University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt
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The University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt (or S.cav Hunt) is an annual four-day team-based scavenger hunt held at the University of Chicago in May. It is often called the largest scavenger hunt in the world. During Scav Hunt, teams compete to acquire items off a list of approximately 300 items, with each item assigned a point value and evaluated by a panel of judges. Items involve performances, construction, arts and crafts, research, travel and finding obscure objects. Lists typically include at least one item that takes place on the University's main quadrangles while students are in class, a party on Friday night, a road trip (with its most distant point from campus being 1,000 miles or less)[1], an item encouraging team members to donate blood, and Scav Olympics, which includes original games and athletic competitions.
Scav Hunt was founded by Chris Straus, who organized the list and judged items with Cassie Scharff, Diane Kelly, Nolan McCarty, and Rick Jeffries.[citation needed] Perhaps the most notable item that has yet been completed was from the 1999 list; a breeder reactor in a shed was successfully built on the main quadrangle.[2] The item itself was a joke referring to the "Radioactive Boy Scout" David Hahn. The students irradiated thorium with thermal neutrons and observed traces of uranium and plutonium.[3]
In 2002, Scav Hunt was the subject of a documentary titled The Hunt.[4] The 2007 Scav Hunt was also the subject of a documentary, Scavengers.[citation needed]
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[edit] Judges
The Scavenger Hunt committee is a registered student organization at the University of Chicago. The list is compiled by this panel of judges, who also do the majority of preparation for the Hunt and evaluate completed items. The judges begin compiling the list almost immediately after the end of the previous Scav Hunt, and continue to add items throughout the year. Judges, of course, are sworn to secrecy of the contents of next year's list.
People who wish to become judges submit an application usually consisting of a sample list and a questionnaire. They are then interviewed by the existing judges. Judges are University of Chicago students, and those chosen to join their number are often previous team captains or perennial participants of the hunt. Actual methods of judge selection, however, are kept secret. Usually, parts of the sample lists of the newly chosen judges are added to next year's list. New judges are generally chosen near the end of the calendar year.
Judges and those involved in making the list are the members of the Scavenger Hunt Committee known as "Hot Side Hot." Those who help organize Scav Hunt without becoming a judge are known as "Cold Side Cold", whose members are not permitted to know the contents of next year's list or otherwise participate in Hot Side Hot's secretive preparations.
[edit] Notable items
- A team member's umbilical cord, to be eaten by that team member. (96 points) [5]
- A real live, breathing elephant. (500 points)[6]
- A breeder reactor built in a shed, and the boy scout badge to prove credit was given where boy scout credit was due. (500 points) This item was completed, although the team only came in second place.[7]
- A zeusaphone. (300 points)[8]
[edit] Past results
[edit] 2009
| Place[9] | Team | Representing |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Mendicant Cingulata | Snell-Hitchcock |
| 2nd | Ron Paul Presents: Ron Paul's Ruff Ryders | Burton-Judson Courts |
| 3rd | Dinosaurmageddon | Max Palevsky (sans Hoover and Flint houses) |
| 4th tied: | Team Ragnarok | Shoreland Hall |
| 4th tied: | John Boyer's Science Warriors | Maclean Hall and Pierce Tower |
| 6th tied: | Blint | Broadview and Flint House from Max Palevsky |
| 6th tied: | GASH: Those Meddling Adults | Graduates and Alumni |
| 8th | Davin Reed is People! | Breckinridge House |
| 9th | Lush Puppies mk IX, FIST pt Acht(ung), Deleuzian Potatoe Famine, Billmire's Scrod Settles for Missionary, Ümläut Ümläut Àccènt Gràvè, Rosebud: Everyone Gets a Ride, Sun Gods In Ur Ziggurat, Yogurt Unfrocks Her Rim, The New Dorm | Independent |
| 10th | Agent Claus and his Christmas Joneses | Hoover House and Blackstone |
[edit] Previous winners
| Year[10] | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2009 | Snell-Hitchcock |
| 2008 | Snell-Hitchcock |
| 2007 | Snell-Hitchcock |
| 2006 | Max Palevsky |
| 2005 | Max Palevsky ties with Snell-Hitchcock |
| 2004 | Snell-Hitchcock |
| 2003 | Max Palevsky |
| 2002 | Max Palevsky |
| 2001 | Snell-Hitchcock |
| 2000 | Shoreland ties with Snell-Hitchcock |
| 1999 | Burton-Judson |
| 1998 | Shoreland |
| 1997 | Snell-Hitchcock (by default, after Shoreland was disqualified) |
| 1996 | Vincent House |
| 1995 | Snell-Hitchcock |
| 1994 | Snell-Hitchcock |
| 1993 | Snell-Hitchcock |
| 1992 | Lower Rickert House |
| 1991 | MUNUC (Model UN) |
| 1990 | Palmer House, Broadview |
| 1989 | Talbot House, Broadview |
| 1988 | Chamberlin House |
| 1987 | Chamberlin House |
[edit] References
- ^ "2009 List, Rules, #10". http://scavhunt.uchicago.edu/list09.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-05-12.
- ^ "Items". http://scavhunt1.uchicago.edu/lists/1999/node2.html. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
- ^ "In Chicago, Ph.D.'s Take a Back Seat to a Degree of Silliness". http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/99/990519.scavhunt.nyt.html. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
- ^ "The Hunt". http://periphrastic.com/about.html. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
- ^ "ScavOlympics" (pdf). http://scavhunt1.uchicago.edu/lists/2004.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
- ^ "The 1997 University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt List". http://scavhunt1.uchicago.edu/lists/1997.html. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
- ^ Gary Wisby (15 May 1999). "UC junior wraps up 'Jeopardy!' college title". Chicago Sun-Times: p. 1.
- ^ "The 2008 University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt list". http://scavhunt1.uchicago.edu/lists/list2008.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
- ^ "The University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt". http://scavhunt.uchicago.edu/. Retrieved on 2009-02-28.
- ^ "The University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt". http://scavhunt.uchicago.edu/lists/results.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-28.
