Posts Tagged activities

Adventures On The Innov8 Run Hunt (Pt2)

Picking up where I left off in the first post on the Innov8 Run here.

. . .

Once we were back on track, we had to quickly solve the first 5 questions that were located in the vicinity of the section. As time was against us, we couldn’t take our own leisure to ensure we got all the right answers and some sacrifices on the tougher question had to be made. Similarly for the next 2 question in the following section, we somehow overshot the location and were not successful in locating the answers. All in all this was not a good start for our team. Next we had to hunt down a specific Samsung billboard using the instructions provided via the tulips. After getting completely lost and stuck in a nasty jam, we had to call in to the CoC for assistance to set ourselves back onto the right path whereby we managed to get to the location with the billboard and took the team picture with the billboard featured in it.

Once we were done with the picture, we once more made our way to Menara KL where the last pit-stop and submission point for our first sector answers. After braving the KL jam and making it to Menara KL, we handed over our answers to the CoC present and were told about our next challenge. We were required to complete, all 3 of us, the famous AJ Hacket’s Flying Fox down from the base of the tower and we were supposed to use the Innov8 phone to record pictures and more importantly videos of us completing the challenge. Suffice to say, we all completed the flying fox challenge and got ourselves some memorable pictures and videos out of it. Personally I enjoyed the challenge and the experience of flying down the slope of the Menara KL hill with the beautiful panorama of KL on my left.

Whilst Daniel composed the video of our challenge with the flying fox on the Innov8, both Azri & myself participated in a not-as-simple-as-it-seems analytic challenge of trying to arrange part of a puzzle into a complete arrow shaped design with the 90 seconds allotted. Sadly we failed to complete the challenge and did not earn the bonus points. Sigh! Next we were given our next set of clues and tulips. After a quick lunch break we were back on the trail and proceeded to our next location of the junction of Sungai Wang & Jalan Sultan Ismail based on the cryptic clue provided. There after locating the second Samsung billboard  and quickly snapping a picture of the team in front of the billboard, we referenced our tulips and GPS software to get to our next location – Petaling Street.

At Petaling Street we meet with the CoC whom provided us with our instruction and next challenge – a speed SMS challenge. Leaving Daniel, the resident Innov8 expert of the group – to complete the SMS challenge, Azri & myself proceeded to decipher the 10 clues for the answers that were all about in the famous Chow Kit market. Needless to say this is not an easy feat as we had to deal with the huge crowd of shopper and cramped walkways. Nevertheless I think we did much better and managed to get at least 8 of the 10 question answered correctly.

We also had to complete another 2 challenges called Mata Kuching and Shopping Trail respectively. In the Mata Kuching challenge, we had to gulp down 1 whole cup of Air Mata Kuching in 15 seconds or less to earn the points. Luckily we were super thirsty at that point and the challenge proved to be a slam dunk for us. For the Shopping Trail challenge we were required to find 5 treasures of natural items that fit the clues provided. Sadly we only manage to get 1 treasure before we decided that we couldn’t risk being late for the next check in and abandoned the challenge. Another sigh!

Back in the car, we proceed to the next sector check which was the Batu Caves as shown the the MMS clue provided. Using the tulips and Innov8 GPS feature as our guides we got on our way and made it to Batu Caves after navigating through a spot of congestion on the Batu Caves route. At Batu Caves we submitted our answers and single treasure before being given the last set of tulips to the final pit-stop and check in which was the Sakura Kristal restaurant in Taman Melawati. We leaned that due to the very bad congestion in KL the hunt had been thrown on track and the last portion of it was being cancelled in lieu of the fact that it was already 7pm and dusk was well on its way.

Thus we made our way to the Sakura Kristal restaurant, checked in and submitted our passport and photos taken of the entire day to the CoC stationed there. Our last requirement was to compose a slide show of our pictures and videos taken during the entire hunt for submission in the best video category. Sadly due to some technical issues and faults of our own, by the time Daniel had completed the entire slide show, the submission window was already closed and all our hard work was for naught. Still we didn’t take it too hard as we realized that our mistakes earlier in the day left us with little time and required us to zip through most of everything we had to do.

Finally as we sat down to a nice dinner whilst awaiting the announcement of the winners of the hunt, I manage to get some hands-on time with the Innov8. Due to the fact that I was the team driver, my exposure to the Innov8 had been pretty limited thus far. So for the next 15 minutes I manage to peruse the various functions and features of the Innov8.

Based on my short time with the Innov8 Phone, these are the stand out features of the phone:

  • 8 Megapixel camera that totally rocks!
  • Video capabilities that are no pushover also. 
  • Multimedia capabilities like slide show creation, video editing and etc are all mind blowing!
  • GPS feature that works reasonably somewhat well more so when coupled with Google Maps. The Navfone software was a painful experience though.
  • Web surfing that works on demand and is flawless.
  • Great preloaded 3D games of Asphalt 4 & FIFA.
  • Optical mouse slider that is to die for. 

Just after dinner was over with, Jag from ToS began the answer session where we were shown the answers to the clues for the hunt. This was followed by the first round of lucky draws where both Daniel & Azri each manage to bag a prizes. Unfortunately my star wasn’t shining bright enough and I did not manage to get any prizes.

After the lucky draw, the first round of prize giving were up and 2 of the participants who were deemed most persevering were awarded with bluetooth headsets. One was a lady who drove all the way from Tapah to participate in the hunt. The other contestant awarded the prize is Cherrie (my mate Brandon’s wife) who completed the run whilst she was pregnant. Cherrie all I can say is ‘You Go Girl‘! Lastly the best video prize was awarded to Marcus’s team. I have to say their video blew ours out of the water and definitely deserved to win the award. The second round of lucky draw proceeded and was followed by the presenting of the best Marshall prize and then we finally came to the crunch time.

The winners of the hunt were announced by Jag and the team in first place managed to bag themselves each a brand spanking new Samsung Innov8 phone with 2nd place receiving Senhauser headphones and 3rd place receiving Samsung bluetooth headsets. Suffice to say our team did not manage to win. Still we had ourselves a great time, participated in a superb hunt, met some awesome people and all in all it was worth it.

To Samsung, I have to say my sincere thanks for selecting me to participate in the Innov8 Run. I had fun and I’d definitely be back for any future Samsung events.

Want to read other prespectives on the Samsung Innov8 Run hunt ( as if mine wasn’t detailed enough ;)
Then checkout these blogs:

  1. Lynxlee
  2. Azri
  3. Run With Me
  4. Munster
  5. Kelvin
  6. Y-Leng
  7. Joo Hui
  8. Saimat Kong

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Adventures On The Innov8 Run Hunt (Pt1)

This past Saturday the 1st of November 2008 couldn’t have come too early for me. I was eagerly anticipating the day of the Samsung Innov8 Run that I’d been shortlisted to participate in. For those not familiar with what the Samsung Innov8 Run is – well basically it’s a treasure hunt styled race to the finish among the lucky contestants. The Innov8 Run was organised by Samsung in lieu of the product launch for the brand spanking new Innov8 i850 phone from Samsung.

The CoC (Clerk-of-Course) for the hunt is from Time Out Solutions (ToS) and speaking from what little experience I’ve had in treasure hunts thus far this year – ToS are fantastic hunt setters with fun people working with them to make hunts like the Innov8 Run a great outing altogether.

So lets get back to my tale of the Innov8 Run. The contestants were supposed to be at the briefing location and flag-off point by 9am. We were already made aware that this hunt would be a day long affair and that we should come prepared. So bright and early Saturday morning I made my way to the Samsung Service Center located off Federal Highway where I meet up with the other contestants and also the other 8 bloggers that were at the special briefing with me last week. My predetermined teammates Daniel & Azri was soon there and the three of us were soon strategising on our attack plan for the hunt. There are a total of 15 teams of 3 contestants and 1 marshal per team that made up the participating contestants.

At 9am, the rest of the contestants began getting their team stickers and thus finding out whom they were teamed up with. Daniel, Azri & myself were slotted in Team 15. Next the hunt briefing was held with the first 7 teams going to the briefing whilst the last 8 teams duked it out to decide their flag off time. Here is where our first experience of the day with the Samsung Innov8 phone – we were required to battle it out in Asphalt4 street racing game that comes with the Innov8. Each team had to send 2 representatives, Daniel & myself for Team 15, who had to attempt to score the fastest time to finish the race in order to score our team a prime flag-off position.

Once we were done with the game, our turn for the briefing was at hand and we proceed to the briefing room where Jag from ToS conducted the hunt portion of the briefing. By the way I have to say hats off to Jag for conducting what is surely the best hunt briefing I’ve participated in for this whole year. Jag was then proceeded by Samsung’s Innov8 expert (didn’t catch his name) who gave everyone a crash course preview on the Samsung Innov8 phone that we were going to be using during the hunt. Each team was provided with 2 phones – 1 with Naviphone GPS software preloaded and the other with a Maxis 3G sim card that enabled Internet connectivity. Once the briefing was over, we were provided with our Adidas sponsored shirt that we were going to wear during the hunt and given the all important list of instructions, clues and tulips for our hunt and the all important passport for getting the stamps at the completion of each section of the hunt.

In the final minutes before the flag-off at 11.30 am, the participants we treated to a rousing kick-off speech by Samsung’s General Manager. Remember the gaming we had to do earlier. Well as it turns out Daniel’s score manage to bag our team 5th placing in the hunt flag-off. Great job Daniel! Our marshal for the race was Kugan and together with him we began our last minutes preparations.

As we lined up in the kick-off formation, we pored over the instructions and the hunt questions whilst trying to figure out the first cryptic SMS clue that we had just been given. The unique angle of this hunt is that the Innov8 phones were our portal to all important information like SMS & MMS clues. As our team was flagged off, we immediately headed to the our First destination Wisma KKAUM located opposite Taman Jaya. Now we were supposed to use the Innov8 phones’ GPS capabilities utilizing the Naviphone mapping software. However things began on a rocky note, as we had some teething problems using the GPS software. Weirdly the instructions given were at times too late to allow for us to make the required turn. However we somehow managed to make our way to Wisma KKAUM only to find out later on that we were supposed to have made out the first challenge stop located in the Astaka Field just before Wisma KKAUM.

Finally we reversed our steps, made it to the challenge point where Daniel & Azri proceeded to complete the blind folded challenge and netted us our first stamp on our passport and our very next clue in the form of an MMS. Back in the car, we quickly headed off to the destination shown in the clue which was Menara KL. Here is where the biggest mistake off our hunt was made – that is we failed to REALIZED that we were supposed to follow the tulips given to us earlier. So lo and behold we found ourselves in near KL in a jam when I asked for the clue list and then only saw the tulips on the page behind it! Realizing our blunder we quickly made our way out of KL to the first destination stated in the tulips which is the Mc’Donals near the Digital Mall. Yikes… precious time was lost to us due to our error!

Look forward to my further adventures on the hunt. Click here for Part 2 of the hunt!

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