Scavenger

This is a fun idea I had with friends. I placed clues around the house, then around town, then around the Ole Miss campus. I have posted each clue as a link and may one day have a map showing where the clues were around town and campus. For now, enjoy these links!

Each clue was a QR Code referencing a very simple page hosted on a server I had access to as a student. Since several clues were public and I wanted to be as simple as possible I came up with a few quick work arounds... Firstly, I generated random numbers and renamed each HTML file on the server; I did not want my friends getting smart and realizing they could just go to the next number. Second, I generated a QR Code for each page which is how they would access the clue rather than having the clue physically there (aside from the picture clues). This brings up another quick work around I devised for the public clues to have a little security. Each page upon refresh prompted for a password which has been disabled for the purpose of sharing. I had asked Lauren what would be a decent word to type repeatedly to which she responded "banana". So, this code snippet added minimal security and for added fun, an incorrect guess redirects to the user being Rick Rolled. An example of the minimal security can be found here. I was not too worried having the password on the client side, because I was willing to bet most scans would be from a cell phone of a general user not knowing how to access the contents of the webpage. I hope this short summary gives you a good idea of the clues listed out below!

Ole Miss marked with clues Oxford marked with clues

The left image is the Ole Miss campus and the right is the Square in Oxford, MS. Each pin is where I placed a laminated image or QR code.

Clue No. Description
Starting Clue pinching tails and sucking heads
Clue 1 It's a me, in a tree!
Clue 2 Dugan's audio describing the closet.
Clue 3 Hint for the clue on the chimney outside. A button for more help had a riddle appear when clicked.
Clue 4 Riddles for the laundry room.
Clue 5 Not a riddle, but describes a closet of sorts that nobody used.
Clue 6 Fun drag and drop puzzle that corresponds with a poster I have of the periodic table of movies. Answer: Toy Story, Terminator, Jaws, Breaking Bad, Pulp Fiction, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hobbit, The Shining, The Dark Knight, Aliens
Clue 7 Redirects from clue 6. Answers are release dates in the order the previous form was submitted: 95, 84, 75, 08, 94, 03, 12, 80, 08, 86
Clue 8 This clue redirects from clue 7. It is a tweet from Dugan referring to different bulbs Helen did not bother with and so I cut a QR Code for the next clue in three pieces and hid it in each light.
Clue 9 A youtube link to the song Chandelier by Sia, referring to the chandelier in the living room.
Clue 10 A very crude layout of the house. Each dot represents where a clue was hidden and there is an extra dot where the next clue is.
Clue 11 Informing players the next hint is beyond the house. Referring to a William Faulkner statue downtown.
Restaurant Clues Placed pictures around the entrances to restaurants around downtown: Blind Pig Pub, Saint Leo, Boure, Chicken on a Stick, Summit
Clue 12 Refers to a historical marker outside of the court house. the inside joke was that Lauren used it as a way to share her location rather than pointing out what store she was near, which is more conventional.
Clue 13 Refering to the confederate statue on the other side of the courthouse whose brother statue was once in the middle of the Ole Miss campus. Now there is a contextual plaque, replacing the statue that was recently moved to the cemetery on the edge of campus.
Clue 14 A code for the alumni bricks laid past the plaque. The code is interpreted as year-row-column and the 1st on the side indicates only the first character is needed. Any combination of the letters would suffice to get the pop-up that hints to unscramble the letters. The letters unscramble to spell Kennon, a name for a campus building with a prompt to get a move on.
Clue 15 A picture of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's with a cartoon watch pasted on her wrist. This refers to the clock on the Lyceum which is Tiffany.
Clue 16 Hidden under the mat outside the Lyceum doors, a QR Code which directs to a page with a snippet of my desk on campus. It is behind a locked door with a number lock so I placed my code in binary when the button is clicked.
Clue 17 A picture on my desk. Refers to the name of another building with a bit of word play... the building name is Guyton.
Clue 18 Hidden under another mat similar to Lyceum on Clue 16. Refers to a freshman tradition of jumping into the Phi Mu Fountain. This one was fun to just find a rock and tape the laminated QR code for the next clue to a rock and plop in the fountain.
Clue 19 A poor description with yet another riddle to help. I mentioned Greek life, and the riddle steers the hint to the Divine 9. There is a monument on the other side of campus paying homage to each one.
Clue 20 I had to incorporate the James Meredith statue. The quote is in refernce to what one can find in his Wikipedia article on why he was destined to integrate Ole Miss.
Clue 21 Under Mr. Meredith's shoe was the next clue referring to a great memorial outside of the Ford Center called "The Mentor". A statue surrounded by wonderful landscape and a nice lap to hide the final QR Code.
Clue 22 I had worked so hard and had so much fun creating all of this I did not have a finale. I did warn my friends, though, and the journey was fun all the same.