[Hunt03] Solving with friends

["Mark Gottlieb" <timhunt earthlink net>]

I wanted to make a follow-up comment to something Lance said. (Don't worry,
Lance; no need to duck.)
 
> This is true about splitting any team, yes: but then again, I'd love to
> solve the Mystery Hunt with, say, Dan Katz.  Or with Katherine, with whom
> I have only solved one thing (a flat competition in Newark) in spite of
> two years of rooomate-friendship.  Or, for that matter, with Eric; or
> Elaine or Tivol, with whom I do not believe I've ever solved anything at
> all; or, indeed, pretty much everyone else getting this email.

> You simply can't solve the Mystery Hunt with *all* of your friends (or
> indeed all potential-friends, or there'd only be one team).  Choosing a
> team is saying "Though I would love to, I won't be able to solve with a
> large subset of my friends."  Splitting a team is merely adding a few 
> more
> people to that subset.

Aye. Since I graduated and moved away from Cambridge, making captaining a
team no longer feasible, I've happily bounced between teams. I've played on
Setec Astronomy, Eleusian Nights, and ACRONYM, and the experiences have all
been wonderful. I've gotten to solve with lots of my friends this way --
just not all at once.
 
> I may form my own team (and, indeed, if I do, I will probably attempt to
> attract many of the people I recruited onto Acme, just as Mark would,
> forming his own team, take Mike and Amanda, and try as hard as he could 
> to
> get Zack).  

It's probably best for me to clarify my mutinous "I'll fight for Zack"
statement. :) I brought Mike and Amanda into the Hunt, and I'm sure they'd
stick with me if I wound up on another team. I also brought Zack into the
Hunt: He was a friend of one of my teammates on Chaos, the team I ran as a
student, and thus became a valuable Chaos member for two years even though
he didn't travel in from Pittsburgh and I had yet to meet him in person.
Two years ago, I recruited him into ACRONYM. However, unlike Mike and
Amanda, I have no idea if he'd go with me should the decision have to be
made. Luckily, Katherine is comfortable with the size of our team, so she's
not kicking me out yet. Hooray! :P

Mark/Wombat