Candy Goya replica, GISH 2016

GISHWHES starts this Saturday!

“The heck is GISHWHES?” you may wonder. It’s the “Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen”, and it’s a weird, awesome, exhausting, Guinness World Record-holding good time. But GISH is more than that, it’s also a global event to benefit great causes, and is the brainchild of one of the stars of my favorite show, Supernatural.

Misha Collins (aka the angel Castiel) first started GISHWHES back in 2011 and since then thousands have participated and raised money for Collins’ non-profit, Random Acts. They’ve helped to rebuild Haiti, built a free high school in Nicaragua, and provided medical equipment and shelter for Syrian refugee families. Not to mention the countless charitable donations and random acts of kindness they organized and funded in the US and abroad.

Last year was my first hunt, and the strangers from around the world who would become my teammates, I now consider to be close friends. I never expected to form such a strong bond with a group of people brought together for a game, but life is funny like that. 🙂

Several of us can now call ourselves citizens of the micronation Westarctica, thanks to an item from 2016!

Sadly, Misha has announced this is the last year for GISH, though he still plans to continue the spirit of the hunt in other (less intense) ways. We were bummed to hear the news, but grateful to have had the chance to play and make the friendships that we did. In fact, a bunch of us will be meeting in person for the first time at an upcoming Supernatural Convention. 😀

If the items are anything like last year, I’ll be busy the 5th through the 12th doing things like panning for gold in a public fountain dressed as a old-timey prospector, or donning a superhero getup just to do my laundry. All while nursing multiple hot glue burns from recreating a Francisco Goya painting entirely out of candy.

Wish me luck!

And if all else fails, just blame Misha. 😉