The Ostrich Egg: Items, items, items

So, like I mentioned earlier, I'm going to profile a couple of the items from this year that I really enjoyed. There were nearly 300, but here are my favorites:

76. Spend a night in a major Chicago museum, a la From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. [24 points]

Sneaking into the Oriental Institute was easy ... getting the judges to count it as a major Chicago museum was not. Either way the experience of walking around centuries old artifacts with a flashlight & video camera was amazing.

3. PIE FIGHT!! Bring ten cream pies and prepare to prove your superiority old-timey comedy style [Scav Olympics]

This was a mess, an incredible mess. I think everyone got splattered!

89. Greetings, Aperture Science Test Subject #3252613. You need a friend, one that cannot speak, and thus will never threaten to stab you. Please construct a fully-functional weighted companion cube. For the best one, there will be cake. [9 points] The companion cubes had a birthday party! The cake was not a lie!

8. Life-size Battleship . We’ll need six human boat pieces from you, to be divvied up and placed as you wish. You’ll need a goodly supply of water balloons. [Scav Olympics]

I have to admit, the perfectly placed wall here made the event what it was. It was hilarious to watch and had so so many close misses & dramatic direct hits. My only wish is that I would've been warmer out, I definitely want to see this again in the future.

225. Make a dollhouse of your dorm. Please include as much detail as possible. Why should Queen Mary have all the cool stuff [81 points]

Pretty close, no? We even had mini textbooks on the desks in each room.

51. A De Lorean. We’ve got seventy-five bucks riding on this one.

So we didn't get this item. But several other teams did, the Judges' blog has a nice write up of this (and took the photo pictured above). We did manage to fake some fire tracks though ... y'know, you just missed it!