The charity hunt challenges the brightest minds in finance and other industries to an all-night marathon puzzle-solving contest through New York City to raise money for Good Shepherd Services
Over 200 participants will tackle a game which, in the past, has had them playing mini golf with lasers, lighting up skyscraper spires, and planning the seating chart for Kevin Bacon’s wedding, to beat the competition and demonstrate superhuman ingenuity and resourcefulness
The last Midnight Madness event in 2013 raised $3 million dollars for Good Shepherd Services
NEW YORK, NY, JULY 29, 2015 — Midnight Madness, an urban puzzle-solving contest experience that raises money for Good Shepherd Services, returns to New York City this August.
Over 200 of the brightest minds in finance and other industries will compete in the elaborate scavenger hunt, which, in the past, has required knowledge of everything from military alphabets, circuit wiring, ’80s songs and video games, to New York historical locations.
Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, PDT Partners, and SECOR Asset Management all have returning teams. Cantab Capital Partners, Global Atlantic, and Pine River Capital Management, previous participants on the Goldman Sachs teams, return this year to compete for their own organizations. Joining for the first time are teams from Bloomberg, Ernst & Young, KPMG and other financial and tech institutions.
Challenge creators, Mat Laibowitz, PhD and Dan Michaelson, have designed a series of “cleverly camouflaged, incredibly ingenious and devilishly difficult puzzles” — the answers to which indicate the location of the next puzzle, and so on, until the finish line. Laibowitz is the founder of Futuruption, whose mission is to design, develop, and deploy engaging experiences in the forms of augmented environments, reactive architecture, interactive installations, and unique products. Michaelson is one of the founders of Linked by Air, a graphic design partnership where design and technology are intertwined inventive processes, often focused on the production of public space, both in the world and online.
The last Midnight Madness event, in 2013, raised $3 million for Good Shepherd Services through sponsorship of the 30 teams that competed. Good Shepherd Services is a nonprofit that helps young people growing up in poverty find opportunities for success. It operates over 80 programs, which help nearly 30,000 youth and family members in struggling neighborhoods throughout New York City.
This year’s event will help underwrite the cost of Good Shepherd Services’ construction of a new state-of-the art community center in East New York. This new facility will serve 1,000 children, youth, and families each year through a range of programs and services that promote community development with a goal of contributing to the social capital, strength, and vibrancy of the whole neighborhood.
In-depth coverage of the 2013 event was provided by a New York Times reporter who was embedded with one of the teams. Additional coverage can be found in The Wall Street Journal, Quartz, ABC News, Bloomberg Business, and the Daily Mail.
WHO:
Mat Laibowitz and Dan Michaelson, Midnight Madness creators
Elisha Wiesel, Goldman Sachs partner and Good Shepherd Services board member
Lindsi Shine, INsider CEO, Midnight Madness event planner
WHAT:
Midnight Madness 2015 — an all-night charity scavenger hunt of intricate riddles and puzzles on the streets of New York City that raises money for Good Shepherd Services, a nonprofit that helps young people growing up in poverty find opportunities for success.
WHEN:
8PM Saturday, August 8, 2015 into midday Sunday, August 9, 2015
WHERE:
Starting point: a secret location in Manhattan to be announced next week; and various locations throughout New York City
