The Asian American Student Union (AASU) turned UB into the site of a trivia scavenger hunt this past Friday with their second annual Amazing Race.
The race began at Baldy Hall and featured questions about Asian American culture. It also asked miscellaneous trivia, the solutions to which were hidden at various checkpoints along the Academic Spine - for example, the world map on the 9th floor of Clemens Hall and the "Be" photos in Capen Hall.
According to Johnny Pan, the internal vice president of AASU, the two-person teams received cards with 12 check boxes, which they had to get stamped at each checkpoint in order to get a clue as to where the next checkpoint station was. The first team to cross the finish line with a complete clue card won the race.
" (It was) fun, calorie burning, makes us more familiar and aware of the campus," said Andrew Widjaja, a senior industrial and systems engineering major. He and his teammate Krupa Chandran each won $75 Discover gift cards for coming in second place in the race.
At each checkpoint, teams answered questions in order to receive a clue to find the next checkpoint. Easy or difficult clues were given depending on the accuracy of the answers. First, Asian American-related questions were asked. If the question was answered correctly, the team was given an easy clue to the next checkpoint.
If the team answered the question incorrectly, they were given another chance with a general trivia question, though the clue for correctly answering that question wasn't as easy to figure out. If no questions were answered correctly, teams received a one-minute penalty before getting their next clue.
Teams who could not decipher their clues were allowed to go back to the checkpoint in order to find out the location of the next checkpoint. However, they were given a penalty for each time they had to return: one minute for the first time, two minutes for the second time, etc. The maximum penalty was five minutes.
"I never knew there were so many interesting things and obscure places around the Spine," said Gene Wang, a junior mathematics and computer science major. "It gives me a different look on our school."
Wang and his teammate, junior psychology major Joyce Wang, won a first place in the race and received a $150 Discover gift card. The third place prize was $10 Starbucks gift cards awarded to Peter Lo, a senior business major, and Diana Chan, a senior accounting major.
According to AASU President Gary Yip, the Amazing Race was a unique way to introduce and promote Asian American awareness.
"Through the trivia questions, we were hoping that, win or lose, the people who participated came out of the whole experience with a greater understanding and appreciation of Asian American culture and history."
Yip attributes the success of the Amazing Race to the hard work of AASU members who helped with planning, especially external Vice President Mollie McCabe.
"Everyone who helped out with putting this together pulled a lot of hours into fleshing out the race," Yip said, "Mollie was a major player in this process. Without her, her hard work and the combined efforts of the planning board, the race would not have been as successful as it was."
Many participants were excited after the race and said they will definitely participate again next year.
Additional reporting by Joyce Wang, Senior Photo Editor
