keep any of the items you bring us unless specified, or you want us to (we can refuse to if they are very cumbersome to store overnight).
Items left behind at the end of the hunt will be taken or thrown away at our discretion.
3.7) We won't publish photographs and videos unless you tell us to (and nobody else in them complains :) ).
3.8) Tasks. Some of the list entries will be simple tasks.
Where possible, performing them in front of the judges is preferable, but if not video or photographic evidence will usually be accepted subject to safety rule 12.
3.9) Alternatives to videos, pictures with people in them can be discussed with the judges to provide further ways to score.
3.10) Aside from tasks which score statically or superlatively as above, some tasks have an element of creativity and a qualitative judgement is required. In these cases, we will score out of a stated maximum and you should feel free to use flattery and persuasion (but not abrasiveness or mere repetition) to obtain more points for your efforts.
3.11) Money. We intend you not to have to spend any more than you would usually do having a fun day out. Whilst some things can easily be obtained through financial means, we really don’t want you spending money on things you can’t afford, so buy at your own discretion.
3.12) We will not be impressed by underhand tactics, particularly involving members of other teams.
3.13) Many sections will have an uncapped scoring item, along the lines of '1 point per 4 puns on the subject of ...'.
3.13) Scoring. Most of the scoring system has been described above. However you should remember that we’re really very easily impressed and if we feel you’ve gone beyond the call of duty for a particular item or task, we will not hesitate to award bonus points.
3.14) Bonus points are also awarded if all the items of a particular section have been completed. In this case, 20% of that section’s total points (excluding any uncapped items) will be added on at the end of the hunt.
3.15) Submitting items and tasks for scoring will only be permitted during certain hours, so that we can all get some sleep. We encourage you to visit or email at regular intervals with updates on your progress.
3.16) All in all, keeping us updated on your progress is the best thing you can do to impress us!
3.17) Decisions. All decisions of the Judges are final. Final.
7.1) Prizes. There is a tropy, with winning teams' names engraved on it, for your team to keep until next year's scavenger hunt.
It is also the norm and custom for one year's winning team to be the next year's judges.
Nonwithstanding, all are welcome to value participation, having fun and meeting people via the Scavenger Hunt :)
DISCLAIMER
1) In taking part, we remind you all that you are adults and responsible for your own actions.
2) Risk Assessment. We do not believe that the activities of the Scavenger Hunt present any significant hazards, require the use of any equipment that requires special safety training, require the use of or result in the production of harmful chemicals, fumes or dust, or require you to enter any dangerous or confined space.
3) The Scavenger Hunt is a Safer Space, along lines stated and implied in some of our Rules.
4) All Conduct, Safety and Disclaimer rules of participation apply also to the organizing.
[With the sole exception of Conduct Rule 3), since a team can't be scored in the absense of all judges, and temporarily asking some of the judges to go away is in violation of safety rule 7). So the judges have thought up a slightly more elaborate compromise for this unlikely situation.]
5) On the subject of Safety or Conduct rules breaches, nobody is to lie to the Judges or to any Deputies they appoint to investigate such.
6) We retain the right to ban any individuals who majorly or repeatedly break the Conduct, Safety or Disclaimer rules. This may include any individuals with a history of disregarding other activities' Conduct, Safety or Disclaimer rulesets in which apologizing and avoiding repeats are the procedure for defusing tensions and avoiding escalations. In the event of a ban, our organizers reserve the right to summon any of our further disclaimers.
7) Not heeding a Stop the Hunt may under some circumstances suffice for a ban.
8) Nothing other than breaches of conduct or safety rules can result in a ban; common garden variety cheating will be dealt with by common garden variety points deductions :)
9) This ruleset is how the Scavenger Hunt is being run this year (2018); while it is a source of ideas, it is mutable as regards how the Scavenger Hunt is run in subsequent years :)