The Night of the Ruyi…hunting the sceptre
The gamer Ilaria Simeoni talks about this amazing night…
Venice, Saturday March, 29
Our Saturday night started in Rialto at 10 pm, in front of the oldest church of Venice. There, it was given to all the groups the kit to start the game and every team was already prepared to start and win the Ruyi, this special and powerful sceptre, under the fantastic and shining stars at the end of March, without an idea on how everything would turn at the end.
A different, funny and lively night! First code arrived, I could see people running across the Rialto Bridge after few minutes, immediately I could also see the 
dream of winning very far away from me…But I could not give up at the most fascinating treasure hunt in the last few years! Let’s start! Starting was a little bit difficult and confused for everybody, our search, marked with the rhythm of text messages, brought us everywhere in the city. Well, I must say that crossing four times the Rialto Bridge and one the Accademia Bridge- I confess, I am very lazy- has been really hard! Me and my team discovered so many interesting and mysterious things among calle and campielli, laughing so much we saw curiosity that maybe are not even known to the inhabitants of this maze–city.
Of course we enjoyed a lot, it has been a great experience, we had nice breaks sitting on benches or bridges, we changed plans, had comments and interpretations about questions asked, mostly about a couple of caryatids…the only sure thing, was anyway, arriving at our goal. We had our torch, the city map and the book, we had crossed the city and it’s Sestrieri, discovered wells and flowers, façades and statues, houses of very famous men and stories about the most serene Republic of Venice, imagining sometimes the city without street-lamps, lightened just by the stars, the same stars we had upon our heads, at the end of March.
Ilaria Simeoni for Venezia da Vivere
