On 7 June 2009, some 229 youths set out to Pulau Ubin to take part in a treasure-hunt event known as ‘Lost in Ubin’.
Similar to the popular reality TV hit ‘Survivor’, participants or “survivors” of Lost in Ubin had to outwit, outplay and outlast one another in order to win the ultimate cash prize of S$200 (2nd Prize was S$150 and 3rd Prize was S$100). In this game, teams of 5 had to cycle all over the densely forested island to look for small yellow acrylic boards known as Checkpoints (CP) where they had to use a Chinagraph pencil to shade over the engravings of the CPs onto the answer sheet provided to accumulate as many points as possible. The survivor also had to unscramble the hints given at each CP to find out the location of the next CP. They had to check in at all the CPs and reach back to the jetty within three hours’ time. Failure to comply would result in a deduction of marks.
Upon arriving at Changi Jetty, the youths were given a ‘survival pack’ consisting of three bottles of mineral water, a pack of Mentos mints, an envelope containing an instruction manual cum score sheet, a Chinagraph pencil, a map of Pulau Ubin and the location of the first CP.
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The survivors wasted no time in hopping on their bikes to gain a head-start. At the beginning of the game, the survivors were spoilt for choice, with a total of twenty-one CPs to choose from. But as the game commenced, they soon discovered that they had to make several critical decisions, such as, whether to look for CPs located further away, but carrying more points; settle for CPs that were easily located but not carrying many points; or whether to look for the ultimate CP carrying the most points, but located in a obscure corner of the island. Some of the strategies included looking out for rival teams; finding the CPs they found, or attempting to conceal the location of the CPs. In the highly competitive game, rival teams were seen trading information on the location of CPs, with the hope of outwitting the other teams.
The terrain of the island was not less challenging. There were many off-trail paths that survivors have to travel on, which had bumpy down-slopes as well as treacherous up-hills. The teams had to grit their teeth and brave through the bug-infested forest.
Toward 4.30pm, it was a race to the finish, as the exhausted survivors tore down the forest trails towards the finish line. The teams were neck and neck with the top three scores different only by a matter of a few points.
Leader of winning Team 23, Peng Bo, 21, NS man commented, “One of our teammates was so enthusiastic [about the event] that he actually ferried his personal bike [bicycle] for this competition! All of us enjoyed the treasure hunt although it was very challenging. I’m elated to say that our hard work and efforts have paid off as we’ve won the 1st prize! We’ve decided to use the prize money to have a good meal with the rest of our cell group members over the week!”
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| PHOTOS :Ng Zhi Wei Ryan |
At the end of the day, though only three teams could win something, every survivor learned the importance of teamwork and more importantly, everyone had a great time! They truly outwitted, outplayed and outlasted Pulau Ubin!
