Team Carpe Diem takes the GISH 2020 Challenge!

I love games and perhaps one of my favorite types of party games is the good old-fashioned scavenger hunt.  I discovered GISH in 2016 and played it first with a group of new friends I'd met in Minnesota.   Since then, I've been an avid fan of the game for its creativity, silliness, and wide range of bizarre challenges. 

The hunts are usually held in early August and a week long, but this year a mini-one-day GISH hunt was hosted, specifically geared to be a game which would "Connect, Inspire, and Support COVID Relief."  

One aspect of the hunt that I particularly enjoy is that your teammates can be all over the world and you need to collaborate.  Since one of my work-life interests was fostering teamwork, even when you're physically separated, GISH has always appealed to me.  This year, more than ever, it's helping to show that just because we're separated, it doesn't mean we can't connect and work together.

Teams are composed of 9-15 people, but you can get your friends to help (in fact, sometimes that's needed in order to accomplish a challenge.) Here's a sampling of the pictures and videos from some of the mini-hunt's 54 challenges that Team Carpe Diem accomplished:

#4 Let your pet do something she's not normally allowed to do. (This is Scotty's chicken sharing in his DQ sundae!)

#23 The Most Organized Refrigerator - "Wrap it in White" by Rebecca Burns, Inspired by Christo & Jean Claude

#25 Take a Nap (Jack got into the action with Becky on this one.)

#27 Photoshop yourself into a post card

#38 Animal sculpture out of toilet paper tubes

#40 Side-by-side drawing of your big toe next to photo of your big toe

#51 Make a Message of support for LGBTQ+ Community

#50 Paperclip Jewelry

#6 Romantic Virtual Date

#13 Friend to keep you company (like Wilson from Castaway)

#14 Frozen Dinner next to how it's marketed

#54. Haiku about Covid-19

#43 Paint a picture in the mirror of a celebrity with toothpaste. (Nancie paints Einstein!)

#15 Balance something on your chin for at least 20 seconds

Team Carpe Diem is in the midst of making a presentation and slideshow with all of our submissions, but I wanted to post enough so you could see the variety and types of things that were on the list.

What worked well

• This was the first time that everyone on the team were friends and family of either me or Becky so we didn't have to try and coordinate with people we didn't know.
• There's an option to play "for fun" (vs. "in it to win it") which I like so that there's no feelings of pressure to perform well.
• It was great to do this with some friends who I hadn't talked to in awhile, like Shirley from San Francisco and Beth from Omaha.
• I had a lot of fun, especially with some of the silly videos like trying to sing "Don't Stand So Close to Me" or creating a Zombie Movie or the Virtual Date
• It's nice that Becky (who I'm in 'isolation' with) was such an active and funny participant!
• Nice that so many of my friends and family participated.

What could have been better

• Difficult and time-consuming to coordinate media and communication from so many different technology sources
• My video-editing skills leave a lot to be desired.
• I was especially frustrated with myself for messing up my video-recording of my virtual date!
• We didn't have any families with kids on our team and there were quite a few items that required kids.