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| COC Ruben & Lenny |
KLANG VALLEY 23 MAR 2013: With new power, comes new responsibility! With New Year, comes new resolution!
Perhaps a fitting time to learn from previous experience, discard present shortcoming and enhance future performance!
Past feedback suggested that while several THS walk hunts in 2012 were commendable, perhaps one or two were found wanting in hunter-friendly questions and routes, but what was troubling the participants was whether the COC will get it right this time.
Would it be a Dr. Jekyll hunt, or another Mr. Hyde nightmare?
So when hunters Ruben Enbasegaram and Lenny Wan were handed the rein to clerk the first THS KL hunt in 2013 season, one suspects that there was unspoken trepidation and great expectation about the ”friendliness” mentioned earlier!
They would no doubt have the cryptic skill, but would they try too hard to prove that?
On the flip side, hope also sprang eternal with these new COCs. After all, they are half the members of 4-Ekor, the young team that won the ferocious 2011 Mensa Eye-Q Hunt. They might have new tricks up their sleeves to test the seasoned hunters, who were well-versed with the existing crop of COCs.
At the very least the past mistakes should not be repeated; most of all, the mind-numbing exclusion of question sequence would certainly be a torture best avoided.
Just stick to the tried-and-tested hunt highway, with a few minor innovations, and they shouldn’t go far wrong!
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| Catherine and other hunters |
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| Ling Fei with VK and CK |
With a dash of fresh hope, mixed with cautious fear, the hunters gamely convened in Khalifah Bistro eatery at Kota Damansara on 23rd March 2013. It was also heart-warming to witness an 11th-hour effort by COCs to impart a crash course of cryptic-solving techniques to two newbies.
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| Hunters Jay, Julie and Alex |
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| Last-minute tuition! |
After a succinct briefing, the teams were unleashed at 9am. The hunt start was efficiently conducted, with a few pleasant surprises.
There were only 3 short hunt sectors; where for 2 of these, the answers would not appear across the road. Surely the task for the hunters would be made simpler, as they needed to concentrate solely on one side of the street.
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| Ruben giving final briefing |
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| Hunters getting the papers |
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| More hunters waiting |
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| Ming Yang and brother |
The question sequence had also been fortunately restored much to the delight of the hunters; an undeniable evidence that past lessons had been duly grasped.
The COCs also included a cryptogram question, which was a refreshing deviation from the usual. A treasure would be unveiled, once the poser was solved.
Perhaps this was the magnificent beginning of a new season and nothing could possibly go wrong.
A glaring misprint on page 3 unexpectedly gifted answers to 2 questions!
Perhaps it was a slight overlook from our novice COCs! Or it was a deliberate donation of 8 bonus points to cheer up the hunters!
Alas, it was a slight blemish to the start of a potentially great hunt!
For the other questions, as expected most questions were well set! In fact, they made a decent attempt to ensure smooth surface reading on some clues; something commonly overlooked by most other COCs.
However not all posers were exactly a walk in the park. A few solutions required a bit of obscure knowledge or magnificent vision, as a few signs were small, with one particular sign almost faded.
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| Gold Q2 Beirut's hit by early cancer. |
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| Gold Q5 "Meet a Woman Day" gone horribly wrong here! |
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| Gold Q11 Gypsy Kings' number without the writer. |
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| Gold Q24 The interquartile of it are looking for aliens. |
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| Diamond Q1 Get right out New York and party with odd tart in a plaything! |
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| Diamond Q4 It is returned by alien trainee. |
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| Diamond Q13 Headline: "Horrible accident in the Midwest" |
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| Diamond Q18 Uniformity is found in newspaper issue. |
Somehow this hunt also created the dubious record of having the most Double Jeopardy (DJ) questions in a single hunt. When as many as 6 Diamond posers (about 25%) were set in such style, it was hard not to wonder if this was the best way to put regular hunters to the sword.
Perhaps it was a tad too many; surely with their cryptic prowess, these two COCs were much capable of devising other ways to stretch our hunters.
Definitely a thumbs-up for the effort and organization! One certainly can’t find fault with the logistics and the choice of location! Likewise the hunt time and food were adequate!
Rest assured that they have the potential to improve further and organize greater hunts in future!
As one hunter aptly said….
“I’m not worried about the Jeopardy of these new Double COCs; it is the Double Jeopardy of these new COCs that I worry about!”
The Winners
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| Gold - 3rd Winner |
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| Gold - 2nd Winner |
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| Gold Champion |
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| Diamond - 3rd Winner |
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| Diamond - 2nd Winner |
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| Diamond Champion |
More photos are available at THS Facebook!
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