HOUDINI OF TREASURE HUNTS

Extracted from THS Tulip newsletter (Jan-Mar 2015 Edition)
Houdini of Treasure Hunts

WITH THE hunt of Soroptimist International Club of Bangsar (SICB) on 1st Nov 2014, the day after Halloween night, hunters may rightly ponder whether this could yet be another trick or treat! Would there be any more magic potions left in the COC’s bubbling cauldron to mesmerize the participants?
 
SICB Hunt with a Heart has increasingly become a signature event for VK Chong to showcase his cryptic trickery. Being his only open annual event in the Hunt Calendar, he certainly stopped at nothing to pull Bugs Bunny out of his trademark cap to hoodwink the hunters.

COC VK Chong



All ready to go!





Hunt Briefing

His past hunts already bore the hallmark of Houdini-like feats, with deliberate misdirection and jaw-dropping illusion. His entranced victims may still fondly recall his SICB gems of yesteryears; perhaps Game Plan and Etiqa? (SICB 2012); as well as Tone EyeQ and veteran Old Time (SICB 2013) readily sprang to mind.

Or the pornographic Dolphin rubber treasure question which appeared to hypnotize most male hunters into buying family-planning rubber sheaths, to his great delight; as such charity donations would be unbecoming for orphanages and old folk homes!





If that is not conclusive enough, one may remember his classic posers from Hunting for Meals on Wheels 2011. Try as they might not to fall into his devious trap, somehow most were still unwittingly beguiled by the Real Wise treasure and Dutch ‘net’ man piece!

Like the enchanting song of Siren, Real Wise treasure cleverly lulled the participants into impetuous conclusion about the Real potato chips, only for the ‘innocuous’ word Lastly to discreetly unveil the Wise alternative.

 

Like-Wise (pun unintended), Dutch ‘net’ man question seemingly alluded to the former MU goalkeeper, yet it also served as a well-hidden fodder to be deleted from Manchester United. What a sight of forehead-slapping moment during the answer presentation!

Though it may be a few months ago since the last VK’s hunt, cryptic purists should rub their hands in high anticipation of his next event.

 

Yet unfathomably not many regulars signed up for SICB hunt this year. Of course, we wouldn’t expect a turnout of NST Motor Hunt’s epic proportions, but the sight of more regular and budding hunters would be certainly most welcome.

Perhaps it was a telltale sign that either such brain-draining exercise was largely unappreciated or the jackpot failed to whet their appetite! Or perhaps after Najib’s grim announcement of subsidy cut, the participants suddenly became more financially prudent and started to work out ROI of hunt investment.

Sadly if this was the yardstick of hunt selection nowadays, they would have missed a few of the best cryptically-set questions and treasures for the year! For there is really no substitute for invaluable experience and hunt lessons learned from COC who painstakingly put such effort into his event.

VK Chong loves to pit his considerable hunt wits against the regular veterans, particularly those of a similarly cryptically-inclined character and will relish the chance to put one over these masters.

He will niftily plan his hunt deception weeks ahead, deftly fine-tuning them to the last details to dupe the unwary. 

True to his reputation, he didn’t disappoint in the latest SICB Hunt 2014. Significantly and to his great credit, a subtle change to his approach was noted; more accessible road questions, with tougher treasure questions. It was a worthy mental workout for the hunters who know a thing or two about cryptic nature.

A few route questions were carefully forged to serve as double-edged sword.

Q3 Sounds like along here you will find out what he owns.

Answer: Chetiah’s Sports Bar

 

Q4 It’s a dead giveaway with the final clue.

Answer: State

For his part, he definitely knows how the regulars think and uses such knowledge to his advantage to set his ploy.

For example, Q17 Ia akan bermula dua hari lagi.

 

For typical hunters, the natural instinct was to repeatedly comb the entire sector for DHL, but to no avail. So precious time was lost before they soon realized that SPM exam was around the corner.

How about Q26 I stare at this shape and can see a star! Maybe diamonds too?

Another tricky question to mislead participants into searching for shapes out there! Thankfully the shadow clue diamonds eventually made them wary of SK Jewellery.

  

The highlight of the hunt must surely go to the unsolved Treasure No 4 (T4).

 

“This year hunt was slightly different from last year; this time the deciding factor is in the treasure” he confessed after the hunt. “So please read your instructions carefully,” he nonchalantly reminded everyone during final briefing.

 

The set-up of this elusive treasure is somehow redolent of a famous mantra from the movie Prestige:-

 

Every great magic trick consists of three acts.

 

For the first act Pledge or Set-Up, a magician casually displayed a cage and proceeded to lock himself inside before a curtain was raised.

 

VK’s Pledge seemed to be his 2 sheets of treasure questions.

A general instruction of treasure questions was typically printed on the first page, together with the first 3 treasures; followed by 2 more treasures (T4 and T5) on second page. Then the hunters were given a series of code to decipher.

T4 Utilize the instructions to help you figure out this treasure.

2-8-1      4-12-6    4-6-3      4-5-2      3-4-1      1-4-3      4-8-3      3-1-3      2-2-2      4-2-2      3-8-2 3-12-1 2-1-1

The numbers shall decode to a message I reveal with pleasure,

Spaces are omitted so words run together one after another,
Once you have it deciphered bring it back for it to matter,
To feed my sweet tooth one pack please in any variable measure.

Next came the second act, The Turn, where a magician would have disappeared when the curtain was lowered. The audience would try to figure out the vanishing act and usually thought they know the secret.

Here, VK purposely conjured a set of what-looked-like instructions within T4; to lure the hunters into thinking they have solved T4 with Oreo Ice Creams.

Although the misspelt treasure did miff some suspicious hunters (as the actual product was Oreo Ice Cream), they couldn’t ferret out other solution.

Just when the audience thought they know where the magician could still be hidden on the stage, then the final act, Prestige will be unveiled.  The magician would appear seated among the audience to their astonishment!

For his Prestige, VK unveiled another secret in his general Instructions (see below), where another message can be decoded using the similar set of number code, leading to a completely different treasure. Voila!

Instructions

1.. Solve the clues immediately and search for the Treasures.
2. The Treasures can be found anywhere between Start and Finish.
3. Write in the answers before submitting all your Treasures at the Finish.
4. Treasures must be submitted unopened and in its original condition unless informed otherwise.

Upon such revelation, the hunters could only hold their breath in amazement of such misdirection and illusion.

Conclusion

All in all, great credits should be bestowed for his diligent effort and technique in conjuring such trick. For the hunt community, such treasure questions were rare indeed and most cryptic hunters would secretly hope more such gems to come from VK or other COCs in the future.

And no wonder, a hunt novice cheekily remarked his initial VK as probably “Very Krafty”!

How apt indeed!

Hunt Winners

Closed Category - 2nd Runner Up 





Closed Category - 1st Runner Up





Closed Category - Champion

Open Category - 2nd Runner Up

Open Category - 1st Runner Up



Open Category - Champion



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Info Release from Hunt Organizers

Dear Hunters,

"Hunt with a Heart 2014" is a charity motor hunt organized by the Soroptimist International Club of Bangsar in support of the campaign, Community & You - Educating Young Women to Lead.

The motor hunt shall be a half day event to be held on Saturday, 1 November 2014. The route shall take the hunters from Dataran Maybank, Bangsar to Premiere Hotel, Klang with a sumptuous high tea included as part of the participant entry fees.

Attached are further details about the motor hunt (pls refer here). Should you have any inquiries regarding this event, please direct them to Helena Cheah (tel: 012-2121361, email: cheahhelena@yahoo.com).

By the way, an Early Bird Special is in store for teams who register before 17 October 2014.

A word of thanks in anticipation of your support of this charity event.

Regards,

Take Five Event Management

(on behalf of Soroptimist International Club of Bangsar)

For the review of its past hunts:-

Soroptimist Hunt 2013

http://huntnewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2013/11/sicb-charity-motor-hunt-2013-hunt-with.html

Soroptimist Hunt 2012

http://huntnewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2012/11/soroptimist-hunt-with-heart-2012-news.html