Planning the Perfect Adult Scavenger Hunt

Want to feel like a Kid again? Of course you do, and what better way to do that than through an Adult scavenger Hunt. Think back to those times when you were a child, at some point your parents would most likely have run a Scavenger hunt for you. One of the most exciting scavenger hunts that I ever embarked on as a child resulted in my ‘reward’ of being taken to a theme park. I have had a soft spot for hunts ever since. Planning an adult scavenger hunt is slightly different to a child’s one though, since (hopefully) the adults will be slightly more intellectual, you will be able to really go crazy with your scavenger hunt riddles, and in fact, a large aspect of the fun is in the planning stages. Of course, if you have never planned a scavenger hunt before, it can seem like a pretty daunting prospect. Let me walk you through the process. The Format – Riddle Scavenger Hunt Ideas There are two main formats to a riddle based scavenger hunt. The first type is when people head from clue to clue in order to make their way to the end. The second is to give them a list of clues, and then they can head to the various points and do whatever they need to, in whatever order they like. To be honest, the second option is much more preferable, otherwise you tend to get participants following each other, and there is no real fun in that. You should also bear in mind what you want the people that are involved to do. Are you getting them to find specific items? Take photographs of proof they went somewhere? Or are you simply guiding them back to the end point. This is going to have an effect on the types of riddles that you are going to be coming up with. The People The first thing that needs to be decided is what type of people are going to be involved in the scavenger hunt. This will help you plan your scavenger hunt riddles a little bit better. After all, you are probably going to want to use different riddles for your lover than your co-workers. Hopefully the reward will be a little bit different as well. You should also try to get a little bit of a perspective on the reasons why you are holding a scavenger hunt. If you are running a ‘family’ event, then there is most likely going to be children involved. In that case you will probably want to use different scavenger hunt riddles compared to if it was a work outing. I have also encountered many people that have decided to run a scavenger hunt in effort to promote their company to the masses. We will come to the various riddles for scavenger hunts later on that can be used in the various situations, so just keep this section in mind for now. Do’s and Don’ts of a Successful Adult Scavenger Hunt There aren’t many tips that I can really offer here, the majority of the things that you should work into your plan are ‘common sense’ i.e. having a set of predefined limits of what you want the hunters to do, and where they can go in order to grab what they need to. One thing I will mention though, is to make sure that your scavenger hunt is actually able to be completed. A long time ago, I worked in an electronics store, we were the only one in the area. This area was a particularly popular spot for tourists and thus a lot of ‘scavenger hunts’ went through the area. Most of these were being run by ‘high flying’ businesses, and thus the participants had money to spend. Now invariably they were sent to collect something from our store. However, they were always given something on their list which we didn’t actually keep. This possibly means that there are a lot of groups out there still aimlessly walking around trying to complete their hunt. The point I am trying to make is, always check that the people are able to obtain/find the items in the area you set. It doesn’t take a lot of effort and it will make the whole day that more fun. You should always make sure that you have ‘rewards’ in place, as well as a list of rules that people will need to abide by. This means that there are less ‘arguments’ when it comes to the scoring of the adult scavenger hunt. It also prevents the inevitable ‘smart’ people from taking cheeky shortcuts and spoiling the game. Planning the Scavenger Hunt Riddles Planning the adult scavenger hunt riddles are going to be pretty fun, although one that will take a long time to do. When you are planning your riddles, you will want to bear in mind the group that you are catering before (as mentioned before!) as well as the level of intelligence within the group. Don’t make the riddles so obvious that the hunt will be easy, but don’t make them so hard that you would need to be a rocket scientist to figure them out (or at least have one on speed-dial). On that point, it can sometimes be wise to ban phones, or restrict to one trustworthy member of each team. Bad Idea: Take a photo of you sitting on a golden statues lap. Good Idea: Find the Golden Statue and take a photo of something that is there when you sit down, but disappears when you stand up. I admit, this is a pretty shoddy example. But you can see, you will quite easily be able to spice something up to make it a little bit more of a challenge. I guarantee you, despite the ‘simpleness’ of this ‘riddle’ there will be a lot of people that will be unable to work it out. Also, check that it is not an ‘illegal act’ that you are asking the members to complete! Try to work out the answer to this one: What has to be broken before it can be used? If you said Egg, then you were right. This type of clue is perfect for an ‘item based’ scavenger hunt, especially for teenagers/young adults. You would be surprised how many struggle with these once the excitement and race starts! There are plenty of websites out there which are packed to the brim with scavenger hunt clues that you can use. It is probably worth checking a couple out. Almost any riddle ever devised can be used for hunt, you just need to make it work! If you are struggling, there a couple of software programs out there which will help you devise the perfect clue. Running the Event Once you have your plan in place, it is time to run the event. Your work isn’t done yet though! You need to ensure that everybody understands the rules of the scavenger hunt i.e. is there is a boundary that they have to keep to when searching for items, or is there any special things that they need to do in order to get ‘extra points’ (making the winner more random, or a possibility of two winners – Speed + Points). Also don’t forget to make them aware of the rewards that are on offer, if you have something decent in place ,then the competition really will heat up and the excitement levels will shoot through the roof as the game gets underway. You can set the teams up however you wish i.e. you could draw the names from the hat or have ‘team captains’ who then select the players (which is great if you do really want to feel like a child again!) Finally, kit every team out with the notebooks that they require. They will need the following:

1. List of Scavenger Hunt Riddles, or at least directions to the first clue.
2. Couple of bags to collect ‘items’, if needed.
3. Notebook and Pen. No Idea why, never used one! However on every scavenger I have ever been on, I have always been supplied with this. The majority of hunts I have been on have been work outings, so I can only presume that it is some tax saving measure lol. I believe that the people that are hunting will use it for making ‘notes’ for when they split up, checking off what they already have, or maybe brainstorming answers.
4. If it is a photographic scavenger hunt, the remember the cameras!
5. Your cell phone number, trust me, somebody will get lost. One per group is a good idea.

Once they are on their way, head to the finishing book and crack out a good book. If you planned it well then you will be spending a lot of time on your own … another reward of the day. However, if you prefer, you can have them prove each clue, or complete a challenge after each clue. Hopefully this has been of some use to you. This is the plan that I have put in place in order to plan many a scavenger hunt in the past (for many different types of people). It isn’t a flawless plan, and you may need to make tweaks in some places, but it is a pretty decent starter guide! Good luck and have a fun day!

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