CS Class of 2009 Freshman Orientation Rules

You have been grouped into five-person teams to compete in an orientation contest. This contest will require you to move around campus as a group, collecting clues to your next destination, correctly responding to the clues with the appropriate location, and moving on to that location to receive the next clue.  The goal is to solve all the clues in the shortest amount of time.  Members of the winning team will each receive the use of a departmental laptop computer and wireless network card for the year and a $50 gift certificate to Champaign Telephone. All participants qualify for two drawings at the end of the competition, one for an IPAQ wireless-enabled-handheld computer, courtesy of Hewlett-Packard, and the other for an Apple iPod. (You must be present to win!)

 The goal of this competition is for you to get to know the campus and one another.  The competition ends promptly at 12:30 PM.  At that time, regardless of how far you have progressed, you should return to 2401 Siebel Center to eat lunch, find out if you won, and enter in the drawings.

The procedure:

 1.      At 10:00, we will begin forming you into teams.  We will give each team a Hewlett-Packard Jornada handheld computer, which contains the clues for your team, as well as a special campus map giving short (2-4 character) names for a variety of campus locations.

2.      To get started, turn on the Jornada (upper right of keyboard).  Using the stylus in the front-right corner of the computer, double click on the icon labeled “Scavenger Hunt.”  This should start the orientation program.  When everyone on your team is ready, go to step 3 to start the competition.

3.      Push the Next Clue button.  A clue will appear on the screen.  The solution to the clue is a location that appears on the special campus map.  Solve the clue, enter the location in the text field, using the short name (only the indented names – the ones ending in digits – are used), and push the Submit button.  (If you find the clue too difficult, you can request a hint by pushing the Hint button.  There are two hints for each clue; if you ask for a third hint, you will get the answer.  You also get a hint if you enter an incorrect guess; since hints are penalized in the scoring – see next page – you should try to be certain of your answer before entering it).

4.      Go to that location.

5.      Once at the location, have the volunteer stationed there enter the passkey.  Once this is done, you may want to see your score; just push the Score button.  Note that all team members must be present at each location to receive the passkey for the next clue.

6.      Go to step 3.

If your Jornada displays an “Out of memory” error or exhibits any other strange behavior during the course of the competition, try using the stylus to hit the reset key in the upper left of the keyboard.  When the desktop appears, start the program again as in step 2 above (it will keep track of your progress).  In case of serious problems, call Deb Israel on her cell phone.

Scoring:

 At the end of the event, the winning team will be the team with the lowest average solution time that has solved all 10 clues.  The score for each individual clue is dependent upon the number of hints used, and is listed in the table below.

Hints Used:	Your Score:
0	The time it took you to solve the clue or 4 minutes, whichever is less.
1	4 minutes
2	6 minutes
3	8 minutes

Note that this method of scoring encourages you to use at least one hint if it takes you longer than four minutes to solve the clue.  Additionally, be aware that travel time between locations does not count against your score, although you must have solved all 10 clues in order to win.

 Solving Cryptic Clues:

One type of clue we’re especially fond of is the “cryptic” clue, otherwise known as puns and anagrams.  If you’ve never done a cryptic crossword puzzle before, these can seem a lot harder than they actually are!  To help you out, here’re a couple of examples:

 Clue:  Dark City's corrupt ruler.

Solution:  Yardstick.

Explanation:  Ruler is the main clue.  Adjectives like corrupt, jumbled, confused, etc. may indicate that there’s an anagram somewhere in the clue, and “Dark City's” is in fact an anagram for yardstick. 

Clue:  Pyrex tray holds more than is necessary.

Solution:  Extra.

Explanation:  Sometimes cryptic clues rely on the location of specific letters in the clue.  In this case, the word “extra” is hidden in “Pyrex tray”.

When you’re done…

After lunch we urge all of you to:

• Find your way to any of your classes that are being held in Altgeld, Armory, or the Library.  These are the most confusing buildings!
• Visit the main quad to participate in Quad Day.  Make sure to look for the ACM and WCS booths to introduce yourself to your future classmates.

 Good Luck and Have Fun!  See you in 2104 Siebel Center at 12:30!