Looking for ideas for Scavenger Hunts/Poker Runs or anything that gets the cars out of the parking lot and on the road. Folks here in the mountains ain't much on digital technology so picture taking scavenger hunts are out. Just getting a playing card at various stops can get boring. Need to spice it up somehow.
In my Corvair club days we did a time-speed-distance run hillbilly style a couple of times. It was delayed start, three segments, and you had to make a purchase at a C-store and get a receipt at the end of each segment to set your end time. This was a "closest to the pin" type event for fun, so the organizer didn't have to get too fancy on leg sets. It was always a big hit. You need a big parking lot with an easy exit to start so you can set a start time for each car, some effort to map out times and legs of the routes for each segment, and three C-stores. Setting an interesting route is key, and you can make it challenging by adjusting up the leg speeds, or laid back by pulling the speeds down. We learned on the first event that you needed to specify which register at the store to use so the time on the slip matched across all cars. Good times! Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
It's a TSD, so you get a set of driving instructions that tell you to go so far down road "A" at such speed and turn left then go so far down road "B" at such speed and turn... until you land at the destination point, which in our case was a C-store where you had to run in and buy something to stop the clock for that segment. At the time on your receipt the second segment would start and you went again, and so on. The person running the event started each car on intervals with a watch, so he then could take their "time slips" at the end and see who got closest for each segment and overall to his "Official" times to select a winner. It was a down and dirty way to run a fun-only TSD. We were mostly autocross guys, so we ran legs at speeds that were, um... spirited! usually through twisty country roads. It was an absolute hoot to do. You could slow it down to make it more casual, it boils down to the person setting up the event. Edit: part of what made this fun was if you got balled up somewhere on the route, you had to try to make that time up somehow. It was all by guess and by golly for the most part, as we were not usually running calcs as navigators, but it still made the drive very eventful. Nobody ever landed exact times, we just had a task to do that made us drive our cars and work together as driver/navigator.
I’ve been to runs where at the poker run you get out of your car and do some activity’s like throw a rod and piston into tire from a distance. The more you make the more cards you draw. Or toss a hubcap at a target, ect ect. All sorts of games a guy could come up with.
My club has also done the poker runs where there is a game or activity at each stop. Stuff like fan belt toss, simple test if you can go 1 exact rotation of your tire, see who can toss a football the farthest. We did one where we stopped at the local forestry center and got permission to toss ping pong balls off their replica fire watch tower and try and hit a 5 gallon bucket. I have also runs where each stop actually had car games. One had were you would do a little course in a parking lot, then swap positions with your passenger and then they do the course.
Growing up we did lots of poker runs. Destination and draw a card, or the do something to earn a card types.. Both were fun. Had lots of games at shows too. I miss all this. Been thinking the last couple years of putting on a hot rodder olympics and using some games. One of these days i'll do it
We also did fuel efficiency runs in the Corvair world that were super competitive. Ran a course like a poker run, but filled car at beginning and end... best mileage won. At the start of the course, they taped the gas cap so you couldnt cheat. At the national convention level guys would tune and prep cars that would get mileage into to 60's or better to the gallon, with a lot of the setup being the way you drove the car. It can be a fun time, especially if you are in a group of guys with built cars who don't usually care about mileage.
The club that does the Run to Roslyn in Roslyn WA had done a poker walk every year since the beginning of the even with the only time frame being when they close the stops around town. Back the early 90's when they were filming northern exposure there that was one of the one day events that guys always were up for going to. The event is still about as laid back as one gets and a lot of folks pull in enter their car, park it and after checking in with registration hook it to town to go to the cafe or later in the day to the Brick. That event also has or Had a piston toss where the men threw a piston and rod out of something about the size of a D-8 cat and the women threw a smaller one plus some other events that didn't take as much strength. I've been to a number of multi day events that had an extended poker run or shop cruise or other driving around the area thing on a Thursday or Friday of the event. A lot of guys aren't going to leave the "spot" for anything once they have the car in the spot though.
They have coffee and donuts at the starting place. Then, off you go, through the old canyon communities in the hills of Orange county. It's a poker run, so they have stops to get playing cards. You drive several miles on the run, sometimes doubling back, so the line of cars passes each other. Then, it ends with lunch and drinks at a good Mexican restaurant. Good prizes to the best poker hands. Then the rest of the day is yours. You see old friends and make some new ones. Plus, it's set up so we don't idle in long ass lines in a river of coolant. Do a search on here for pics of past runs. The San Luis Roadsters do a mystery run, where you don't know the destination. You just drive and watch for corner workers and the turns you need to make. They drive through some gorgeous Central Coast back roads to a secret place. Usually a significant collection of classic cars or race cars, then more back roads to a catered lunch. A few nice prizes, given away by drawing entry tickets. Done by mid afternoon, so you can explore local wineries. You'll notice that the theme is a focus on driving on cool back roads. And really good food. And time to socialize.
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