Credit where credit is due:  My thanks go out to Bob Holt.  He's the one responsible for the finishing touches that really livened this page up.  He tracked down the images, did the formatting, and made my plain prose into a web page.

How to assemble a competitive Get-A-Clue team

Assembling Your Team

To develop this solid core of team mates, here are some things you should look for in other team members:

Find folks with a variety of skills and knowledge. Try to pull together people with different majors (or academic degrees), different hobbies, and varied interests. It would not be wise, for example, to play the game with three other computer science majors, the guys with whom you spend all of your free time, the guys who all do the same things together and have all the same non-band interests.  (Assuming, that is, that computer science majors have any outside interests).  Unless you know for a fact that these folks can bring something else, something unique, to the team despite those similarities, it would be wise to widen your search area a bit.

Have a couple of locals, at least, on your team. Knowledge of the Atlanta area is a must, not so much in identifying the clue sites, but in knowing how to get there quickly. Try to pick people who are originally from different suburbs and neighborhoods, rather than just folks who all went to the same high school. Also, try to pick someone who has had both a license and a car since they were 16, particularly if they are just a freshmen. Knowing an area and knowing how to drive around an area are two separate things.

Pick folks that you can get along with. You are going to be spending a lot of time in close quarters with these teammates of yours, and it helps if it feels like you are just hanging out with friends. It works particularly well if they are the sort of friend you would go on a long road trip with anyway.

Additionally, invite someone you do not know at all to join the team. This may seem to directly contradict the last suggestion, but let's look at it:  He's a friend of yours. You've heard all his jokes and stories. You know exactly which movie he's going to quote next. You got caught up with everything that's new in his life yesterday. So, What in the hell are you going to talk about for the next sixteen hours? With someone you know only slightly, say, as a friend of a friend, you have a golden opportunity for conversation.  You aren't going to be solving clues all the time, and you will need some way to fill the time.  Overall, the odds are good that anyone you pick will work out just fine, and not be some nut-job you want to leave at the first clue site you stop at.

In sort of the same vein, invite someone younger than you to join your team. Yeah, so, they don't have the benefit of your years or decades of schooling. Yeah, so, they don't know where any of the cool spots around town are. Yeah, so, they may contribute less to the team than a well trained dog might under similar circumstances. With all that said, however, new blood can provide two very important things. One, they bring a fresh perspective, a healthy dose of energy, even a sense of wonder, to a game that you might consider a bit tired and stale. And two (particularly for teams where quite a few members are about to graduate) if you do win the game, that freshman or sophomore becomes your all-important link back to campus, and to the band. You would not believe how much easier that makes it to plan certain parts of Get-a-Clue.

Try to avoid the temptation to have EVERYONE you know on one single team. The larger the group, the more likely it is that you will develop some personality problems within the group. Small groups not only fight less, but they can also resolve arguments faster. With a smaller team, everyone has a greater chance to contribute, and everyone will have more fun. Unless you know for a fact that the last six people you invited to join your team will enjoy sitting in the back of a rental van, doing nothing for hours on end, maybe you should put a cap on team membership early on in the process.

And finally, when putting a team together, be flexible in your team selection. If you wait too long, all of your first picks will already be on a team, and you might not be their first pick for a teammate. Of course, this is also an argument for starting early and not procrastinating, but even up to a couple of weeks before the game there are folks out there who need a team. Freshmen, being the generally clueless little things that they are, may not have any idea just how much fun Get-a-Clue is, and are particularly good candidates for last minute recruitment drives.

And one more thing...

The S.O.

Maybe you two are the exception, your boyfriend/girlfriend is so wonderful that you can spend any amount of time together, and your relationship is so strong it will overcome any hardship. It's great that you feel that way. But do you want to bet your relationship on a silly game? It's better to leave that beautiful impression you have of your relationship intact, rather than put yourselves through the unnecessary hardship of being stuck in a car together under high stress situations for a seeming endless period of time.

Even if you are sure that you and the s.o. will cope just fine with the stresses of Get-a-Clue, please think for a moment of your poor teammates, forced to deal with disgusting cuteness of the two of you being generally couple-like for the entire duration.  Odds are good, friend, that if you are paying that much attention to each other you will not contribute much to the team. For the sake of the rest of us, if not for your own, please try to find different teams.

Group Dynamics

Let's take a small group, say, at most six people, as more or less typical of a Get-a-Clue team. Now let's look for a model group we can use as a template for the ideal Get-a-Clue team. We need a group that can travel well together, in all sorts of conditions and in areas they aren't familiar with. It would help if they have experience doing things at night. They need to be able to find clues and solve puzzles. And it also would be great if they had practice splitting up and running around like a bunch of idiots when they have no idea what they should be looking for.

Obviously, an ideal Get-a-Clue team would look a lot like the meddling kids from the Scooby Doo animated TV show. So let's see how these individual members stack up.

 

	Fred. He's a natural born leader. He knows what the team's goals should be. In fact, he embodies the team goals. He naturally takes the lead in tactical situations, but knows when to lay back and let someone more skilled handle discussions. Fred drives the van, but you could also call him the driving force behind the group. Fred wants to win the game.
Daphne. She's pretty, but she's more than just a pretty face. She backs Fred up, and could probably lead the group herself, but feels more comfortable as a second-in-command. She knows what the team's goals are, but she doesn't necessarily let them dictate her behavior. She can crumble in stressful situations, so works best when she has a leader she can follow, someone who can pick up the slack if she falters. Daphne is a calming force, keeping the group together. She probably doesn't care if the team wins or not, but will go along with the group if they do.
	Velma. She's the brains of this outfit. She may not be able to lead the group, but can execute a given task just fine. When she finds something she can do, she does it, often without consulting others. She knows what the team's goals and plans are, but only participates when working toward those few she thinks will work. Without Velma, this team wouldn't be solving anything. She is a directing force within the group, keeping everyone on task. Velma likes the challenge of the game, and wants to complete it, but to her that doesn't necessarily mean the team has to win.
Scooby. He's more than just a mascot, he's a contributing member of the team. Scooby may not know what the group's goals are, but he does want to help.  With some difficult or unappealing problems, Scooby may have to be bribed or cajoled into helping, but once on task he performs like a champ. Scooby will never take the lead himself, he's a natural follower. Scooby is the binding force on the team, the member who holds everyone together. Scooby doesn't care if the team wins or loses; he's just there to have fun.
	Shaggy. Shaggy is the comic relief. He never takes the lead, and in fact will hang back and let others do the work. He knows what the team goals are, and chooses to ignore them. He will help out with a plan, but always reluctantly, and often only after being bribed. Left on his own he will goof off, and is more interested in what's for lunch than what the next clue is. Shaggy is a great guy to be around, but is still a disruptive force within the group. Other members in the group, particularly those who are easily led, can be pulled off track by Shaggy, in part because he is so likeable. Shaggy doesn't want to win, and may work against the group to suit his own interests.

Figure out who the Fred is in your group. You need at least one Fred, but more than one can be counter-productive. If necessary, pick someone to be Fred, and make sure everyone is cool with following his lead.

Find out who is the Shaggy on your team. You need someone like Shaggy to help keep peoples' spirits up, particularly late in the game when everyone is tired, but keep an eye on him to make sure he isn't sabotaging the team's efforts, either intentionally or unintentionally. If you have the misfortune to have two Shaggys on your team, you need to find some way to split them up, or they will play off of each other, effectively stopping any legitimate work the team may be doing. 

If you are the Fred of your group, try to get Velma and Scooby on your side as quickly as possible. These two characters can turn against you if they feel things going the wrong way, or if they aren't satisfied with your leadership. Daphne can be trusted to follow a strong lead, and is your natural ally, but Velmas and Scoobys often have their own agendas, and must be persuaded to follow you.

If you are the Velma of your group, be prepared to struggle with everyone else to keep them on task. You are the only one who cares about the game for its own sake. Others may want to win, or be out to make the experience enjoyable, but they all need some help staying on task. Be prepared to take more of a leadership role than you may be accustomed to. Scooby or Daphne can be a great help in this, if you can make them see the point of it. Fred, if he is smart, will give you as much free rein as he can, but Fred will sometimes make mistakes in the interest of speed. After all, he wants to win, and may not see that sometimes you need to slow down and get things right, rather than running around following one false trail after another.

If you are the Daphne of your group, you may need to figure out exactly where you stand. Do you want to win, or do you want to have fun? Or do you just want to keep the team together and keep arguments to a minimum? You work best in a support role, but don't let that gag you. Be sure your own opinion is heard and is taken into account, or people like Fred and Shaggy will run roughshod over you.

And finally, if you are the Scooby of your group, sit back and enjoy yourself. Someone will tell you what they want you to do soon enough, and in the meantime isn't there a sandwich and some coke in the cooler?

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