Treasure Hunt – Part I
I've decided to put on a treasure hunt for our readers. Here's how it will work. About weekly, I'm going to post clues. You should be able to do the treasure hunt from your desk. You will need a decent brain, a computer with an internet connection, maybe a phone, and maybe a fax. You'll never actually have to get off your rear end, though "virtually" the clues may take you all over the country. I have no idea how many clues (how many weeks) I'll drag this out for. That will probably depend on how many readers participate. At the end, whoever solves the last clue first will win some sort of prize. I have no idea what it is, but it won't cost more than about $20.

First, some ground rules:

The treasure hunt will involve (i.e. mention) lots of real businesses all over the country. They have no clue they're part of this, so please don't bug them.

You will need to keep track of all the answers to intermediate steps along the way, but don't put any of the answers in the comments. At the end of the hunt I'll ask you for all the answers, and you'll need to have them all, going all the way back to this part*.

OK? If you don't get it, ask questions in the comments.

The hunt begins:

You are in the most populous city in Arizona. It's the early afternoon of Yom Kippur 2005. You're Presbyterian and your business partners are Jewish, so your office is closed and you've got the day off. You've decided to spend the afternoon seeing the latest movie with Alan Tudyk. You find the only 12:40 pm showing within the same city and you get a ticket. You enjoy the movie and then decide you feel like pizza. You cross the street that the theater is on, and see a Domino's. You pick up some lunch and ask the people there how late it's open, in case you'll feel like pizza for dinner. You grab one of their menus. You look at their phone number and imagine it as a 10 digit integer (formed by the area code followed by the phone number, so the phone number 800-765-4321 would become the integer 8,007,654,321). Domino's phone number written as an integer is interesting because it has an eight digit prime factor. Find that eight digit prime. (Let's call it D.) Then find the next smaller prime number (that's the largest prime number smaller than D). You'll need it to start the next clue.

That's the end of part one.

I would love some comments to let me know if any of you are doing it, and whether you think this is too easy / too hard / just right. Also, if you need clarifications about a clue or about the rules, comment away. But don't put any of the answers to the clues in the comments. I'm also open to suggestions for a prize. If any Coffeehousers want to do some of the future posts, send me an email. If this gets zero interest, I'm happy to call it quits now.

* For this part, you'll need to record for later (but DO NOT put in the comments) the name of the city, the name of the movie, the name and address of the theater, how late the Domino's across the street is open that day, that Domino's phone number, its eight digit prime factor (=D), and the largest prime number smaller than D.

Part II - served up by Doctor Bean @ 12:25 AM