Charity events on Wall Street are typically reserved, buttoned-up affairs. But one sponsored by Goldman Sachs, known as Midnight Madness, has a decidedly more madcap flavor.
A “geeky, over-the-top scavenger hunt,†Midnight Madness was held last fall after a hiatus of several years, Euny Hong writes in an article in Quartz. The game, a night of extravagant puzzles around New York City, included “laser mini golf†and an iPhone app that allowed players to change the color of lights on the One Bryant Park tower in Manhattan. It raised $1.4 million, according to the article.
Goldman is involved through its Goldman Sachs Gives fund, which makes grants based on recommendations from current and former partners. The next staging of Midnight Madness is planned for this October.
Last time, many of the players were Goldman employees. From the Quartz article
The first place team, which arrived at the finishing line at 10:20 am, was 0xFFFFoo (from the Global Securities Services division, which helps clients set up hedge funds.) The name comes from the hexadecimal code for yellow. Why yellow? Team co-captain Igor Modlin explained, “In the ‘Midnight Madness’ movie, the yellow team wins. They’re the good guys.†oxFFFFoo’s win came as a surprise, especially since it had the triple handicaps of having only one laptop between the 10 of them, no bicycles, and no previous Midnight Madness players. Modlin said his team’s victory lay in the skill sets of their division. “We are in a customer-facing business - our job is to help clients solve complex problems. The key is we work well together. During Midnight Madness, the goal wasn’t to have the single smartest guy in the room. You don’t have time to have the smartest guy in the room.â€
