Nope - new-borns and great grandparents, and everyone in between, are all welcome!

No.  Running is not allowed, so being fit and athletic won’t give you an obvious advantage in this event. The Romp is a game of strategy that involves teamwork and using your collective brain-power to plan your route around the city solving the clues and solving Checkpoint Challenges.

It will be possible for teams to use public transport almost exclusively for the duration of the event, as the majority of Checkpoints are situated in close proximity to tram/train/bus stations.  Teams can elect to walk as much or as little as they like between points, or can specifically exclude Checkpoints that require more walking than the team desires.

No.  All questions are designed to be fun and interesting, but will require you to keep your wits about you and to read the question carefully.

The vast majority of Romp Checkpoint Challenges have been set at an achievable level, although challenges do range in difficulty from very easy to reasonably difficult.  Upon arrival at each Romp Checkpoint location you will be randomly allocated a challenge so you are not able to specifically request that your challenges be easy/hard.  This is part of the game and makes it theoretically possible for a team of school kids to beat a team of brain surgeons!

On Romp day, Rompers are able to participate in an optional Mensa Mind Bender challenge that carries a very high level of difficulty and which very few teams (if any) will be able to solve!  This challenge does not count towards overall Romp results but does have it’s own prize.

Yes, entry details including team members’ names, addresses and contact details can be changed on-line at any time up to 5pm on Wednesday 15 October, at no charge.  No refunds can be made for people who withdraw, but you’re welcome to replace team members at no charge by simply amending their details.  If a concession is being replaced by an adult, the difference in price will however have to be paid.

For any team who is prepared to help raise funds for Burnet Institute by getting sponsored by their family & friends, we’ll reward you by giving you points - for every $2 raised, we’ll give you 2 Romp points up to a total of 100 points.

This won’t actually affect whether or not you win the big prizes as these are awarded randomly throughout the day however it will boost your chance of winning your category trophy.

Whilst the Romp is an exciting game that is about having a great time with your team-mates discovering this beautiful city, it is a charity event that is raising funds for an incredibly important cause so we’ve tried to make sure that we can combine the two in this ‘points for $’ system.

We will allow donations to be made up to 1 week after the Romp, however this additional fundraising will not give you additional points.

Well, we admit teams who took part last year or in the Brisbane City Romp in September will have had more practice in answering Checkpoint Challenges and in operating together as a team (teamwork is very important!), however it still comes down to how teams go on Romp day.  It’s worth pointing out that Brisbane City Romp and Melbourne City Romp are two completely different events and none of the challenges are the same in both cities.

There are some additional prizes on offer for any team who participates in both Brisbane City Romp and Melbourne City Romp, so why not take advantage of cheap airfares and make a holiday of it!

You and your team will queue up in one of 3 large queues at the Romp start area.

As soon as you reach the end of the queue you’ll be asked to SMS the word ‘GO’ to 0428ROMPER (0428 766737).  Your 4 hours starts as soon as we receive that text message.  You’ll get an SMS straight back from us which will tell you your first compulsory Checkpoint as well as your ‘Fab Four’ Checkpoints. Upon showing this SMS to one of our Romp Posse at one of the start desks, you’ll be given the all important Romp Clue Sheet. Head past the Romp Bag handout area to pick up your free Romp bag and you’re off and Romping!

When you crack the clue from the clue sheet and manage to successfully find a Romp Checkpoint location, you will be randomly given a Romp Checkpoint Challenge card by one of our friendly Romp Posse.  Note that you can not exchange your Challenge card if you don’t like it and you may only attempt one Challenge per location.

There are lots of different challenges at each Checkpoint, so you’re never quite sure exactly which challenge you’re going to have to do.  So if you have friends in other Romp teams, don’t rely on them for help because you’ll almost certainly be getting a different challenge if you go to the same Checkpoint!  This also means that if there are 10 other teams who all arrive at a Checkpoint at the same time as your team, none of you will be doing the same challenge, so there’s no point trying to cheat! 

Some challenge questions will be extremely straight forward and others will take a little longer and have a slightly higher difficulty rating, but rest assured that you will be rewarded appropriately!  (because extra points are given for the more difficult questions)

Once you’ve solved your challenge all you have to do is SMS in your multiple choice answer and we’ll get straight back to you to let you know if you’re right, how many points you just earned yourself, your total points score and how long you have left to Romp – easy!

Then it’s off to whichever Checkpoint you decide to go to next……

The average Romp team will visit somewhere between 10 and 15 checkpoints on Romp day, however there’s no minimum or maximum.  It is physically impossible to visit all 50 Romp checkpoints (and we have ways and means to know who’s broken the rules!).  

We would encourage all Romp teams to travel at a comfortable pace and enjoy the day, the Romp is after all a game of strategy, it’s not a race!

The reason there are so many Checkpoints to choose from is that we feel it’s important to give you the freedom to choose what you’re most interested in. You may have already visited some of the venues that are included in the Romp, so rather than going places you’re already familiar with, use the Romp as a chance to discover parts of Melbourne you’ve never been to.  We guarantee the Romp will take you to places you never knew existed!

Most of the prizes for the Romp will be awarded randomly; all you need to do is to be out there taking part in the event to stand a chance to win the big prizes.  There will be some smaller prizes for teams that score the most points in each category, but this is not the focus of the Romp.  In your Romp kit you will receive a detailed description of how prizes are being awarded.

To be eligible for a concession/student price you must either be a full or part time student with a concession card or a student ID card. Holders of an Australian Gov't or Centrelink Healthcare Card or pension/senior citizen card are also eligible for the concession price.  If you are a full or part time stutent over the age of 17 but do not have a concession or student ID card please contact the Romp Hotline.  If you are a student aged 17 or under you can also enter as a child for $15.

You need to have at least 2 people and no more than 6 people (including children and infants).  Your team will receive one bib number for each team member, and that bib number is your ticket for free entry to Romp checkpoints on the day.

A family can constitute anyone who’s related – so children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins etc can form a team and enter as a team of up to 6 people under the family ticket price of $55.  If you wish to enter as a family PLUS have non-family member/s in your team, you can do that by paying the family ticket price PLUS the per person charges for non-family members.  So for instance a family of 4 plus 2 next-door neighbours (adults) would pay $55 for the family plus $29 each for the 2 additional adults.

For the one low entry fee, you’ll receive:

• A Melbourne City Romp branded bag that you can fill up with sponsor goodies collected at Checkpoints throughout the day
• Free entry into major Melbourne venues that you visit as part of the Romp
• Chance to share in $100,000 worth of prizes
• Certificate of completion
• Romp Passport (Kids under 13 only)
• The knowledge that you’re supporting a great cause and helping to prevent suffering on the part of millions of people around the world with infectious diseases and cancer

Yes, you can still enter without a credit card however you’ll have to use one of the paper entry forms and send in a cheque or money order made out to the Burnet Institute.  You can download an entry form by clicking here or collect one from venues and cafes throughout the city.

Yep, no problem, just get your entry in now for the people you know are definitely up for it, and you can add and pay for others later on by logging onto the website using a password and adding more people to your team. You’ll then simply have to pay the additional fee for new members.  All team members must be finalised and entered on-line prior to 5pm on Wednesday 15 October.

No.  You’re welcome to replace team members right up to the day of the event.  No refunds will be made under any circumstances.  This is a charity event and the entry costs already represent considerable value for money.

No, charitable donations are only tax deductible where you don’t receive a benefit – and as all Rompers clearly receive a whole lot for their money, entry fees are not tax deductible. However any donations of $2 or more on top of your entry fee are tax deductible as long as you are not donating to your own team. 

No.  It is compulsory for the team captain to carry a mobile phone (make sure it has sufficient credit and that it is fully charged!), but not the other team members.  The team captain’s mobile phone will be used to receive information from us during the Romp, and for your team to submit answers to Checkpoint challenges. If the team does have a spare mobile phone this could however be useful just in case the team captain’s stops working, for whatever reason, on the day.

Normal SMS charges will apply (normally 25 cents per SMS depending on your carrier).  If your team captain is on a monthly plan, it is possible that all of the SMS’s sent by your team during the Romp will fit within the fixed monthly plan.  The average team will probably send about 12 SMS’s during the Romp, so the total SMS cost would be around $3.

The Romp map and your Romp team kit will be mailed to you 10 days prior to the event.  The Romp map will only show grid lines and not indicate any Checkpoint locations or other information, so having this map will give you no advantage until you receive the vital Romp Clue Sheet when you start on event morning.  The clue sheet is the critical piece of information that will direct you to the various Romp Checkpoint locations.

That’s right.  Once you’ve entered and paid your entry fee, you get your own unique Romper Team Home Page – on this page you get to upload a team picture as well as individual team member photos.  You can then tell the world a little about yourself as well as amend team details at any time (up to 3 October), view your results post-Romp and see messages of support from friends and family that sponsor you – pretty cool huh?!

We will be sending a Romp Newsletter to all Rompers every 2 weeks with important information about the event, so it’s critical that all people enter a valid e-mail address when entering so that they receive this information.  Where a team member does not have an e-mail address, you will have to use the team captain’s e-mail address for that team member, and it will be up to the team captain to ensure that important information is conveyed to the team member.

Our legal boffins have told us that we have to make sure that anyone under 18 has their parent or guardian sign and agree to Romp Rules and Terms & Conditions. Legally the person making sure everyone has these forms signed and the person hanging onto them for us has to be over 18.  In the case of the Romp, this person is the Team Captain.

The Team Captain in the schools team is the only adult allowed in the team.  That way no Schools Romp team will have an unfair disadvantage.

For teams who enter using the entry form, it’s sufficient for a parent or guardian to sign the entry form acknowledging that they have read and agree to the Romp Rules and Terms & Conditions.

Teams who enter on-line will have to print off the Rules and Terms &Conditions, sign them and have the Team Captain hang on to them.

To print a copy of the Terms and Conditions, just click here.

No, however in the very unlikely event that something were to happen to one of your team members on Romp day, the team captain will have to hand the signed Terms and Conditions to the Romp management team.

For a printable copy of the Terms and Conditions, just click here.

As we want to be fair to all of the schoolchildren taking part, if a team of adults working at a School, we ask that you enter as a Corporate team. That way you still have the chance to win a trophy for your school, except it will be in the Corporate Romp category not the Schools Romp category. University lecturers can all still enter under the University Category. 

To charity! All proceeds go to the Burnet Institute, Australia’s leading medical research and public health institute specialising in infectious diseases and cancers.  Burnet’s scientists and public health professionals are working around the clock in Australia as well as in countries like PNG, Indonesia, Burma, Sri Lanka and as far away as Mozambique.  Their focus is to find solutions to the world’s most serious infectious diseases like HIV, measles, malaria and bird flu; and cancers such as breast, ovarian and prostate cancer. 

No, the Romp is not a race, it’s a game of strategy.  Running is not allowed ANYWHERE while you are participating in Melbourne City Romp.  You may not run on the street, in parks, inside venues or to catch a tram.  This rule is in place to ensure everyone’s safety, but it also means that Romp teams who include elderly people or people with disabilities are not disadvantaged.

Brisk walking is allowed.  Please respect this rule and be friendly and courteous to fellow Rompers.  Any team member seen running at any time during the Romp will be reported and that team will be listed as a non-finisher.  Aggressive or unfriendly behaviour toward another Romp team or within Checkpoint venues may also result in disqualification.

Not necessarily.  The more people in your team, the more people you have to organise.  Remember, you have to keep all team members together at all times.

YES! You can dress up however you like, but we’ll give special prizes to the best outfits – so get creative.  Ideas include:

• Madly Melbourne
• Fruit Salad
• Kookie Cooks
• Valiant Vegetables
• Dashing Dancers
• Wacky Walkers
• Sporting Superheroes
• Science gone berserk
• Worldwide
• Uniquely Romp

We’ll be announcing the winners of the dress up competition about a week after the event, after we’ve trawled through the mountain of photos - we’ll have a team of 12 professional photographers roaming the city taking photos of all Romp teams.

Yes.  Even though you can only get up to 100 points through the ‘points for $’, we’ll still reward the top 5 fundraising teams who go above and beyond the $100 mark.

Yes, prams can be used on the day as the majority of venues are accessible.  Please bear in mind however that some venues will not have pram access.  In addition, as public transport services will be used both by Rompers and members of the general public, there may be limited space for prams or pushchairs.  It may therefore be worth instead using a baby carrier or deciding on a route that uses minimal public transport.

Even though not all of our Checkpoints will be pram/wheelchair friendly, we will endeavour to mark on the clue sheet all of those that we believe to be accessible.

No, you will need to purchase a Sunday saver Metcard at a cost of $2.90 per person.  This will enable you to travel from anywhere in Melbourne into the city, as well as on trams, trains and buses during your participation in the Romp, then home again at the end of the day.  Not bad for $2.90 huh!

You can order Sunday Saver Metcards on-line (minimum purchase of 4 cards ie $11.60 total purchase) or you can buy them at select retail outlets and premium train stations, click here for further details.

To plan your travel on Romp day, use Metlink’s fabulous Journey Planner.  To talk to someone at Metlink with your specific public transport travel enquiry, call 131 638.

No, both Checkpoints and Checkpoint Challenges will be getting spiced up for an all new 2008 Melbourne City Romp! Some may be similar but you certainly won’t be bored with the new additions!

The 2007 'Go for your life'/Yarra Trams Melbourne City Romp was won by the Cheery Tans of West Melbourne.

The 5 Tans team members managed to score a whopping 500 points and visited 31 Checkpoints - a truly phenomenal effort which required a great deal of strategising and forward planning on their part. Don't worry though Rompers, on average, teams only visited 15 Checkpoints.

Well nothing special, except your brain, your mobile phone and a sense of fun!  (Note that the team captain must have a mobile phone that will be used in the event, it is not compulsory for other team members to carry a mobile during the Romp.)

If hot/sunny weather is forecast, you should bring a hat, sunscreen, sunglasses and a water bottle that you can refill during the day. In the case of cold/wet weather, bring extra layers of clothing, a rain jacket and appropriate (comfortable) footwear.

All teams must start by 12pm, as the start area closes at 12pm.

To make sure the massive crowds at the start are broken up, you will be instructed which Checkpoint you must visit first.  This is allocated randomly by the Romp computer.  After this first compulsory Checkpoint, you can plot your own course around the city.  You’ll be spoilt for choice with about 50 different Checkpoint locations to choose from. 

When you register on the morning of the event you will however be given a “Fab 4” list of four separate Checkpoints - if you visit all 4 locations you will be in the running for the major prize draw.  Other than the first compulsory Checkpoint, you can choose to visit as many or as few Checkpoints as you like, and plan your Romp around the city to see the things that interest you most.

Well if we told you that it would be cheating! All of the Checkpoints will be a secret until the day, but all are within the City of Melbourne boundary.  Romp Checkpoints will not be located within the suburbs of Flemington, Kensington, West Melbourne, Port Melbourne or Fishermans Bend. The Romp map which you will receive in your Romp Kit 10 days prior to the event will give you a clearer idea of the Romp boundary.

The average Romp team will visit somewhere between 8 and 12 checkpoints on Romp day, however there’s no minimum or maximum.  It is physically impossible to visit all 50 Romp checkpoints (and we have ways and means to detect cheating!)

We would encourage all Romp teams to travel at a comfortable pace and enjoy the day, the Romp is after all a game of strategy, it’s not a race!

The reason there are so many Checkpoints to choose from is that we feel it’s important to give you the freedom to choose what you’re most interested in. You may have already visited some of the venues that are included in the Romp, so rather than going places you’re already familiar with, use the Romp as a chance to discover parts of Melbourne you’ve never been to.  We guarantee the Romp will take you to places you never knew existed!

The Romp is a treasure hunt with a twist.  This means that although you’ll get to pick up fun items along the route to fill up your goodie bag, as well as the chance to win some great spot prizes at various Checkpoints, the main ‘hunting’ involves solving the clues to find Checkpoints, and then in trying to score points at Checkpoints by answering your Romp Checkpoint Challenge question correctly. 

We have a crack team of Mensa question setters putting together all of the Romp questions.  In order to make sure that everyone has as much of a chance of getting maximum points as possible, the Mensa team have been instructed to create challenges which vary in difficulty and are then given to you randomly at each Checkpoint.

In order to make the game fair, each question has its own number of points attached to it.  We’ve assessed each Checkpoint Challenge on 3 levels: 

1. Difficulty of the actual Checkpoint Challenge – 1 being the easiest, 5 the hardest
2. Estimated length of time it will take you and your team to find the location that the Checkpoint Challenge is asking about and to solve the Checkpoint Challenge
3. Distance from Federation Square ie the further you travel from the start, the more you will be rewarded

 
This way, you’ll be rewarded for answering more difficult Checkpoint Challenges as well as being rewarded for the time it takes you to get there.

You can still participate in the Romp, but instead of SMS’ing your answers, you will need to write your team number, time and answer on the back of each challenge card and hand your challenge cards in at the FINAL checkpoint that you visit, or at the Romp Customer Services marquee at Federation Square at the finish.  All your challenge cards must be stapled together by one of our Romp Posse.  These cards will be manually checked and your total point score will be posted on the website within 3 days of the completion of the event.

The Romp will take place rain, hail or shine.  If it is raining, we’d recommend you bring a rain jacket and appropriate footwear, and a dry change of clothes in a bag.  Although miserable weather may dampen the spirits a little, we hope that the massive day we have planned, including the chance to win a bundle of great prizes, will be more than enough to compensate for getting a bit wet!

Preferably on the front of your clothes above the waist, however you can attach it to your back, arm, leg or wherever is most comfortable, but you MUST wear it on Romp day because your bib number is your ticket to receive free entry into Romp checkpoints.  Without your bib number clearly displayed, you will not be granted access to some checkpoints.

Team captains have a different coloured bib to other all team members. Only team captains will be handed the Checkpoint Challenge card.

For babies in prams, the paper bib number can be attached to a visible external point on the pram.

Your bib numbers will be sent out in the Romper kit, you will need to use your own safety pins to attach the bib to your clothes on Romp day.

Queuing is a Romper’s nightmare so we have planned the event so that the chance of queuing occurring is minimised.  It is however possible that at some times of the day, many teams will converge on the same Checkpoint location.  Please bear in mind that Rompers do not have exclusive access to venues.  Tourists and/or members of the general public may visit particular venues in large numbers on Romp day, and we would ask that you be respectful of them.  If you arrive at a Checkpoint location with a queue to get inside the venue, one of the officials will advise you how long the wait time in the queue is expected to be, so that you can decide whether to move on to the next Checkpoint or wait.

Absolutely!  Remember you can also take a break at any time, whether it’s to take a rest or to simply soak up the atmosphere of some part of the city you’ve never been before.

After you send the SMS that gets you started on Romp day, you have 4 hours from when you receive your confirmation SMS to complete the Romp.  You can’t stop the clock if you take a break, the break will be included in your total 4 hour allowance.

If a team mate pulls out, they can’t then go and collect Checkpoints on their own – all team members still participating must be together when collecting Checkpoint Challenges.

Your team must stay together at all teams so this shouldn’t happen.

If you lose a team member or your entire team and can’t use mobile phones to contact them, you should return to the last location where you were all together and wait there for your team-mates.

YYes and no….  To make sure the massive crowds at the start are broken up, each team will be instructed which Checkpoint they must visit first.  So you would need to each visit your compulsory first Checkpoints and then meet up and travel around Melbourne together for the rest of the Melbourne City Romp.  At each Checkpoint after the first compulsory Checkpoint, there will be a number of different challenges that are allocated randomly to teams as they arrive.  If you arrive together, you will not receive the same Checkpoint Challenge, so you will be solving separate puzzles at the location, but once again you can of course meet up after you have solved the puzzle and move onto the next Checkpoint together.

No, after your 4 hours is up (or earlier if you can’t last the 4 hours or need to leave early), you can simply go straight home.  But you’ll be missing out on the opportunity to see some great bands at the Romp concert at Federation Square that starts at 2pm and goes until 5:30pm.  Plus there will be some random draw prizes every half hour during the concert.

The post-Romp concert is a chance for you to rest your weary feet and enjoy some top-notch international performers.  We’ll also be giving out some random prizes every half hour between 2.30pm and 5.30pm, so come along for extra chances to win!

We will do our very best to post interim Romp results within 2 days after the Romp.  This should give us time to collate all manual answers and weed out any rule breakers!