Navigating LV an Urban Challenge

By Erica D. Johnson erica@asvegassun.com

Pop quiz: This establishment shares its name with a talking simian from a "Planet of the Apes" flick.

The answer is Caesars. And more than 200 trivia buffs who ace similar questions about Las Vegas could be one step closer to winning $50,000.

Urban Challenge, a company that organizes scavenger hunt races in cities nationwide, is holding its final competition Saturday at 7:30 a.m. at Jillian's in Neonopolis, 450 Fremont St.

The race is the culmination of 19 races, which were held between May and September in cities such as San Francisco, Boston, New York and Atlanta. The teams competing Saturday placed among the top 10 finalists in other races.

Game organizers said winning the game takes a combination of endurance, intelligence and and the ability to think fast.

"These are the best and the brightest that Urban Challenge has to offer," Kevin McCarthy, the game's creator, said. "But it's such a test of brain and brawn that too much of one and not enough of the other can't win."

Each team will be competing to find 12 unmarked checkpoints within a seven to nine-mile radius of the starting point. Contestants must solve riddles, word scrambles or trivia questions for clues.

Team members will use a digital camera to photograph themselves at each checkpoint. They can only travel by foot or public transportation.

KVBC Channel 3 weatherman John Fredericks will be the race's "skip man," McCarthy said. If a team finds Fredericks and takes a picture with him, they can skip any one of the checkpoints.

Contestants can use cell phones, the Internet or other people for help during the race, which takes about three to four hours.

"I call it the most difficult open book test you ever had," McCarthy said. "The better you are at thinking and running at the same time, the better you will do."

McCarthy, a businessman from Phoenix, created the race last year when he was looking for a way to entertain his 12-year-old daughter and her friends at her birthday party.

Contestants competing in Saturday's race said they had various strategies to win the challenge .

Attorney Robert Smoler, who competed in the Chicago, Boston and Dallas races, spent Thursday evening reading Las Vegas guide books and studying area maps with his partner.

Smoler, who lives in Chicago, said the game is different from other competitions in which he's participated.

"The race is very engaging because it requires you to be totally absorbed in this race physically and also organize what you're doing and solve the clues," Smoler said.

Terrence Lee and his wife, Catherine, who won the Minneapolis race in July, said they are trying to familiarizing themselves with the area by walking around the Strip and downtown.

"Las Vegas is a little bit more than we expected in terms of how big it is," Lee, an engineer, said. "You see it on movies and get a good idea. But it's very impressive."

Other contestants said they plan to rely on their support crew for help during the race.

Denise Biehn and her partner brought seven family members and friends with them to Las Vegas.

Biehn, an attorney, said she even asked a Secret Service agent for help during her last race in Washington, D.C., in December.

And while she's not sure she'll emerge the winner, she said she knows what she'll do with the money if she wins.

"If I won the $50,000, the first thing I'd do is make something happen to my teammate so I could take the whole thing," Biehn said jokingly.