Introduction → Leg 1 → Leg 2 → Leg 3 → Leg 4 → Leg 5 → Leg 6 → Leg 7 → Leg 8 → Leg 9 → Leg 10A → Leg 10B → Leg 11 → Leg 12
Leg 18.02 – “I’d rather win two million pesos than get drunk.”
It’s time for teams to cross the Pacific as they must now fly to San Francisco, California, U.S.A!
Teams must book seats on one of two flights departing from Seoul: China Airlines via Taipei arriving at 8pm or Hawaiian Airlines via Honolulu arriving at 9:15pm.
Once in San Francisco, teams will hop into a taxi to take them into San Francisco where they must search the skyline for their next clue. They will have to figure out that the clue is a waving red and yellow flag atop the Salesforce Tower which will be playing on the electronic sculpture by Jim Campbell entitled “Day for Night.”
Teams will have to make their way to the Salesforce Tower where they will be welcomed to the 61st floor, also known as the Ohana Floor which features stunning 360° views of the city.
Here, teams will find the first Double Yield board of the Race! (If activated.)
After checking in at the Yield Board, teams must now make their way on foot to the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero and search for their next clue.
That clue directs teams to the Vaillancourt Fountain. Here, they must assemble a replica of the controversial modernist public art installation.
Once their replica is correctly assembled, the fountain will run and a number (5) will light up in the water with their clue waiting right next to it.
That clue reveals the Road Block: Who wants a close-up view of the Bay Bridge?
For this Road Block, teams must take a RIB boat to the foot of the Bay Bridge. They will then use an ascender to climb up into the Bay Bridge center anchorage.
They must then search inside for a number on the wall (8) and then reunite with their partner to receive the next clue.
That clue reveals the Detour: Good Time or Good Fortune.
In Good Time, teams must make their way to the Tonga Room in the iconic Fairmont Hotel. Here, teams must learn how to make different cocktails. When they are able to correctly make the drinks, they will get the next clue.
This is also the Trigger Point for this Leg of the Race. If any team completes the Detour on their first try, the U-Turn or Yield will be activated on the Next Leg.
In Good Fortune, teams must make their way to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company where they must properly make 202 fortune cookies. Once they have 202 cookies, they will get the next clue.
Teams must now find a taxi to take them across the Bay Bridge to the Port of Oakland container terminal.
Here, teams will search the shipping containers for flagged ones. Using the numbers they have encountered on this Leg of the Race, they will unlock the shipping container. The four numbers are 6 and 1 (Salesforce Tower 61st floor), 5 (Vaillancourt Fountain) and 8 (Bay Bridge). There are 24 possible combinations and each of the 12 containers can be opened with a unique code. Once open, teams must search through dozens of balikbayan boxes for their next clue.
That clues points them to San Francisco City Hall. They must search the Civic Center plaza for their next clue.
And that final clue points teams to the Palace of Fine Arts, the Pit Stop for this Leg of the Race.
The first team to check-in here will win P200,000 courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+.
The last team to check-in here WILL be eliminated.
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“Director’s” Commentary
Yay! Another Leg in my hometown! Woohoo! And yes, it is a recycled Leg. Hehe. Though, it recycles what could arguably be the best Final Leg ever on TARUS. (Still a horrible Finish Line result though.)
Of course, we have some tweaks though.
This is also TARPHDME’s THIRD visit to San Francisco! But the first Night Leg.
First off, I think teams having to notice the huge yellow and red flag video playing atop the Salesforce Tower should be awesome. Since teams are arriving well after the sun has set, the Salesforce Tower will be clearly visible as teams are driven up from SFO. Of course, fog might make it a little tricky. Well, A LOT tricky if it’s a foggy evening. But we’ll just hope it isn’t, lol It should be an interesting open-ended clue for the teams.
So, for this Leg, we have a trademark TARPHDME “Remember for later” Leg where teams have to keep things or remember things for the end of the Leg. And for this one, it’s four numbers for the code to unlock the shipping containers. For maximum difficulty, we wouldn’t tell teams to remember the numbers. Or maybe at the start of the leg, tell teams to keep an eye out for numbers that will appear on the Leg. Worst case scenario though is a team does not remember one or more of the numbers. So what will they do then? Quit the task? Ask another team? It could be very dramatic, but I’m not sure what could be a good outcome.
For a little more easier time, we can point out to teams in each clue to take note of the numbers as they encounter them.
Next, teams will walk to the Ferry Building. It’s about a 15 minute walk. AT NIGHT! So that should definitely be interesting.
The puzzle at Vaillancourt Fountain is just something to help fill out the Leg. And it’s a good area in the general vicinity for teams to be doing a task in. (We’ll make sure to clear out all the poop and have enough security on hand. Lol)
The Road Block is recycled from TAR30 of course. But I’ve removed the freefall aspect. Though it can certainly be included and incorporated to make the number spotting a little harder maybe.
The Detour is half-recycled. We recycle the fortune cookie task from TAR30 which is pretty good. The fresh side of the Detour takes place in the historic Tonga Room, which is definitely a great nighttime location in San Francisco. Learning how to mix drinks is straightforward enough, but we feature a wonderful location.
Next is the big task at the Port of Oakland. I knew we weren’t going to recycle the Final Task from TAR30. But I still wanted teams to cross the Bay Bridge and have wonderful shots of them driving across AND from the 8K UHD drones too.
The additional element of the task is the digging through balikbayan boxes. With the San Francisco Bay Area’s huge Filipino population, the Port of Oakland is where all their care packages they send back home to the Philippines departs from. So what better way for a nod to that fact than by teams digging through balikbayan boxes! Fun!
Finally, an extra Route Marker in front of City Hall to feature it being lit up yellow and red. (It was a Route Marker for TAR30 but edited out.) What could be interesting is if teams tell their taxi drivers to take them to City Hall and they could end up at Oakland City Hall instead! That would be fun! Also, should we tell teams to hold their taxis here? There’s certainly a lack of taxis in San Francisco in general. (Another extra task!) But at the Port of Oakland in the middle of the night?! Yikes! Lol
The Pit Stop will be at the Palace of Fine Arts. It should be a stunning Mat location at night.
Overall, a big and very full Leg in San Francisco!