Greatest International Scavenger Hunt

The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt (GISH), formerly known as the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (GISHWES - pronounced "gish-whiz") was a popular annual event in the Supernatural fandom. Though not related to the show specifically, it was founded by actor Misha Collins, who played the fan favorite character Castiel, after a publicity stunt related to the show. Thus, a majority of the participants ended up being members of the fandom. 
During its run, the event earned several world records also raised money for charities such as Random Acts. 
== Origins ==
In 2010, Warner Brothers publicist Holly Ollis requested that Misha Collins drum up support from fans of the show during award show voting.https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supernatural-season-9-misha-collins_n_3656950 Thus, on October 24th, Misha went to Twitter and posted a link to a TV Guide cover writing, "Warner Bros. just called & they'll give me a live rhinoceros if the three guys wearing earth tones win this poll."https://x.com/mishacollins/status/28648143388 Later that same night, Misha added, "I can't do this alone & I'm not one to hog winnings, so if we win, i'll carve the rhino up & mail little dried pieces of it to each of you."https://x.com/mishacollins/status/28649400214 After Supernatural won the poll, Misha decided to return on his promise via a scavenger hunt (that would become known as Rhino Puzzle).
On December 6th, Misha tweeted the first instructions to the hunt: "To redeem rhino portion, send self-addressed, plastic-lined, stamped envelope to me at: PO Box 74557, 2768 W. Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6K1K1."https://x.com/mishacollins/status/11897344094113794 In return, Misha sent the fans clues in the form of puzzle pieces. People communicated through the internet and fannish platforms such as LiveJournal to form teams, each completing one of five rhino puzzles [Misha originally claimed there were six puzzles, presumably to create more chaos].http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/Rhino_Puzzle https://web.archive.org/web/20110219015938/https://sammwinchester.tumblr.com/post/3263113903/mishas-email The back of the puzzles revealed an email address to which to send a note signifying that the puzzle had either been completed (or was close enough to being completed to read the address). Team 3 were the first to message the email. 
From the email account, Misha sent out a list of items that needed to be obtained for the hunt. The deadline to submit the final output of the hunt by email was set at 2:27 pm PST on February 18, 2011. Items on the scavenger hunt list items included things like "a photo of a person holding an authentic rhino puzzle piece standing next to fully decorated as a Christmas tree"; "a photo of a person holding an authentic rhino puzzle piece, sitting next to a lime jello mold with a piece of the Berlin wall suspended in it"; "a photo of a person holding an authentic rhino puzzle piece and 3 parking tickets made out to the same license plate number"; "a video of a 5 year old child (or younger) playing any song by the Sex Pistols on a saxophone"; and "a video of a person holding an authentic rhino puzzle piece(s) projecting an image at least 20 feet wide of the attached photo on an exterior wall of a federal government building at night." The prize for the winning team was either cash or getting tea with Misha himself.
Team #3 won the competition.
Though the competition did result in a degree of fan wankhttps://web.archive.org/web/20110316085423/http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1269755.html, Misha noted that the community had a lot of fun with the scavenger hunt, which he enjoyed putting together. So, he promised another scavenger hunt, which would be christened as the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen.
== History ==
=== 2011 ===
The first event was held from November 20, 2011 to November 29, 2011. There were over 6,000 participants split into 621 teams with ten on each team. For a registration fee, participants had to pay $10. The prize for the winning team was a trip to Rome and dinner with Misha.https://gishwhes-2013.tumblr.com/about 
The list of items can be found here. The list of rules can be found here.
A timeline of events from 2011 can be found here.
=== 2012 ===
The 2012 GISHWES occurred from October 30, 2012 to November 4, 2012. There were more than 15,000 participants, and the victorious team won a trip to Scotland where they stayed Misha in a haunted castle. 
The 2012 edition of the hunt was the first to feature a mascot.https://gishwheshistorian.tumblr.com/post/186519589786/could-you-kindly-put-the-mascot-for-each-year-on
The list of items can be found here. The list of rules can be found here.
A timeline of events from 2012 can be found here.
=== 2013 ===
In 2013, the event was moved to summer for the first time, taking place from August 11th to August 13th. The winning team went on a Viking adventure with Misha in Vancouver.http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/GISHWHES The list of items can be found here.
During the promotional period for the event, Misha notably leaked his phone number on July 30th, which would ultimately remain active for 36 hours.https://x.com/mishacollins/status/362265167117025281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E362265167117025281%7Ctwgr%5E5b8f8dc521ef25f6948708c9fb48ecf504407f8b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fknowyourmeme.com%2Fmemes%2Fevents%2Fgreatest-international-scavenger-hunt-the-world-has-ever-seen-gishwhes This caused pandemonium in the fandom, as fans rushed to contact Misha and hoped to get a response.https://web.archive.org/web/20130803134602/https://www.buzzfeed.com/kmallikarjuna/so-yesterday-misha-collins-gave-out-his-number-on-twitter https://www.dailydot.com/pop-culture/fandom/supernatural-misha-collins-phone-number/ Fans on tumblr began to use the hashtags #Misha Collins Phone Number and #Misha Callins to document their attempts to contact Misha.https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/greatest-international-scavenger-hunt-the-world-has-ever-seen-gishwhes#fn2
=== 2014 ===
GISHWES was held from August 2nd to August 9th. The winning team earned a weekend trip in Croatia on a pirate ship with Misha. A list of items can be found here.
The 2014 edition of GISHWES garnered some criticism as some participants decided to use prompts to harass public figures on social media. Two of that year's prompts instructed participants to "Get a previously published Sci-Fi author to write an original story (140 words max) about Misha, the Queen of England and an Elopus" [worth 59 ponits] and to "get A NYT best-selling author or Tony-award winning actor or actress doing a dramatic reading of a section of this [the California Driver Handbook" [worth 112 points].https://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/dont-make-misha-collins-cry-you-guys This apparently prompted some of the participants to harass authors. John Scalzi was apparently so bothered by the barrage of social media comments asking for his response, that he tweeted: "MISHA COLLINS WAS CONSUMED ALIVE AND SCREAMING BY A ELOPUS WHILE QUEEN ELIZABETH LAUGHED AND CLAPPED THERE THAT&#39;S YOUR GODDAMNED STORY" on August 4th.
Writing for Vox, Emily St. James described the situation: The rules were amended for GISHWES in response so that points would be docked for any team found to be harassing others.
=== 2015 ===
The list of items can be found here.
=== 2016 ===
The list of items can be found here.
=== 2017 ===
=== 2018 ===
The event was rebranded to the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt (GISH) in 2018.
=== 2019 ===
=== 2020 ===
=== 2021 ===
=== 2022 ===
== Terminology ==
* Commandments: Term used for the rules and guidelines, some of which applied each year and others were subject to change between hunts.https://gishwheshistorian.tumblr.com/commandments 
* Mascots: Over the years, GISHWES/GISH had a number of mascots. Each mascot was a combination of two animals. These characters included Fograt (2012), Wooster (2013), Elopus (2014), Dinomite (2015), Slangaroo (2016), Porcupanda (2017), Possuball (2018), Assbutt (2019), Sqroose (2020), Beeline (2021), and Chillax (2022).
* Schwag Shwop: Annual merch store for the hunt, which would be open annually from 2011 to 2021.https://gishwheshistorian.tumblr.com/schwagshwop
== World Records ==
2011: Largest Photo Scavenger Hunt 
2012: Largest Media Scavenger Hunt https://web.archive.org/web/20130714034734/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/1000/largest-media-scavenger-hunt
2012: Most Pledges for a Campaign
2013: Largest Online Photo Album of Hugs
2013: Longest Chain of Safety Pins
2014: Largest Gathering of People Dressed as French Maids
2014: Most People in a Decorated Hat Competition
2014: Longest Human Chain to Pass Through a Hula Hoophttps://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-human-chain-to-pass-a-hula-hoop
== Fan Commentary ==
== Reception & Legacy ==
In a 2013 article, Louisa Ellen Stein explored the interactions between Misha Collins and his fandom- a discussion which included GISHWHES.Stein, Louisa Ellen (2013). "#Bowdown to Your New God: Misha Collins and Decentered Authorship in the Digital Age". In Gray, Jonathan; Johnson, Derek (eds.). A Companion to Media Authorship. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 403–425. doi:10.1002/9781118505526.ch21. ISBN 978-0-470-67096-5. Stein described the event as a "co-authored transmedia experience" that "through its satire and dadaist play... models the potential for a congregation of authors, both official and unofficial, to direct fannish and creative investment into digital participation."
== See Also ==
* https://gishwheshistorian.tumblr.com/
* https://x.com/gishhistorian
== Sources ==
Category:Supernatural
Category:2011 Events
Category:2012 Events
Category:2013 Events
Category:2014 Events
Category:2015 Events
Category:2016 Events
Category:2017 Events
Category:2018 Events
Category:2019 Events
Category:2020 Events
Category:2021 Events
Category:2022 Events