By Melanie Dostis, News Correspondent
A swarm of 51 teams of 12 will dominate Boston tomorrow night as they scour the city for clues to win the Resident Student Association’s (RSA) annual 24-hour Husky Hunt.
This year’s Husky Hunt is the first to exceed the usual number of 50 teams. To add to the theme “Area 51,” RSA Vice President of Programming Jimmy Okuszka bumped the number to 51. Previous themes included “Dante’s Inferno” and “Fight Club.”
“I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before,” Okuszka, a middler who joined RSA his freshman year, said. “I picked outer-space because it gives me a lot of room for ideas. I like that it’s mysterious, dark and full of conspiracies.”
Husky Hunt is RSA’s annual scavenger hunt, which pits teams of Northeastern students in a 24-hour competition based on their ability to interpret clues and demonstrate knowledge of the Boston area. Competitors have to overcome both physical and mental challenges to gain points for their teams. After finishing the hunt, teams with the most points will win prizes. Last year the awards included electronics, items from the bookstore and student vacation vouchers.
More than 100 teams registered between 12:01 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. Oct. 24, and more than 1,200 students competed for a chance to be have their teams selected.
Those who registered took a quiz which Okuszka said was meant to weed out the less serious teams. Teams with the most right answers learned they would advance to the Husky Hunt two days later.
“It’s not an easy quiz,” Husky Hunt Committee and RSA member Alexander Chan said. “It’s very multi-layered, like a riddle within a riddle.”
According to the Facebook page for the 2011 event, the Jamaican Hopscotch Mafia, Men in Blackman, Stoop Kids on the Block and Silent Assassins are among the 51 squads that made the cut.
“The entrance quiz was really hard,” said Victoria Pope, a freshman who is part of the Silent Assassins team. “We are in it to win it.”
The hunt will start at 8 p.m. tomorrow and end at 8 p.m. Saturday, with different challenges sent to members by text every hour. Teams will also have riddles to solve and ongoing challenges, such as making a YouTube video.
Members of the Husky Hunt Committee will participate in 12 hour shifts at the Curry Student Center during the competition, where they will wait for teams to return.
“It’s about them having fun as well as us having fun,” said Okuszka, who plans to stay up for the entire scavenger hunt.
While many view the hunt as a defining Northeastern moment, others have never heard of it.
“I don’t know what the Husky Hunt is,” sophomore Jessica Shamma said.
Sophomore Dorie Neely and freshman Anastasia Nabatkhorian agreed but upon learning the details said they would love to try it eventually.
“I would do it, although 24 hours sounds a little intense for me,” Nabatkhorian said.
Chan said it represents a great bonding experience for freshmen.
“It’s a critical Northeastern moment. It’s the beginning of the semester and freshmen really get to know each other,” he said.
Okuszka said the competition further attracts a variety of students, especially seniors who have never participated and want one last chance to compete.
Participants often do not know what to expect when they enter the competition, Okuszka said.
“It’s not possible to get all the points,” he said. “There’s a limited amount of time and we really want teams to put all their focus in.”
During the hunt, teams will make their way back to Curry to return their flash-drive with pictures of the challenges.
“It’ll take us a good few weeks to look through them,” said Okuszka.
While there can only be one winning team, all groups will be invited to a midnight cruise to finally learn which team came out on top.
“We can’t reveal our secret strategy,” Pope said. “but we will most definitely be winning.”
