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"Missing Droid X Real-World Give-Away" Contest (1st Post:Updated)

Spent 3.5 hours today in the RR HoF - went from basement to 6th floor - every room - THREE TIMES!!! even looked outside!!
I agree, HardRock Cafe is possible - didn't have time and already spent $32 today on this game - $10 parking, $22 to get in!
I even went through the gift shop and looked thru all the CD displays!!
I asked 2 employees and they seemed truely clueless...
Even went through Johnny Cash's bus!!!
Doesn't mean it isn't there - maybe they are REALLY hiding it! I figured it would be somewhat visible.
 
jonnyk110 said:
Spent 3.5 hours today in the RR HoF - went from basement to 6th floor - every room - THREE TIMES!!! even looked outside!!
I agree, HardRock Cafe is possible - didn't have time and already spent $32 today on this game - $10 parking, $22 to get in!
I even went through the gift shop and looked thru all the CD displays!!
I asked 2 employees and they seemed truely clueless...
Even went through Johnny Cash's bus!!!
Doesn't mean it isn't there - maybe they are REALLY hiding it! I figured it would be somewhat visible.
Click to expand...

What about the near by parks?
Noticed a multitude of small green areas on google maps: Voinovich Park, Willard Park, Fort Huntington Park, Erieview Plaza, Donald Gray Garden, and the Fountain of Eternal life (who's statue base looks like an eye).

I was gonna go, but I am in Pittsburgh & it seems too far to take the trip, just to check them out.
 
jonnyk110 said:
Spent 3.5 hours today in the RR HoF - went from basement to 6th floor - every room - THREE TIMES!!! even looked outside!!
I agree, HardRock Cafe is possible - didn't have time and already spent $32 today on this game - $10 parking, $22 to get in!
I even went through the gift shop and looked thru all the CD displays!!
I asked 2 employees and they seemed truely clueless...
Even went through Johnny Cash's bus!!!
Doesn't mean it isn't there - maybe they are REALLY hiding it! I figured it would be somewhat visible.
Click to expand...

HALT!!! I just realized something... One of the top rules in planting a geocache -- I know this isn't a geocaching game, but it's close enough -- is that you never hide a cache in a location that it costs to enter. Not saying this is definitely the case here, but for the sake of fairness it should be. It may be prudent to rule out the HOF until more clues have been given.
 
slider5634 said:
HALT!!! I just realized something... One of the top rules in planting a geocache -- I know this isn't a geocaching game, but it's close enough -- is that you never hide a cache in a location that it costs to enter. Not saying this is definitely the case here, but for the sake of fairness it should be. It may be prudent to rule out the HOF until more clues have been given.
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I agree it's not going to be in a paid place. But it also isn't going to be somewhere that it is seen as a possible explosive device, given all the recent scares. So to me that makes me think a park.
 
Louis6507 said:
However, if the contest ends up with the phones only being given away in large cites, ie. Miami, New York, Las Vegas, etc..

I'm just simply stating that if Verizon only drops phones in such large cities where the chances of a "Droid Hunter" finding them are very rare....I'd feel like they strung me along and wasted my time.
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I'm going to have to disagree with you. As much as I'd be upset that I didn't really get a chance to win it if it's in a big city it makes perfect sense for marketing.

They drop in big cities because there is a much higher chance someone will find it. If they dropped a phone in Worcester, MA which which is a fairly known town in MA and maybe some of New England there's a much smaller chance people there will be playing or even think to find it.

Would you be more upset if someone in a big city found it, or if no one found it because it was in a city no one was near or wanted to drive to?

Big well know well populated cities are great for contests and scavenger hunts. Everyone knows the golden gate bridge, the empire state building, fenway park, las vagas... other stuff. They are places they can give hints to that people can figure out.

I completely understand having it in big cities if you're going to have physical devices people need to find, but I would much rather it be an online contest that anyone can participate in.
 
SiXiam said:
I agree it's not going to be in a paid place. But it also isn't going to be somewhere that it is seen as a possible explosive device, given all the recent scares. So to me that makes me think a park.
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Well, that depends on where you are... In some places a strange package in a park absolutely would scream "explosive device" to the residents.
 
Tabe said:
Well, that depends on where you are... In some places a strange package in a park absolutely would scream "explosive device" to the residents.
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Normaly I'd argree with you. However, I've seen waterproof camoed ammo containers successfully hidden in parks and places you'd never think to look in a million years. I know it's possible to do. Not saying the VZW marketers are this smart, but I don't want to rule it out as a possibility. For all we know, they could be in locked magnetic containers hidden under tables, benchs or anything else that hasn't been used in a long time.

P.S. I saw this on the Find Droid X map. @finddroidx on Twitter if anyone is curious... "just another idea, clue said it had 'no choice' one synonym coud be "between a rock and a hard place" is there a hard rock section?"

After seeing this, I'm thinking the Hard Rock Cafe might be worth a serious look.
 
JrzDroid said:
umm, there are now two DroidLanding accounts.
The newer one says that the old one was hacked
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Yeha it's been up and known for a while. Most of us agree that it's a fake trying to keep people from playing. A few people are still following it anyway even though it's been silent.


New plan.
Someone go out to one of the potential locations preferably the Sahara Casino or R&R HoF.
Start looking everywhere under tables, counters, exhibits.
Make sure people see you looking at all these things.
Cause a big scene and get arrested.
Force verizon to give you a droid X for having clues that make you search in these locations and look sketchy.

Profit!
 
Welp, my Verizon LG Env just broke! Now I have NO phone. I'm hoping this will give me the edge in drive for NEEDING to find this phone in Cali. :(
 
Here's my theory.

The event hasn't started yet. No Droid Xs are currently being given away. Verizon knows that their clues have been very vague. They don't expect people to actually go looking for them yet. This is because the actual give away won't occur until a particular date. If I had to guess I would say sometime this weekend. When the event starts, and Verizon is at these various locations, the clues will be very clear and simple to figure out. It will require that you print something out to prove you are part of the scavenger hunt, and not just some random pedestrian that happened to be in the vicinity. The give away will last 8-10 hours and each station will have 2 or 3 Verizon employees.

Right now I feel like some of you guys think you are Tom Hanks from The Da Vinci Code :D There's no way Verizon is going to make this promotion that difficult.
 
I doubt it would very easy, I mean how many droids Verizon is ready to give away..? If we talking about 12 different locations, and you think there are going to be multiple units, 2-3 Verizon employees, and event will last 8-10 hours, then we talking about hundreds units to be given away
 
BuTbKa said:
I doubt it would very easy, I mean how many droids Verizon is ready to give away..? If we talking about 12 different locations, and you think there are going to be multiple units, 2-3 Verizon employees, and event will last 8-10 hours, then we talking about hundreds units to be given away
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Lets say they give away 500 phones and each phone costs them $200. That's only $100,000 - tiddlywinks for a company as large as Verizon. How much does one 30 second commercial on prime time television cost? After all, this is nothing more than a marketing campaign at it's finest. They aren't giving away phones out of the kindness of their heart. Plus, how long until that $100,000 investment turns into a profit? Verizon will sit back and count their money like Scrooge McDuck as you make your cell phone payment every month.
 
I disagree that the phones/tokens aren't hidden yet. I think they are out there and ready to be found. The biggest problem? We have no specifics on what we're really looking for.

Let's assume one is hidden "at" the Rock and Roll hall of fame. What led us there? Two words: "Buckeye", and "Rocks". Is it on the grounds? Inside? Nearby in a park? Who knows... At this point unless you happen to spot the phone itself (unlikely) or some other easily recognizable symbol such as the red droid eye, you could be looking directly at the container and not even know it.

Also, if the treasure hunt clues are well constructed then every clue will be relevant to finding the phone. Taking #12 as an example I haven't seen any explanation offered as to what "amber waves", "heartland", "robot eye", or "no choice" mean. Are these words any less important than "buckeye" and "rocks"? Maybe, but I doubt it.

Also, what about the seemingly nonsensical clues? For example, "Is it a hundred miles away or right under your feet?" Does that mean they're literally buried "under your feet"? No one knows. Has anyone tried digging yet?

I've also seen a lot of speculation about finding a VZW or MOTO employee present at the location. I think this is misguided as well. Why? I think VZW/MOTO simply hired a marketing firm and said, "let's have a treasure hunt". Poof, there's a treasure hunt and no one except _maybe_ the highest levels of VZW managers know anything specific about the contest.

Just my $0.02
 
AJ_EVO said:
Lets say they give away 500 phones and each phone costs them $200. That's only $100,000 - tiddlywinks for a company as large as Verizon. How much does one 30 second commercial on prime time television cost? After all, this is nothing more than a marketing campaign at it's finest. They aren't giving away phones out of the kindness of their heart. Plus, how long until that $100,000 investment turns into a profit? Verizon will sit back and count their money like Scrooge McDuck as you make your cell phone payment every month.
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dookie1 said:
amen.

they're giving away the phone, not the service.
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Right above... I'm starting to think that it might be the case. I think it's a possibility if they're giving away the phone and not the service.
 
AJ_EVO said:
Here's my theory.

The event hasn't started yet. No Droid Xs are currently being given away. Verizon knows that their clues have been very vague. They don't expect people to actually go looking for them yet. This is because the actual give away won't occur until a particular date. If I had to guess I would say sometime this weekend. When the event starts, and Verizon is at these various locations, the clues will be very clear and simple to figure out. It will require that you print something out to prove you are part of the scavenger hunt, and not just some random pedestrian that happened to be in the vicinity. The give away will last 8-10 hours and each station will have 2 or 3 Verizon employees.

Right now I feel like some of you guys think you are Tom Hanks from The Da Vinci Code :D There's no way Verizon is going to make this promotion that difficult.
Click to expand...

I'm with you that the real hunt hasn't started yet. The DX won't go on sale for 2 more weeks, at the very least we have several more days of clues before they are going to let us start finding them. My theory is a little simpler than yours though. The first clue for #12 told us the Buckeye State. Pretty clear what that meant. The next one referenced the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. What if that wasn't supposed to literally mean the HoF, what if it was just meant to narrow the search to Cleveland? The next couple of clues narrow it a little more and clues after that start narrowing the field even more.

They are doing this as a marketing gimmick after all. They won't want us finding them TOO soon, it would rob them of some of the marketing buzz.
 
beerhound said:
I'm with you that the real hunt hasn't started yet. The DX won't go on sale for 2 more weeks, at the very least we have several more days of clues before they are going to let us start finding them. My theory is a little simpler than yours though. The first clue for #12 told us the Buckeye State. Pretty clear what that meant. The next one referenced the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. What if that wasn't supposed to literally mean the HoF, what if it was just meant to narrow the search to Cleveland? The next couple of clues narrow it a little more and clues after that start narrowing the field even more.

They are doing this as a marketing gimmick after all. They won't want us finding them TOO soon, it would rob them of some of the marketing buzz.
Click to expand...

I believe it would help with marketing because it would put the phone in the hands of real people, who would show it to their friends, making the friends want one.
 
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