If nothing but your pride was on the line, how crazy would you go to win a scavenger hunt? If objects beckoned hundreds of miles away, would you answer the call? What types of emotional and physical struggles would you be willing to put your mind and body through? If repulsive, nose-hair curling, dream-haunting acts that even make Marilyn Manson and the puppet from the Saw trilogy cringe were the deciding factor whether your team won or lost, would it be worth it?

While many people can only speculate what they would do, because they may not be fortunate enough to have to make such a tough decision, it became reality for a couple of lucky Obies two weeks ago.

Enter the “HoJo Transfer.” This student-created act is by far one of the most rancid and psychologically disturbing things ever to grace this green earth. Located in a Howard Johnson hotel (hence HoJo), senior Aaron Parker stands chugging milk until he throws up, sending a projectile stream of donut-colored vomit into the wide-open mouth of his partner, senior Bryce Fotiu-Wojtowicz, who sits directly below him, eagerly waiting the transfer.

Exchanging body fluids was only the tip of the iceberg of what was a wild and crazy weekend for ten students participating in the Ultimate Frisbee’s 10th annual Shawn Margles Memorial Scavenger Hunt. At 10 a.m. on February 2, two teams gathered in the frosty Oberlin cold, eager to begin the 36-hour adventure. The teams were composed of at least one member of the Frisbee team, as well as non-Ultimate students who returned early enough for the event.

“The teams were made up of whoever wanted to be a part of it and could get their ass back to campus,” said sophomore Ultimate player Megan Lubin.

Lubin was a member of “HoJo Transfer” along with fellow sophomore Kyle Demars-Johnson, and senior Luke Herrine, Fotio-Wojtowicz and Parker. The second team, “Butche’s Welding,” was composed of first-years Hilary Burgin, Lily Perkins-High and Joannah Fine and sophomores Olivia Sideman and Georgia Skoirchet.

The event is organized by upperclassmen, which in this case were senior members of the team: Noah Cecil, Caitlin Reid and Anna Schuettge. The judges do not travel with the teams but determine the amount of points awarded for tasks. Teams are required to bring back photo or video documentation of their accomplishments. Different levels of difficulty, the distance from home and craziness are awarded different amounts of points. Reid was adamant that points are only about going all out.

“The point of the tasks is to be as crazy as possible,” exclaimed a smiling Reid.

As it can already be seen, this is not your normal scavenger hunt with a basket and list of objects bought from the dollar store that are hidden around the house by a significant other. An accurate description of Oberlin’s would be a scavenger hunt on steroids. All the events were detailed in a six-page, single-spaced list that the judges handed out that Saturday morning. At least half of the challenges involve some sort of illegal or nude activity, or both.

“There is a lot of nudity and drinking,” laughed Reid. “We say ‘don’t break any state laws,’ but everything we did involved breaking them.”

Don’t let Reid’s comments bait you into thinking that this is a Division III version of Girls and Guys Gone Wild. While craziness is an undisputed rule, the task sheet shows a variety of tasks created with the infamous Oberlin ingenuity and creativity. For example, the teams could not purchase any items from a Wal-Mart or they would be penalized.

Creativity is something that the judges stressed to the participants. Since there was no limit to how many of the near 100 challenges a team did, or stuff a group did off the list, the groups had to strategize to get the most points, picking and choosing what they felt were their strengths…if you could call it that. The teams took this to heart, traveling to places far away from Oberlin in hopes of maximizing their potential. Butche’s Welding journeyed 1000 miles to Washington, D.C. and HoJo Transfer trekked 700 miles to Michigan. Teams got points for every mile and bonuses for the most and least traveled.

There were seven categories of challenges: other colleges, people, geography, challenges at the party (which is held at the end of the scavenger hunt), activities, food challenges and things to bring back. While the entire list will not be copied down, it is necessary to highlight some of the teams’ ‘strengths.’

On HoJo’s trip north, one goal they worked on was stopping at every college they could and getting naked somewhere on campus. The farther the schools, the more points awarded. They visited Eastern Michigan University, Lorde’s College, Washetnaw Community College,  Lansing Community College and Michigan State University. At Lorde’s, the group got naked in front of an abortion memorial. MSU, however, was the highlight of the trip, according to Demars-Johnson.

“We spent most of the time at Michigan State. The others were basically stop, get naked, take a picture and leave,” he said. Teammate Herrine explained the fun Demars-Johnson had at MSU, saying he “destroyed one of their Frisbee’s teammates in a drinking contest.”

Butche’s Welding decided to try and take it up a notch. Not only did they get naked on other college campuses, but they went for an additional 200 points by trying to persuade other students to get naked with them. The team also attempted to place as many cones on as many statues as possible, racking in 250 points a picture. The magnitude of this scavenger hunt is big enough that the men’s and women’s frisbee teams from George Washington University threw a party for Butche’s.

Everything wasn’t total fun for Butche’s, however, as they experienced a run-in with the police on the team’s way to DC. They were pulled over because Burgin’s license plate wasn’t clearly visible. Rather than the usual check-up, the cops became nosy and decided to call a drug search, while they brought out their large German Shepherd. Hands up in front of them, the team members sat apprehensively as the dog sniffed and bullied its way around the black Subaru Legacy Outback. Negative results allowed the students to go free.

There are even wilder and crazier challenges than these. Members could have swum naked in Lake Erie or in the Atlantic Ocean, gotten a ride in a police car, recycled, served someone not on his or her team at a restaurant or donated blood and sperm (refusing payment). Some hilarious challenges range from grabbing a lock of hair from an Ohio University athletic player, bringing back a sign from the Richard Bong State  Recreation Area in Wisconsin and a Highway 420 to Stony Ridge Sign in Ohio.

Of the few requirements of the scavenger hunt, one of the most important was the most disgusting act. HoJo came up with its idea after Parker had been attempting to complete a food challenge of eating 18 donuts in an hour and a half. Once he reached 12, things were not looking good and the team decided to try something else. Parker started chugging a gallon of milk and the rest was history.

“It was incredibly disgusting, but it was one of the funniest things that I’ve ever seen. The whole situation was great. We walked into a random Howard Johnson Hotel, right past the front desk, all of us into the same bathroom. Then when they were actually doing it, the way Bryce was down on the floor with his mouth wide open, waiting expectantly…was just hilarious,” said DeMars-Johnson.

While Butche’s Welding’s act may not have been as extravagant as HoJo’s, it was just as potent and disturbing. The team brought back human feces. It wasn’t day-old feces and the car hadn’t pulled into a rest area so someone could do their business. Rather, a team member pinched a loaf in the car.

Regardless of the acts, this scavenger hunt is one long bonding session. After all, people are getting naked with each other all the time. Apparently overcoming the nakedness manages to bring a lot of people together, as was the case with opposing teammates Lubin and DeMars-Johnson in last year’s event. “We met for the first time, naked, rolling down Mount Oberlin,” said Lubin. The two are now dating.

Once the teams returned to Oberlin, a big party took place. Both teams had to give gifts to the judges. What happened at the party? If it went anything like the scavenger hunt, probably lots of drinking and nudity. As Cecil stated, “The ending party was a consonant moment.”

At last, the whirlwind of activity had ended. The Ultimate team has started training for the upcoming competitive season without a field (from the snow) and without a trainer, resorting instead to the humid conditions in Jones Fieldhouse. While the focus will be on their first tournament in early March at the College of Wooster, bonding experiences such as the scavenger hunt will never be forgotten.

“Two years ago I got a tattoo for one of the challenges. It’s a praying mantis. Everytime I look at it I think of the scavenger hunt,” said Reid.

If Parker and Fotiu-Wojtowicz decide to keep the video, maybe they will show their future friends and family the memorable experience they had, an experience that enabled HoJo Transfer to take home the gold.