Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Treasure Hunts Vs Scavenger Hunts


The Difference between Scavenger Hunting and Treasure Hunting
First off we must let it be known that scavenger hunts and treasure hunts are quite different beasts. In a scavenger hunt, participants get a laundry list of things that they must collect or missions they are required to achieve. After everything is said and done, objects are counted and prizes awarded to the groups with the most objects and achieved the most activities. A treasure hunt, on the flip side, is a more cerebral pursuit. Team mates have to synchronize to solve a list of tricky riddles or clues, that lead to designated mystery spots.
Kinds of Clues
Treasure hunts are a bit more challenging to devise than scavenger hunts. Rather than creating a list of objects, the treasure hunt master will need to invent clues - and not just any clues. They must be intriguing; stimulate interest, and require patient, inventive, problem-solving. Clues come in a smorgasbord of shapes and formats but generally may be sorted as: Trivia, Coordinated-Action, and Puzzles & Code.
Trivia Clues
Trivia clues lead on players' collective experience. Ideally clues ask for participants to bring their plethora personalities to bare - ex. a sports junkie, a TV junkie and a bookworm all bring different angles to the stage. Just like a round of Trivial Pursuit, by making use of these various angles, players collectively have a much better chance of reverse engineering a solution be it concerning sports, arts and entertainment or novels.
Coordination Clues
Coordination clues are based less on knowledge and more on cooperation. Cleverly composed coordination clues lead groups, through physical tasks, to the awareness that certain tasks can't be carried out by an individual.
Visualize being at an aquarium attempting to tally the number of a particular species of marine life in a big fish tank. One person could go bonkers struggling to add up the moving targets by themselves. The same activity would be achieved far easier if approached as a group - via delegation. For instance, perhaps each player quickly tallies only 3-4 fish in a designated section of the tank. This may be a good solution but entails solid communication and strategy among the group.
Puzzling Clues
Puzzle and Code clues necessitate a different mentality and tend to conjure the most diverse, commonly intense reactions!
Consider a clue encrypted in morse code. The dots and dashes can make some turn light-headed yet others might welcome the challenge. The best puzzle and code clues give birth to creative thinking as a product of number-centric players problem solving along side liberal arts oriented players.
Treasure hunts are wonderful for teambuilding given that they make you think, they mandate you to brainstorm - you need to strategize and communicate and frequently take a break and revisit the problem later. Whether you're writing Trivia, Coordinated Action or Puzzles & Code clues - and the greatest treasure hunts cover all three types - recognize that teams collaborating and thinking together should be able to accomplish more than one person can by themselves - and have a better time doing it.

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