The 4th annual San Diego Rocket Race was a little more challenging that in previous years, but many of the teams prevailed over the machine menace. In Superficial Intelligence, the goal of the race was to prevent a future robot revolution by finding and defeating its current day computer incarnation. Twelve teams came out to save humanity, and seven teams were successful in their quest. 

Throughout most of the race, the top two teams, the Deep Space Niners and the Brownshorts, stayed neck and neck as they solved fiendish challenges and drove all over the San Diego area, looking for their next contact to help defeat the machine threat. But in the end, the Brownshorts reached the finished line first, and determined the correct code to shut down the Mastermind Control Program. The Brownshorts won the $100 first place prize, while the Deep Space Niners earned themselves the $30 second place prize.

Thanks to all the teams who came out to participate in the Rocket Race, and big thanks to our race volunteers who handed out clues and playtested this exciting adventure.

Final Standings

This year, there was a deadline for race completion. The race started at 9 am and all teams had until 5 pm (8 hours) to complete all the clues and reach the final location where they needed to solve one more puzzle. Teams could earn a five minute time bonus by solving a lunch clue, and could earn time penalties by calling in to confirm answers or ask for help. Here are the teams and their final adjusted finish times:

1. The Brownshorts - 5:44
2. Deep Space Niners - 6:39
3. Double Tap (Rule #4) - 7:06
4. The Killbots - 7:20
   
5. Rogue Squadron XP - 7:42
   
6. Klaatu Barada Nikto - 8:34
   
7. The Blade Runners - 9:15
   

The following teams were declared lost in action, not having arrived at the finish location. We can only assume that agents of the robot revolution intercepted them, causing them to delay in their pursuit.

• Xur and the Kodan Armada (reached Checkpoint 8)
• The Scoobies (reached Checkpoint 7)
  
• The Land Sharks (reached Checkpoint 7)
• The Logicians (reached Checkpoint 7)
• Pilar (reached Checkpoint 3)

The Clues

The clues from the 2009 San Diego Rocket Race were a challenging mix of puzzles and trivia challenges. Many teams sped through clues 1 and 2, only to get temporarily stumped by clue 3, aka "the root beer clue". Clue 7, the "decoder ring clue" proved to be time-consuming as well.

Photos, Blogs, and Video

Photos from George  from Xur and Kodan Armada

Who's got stories or photos to share? If you want to share your blog entry, photo or video gallery from San Diego Rocket Race 2009, just drop us a line at sdrocketrace@gmail.com!

 Back to Rocket Race Home