For a while now, I’ve been planning on developing a road rally/puzzle rally for my friends and extended friends. Finally, I’m pulling it together.
There are a couple of different kinds of road rallies. They go by different names and variations, but these are the core ideas
One is known as a TSD (time/speed/distance). In this kind of rally, a team (typically two people -a driver and a navigator) is given a set of route directions to follow, and the speeds at which they should travel the route. The route will generally consist of rural and quieter back roads. The goal of a TSD Road Rally is to travel the correct route at the correct speeds, and arrive at “checkpoints'” precisely on time. You are scored on how closely to the correct time you arrive. A Road Rally is not a race, and no rally will ever require you to drive in a reckless or illegal fashion. Arriving too early at a checkpoint hurts your score, as does arriving too late.
The second is a puzzle rally. In this case, a team is given a set of clues and puzzles which will lead them from one location to another. At each location they must answer questions to earn points and then end in a final destination.
This kind of rally can easily be explained by this clip from Midnight Madness. More details can be found at nayrium.com. Their second video link isn’t working correctly, so I’ve copied both videos here for review.
Explanation:
Example clue solving:
My plan is to combine the best of both. I’m going to have puzzles as well as driving clues.
When I was about 10 years old, my mom used to participate in, and design road rallys, that were hybrids as well. I was always too young to participate (as they wound up at bars in the end), but I’ve always wanted to do it myself.
My rally will be family friendly. The end location will be a place we can all hang out at and enjoy ourselves and eat and drink.
I’ll need to pick a weekend that is free from SCA events and (hopefully) on an odd week to make it accessible to my law enforcement friends.
This is the kind of thing where you enjoy the company of your team while you are solving. Enjoy the drive and the competition against the other teams. Then, kick back, relax, and tell stories of getting lost etc. at the restaurant.
I’m going to design and put together the whole thing and then send out some invitations. I really hope to get a good group of folks together, as these are really alot of fun, so I encourage you to invite your friends along as well. I’ll just need to get a final RSVP count of teams so I know how many packets to put together. My goal is have this ready by the end of the year, but we’ll see how that fits into the schedule.