The Plastics Race

The Plastics Race® is a team-centered, smartphone-based question hunt in which teams of SPE members compete for spectacular prizes. The Plastics Race® mixes elements of the traditional scavenger hunt with those of other popular TV quiz competition shows to challenge the participants with questions related to the plastics industry. The Plastics Race® promotes networking and collaboration between the different generations by motivating participants to group in teams that bring together different skill sets and knowledge. Students and plastics professionals assemble in teams of four to tackle the difficult course while competing for spectacular prizes. Key to the team’s success hinges on a careful balance of the team’s members who bring much needed theoretical and practical knowledge about plastics. Each team plots its own course from one sponsor location to the next, answering questions that can only be accessed by visiting the sponsor’s booths. At each location, teams will be challenged with a random question emanating from 10 different categories and 3 levels of difficulty. It is up to each team to select the category and degree of difficulty they want to tackle. The more difficult the question the more points the team is bound to earn. Sponsors of The Plastics Race® receive a placard with a specialized code the day before the race. They post the placard in a prominent place in their booth during the day of the race. When teams visit their booth to scan the code, they will be first challenged with a ‘plastics question’. A ‘bonus or sponsor question’ will follow. The sponsor question allows the exhibitor to network with the participants and introduce the company’s products to them.