Raleigh Typhoon

Raleigh Typhoon:  scavenger hunt, cosmic game, exhilarating, a means to booty, boggling, bewildering, throws a curb, ciphers, over your head, midday madness, a battle of wits, ad infinitum.

The heart of downtown Raleigh serves as the playing field for the Raleigh Typhoon scavenger hunt. Over the past five years, nearly 1600 participants teamed up to find specific items, and perform tons of fun tasks in the hopes of capturing prizes. The tasks have included: getting upside down for a Red Bull can, riding a Raleigh Rickshaw, tasting delicious chocolates at Escazu, participating in a “bar olympics,” finding dozens of Frida Kahlos at Dos Taquitos, lip-syncing at White Collar, finding a “Waldo” look-a-like, playing video games, Karaoke, leap frogging, pole dancing, completing word searches, putting a jigsaw puzzle together, being a human bowling ball at Endless Grind, completing mazes, making pool trick shots, making origami frogs, Elvis lip-synche, solving riddles, competing in ladder golf and deciphering puzzles, just to name a few. One of the puzzles directed hunters to try to figure out that the, “pan-optic-cylinder,” was our iconic Clarion hotel, led them to a suite, prompted them to knock, reveal a password which granted them access to the cityscape and made them find an octopus on a rooftop. Another puzzle made participants find a fountain, figure out where the survey marker is on the Capitol building, find wolf statues that were part of the Red Wolf Ramble, and complete a mad cap “to do” list. Every year, participants have new tasks and items to find. Each team is required to bring back certain objects and take pictures with a digital camera in order to prove that they found certain items including: statues, dates, names, logos, a cup, two parks, “the” acorn, the hidden side of a building, the two sides of our great Raleigh flag, etc…

The Raleigh Typhoon is designed to be challenging, entertaining, at times educational, and definitely a great way to spend time in downtown Raleigh with your friends! The Raleigh Typhoon is not a race, but you do to complete all the tasks by a certain time in order to win. There are a few pitfalls that may delay and amuse you along the way. Yet there are rewards for coming on top.

This year, there will be five cash prizes totaling $2000 (three key quests worth $500 each and two additional quests with rewards of $350 each). The rest of the prizes will be given away throughout the day and at the Last Stop, Isaac Hunter’s. The Raleigh Typhoon 6 is taking place on Saturday June 16th and it is going to be bigger and badder than last year. Don’t miss out on the fun and discover a little more about downtown Raleigh’s treasures.

Water guns are highly encouraged (but please keep them outdoors!)  Rain or Shine!  So be prepared!