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As Promised: The Premiere of Streets Quest!

by andrewjmac

Summer is over, and it took the Summer Game with it. But don't fret! We've got a whole new game to play: Streets Quest! Each month, you'll have a quest to complete that will start with a riddle. Find the panel from the Downtown Ann Arbor Historical Street Exhibit that the riddle describes for your first code and badge. With that badge, your Quest is unlocked! The three parts of your quest will require you to look closely at the photographs in the online exhibit, stand where the panel does on the street and look around, and navigate through Old News to find articles and photos related to the panel. By doing all of this, you will complete your Quest! And you'll get amazing Streets Quest points which you can use for something eventually, I'm sure! I'm sick of telling you about it. Find the answer to this riddle to start on your first Quest:


Your code is the number of years,

The Old City Hall sat ‘cross from here.

No chutes, lots of ladders,

A siren-song clatter’s

The soundtrack to Streets Quest’s premiere.


Streets Quest #1
echo theme_summergame_badge(461,462,463,464,465);
?>



Good luck, Questers!

Comments

Submitted by messa on Tue, 09/04/2012 - 6:23pm

Wait a minute. Are you saying that we have to actually go downtown and stand somewhere to play this game? I'm confused.

okay, for the first code, i'm pretty sure i found the panel (at least it has the same picture as on the badge) but i can't figure out the # of years?

btw, for number, do you put e.g. "54" or "fifty-four?"

You try finding somewhere to park, Bookbird. Not to mention gas was $4 a gallon last time I looked, plus finding the time to get down there AND looking for some landmark for imaginary points that may or may not ever add up to anything. No, thanks. If I can do it online, fine. If not, forget it.

Submitted by mengland on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 11:14am

Wow! I'm frustrated!!! I'm thinking I'm not the only one!(Only two players solved 2nd badge) Stuck at Online onlooker which by it's name implies I shouldn't have to go downtown to solve the first part of the badge. Found the photo, found the name of the building F........ H but it's not working. I have looked at other sites on aadl.org but same name, same info.
Oh I should add I tried clicking a closer look but nothing. Hint! Please! tearing out my hair!

I was very frustrated, too. I finally just found the right code. To find it I googled "1882 F......'s H.... Ann Arbor." I think it was the third hit down (the Flickr site) that gave me the info I needed. If you look at the second paragraph it gives you different names this building was known as. One of those names is the code.

You guys are taking the hard route! As the hint says, find the right photo and LOOK CLOSELY. If you are looking at the photo on the badge, you are on the wrong track: that building is neither brick nor still standing!

-andrew

Yes, look closely doesn't work with some of the photos you just get a blurry image. I looked at the building that is still standing closely and couldn't read anything. Are you enchancing the photo like last years Treasure Quest? I'm now stuck on second part. I've looked closely on dozen of photos. Nothing. I've looked closely at photo from the panels downtown can't read them.

Sorry to snap but a little frustrated here.

Submitted by cherylo on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 2:23pm

Awesome! A new game for my birthday (yesterday)! :) I will have to get to it later though: busy, busy, busy!

Submitted by carcarcar on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 3:58pm

I've tried to enter every combo of the year number (ex. TEN 10 tenyears, etc). Maybe I have the wrong year? Hints?

Ditto on the O...R...C .....found an ad on one of the photos but could only make out the name of the c..... the rest was blurry.
The car starts with a Ch...... if you search for American cars that start with a Ch..... I think you'll have your answer.
For the number of years search old city hall it will give you the years 19???- 19??? those are the number of years.

Submitted by Morgsush on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 4:19pm

Can someone please help me with the second code of the Online Onlooker badge and the first code of the Old Newsmakers? I thought it was coffee at first, but I have no idea what O** R******* is...
I can't read the car's make! The picture is too blurry. I have every code except for that one.

Submitted by echternk on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 6:40pm

The third code of glass gazing is so tricky that I don't know where to begin... please help so I don't wander around lost.

@mysterio, I googled that. It's an old brand of coffee, but that's not helping me find it. I presume it's to help you know you found the right photo, that there will be a promotional poster for Old Reliable in the right picture.

Are all of the photos we are looking for for this quest in the A2 Streets part of the web site? The search is rubbish, as far as I can tell, unless the beverage to keep you awake is not what it seems it should be, aka my keywords are not the right ones. I tried browsing images, but there are ones that seem to come up in search that I can't find in browse anywhere, and the browsing causes me to have to drill down through multiple layers of photobooks to even see images. It is maddening.

cherylo and mysterio , did you get the Old Reliable part? if not think simple, very simple and read past comments. You are not looking for a photo with a code but entering a code.

For the third code in glass gazing do a google map search for the name of the building (if you are not downtown). Do the street view on the map. This allows you to move around the building and zoom in and out on the names around the building. If you do this you will come across the name of a group that plays music.

Submitted by rimpopu on Thu, 09/06/2012 - 2:08pm

@jkerwin and @mengland: Thanks for your help. I found it. It didn't occur to me to use google map.

@vadnala: Yes it has his name but that is just part of it. The full code is given at the bottom of the page just as in summer game. Most of the codes for the old newsmaker are given like that.

@rimpopu: i know that some codes were like "Are you on a Streets Quest?"
but I can't seem to recognize if its a game code or not. would it say Game Code? or is it just capatilized?

it's capitalized, and it has street quest on it. it would say
Are you on a Streets Quest? Take this: GAMECODE
if the are you on a SQ part it not there before it, not a code, unless it's something you have to figure out like on TQ. Ex: find the name of this place. then you would find the name and type it in. the staff wants you to look and figure out, not find it and have them hand the code to you.

Submitted by Morgsush on Thu, 09/06/2012 - 9:15pm

I tried doing a Google search for businesses in the building, but I can't find a list of it. Help?

Submitted by KeithMc on Fri, 09/07/2012 - 2:41pm

I'm having trouble with the Online Onlooker item #3...
I found the building in the pic, and I found the tower's main use.
I've searched extensively, but I can't find a reference anywhere
(by searching) as to what is done with its peak, as an alarm!

Can anyone help, with suggestions on how to proceed?
(Search terms, which archive to look through, etc)?

[update] I did find one reference to a kind of noisemaker, but every
word combo I could think of as a potential key didn't work. (Hmmm.)

Some feedback: IMO it wasn't very nice to use a SECONDARY
name for that building as a key! It's not normally called that
in the archives! I beat my head against a wall trying every
possible combination of "FH" I could think of, with and without
spaces, apostrophies, et al. (So... Don't waste your time with that!)
Luckily, I found that hint from another user here, that took
me to the right data, from OFF from the AADL site...(Thanks!)

Some help to others: For those that haven't even started Streets Quest
yet, can't easily make it downtown (like me), and still need to unlock
the entire game, you can figure it out, by applying a bit of logic.
Start by finding the construction and teardown years of the building
in the pic. The diff is obviously your max age number in years,
so it can't be more than that. Now start from the top and work
down, entering age numbers one at a time downward from
there (in numerical format, not alphabetical) until you get it.
I got it fairly quickly that way.

BTW... A suggestion: It may be nice to have a Top Level Jump
Page link on the AADL main page, to a page indexing ALL
of the various Select Sites in one hit, like Old News, images,
old Observers, et al. (anything of the format: "[whatever].aadl.org" .)
Digging down a few layers into Reference just to get to
the aux sites isn't (IMHO) very efficient.

Thanks!

Yes, Onlooker #3 is confusing to me as well. There is a pic that talks about putting something on the tower (and shows something else removed), and the new thing can be used to "raise the alarm" as stated in the clue. But every combo of words I can think of to use as a code is not correct.

Are there multiple pictures with something being put on the top of the tower? Have I just not hit on the right combo of words yet?

BTW, I got onlooker #3 completely by accident while typing in a code. Apparently there is more than one picture showing something being placed on the top of the tower that can be used to "raise the alarm". So if anyone else is struggling to find the right combination of words including "antenna", stop right now. That's not the one you're looking for.

Onlooker #3 is driving me totally nuts. (and the Hints in this game are amazingly frustrating and unhelpful.) <frown>

Using aadl search, googling aadl.org, et al, I've ONLY found countless copies of the same darn image of CCH-jr on a ladder coming down, both singly, and in combo with a number of other pics. Under the pic it clearly states what went up.

But I've literally spent hours trying every possible binary combination of D, N, F, R, S mentioned, along with words like the A name of the thing (which someone said isn't included), Alarm, and every other possible keywords I could think of, all without success.

I see that 26 people have gotten this thing so far.

IS there another picture, description, or keyword mentioned somewhere???
(If so, WHERE?) What's the trick to this one??? HELP, please!

Submitted by KeithMc on Wed, 09/12/2012 - 9:24pm

@vadnala...: Which riddle solution are you talking about, with a "B"? (Onlooker #3, or what???)

I can't find any word under that pic with a B other than "being", and that, "Being Tested", etc didn't do it.

Let's back up... Is CCH-jr on a ladder the right pic for Onlooker #3? If not, what pic should I be looking for?

I have tried countless times to find the photos of the building for the third code of the Glass Gazing badge, but I can't find it. I can only see street view, which is too blurry, and searching for a list of businesses didn't help either. Please help?

For glass glazing #3, I quit trying to find photos or streetviews or articles on the AADL site or online. I'm sure it's possible somehow to do it that way, but I, too, was frustrated by trying. So I quit looking and just starting thinking about any local organization that might fit the clue. With a little knowledge of our city, you might think of it, too.

Not sure if physically going downtown would help or not. Haven't tried it, but it probably would.

@pk:
For Glass Glazing #3, you just need to find better shots of the building, from multiple angles and SIDES, or go visit it. Examining the writing on the exterior brickwork of the building itself will help you solve it. IOW, what you seek is not a sign in a window that could be removed or altered. In addition, finding a pic that only shows one side of the building may not answer your question.

Regarding Old Newsmakers, and the quest in general: What a lot of people don't realize is that you can often click on a found picture, and get a higher resolution copy of it. For example, the chief's ride nameplate can be easily read once you go to the original picture at full resolution, by clicking on the lower res one in the articles.

Regarding Onlooker #3: I finally got it. (You've GOT to be kidding...)
To all: Ignore ANYTHING to do with radio systems, antennas, etc. They're all misdirection. Reverse searching from the solution, I now see an old story about the building in the Observer's "Then and Now" area from 200x, that talks about the real answer.

That completes the entire Quest for me... Thanks to all, for the help.

My Feedback: A VERY disappointing game.
- Asking people to go to a SPECIFIC location to even START the game is just plain mean. I wouldn't mind having to go to ANY branch to start (after all, the idea OF branches is to "outreach"), but asking someone to specifically bus or drive downtown where parking is bad & expensive is IMO not nice.
- Many of the "clues" are totally useless (eg of the form "find the right pic, and look closely"), or even misleads you by implying wrong answers. How do you KNOW if you even have the RIGHT pic? For example: I wasted many hours on Onlooker #3 trying bad codes, because time after time I had been led to the guy on the ladder, talking about radios. I counted close to a dozen URLs, showing the same pic.
- I had to solve about half of the answers by applying logic, instead of searching for clues. I never did figure out where many of the solutions were actually located.
- The solutions weren't obvious, even once you thought you HAD the right pic or story. Unlike the Summer Game where the key was at the bottom or found in "caps" once you found the right page, there was no way to tell what the answer was for many of the clues, nor even detect if you were on the wrong page.
- The last Badge is totally worthless, other than acting as a "bonus". It is simply awarded once done. (IMO it should have just been called "Completion Bonus"). This means that once unlocked there's really only three badges to "work for" in this game, which isn't a very big game at all.
- BTW... One of the answers was just plain WRONG. According to the historical sites, one of the buildings was actually in a different historical area than the answer indicated. I only got it because I also tried the adjacent areas as keys when the correct one didn't work.

To be constructive ("always bring me solutions, not more problems"): IMHO what would have made a better game, would have been to:

A) Go through a LOT of DIFFERENT historical buildings, instead of focusing multiple answers on just a few.buildings.

B) Include some badges about street history (hey, this is a STREETS Quest after all! :-) Examples: Many streets have changed their 2-way / 1-way / direction status over the years, been altered, or even renamed (eg the Glacier Way vs Glazier Way story.) There are also other strange street questions, like why we never completed the lower loop around AA with Eisenhower to Maple, the story of moving an entire river to pipes under the town to help eliminate street flooding, questions about where the old Trolley line ran, when things changed from dirt to cobblestones to paving (and even BACK to cobblestones :-), etc. Learning something about the history of AA streets might be interesting.
.
C) Talk about some of the historically interesting long running BUSINESSES as well, that were here for a long time - both ones now gone (like Schlenker's Hardware, Jacobson's, Borders, Rider's, etc.), the changing mix of downtown stores, and long running ones that are still here (like Stadium Hardware).

There are countless fascinating stories of area buildings, streets, and businesses, that would have taught a lot more about the area's history, and IMHO could have vastly improved the game.

Good luck to all other Questers!

actually, @ KeithMc, I got glass gazing #3 by thinking about the riddle and what I knew about Ann Arbor businesses and organizations. Didn't search anything or look at anything online. Just thought, and the answer came to me pretty quickly.

To add to what @KeithMc said, I think the streetsquest feels a lot more like treasurequest than summer game. It's not as much searching the AADL site as it is a quest for knowledge about AA, some of which can be found on AADL, some of which you need outside sources. Those used to Summer Game might be a little confused by that. Just FYI, I found Treasure Quest harder than Streets Quest, so those who've played Treasure Quest may not be as frustrated by Streets Quest as those who didn't play TQ (onlooker#3 excepted). We get a month to finish it. Sometimes I had to walk away and come back later.

I agree that onlooker#3 was pretty misleading. What seemed like the obvious search terms to try led you to a picture that easily fit the riddle, which did talk about installing an item to "raise the alarm", but wasn't the correct picture. Perhaps there wasn't time to check the obvious search terms before launch and make sure they didn't give you misleading results? It did come pretty quickly on the heels of summer game.

I do enjoy learning new things about Ann Arbor and Ann Arbor history, and refreshing my memory of AA things I once knew but hadn't thought about in a while. I think the idea of Streets Quest is great. And it's good to discover all the things I can find out about AA on the AADL site.

@KeithMc, I have done the entire first SQ from the comfort of my own home and computer, using AADL databases and Google including Street View. Just as an FYI, that it was not absolutely necessary to go downtown

That said, I *would* have gone downtown to do it if I had happened to have an errand in that area or if it turned out I couldn't do it from home. I loved doing the on-the-street badges from the 2011 summer game. The glass panels actually had code stickers affixed to their supports for that part of the game, with a parallel quest for each one in the online exhibit. I learned a lot about Ann Arbor from those quests!

@KeithMC: Till many pointed out I didn't even realize it asks you to go to downtown to look around. I just thought it is talking about street panel photos and what you would see if you were standing there. So I googled a lot and used aastreets.aadl.org and oldnews.aadl.org websites to solve all the clues. If I had to go downtown to solve this I would have never done it. I don't think aadl staff would come up with a game at this time of the year that can only be solved by going to downtown and looking at buildings. That will be wrong timing especially with the schools re-opened and winter a few months away. Your frustration with SQ is understandable. It is not as much fun as summer game nor as interestingly challenging as TQ. Photos are old, some clues are confusing and the hints are not much of a hint. I had to use my best guess for some and it worked!

Now I see what you mean about the street view being fuzzy. When I first got the code I clicked on the names of businesses listed on the building and it was perfectly clear. Now, when I try it is fuzzy. I tried from different angles and they all don't come out clear.

Anyway, if you go into google maps and do a search for the name of the building. Under the search results click on the name of the building. On the map should pop up the name of the building with different options (like street view, directions, search nearby, etc). Next to the name should be the option "more info." Clicking on that takes you to a new screen that lists the businesses in that building. Look through the list. One of the names is a group that plays music.

OK, onlooker #3. IGNORE that picture showing what's coming down (the WV) and the words underneath going up (the A). This picture does not help you in the least. It is no combination of any of the words on it. It is completely unrelated!

I am one of the 26 that got it, and I hate to tell you I got it by chance trying to solve something else. Much to my surprise. So I don't know what photo might show it. I don't know what search terms bring it up. Unfortunately, I can't give you any hints except to stop banging you head over that other, "very enticing and fits the clue perfectly but isn't the right one" picture.

Can somebody else think of a decent hint to help out? Somebody already said it starts with B. I don't
think spelling out any more is fun or sporting; there's got to be a decent hint somehow. StreetsQuest makers?

And remember - stop looking at that photo of the guy on the ladder bringing down a WV. It's not the photo you're looking for.

Submitted by cherylo on Fri, 09/07/2012 - 11:39pm

I'm stuck on the third code of glass gazing as well. It seems like the hints about a band and using google street view are pointing to the second code for Glass Gazing, not the third, unless I am missing something? At least, they helped me find the second code but not the third yet.

The street view pointed to the third clue for me. Make sure you go to more than one side of the building and zoom in on the writing (so you can see it clearer). You'll see the name you are looking for.

Aha! Try clicking into photos of the building instead of straight street view, Morgsush.

It turns out I had the right name for the third Glass Gazing code but not in full. I was missing the last 1/4, silly me.

Submitted by Morgsush on Sat, 09/08/2012 - 11:14am

But Google Street View is so blurry for me... I tried just searching for a list of businesses in the building with a few keywords, but nothing came up. Help?

Submitted by carcarcar on Sat, 09/08/2012 - 1:02pm

Do anyone know what will come of the 2011-2012 Treasure Quest points we received?

BTW I agree, this quest is quite frustrating. I feel like some of the clues are really simple but the wording makes the solution seem complex & vice versa. I'm not search which database I'm supposed to be searching in at any given time, it seems like there are several all linked together through the 'search' options.

Submitted by asiangirl on Mon, 09/10/2012 - 11:38am

Totally having problem with the second clue of the Glass Glazing quest.
I've tried all the different names of the building of the new City Hall. Is that the wrong building? I've tried the current tenants... Am I barking up the wrong building??

not to mention that recently (by streets quest standards, that is) some city hall functions were moved over to this other building either while CH was so crowded (before the new CH addition), or moved there during the construction.

@vadnala: go to old news, click on photos option on the top and now search for the building name that is the last three words on the fourth line of the clue. The title doesn't use the same word as in the second line of the clue but it does tell you who suggested it. It is a newspaper clip. The game code is at the bottom of the page. As Bookbird wrote, the games codes for this are not always given to you. Sometimes you have to look really closer at the photo and figure out the code or just use google for the information.

@vadnala: For the fourth you take the same route as before but this time search for the last word of the clue. Go through each search result till you find the one that has a game code at the bottom of the page.

Submitted by vadnala on Tue, 09/11/2012 - 6:11pm

is a new streets quest supposed to come every month or every tuesday @ 6 or what?

Finally finished glass glazing quest.
How having trouble with the second clue of the old newsmakers badge.
I keep focusing on the "spring chicken" and there's a picture of a hatchery in old news, but the name of the store doesn't work.
Anyone have a hint on what building I should be looking at?

@asiangirl, the building you're looking for "ain't" a spring chicken...it's older that that. Try focusing instead on the content of the lines after that one...about the ladder and paint.

Submitted by pk on Mon, 09/17/2012 - 9:58pm

I want to thank KeithMc for pointing the following out:

"What a lot of people don't realize is that you can often click on a found picture, and get a higher resolution copy of it. "

I did not realize this. When you click on a picture (say in Old News), you bring up a new window with the pic in it. Click on the 4-arrow icon at the bottom and you get a very large hi res picture that you can scroll around using the scroll bars on the bottom and side. Very easy to read words on signs, buildings, cars, etc.

So perhaps a better hint in SQ for some of these photos is to tell people HOW to look closer at a picture, rather than just say "look closely". It's great to learn new things about using our library.

BTW, just for fun I tried to search for onlooker #3 (even though I have it already). I searched for the term that is the code for onlooker #3 and never found a photo that matched. So I must be missing some search skills with our AADL databases. Care to share some tips, SQ makers? I'm glad I lucked onto the code or I'd still be banging my head on this one. I can't even find it when I know what it is!

I finally finished! Thank you guys for all of the help. I actually solved Glass Gazing #4 just because I was coming home from a flute lesson and just so happened to be in that part of town and look out the window of my car. It was pure luck...

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