Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!
The San Jose Earthquakes have announced today that long-time Quakes fan Anders Young has won the club’s Crack The Code contest ahead of Avaya Stadium’s inaugural match on March 22.
Young has been awarded two tickets to the 2018 World Cup Final in Russia, including round-trip airfare for two and a three-night hotel stay after cracking the binary code “GO EQ” in sections 117 and 118 of Avaya Stadium.
While many submitted the correct code, the 20-year old Davis native was the first to present the binary code with proof of work.
“I’m in shock really,” Young said. “This is the first time I’ve ever won anything, and to win this trip to the World Cup in Russia is beyond amazing.”
Young, who currently studies Aerospace Engineering at Arizona State, has been a loyal Quakes fan ever since he could remember, traveling down Interstate 5 from Davis to San Jose with his dad on game days.
“Ever since I was young, we would always drive down to Quakes games to either Spartan Stadium or Buck Shaw,” Young said. “We’d get to the stadium in the afternoon, watch the team warm up, watch the game, and then get home to Davis around 1 a.m.”
Young and his dad will return to Avaya Stadium on March 22 for the first time since visiting the seats on a stadium tour a couple months back.
“I don’t have that much experience in binary, but I’ve taken classes that were required for my major where binary was explained,” Young said. “I took a picture of the seats when I was on the tour, matched up what pattern went with what and came up with GO EQ.”
Young, now an owner of two tickets to the 2018 World Cup final, never second guessed his traveling partner for this once in a lifetime trip.
“It’s definitely going to be my dad,” Young said. “He was the first one I called when I heard the news. He was super excited, so I look forward to taking him with me to Russia.”
