Untamed with the Lester Tang Conjecture: Interpretive Text Scavenger Hunt

Peter and the WOLF (and Tom and Tobias). In order from left to right, that's Tom with the WOLF, Peter with some papers, and Tobias.

There was a scramble to the playground. Hanging from a play structure were several packets of papers. They were pretty high up--high enough such that folks needed to jump to grab them. Some of them dangled lower than others--so that the first people to get to the play structure could have the easiest time reaching a packet.

Our team had a stepladder, but it was back in the trusty green van. Could anyone on our team jump high enough to grab a packet? I tried, failed. I was a data point in the "White men -> Can't jump" correlation. Fortunately, someone (not me) on the team noticed a packet which had been knocked to the ground. So we didn't need a stepladder; we didn't need to jump; we did need to keep our eyes open.

The packet eight some snippets of paper. Each snippet had some interpretive text on it. Some zoo-ish interpretive text. We were supposed to find the exhibits described by the text. Each exhibit had been adorned with a sticker. Each sticker had a letter. When we had all of the letters, we could put them together into a password to enter into the WOLF.

...
• Letter: ___
  • [These types of animals] are macropods (meaning "large foot").
  • Their long, thick tails help with balance while hopping and feeding.
  • [These animals] are the largest species of macropod.
• Letter: ___
  • The [animal] freds in shallow water, capturing frogs, tadpoles, insects, small snakes and crabs with its sharp, narrow beak.
  ...

We had a map of the zoo. Mercifully, the Shinteki folks had mostly chosen things which were marked on this map. E.g., can you find the macropod in this excerpt from the map? I thought you could.

We scurried around the zoo. This was a great way to start things out. Not everyone on the team knew each other. It was good to see how we worked together; it was good to get better acquainted.

I asked about Wesley's proposal to swap secret words. The team voted against it. I grumbled but acceded. My main reason for wanting to swap secret words with other teams was so I could schmooze with other teams. That might help me long-term in the world of gaming, but might work against our team if this gamble turned out to be a bonehead maneuver.

Soon we had all of our letters. We put them together and entered them as a password into the WOLF. The WOLF displayed some text with our next instructions: go to the Children's Zoo (an area within the main zoo) to pick up our next clue.

At the gate to the Children's Zoo, a couple of us waited outside while a couple of us went in to find and get the next clue. I was one of the ones who waited outside. Wesley was there. I regretfully told him that we would not be exchanging secret words.

Soon someone found our next clue and brought it out. It was a numbered series of black-and-white photographs. There was a photo missing--oh, there it was in the bag of crap. The first photos in the sequence showed the Palace of the Legion of Honor, close to Land's End. It was time to head for the trusty green van.

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