Throughout last week, students participated in “IRC Blackout,” a scavenger hunt for a medallion with a grand prize of $250.

The Inter-Residence Council printed clues in Technician directing students to secondary clues that indicated the location of the hidden medallion.

“We had 240-something people register to play,” Brian Mathis, a sophomore in business management and programming chair for Blackout, said.

He said the clues were meant to be challenging — but not impossible.

“We wanted to offer challenges, [but also make the clues] so they’re not so impossible that only a select elite [team] could figure [them out],” he said. “We wanted people to participate as much as they wanted to and not be frustrated.”

According to Mathis, no students participating in the event cheated or sabotaged the game.

“I’m very proud of the integrity that every player exercised in the game,” he said. “We did not find a single clue removed.”

IRC sent students who registered for the hunt an e-mail notifying them that the medallion would be hidden at 6 a.m. Friday.

He added that some students camped out for the event.

Chris McHenry, a senior in electrical engineering, said he was staking out Brooks Hall, where the clues indicated the medallion would be hidden.

“We’re kind [of] prepared for anything. We’re ready for another race,” McHenry said. “I hope [IRC does] it again [next year] — we had a good time no matter what happens.”

“I don’t know what [IRC has] in store,” Steven Barela, a junior in electrical engineering, said as he waited for the 6 a.m. placement of the medallion.

“I don’t really care if I win or not,” he said after camping out for the hunt since 6 p.m. Thursday.

“We had a fun time camping out,” he added.

McHenry and Barela were two of 24 participants who were present at 6 a.m.

Instead of placing the medallion at Brooks Hall, Mathis arrived and gave the hunters a final clue. IRC also provided a breakfast of biscuits and eggs to the pre-dawn hunters.

The medallion, which was hidden by IRC staff under a sewer grate outside Daniels Hall, was finally discovered around 2 p.m. Friday.

According to Mathis, the final clue was made difficult to give the “hardcore” scavengers a “run for their money” and to allow other participants an opportunity to catch up.

Two teams of two students figured out the final clue at almost the same time and shared the victory.

The winners were Allison Kerklo, a freshman in textile engineering, Kristen Gentry, a freshman in chemistry, Lon Sims, a sophomore in economics and Gabriel Pappalardo, a sophomore in psychology.

“We worked together, so we decided to split the prize four ways,” Pappalardo said.

Pappalardo, who has written scavenger hunts for his RA programs, said he enjoyed the hunt, but complained the first four clues all “pointed to the same place so that even though my roommate and I had spent 12 – 15 hours on [the scavenger hunt], someone who solved only one clue would be just as close to finding the medallion.”

Pappalardo added he and his roommate, Sims, “really were the perfect team — Lon had a way of catching all the things I missed.”

While Pappalardo and Sims managed to solve the hunt, they indicated that the final clue wasn’t well written.

“[The clue] couldn’t have been well written,” Pappalardo said. “[Because] no one could get it until they sent out an e-mail clarifying.”

While he said he was happy with his win, Pappalardo indicated the final clue took away from the event.

“I imagine there’s a lot of people who are very frustrated it all just came down to the last [clue],” he said. “I’d like to see it done again. If they want, I’ll write riddles for them.”