By Sarah Medina
When CLASH invited The Bold Italic (TBI) to partake in an afternoon of drinking and adventure, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. All I knew that beautiful Friday was that we were going on a team-building scavenger hunt. Thoughts of corporate retreats and past days running around UC Berkeley at night with a flashlight flashed through my mind, but I was game for this game, whatever it was. What I didn’t expect was that CLASH could make a work event so much fun and bring out the ferocious competitor in me.
We showed up to the CLASH clubhouse on Sutter Street near Union Square. The Bold Italic team members were immediately ushered in by the CLASH crew, who were decked out in neon spandex. Their clubhouse matched their wardrobe, looking something like a room at Chuck E. Cheese set up for a rave. It began to sink in that this wasn’t going to be a normal day; this was going to be an adventure.
CLASH got its start as the California League of Adult Scavenger Hunters (CLASH), an 8 week sports league that rotated neighborhoods; its first scavenger hunt was held in Dolores Park. Founder Captain Joe Garvey realized after three seasons that he had something special on his hands; he quit his job and enrolled his roommates and friends to help him start a new venture. These days, CLASH has been using its group-party-planning expertise to set up scavenger hunts for any sort of large get-together — corporate team events, birthday parties, and, hell, even weddings. Google was one of its first customers, hiring CLASH to throw a scavenger hunt for 100 employees on their Mountain View campus. And lately, big and small companies — from start-ups to corporate companies — looking to give their employees a chance to blow off some steam and have some fun have been turning to CLASH too.
Hunts are broken down into three parts — 45 minutes of drinking and breaking into teams, an hour and a half of hunting and scavenging (eight checkpoints, several clues, a ton of hustle, and lots of ridiculous photos), and, finally, 45 minutes of scoring, slideshows, more drinking and awards. That first part, I realized, is very important. While the TBI team is small and we all know each other pretty well, I could see how you might need to grease the wheels a bit — courtesy of CLASH’s fully stocked bar — to get people loosened up around their coworkers.
If we weren’t loose enough by then, we got even more so by engaging in some actual stretching and a couple more whiskey gingers. I was feeling pretty limber, and we were all pumped to get started. War paint was drawn on everyone’s cheeks, and after a short warm-up hunt within the room, we were put into teams that were designated by colored neon sweatbands.
Once in teams, we were asked to pick mildly inappropriate team names (Screwnicorns, holla), and were handed clue packets, which had items we were all supposed to find within the vicinity of Union Square. Someone on each team was designated as the iPhonographer — for every item on the list, we had to take a picture for evidence. Then, we were off, ready to forage land previously chartered only by tourists.
The race (and it was seriously a race, so participants should wear running shoes) took us to rooftops, where we had to take a synchronized midair jumping picture; well-tread tourist destinations, where we were incentivized to seduce Betty Boop; and even inside the display window of The Gap, where we made pretty good mannequins.
Along with the main items on the list, we could do extra-embarrassing high jinks that would win us bonus points. This is where the whiskey came in; only Jameson can get me to willingly kiss a strange bald man’s head, ask strangers to help me build a human pyramid, and leapfrog off a statue in the middle of downtown San Francisco.
The best part about the scavenger hunt — besides the fact that I knew the Screwnicorns would win in the end — is that it forced me to see the city in new ways. I rarely, if ever, venture to Union Square, for fear of all the tourists and temptations to overspend. I had no idea that there were all these hidden gems in these parts until we had to uncover them for this hunt. CLASH changes up its scavenger hunts every month, so if you were to participate in another one of its hunts again, you’d probably discover new things (and, you wouldn’t be able to cheat).
It also struck me that when you’re looking for something very specific, it can change your perception of the city as a whole. Like, would you believe that in an hour and a half of dashing around Union Square, we didn’t find a single person with a Bluetooth connection? (Even at Starbucks!)
After harassing a Lyft driver, a Neiman Marcus employee, and a police officer — all in the name of good fun, of course — team Screwnicorns headed back to the CLASH clubhouse. We were pretty certain we had won; had any of the other teams crowd-surfed in an elevator or found two strangers who could simultaneously touch their tongues to their noses? I think not.
We drank at the bar, waiting for all the other teams (a.k.a. losers) to arrive. When everyone was back and all the phones were turned in with the photo evidence, we watched a slideshow of our pics making fools of ourselves in public. I’m sure the drinks helped, but I could tell everyone was genuinely having a good time. It didn’t feel like cheesy team building, but more like a fun party. But on to the important part — the results of the scavenger hunt. Sure, team building and fun times are all good and awesome, but in the end there can be only one winner.
Drum roll, please …
Just as we had predicted, the Screwnicorns came out victorious in the end. We proved ourselves to be more ruthless, more cunning, and more flexible than any other team that day. My team and I were sprayed with champagne, and we drank the sweet taste of victory from the golden CLASH Cup trophy.
At 5 p.m., the bar rang final call. We had some more drinks before I dragged myself onto BART, my face still adorned with neon-pink war paint and a little worse for the wear. But the memories will last a lifetime or at least as long as I allow them to be on Facebook.
Plan the most epic party of your life and learn all kinds of new things about the city with CLASH. Sign your company up for some serious corporate bonding. And don’t worry about the drinks or the entertainment — they’ve got it covered.
Design: Angela May Chen
Photos courtesy of Tea Ho, Sharp Shooter, CLASH
