Posted on by Paul

Celebrate 800 contests! Be a part of the fun!!

Have you ever wondered how Andrew and Paul pull this off week in and week out?

Well, to celebrate 800 contests complete, we are going to give you a chance to be a small part of the magic.

First, for the rest of the 801-810 series, we are going to be driven by you, our loyal players. Send us your suggestions for locations to include, and we will pick from those candidates each week. We’ve received a number of good locations as you’ve seen for 801 through 804 – but welcome additional entries. Not all locations pass our rigorous tests.

The player who suggests that week’s contest will not only get an automatic 2 points for the week, but, if they are interested, we’ll bring them along for the ride, backstage and behind the curtain.

The amount of involvement is up to that week’s player, but if you are chosen and interested, we’ll give you an admin userid to the site for the week, we’ll show you how we compose the weekly contest, hint and reveal posts, and, if you want, you can be the one to post that week (putting your name forever on the site for that post). Then, after the contest posts, you can watch the guesses come in and help us score the contest for that week. There may even be a unique token of our appreciation in it for you.

So, let’s hear those great ideas for contests. There will be a maximum of 2 entries per person unless we start to run out before 810. Post the locations (lat long coordinates if you have them, something else that will help us find the site if not) as comments to this post. If we can’t use a spot for some reason, we’ll discuss it with you separately and privately take any other suggestions you might have.

35 Replies to “Celebrate 800 contests! Be a part of the fun!!”

  1. My suggestion is the Tatsinkaya Raid memorial in Russia
    48°13’53.20″N 41°18’56.76″E
    You can find the details in my post to VGT:
    https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/tatsinskaya-raid-memorial/
    This is street view but the satellite view is fairly good and you cannot find it with reverse image search, I checked it.
    I think it is is pretty hard (for me it would be impossible to find)
    Not a widely known place.

  4. 3. The Thirteen Towers solar observatory of Chanquillo.
    3. The Thirteen Towers have been interpreted as an astronomical observatory built in the 4th century BC

    9°33’40.40″S, 78°13’39.88″W

    To be seen in the documentary mentioned in ‘2’. Both sites can be combined in one contest as they are linked and seen as one structure, but can also be used as separate contests to make it more puzzling, to choose either one.

    13

  5. Here are some suggestions, along with my estimate of difficulty. How many have been used before?

    Burke and Wills Dig Tree, Queensland, Australia
    -27.6239, 141.0756
    https://www.thedigtree.com.au/the-history/
    Moderately difficult

    Bjargtangar Lighthouse, westernmost point of Iceland
    65.5024, -24.5317
    Moderately easy

    L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, Newfoundland, Canada
    51.5964, -5.5334
    Moderately difficult

    International Date Line between Big and Little Diomede Islands, Russia/USA
    65.7636, -168.9876
    Show only part of each island with open water at centre of image
    Moderately easy

    Four Corners Monument, USA
    36.9990, -109.0452
    Probably too easy

    Burntcoat Head, Nova Scotia, Canada
    claims to have highest tidal range in the world
    45.3113, -63.8070
    Moderately easy

    Interesting road pattern north of Sedona, Arizona, USA
    35.028, -111.740
    Medium difficulty

    What I would really like you to do, actually, is have a progressive, super-difficult contest to test the limits of peoples’ ability to find things. I’d like to know how people get some of them without the clue. You’d have to do it as a parallel, bonus contest instead of the regular one, so people could opt in to to meet the challenge and not be annoyed that it was super difficult. You could start with a difficult one, but feasible, and get progressively harder to the point where technically the image had some unique visual element and therefore technically be distinguishable, but unlikely to have anything notable or findable using anything but endless manual scanning – or a form of automated image search. The absurd limit might be something like a patch of nondescript forest in the Amazon, or the middle of a sandy desert, with a tiny blemish from uniformity. You could keep it running until nobody was able to find the location. I think you’d be unlikely to reach that absurd limit but you could start to get into unique abstract patterns without any known landmarks, so using Google Search would be ruled out.

  6. Here are some suggestions, along with my estimate of difficulty. How many have been used before?

    Burke and Wills Dig Tree, Queensland, Australia
    -27.6239, 141.0756
    https://www.thedigtree.com.au/the-history/
    Moderately difficult

    Bjargtangar Lighthouse, westernmost point of Iceland
    65.5024, -24.5317
    Moderately easy

    L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, Newfoundland, Canada
    51.5964, -5.5334
    Moderately difficult

    International Date Line between Big and Little Diomede Islands, Russia/USA
    65.7636, -168.9876
    Show only part of each island with open water at centre of image
    Moderately easy

    Four Corners Monument, USA
    36.9990, -109.0452
    Probably too easy

    Burntcoat Head, Nova Scotia, Canada
    claims to have highest tidal range in the world
    45.3113, -63.8070
    Moderately easy

    Interesting road pattern north of Sedona, Arizona, USA
    35.028, -111.740
    Medium difficulty

    What I would really like you to do, actually, is have a progressive, super-difficult contest to test the limits of peoples’ ability to find things. You’d have to do it as a parallel, bonus contest instead of the regular one, so people could opt in to to meet the challenge and not be annoyed that it was super difficult. You could start with a difficult one, but feasible, and get progressively harder to the point where technically the image had some unique visual element and therefore technically be distinguishable, but unlikely to have anything notable or findable. The absurd limit might be something like a patch of nondescript forest in the Amazon, or the middle of a sandy desert, with a tiny blemish from uniformity. You could keep it running until nobody was able to find the location. I think you’d be unlikely to reach that absurd limit but you could start to get into unique abstract patterns without any known landmarks, so using Google Search would unlikely to be helpful.

  7. Here’s a couple:
    Blue Lagoon, Iceland
    63°52’46.9″N 22°26’51.0″W
    63.879705, -22.447486

    Kingston and Arthur’s Vale UNESCO World Heritage Site, Norfolk Island, Australian External Territory
    29°03’26.0″S 167°57’39.5″E
    -29.057229, 167.960960

  15. 34°07’32.18″ N 117°17’39.78″ W
    First Original McDonald’s Museum
    1398 North E Street at West 14th Street in San Bernardino, California
    HINT: Some stuff to do on Route 66 – or –
    Open – 10AM – 5PM Mon-Sun
    SOLUTION: It is always debated as to whether this location is the first, since the Des Plaines McDonalds in Illinois also claims that, but the Illinois one was opened 15 years after this original one
    https://californiathroughmylens.com/original-mcdonalds-museum-san-bernardino/

    Your Celebration Special is really a great idea. I am running out of time at the moment because of sick collegues, health problems (surgery eventually) etc, I would be not realiable enough for this job at the time being. Therefore I post just if you would be run out with proposals. I collected some targets in the past just for such an event, but it is not a good time now.

  16. 51°55’13.06″ N 4°29’26.50″ E
    Rotterdam, Netherlands, Cube Houses
    HINT: roll the dice
    SOLUTION: The Cube (or Cubic) Houses are a series of unusual house design located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. They were conceived and constructed in the 1970s by architect Piet Blom as a response to the request from town planners for housing to be built on top of a pedestrian bridge.
    The cubes comprise concrete floors and pillars and wooden framing, and sit tilted on a hexagonal base. The interior of the houses are divided into three levels accessed by a narrow staircase.
    The walls and windows are angled at 54.7 degrees which provides good views of the surrounding area. However, the houses have been criticised for their lack of available space as, despite a total area of 100 sq. m, the angled structure means that only 25 sq. m is actually usable.

    Again: because of not a good time at the moment just if you run out of ideas

  17. WOGE 800 = congrats!

    EuroNews headquarters building, La Confluence, Lyon, France, 45.734575° 4.815614°

    GE capture= https://i.postimg.cc/NFPMXyqW/woge-800.jpg

    pictures of the building: https://www.google.com/search?q=euronews+lyon&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJ5vva-KX9AhX2i_0HHaLbAzUQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1280&bih=871&dpr=1

    wiki link= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euronews

    wiki pic= https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Euronews_HQ_%C2%A9euronews_photo_St%C3%A9phane_Audras_2015.10.15_(169).JPG

    architect= Paris architecture firm Jakob + MacFarlane

    good point= it’s not reverse image searchable as far as i know (not by google not by bing not by yandex!)

    stay safe

  31. I hope you like them! It was fun looking for contests. Enjoy picking the ones from all contenders.

    Looking forward to the contests.

    Paul

  32. p.s. Proposal 20: maybe better to take the whole town of Djenné as the subject of the contest. It’s on the UNESCO Heritage List.

  34. PROJECT 1 for 800th woge @ 47° 43′ 34.60″ N 09° 13′ 40.43″ E

    Prähistorische Pfahlbauten um die Alpen (UNESCO-Welterbestätte) / Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
    Uhldingen-Mühlhofen, Germany

    https://s8d3.turboimg.net/sp/9ee35adf6a18618b6418783d3d0cc789/project_1_woge_800.jpg?63248

    ***************************************************
    ***************************************************
    ***************************************************

    PROJECT 2 for 800th woge @ 43° 15′ 40.74″ N 05° 23′ 46.85″ E

    Cité Radieuse (by architect Le Corbusier)
    Marseille, France

    https://s8d5.turboimg.net/sp/c5a4b4de884b08a5ad65a3b1a13fb9e1/project_2_woge_800.jpg?69503

  35. Firouzabad
    28°51’11.37″N 52°31’56.54″E

    Firouzabad was a city in Fars Province in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was the residence of the founder of the Sasanian Empire, Ardashir I.

    The city was once called Ardeshir Chureh with reference to the founder. From the 10th century AD it was renamed Firouzabad and lies on a fertile plain surrounded by precipitous mountains and is irrigated by the year-round Firouzabad River, which flows through it in a north-south direction.

    Ardashir I (224-241) is said to have founded the city, which was once called Gur, on the occasion of his victory over the Parthian king, but archaeological finds and information from Tabari point to a foundation before this time.

    The originally circular Sasanian city was surrounded by two mud walls and a 35 meter wide moat. Twenty radial streets led to a tower-like building which, according to the archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld, was probably part of a palace complex or a government building and could be interpreted as a symbol of Ardashir’s centralistic world view. Eight kilometers away, on the bank of the western arm of the Tang-ab River, is the palace of Ardashir I with a pond-like pool and a fire temple.

    With the founding of Bishapur by Shapur I, son of Ardashir I, the city began to lose importance. From the 14th century the city was abandoned. A new city was built on the edge of the former city walls. In 2018, the area under the Sassanid Archaeological Landscape was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Iran.

    Hint:
    Former capital of a large empire, which was considered the greatest rival of the Roman Empire.

    Filoli
    37°28’13.57″N 122°18’38.72″W

    Filoli is a listed historic villa from the beginning of the 20th century with an extraordinary garden and park area of about 2.6 km². It is located in Woodside, California. The house was designed by Willis Polk for William Bowers Bourn II and his wife Agnes. Bourn was president of the Spring Valley Water Company and owner of a gold mine. The property has 48 rooms and 17 fireplaces. The name “Filoli” comes from the owner’s personal motto: “Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life.”

    The house has been sold to the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 1975 and has been open to the public as a museum since 1976. The garden is considered one of the most beautiful in the world and has received several awards. It is now a public park and can also be visited. The entire property is managed by its own organization, the Filoli Center, with around 30 employees.

    The architectural style of the brick villa is counted towards historicism, whereby European elements were also taken up here. In the USA one speaks of Georgian style. The house and grounds have served as a backdrop for many Hollywood films, including George – Who Came Out of the Jungle and The Game. It was also used as a filming location for the pilot of “Dynasty”.

    Hint:
    It got its name from the combination of 2-letter acronyms.

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