HUNT NEWS NETWORK: DOWN THE HUNT MEMORY LANE 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

DOWN THE HUNT MEMORY LANE 2012

For ardent treasure hunters, 2012 was surely an exciting year!

With more than 70 hunts during the period, inevitably all hunters have their own preferences of certain events; perhaps the memory of sweet victories, the grief of near misses, the revival of theSun Motor Hunt, the arrival of new hunts etc.

Whatever the reasons, as the clock ticked towards the new year of 2013, it's always interesting to review 2012 events.

As usual, HNN would like to bid farewell to the year with a list of Top 10 memorable hunt moments during 2012.

Top 10 Memorable Hunt Moments

1. Cheap and Good!

The year started positively with Treasure Hunt Society Of Malaysia (THS) launching a series of affordable walk hunts (only RM10 pax as entry fee for THS member) throughout Malaysia.

The journey began right from the heart of Malaysia in February, when THS kicked off its inaugural hunt in Kuala Lumpur, with COCs Jayaram Menon and VK Chong!

Another 4 hunts ensued in various KL shopping malls, helmed by notable COCs such as Purple Antz, Michael Pang, Kroll, Goh Teck Koon, Julie Tan and Linda Shamsuddin.

Then THS ventured north to the Pearl of Orient, where Penang hunters experienced the three ‘traffic light’ hunts by COC Liong Chian Min.

While the Green hunt focused on “Saving the Environment and Animal”, the Yellow hunt explored our Malaysian nature and the final Red hunt literally put the participants on Red Alert!

In September 2012, THS flew across the South China Sea to the wonderful ‘Land Beneath The Wind’, with COC VK Chong decided to put the Sabahans to a test about the ocean-related matters in the hunt at Suria Sabah.

The final stop for THS in 2012 was at the city famous for delicious dim sum and famous white coffee; where Ipoh hunters were treated to a leisure hunt by COC Jayaram Menon.

All in all, it has been a hectic schedule – a total of 10 hunts during 2012; with more to come in 2013!

2. Run, Drive and Eat

New Straits Times (NST) has certainly made its debut in the world of treasure hunts, in style with a big bang. During 2012, NST has not only organized one, or two, but three mega events!

New Straits Times Streets Race attracted more than 500 people on 22 April 2012, with the participants racing through the streets, overcoming obstacles and challenges in the adventure race-cum-treasure hunt.

Next came New Sunday Times Motor Hunt 2012 on 8July
2012, with more than 900 hunters cracking their brains to solve the cryptic clues to take home the share of prizes, valued more than RM100,000.

Of course, the main attraction was the Polo Sedan car (sponsored by Volkswagen), which was up for grab for the top hunters!

Finally more than 460 foodies in red invaded the streets for the KL Fabulous Food Hunt 2012 on 3 November 2012. The hunt required the participants in group of four, to stop at 10 city’s famous eateries and eat the delicacies at each location.

The task was unfortunately not a piece of cake (pun intended), especially if the members could not slowly savor the food, as each team attempted to complete the tasks in the shortest time possible.

3. Blooming Tulip

A hunt e-newsletter from THS made its inaugural appearance during May 2012.

Aptly named THS Tulip, this first-of-its-kind bulletin serves to provide guidance and direction for THS hunters to improve their knowledge and deciphering skills.

This quarterly Tulip is packed with great hunt articles, useful cryptic advices, review of handy gadgets and apps, treasure tips, armchair contests and much more.

So far three issues have already hit the streets, featuring interesting reviews of THS hunts, such as Between the COC and Deep Blue Sea (KK hunt), Crouching Cockroach Hidden Treasure (Klang Valley hunt), Yellow Outside Malaysian Inside (Penang hunt). (Read More)

4. The Mother Of All Hunts is back!

Just when curtains were about to fall on 2012, theSun Motor Hunt, one of the long-lost Grand Slam events unexpectedly resurfaced in December, much to the delight of its participants. Most hunters thought this titanic hunt has accidentally run into an iceberg in 2009 and sank without a trace.

Since 2004, the “Mother of All Hunts” was definitely one of the most popular events in the hunt calendar, for obvious reasons.

Courtesy of its numerous sponsors, this hunt never failed to offer lots of attractive prizes, lucky draws and goodies for the hunters. This time, the main sponsors were Caltex and Singer. Its COC Time Out Solutions has also repeatedly come out with challenging questions to whet the appetites of both Open and Masters’ participants.

With such great features, it was small wonder then that this final 2012 hunt attracted about 250 teams and 1,000 participants. (Read More)

5. Sneak Attack

It was another year of hunt domination for the Master team 2 Sneakies 2 Innocents, as they have clinched noteworthy victories in as many as 9 hunts as a team.

Their unparalleled achievements included Publika Motor Hunt 2012, Hospis Malaysia Charity Hunt 2012, Sushi King Treasure Hunt 2012, Journey of Sight 2012, Soroptimist Hunt with A Heart 2012 and TNT Charity Hunt 2012.

Individually, Claire Chin has emerged as champion 16 times, while Alexander Hoh trailed closely behind with 14; even eclipsing their personal best of 2011 (14 and 11 times respectively).

More impressively, both of them made a clean sweep of all THS Walk Hunts for Diamond category in Klang Valley.

6. Upcoming Rising Stars

Want to know who are the upcoming promising hunters?

A glance at the HNN Hunt Result 2012 would tell you!

Chief among the winners seemed to be the champions of theSun Motor Hunt 2012 – Open Category.

It was certainly not a flash in the pan for Fung Wai Cheen, Lim Kien Khong, Phang Chung Kent and Teh Hann Tsong as previously during 2011-2012, they have already won the Beginner categories of several hunts such as TNT Charity Hunt 2011 (LKK/THT), Starbucks Summer Hunt for Fun 2012 (FWC/PCK/THT), The Olympic Treasure Hunt 2012 (FWC/PCK/THT) and Chill Out with the Malay Mail Mall Hunt 2012 (PCK/THT).

Of course with their victory in the much-publicised theSun Motor Hunt 2012, they are certainly a force to be reckoned with in future hunts!

7. HNN Milestone

HNN has reached a significant milestone, with visitors surpassing 100,000 since its birth in February 2011, averaging about 150 daily.

New HNN features have also been added during 2012; such as weekly Featured Treasure Question, Search HNN engine and HNN Poll.

HNN also compiles HNN Statistics periodically to keep track of the achievements of hunters each year.

With constant feedback from readers, HNN will continue to improve with more features in 2013!

8. Enter the Dragon Drive!

During Chinese New Year, treasure hunters typically come together for CNY Treasure Hunt. Traditionally Uncle Chong has volunteered to be the COC for this annual affair.

Just like 2010 Tiger Hunt and 2011 Rabbit Run, this year he predictably concocted Dragon Drive CNY Hunt, in line with the zodiac animal celebrated in 2012.

In line with the theme, this hunt was filled with Chinese-related matters; such as famous Chinese personalities, CNY occasion and Chinese animals.

Though it was a tough cryptic hunt, typical of his uncompromising style, the participants have come to expect and embrace the challenge of this fun, educational event!

So it must have come as a heartache for most, when he announced at the end that this would be his swan song for CNY Hunt. (Read More)

9. Prime Winners

The biggest winner of all must surely go to the Primera team in the New Sunday Times Motor Hunt 2012!

The last thing on the minds of systems analyst, Muhammad Sani Mohd Noor, auditor Zatul Hayanie, system analyst Redzuan Taib and finance Master’s student Noriza Esa was to win the Beginner category; let alone landing the Volkswagen Polo Sedan at the end of the hunt.

Yet they finished the event with an impressive score of 98 out of maximum 100 and emerged as the champion of the Beginner category! Together with the champions of regular category and media/sponsor category, they had to undergo a heart-stopping lucky draw, before they won the car, valued at about RM100,000.

“This is so unexpected. I don’t know what we’re going to do with this yet. Maybe we’ll take it for a spin first and then decide,” said Muhammad Sani Mohd Noor during an interview.

10. Grand Slam Hunts

There have been debates to consider the merits of each event for inclusion as Grand Slam treasure hunts. Among the criteria often propounded were the histories behind each hunt, the hunt popularity, prizes, the level of difficulty and prestige. Of course first and foremost, it should be an annual hunt, not a one-off.

In the past, the Kiwanis Treasure Hunt, theSun Motor Hunt, Putrajaya Treasure Hunt and Malaysian Mensa Treasure Hunt have been highly regarded as the four premier events. (Read More)

However since 2007, it was hard to get all these 4 hunts within the same calendar year, with the Mensa Hunt intermittently stopped during 2007 and 2009, while theSun Motor Hunt and Putrajaya Treasure Hunt went AWOL for several years.

The trend continued well into 2012, with Mensa Hunt missing the party this time.

Perhaps we should consider other hunts to be part of Grand Slam family.

NPC Treasure Hunt has been around for quite some time, with its participants and prestige growing over the years. Surely the proponents for this hunt have valid claims for it to be included as a Grand Slam hunt.

2012 has also ushered in NST Motor Hunt for the first time, which offered lucrative prizes and more than 900 hunters.

Should this hunt continue for a few more years, surely it is worthy of being a Grand Slam hunt too.

Whatever it is, it is also not totally implausible to expand the number of hunts in the Grand Slam category.

THE YEAR THAT WAS

JANUARY
JAN 8TH (SUN) H01 SENTUL CHARITY MOTOR TREASURE HUNT - SENTUL TO AMPANG - COC PAZ

JAN 14TH-15TH (SAT-SUN) H02 DE PIRATES TREASURE HUNT - KL TO PANGKOR - COC EQUIP MGMT

FEBRUARY
FEB 11TH (SAT) H03 THS WALK HUNT 2012 LEG 1 - BANGSAR - COC JM/CVK
FEB 12TH (SUN) H04 UNCLE CHONG'S DRAGON DRIVE 2012 CNY HUNT - KLANG VALLEY - COC CFS

CANCELLED HUNTS

FEB 13TH-15TH (MON-WED) AMAZING SOCIAL MEDIA HUNT - PWTC - COC PAVA'S HUNTS
MAR 4TH & 18TH (SUN) ARIANSOFT'S CHARITY HUNT 2012 - KLANG VALLEY - COC HAGI SUHAIMI
MAY 19TH (SAT) KSK PERTAM TREASURE HUNT CHALLENGE 2012 - MALACCA
JUL 14TH (SAT) ANSARA INVITATIONAL CHARITY TREASURE HUNT 2012 - KL - COC FHP
SEP 22ND-23RD (SAT-SUN) MAH TREASURE HUNT 2012 (OPEN) - KL TO KUANTAN - COC PAVA'S HUNTS
NOV 4TH (SUN) DEEPAVALI PAVARAM HUNT 2012 - PETALING JAYA - COC PAVA & RAMESH

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Excellent choice of top ten events, CM.
Must apologize for Eye- Q hunt missing the 2012 bus.
Will try to catch the next available one.

Thank you for providing and recording the continuing history of treasure hunts in the country.

Jay.; January 3, 2013 at 10:30 PM

UPCOMING HUNTS

FEATURED T'SURE Q

This treasure may look and feel like what the wizards use to cast their spell,
But the wooden implements we need must be pointed at one end for use to spell,
In a box of any brand a dozen brand new ready to write,
2B or not 2B that's the question for the type to get - B double sure it's right.
Source: 32nd Kiwanis Treasure Hunt 2015

Answer to be revealed by 29th June 2015

Past Featured T'sure Q
To make this treasure appear,
See that there is nothing at the end of this clue, perfect,
Crisp and natural the flavor must appear,
Nothing else will do for your points, be perfect.
Source: 32nd Kiwanis Treasure Hunt 2015

Answer: Perfecto - Natural Sea Salt flavor