SENAI 21-22 Nov 2009: Despite what most CoCs say, some hunts can indeed be a race, like the Kembara Bernama which took us on an 11 hour journey deep into the hearts of Johor and was designed to be an eye opener to the many untapped tourist attractions within the state.The riddles of Retro-hunts, as how a member of the winning team aptly puts it, are usually very direct, in some cases loose-fitting and in most cases not grammatically tight. The CoCs of Retro-hunts seldom participate in present-day hunts and as such their styles are very much frozen-in-time, and the end result a reflection of treasure hunts of yesteryears. The main challenge from Retro-hunts is usually to decipher the vague riddles which believe me is no easy task for there is usually no consistency!
Here is a sample of questions from the Kembara Hunt.
Q22: Dapatkah anda mengenalpasti Ketua Pahlawan Melaka dahulu kala dengan kumpulannya di sini?
Ans: V Huat.
As far as I know, Hang Tuah and his group are known as Tuah Lima Bersaudara. Here the CoC decides to rewrite history and rename their group as Lima Tuah or Tuah Lima!
Q16: "Anne" meninggalkan kekacauan.Ans: Nitro.
Excusing the grammar, one would expect the answer to be a signage containing the letters N and RIOT (unscrambled) ..... which was not to be, since the CoC had decided to use RIOT both as keyword and fodder.
Q24: Can you recall where the mixture is?
Ans: Kelinik Kesihatan Batu Anam.
But he must have overlooked the same possibility here, for he disallowed other Batu Anam signages and insisted on the one with Kelinik to satisfy "where the mixture can be found". Following his earlier argument in Q16, I don't see why MIXTURE cannot be both a keyword and fodder to yield BATU!
A warning though that CoCs of Retro-hunts are usually very precise with figures, as some teams painfully found out the hard way. Today, the CoC brought along his own ruler to the finish control to ensure that teams brought in T2 exactly to specification - 1.5 metres in length, no more and no less. Brutal, very brutal indeed!
A purchase you will have to make,
At the Textile Town for this treasure's sake,
Material exactly 1.5 metres in length, no more, no less,
For orphans to sew a dress,
The colour you need to know,
Is that in the middle of the rainbow,
Bring confirmation that you purchased at this town,
Or you will be five points down.
Ans: Green Cloth 1.5 metres in length with receipt (from Tangkak)
An impostor amongst the journalists?
21-22 Nov - Kembara Bernama-Tourism Malaysia
(Maximum possible score: 125 pts)
1st: Simon Matthew, Venkateswaran Nagappan, Shandra Dass, Kumaran Nagapa (115)
2nd: Ramesh Rajaratnam, Liew Kok Seng, Teoh Cheow Teong, Lim Kong Yew (112)
3rd: Chai Koh Khai, Chong Voon Kiat, Margaret Sha (112)
4th: Peh Kok Hun, Loh Chee Kwan, Lim Say Chye, Tommy Ng (109)
5th: Johan Salul, Dr Ben Lau, Aziz, Haji Suhaimi (109)
6th: Sin Yoong Leong, Claire Chin, Julie Tan, Goh Teck Koon (106)
7th: Yeap Heng Boon, Pavananthan, Michael Pang, Lim Soo Khian (101)
8th: Ruben Enbasegaram & 3 more (100)
2 comments:
I saw some of the Qs and As in Mike's blog a while ago, and my initial thoughts were that I would've struggled badly in such a hunt. And even if I could win the hunt, I would still have been disappointed.
As you already know by now, I am not a great fan of the double duty thing in hunt Qs, although I keep reminding myself that I have to allow for that possibility since I know that some CoCs may throw in double duties.
However, that is not the end of the story. If that is what the CoCs would like to claim as "new twist", I will have to reluctantly accept it. But the question is whether they can be consistent, at least for that one hunt? If double duty is possible in one clue, then it should reasonably be also possible in another clue within the same hunt. Otherwise, how is the hunter to know how to solve the clue if there is no consistency in the trick?
So yes, I am inclined to agree with your post. Apparently, the next one will be in Sarawak. And then perhaps after that in Sabah. I think KK hunters are up for some disappointments when that happens.
My one Christmas wish is for consistency!
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