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The words "Big Shot" were all the information that our participants
had to figure out what to do next. Seems like a pretty obvious course of action,
don't you think?
Big Shot -- The Setup
High above the glistening lights of the Strip, Game Players arrived at the top
of the Stratosphere needing to locate and retrieve the next clue. The most
likely way to do that? GET ON THE RIDE.
The Big Shot attraction has four sets of four-seats-each surrounding a giant pole, so
that its 16 riders have a view in all directions. A cursory inspection of the
ride loading area reveals nothing... so the clue-searchers must buy a ticket and strap in.
The ride shot upwards into the Vegas night, and as it began its descent
suddenly the next clue became visible-- attached to the rooftop of a small
control shed next to the loading area, is a giant A# number. See & memorize that
number, or you'll be riding again.
(A call to the A# explains that you can pick up the next puzzle down at street
level.)
 Team Stories
Many teams didn't know what to expect here, and as a result, many DID have to
ride twice. The orange team, for example, had only sent up 2 players to get the
clue, and of course if the players aren't sitting on the correct side of the
ride (or are just not paying attention), then the A# would be missed. Lucky for
them they have stomachs of iron...
Behind-the-Scenes
As soon as 2 days before the actual Game, we weren't certain that the Big Shot
location would be possible to use. The management hadn't been in touch
with us, and we were very concerned that the game was too long, so we debated a
great deal about whether to cut the site. On Friday, we got a phone call
from the management, and Kevin immediately went up with the sign to mount it to
the roof. The orginal A# number was many more digits long-- something like
7327492. We thought it would be more interesting if players had a
difficult time getting all the digits. In the end, the decision was made for us,
when the Friday-night windstorm blew through town: in the high winds, part
of the sign ripped and blew off the roof, and all that was left was "A#73".
Given our flexible IT department (Walter), we knew it would be a lot easier to
change the A# number in the database than it would be to go back to the roof of
Big Shot, so the A# number was changed.
Also, Big Shot was a location we could easily
*eliminate* if the game was running too long. We could either:
- have Lenny Kravitz send teams to Cobalt directly, completely skipping Big
Shot, which closed at 1am, (this happened to 2 or 3 teams)
- change the A# text to just tell you to go straight to Cobalt, (which happened
to most teams) OR
- play A# text that described a magazine rack on the street below where you
would pick up the next clue. No teams actually had to do this, as we were trying to
move the game along. Click on the CLUE section to see the clue you would
have had to solve...
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