A Little History

Gumshoe is slang for “detective.” It’s also the name of a walk that since 2006 has been challenging participants to solve their way through 30 clues and 5 kilometers of Seattle’s Phinney Ridge/Greenwood neighborhood, all for the chance to win prizes and raise funds for local non-profits.

In 2022, after 17 years of doing the Gumshoe, which included everything from recruiting sponsors and prize donations to creating the walks and maintaining the website, the organizer, aka the Gumshoe Answer Man, decided to retire. That’s when a couple of die-hard gumshoes stepped in and made the GAM an offer he couldn’t refuse: Would he be willing to continue creating the routes and clues, if they’d take over all the behind-the-scenes work?

The GAM said yes and thus, the Gumshoe lives on! But with a few changes that seasoned gumshoes will spot in the next section, all implemented to spare the GAM and new organizers some of the labor intensity of past events.

How to Gumshoe

First, to get a flavor for the Gumshoe, check out last year’s clues and answers. Then, when you decide you’re in for 2023:

• To purchase your entry form, click the register button at the top of this page, pay for one or more forms online and starting on August 4th, take a copy of your purchase confirmation email and a picture ID to Phinney Ridge Umpqua Bank, 7120 Greenwood Ave N, or Greenwood Hardware, 7201 Greenwood Ave N, to receive your form(s).

• If buying online isn’t your thing, between 9 and 11am on Sunday August 6th, Saturday August 12th, and Saturday Aug 19th, you’ll also find volunteers outside Greenwood Hardware who’ll sell you entry forms for cash, check, or card.

• With your form in hand, head to this year’s start/end point, El Chupacabra, 6703 Greenwood Ave N, and begin gumshoeing. Do the Gumshoe in one day or over several—you’ve got 17 days, including three week-ends—to solve your way through the walk. Experienced gumshoes say it takes about three hours of bipedal locomoting and scratching your head to complete.

• When you finish, drop your completed form into one of the red lock boxes at the Chup. You’ve got until 6p Sunday, August 20, if you want to be eligible for the prize drawings at 8.

• If your entry form is drawn, you answer pre-selected clues correctly and the email address you print on your form is legible, the GAM will notify you by email before he goes to bed!