Treasure hunt
Encyclopedia
Treasure hunting
Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure which has been a notable human activity for millennia. -In modern times:In recent times, the early stages of the development of archaeology included a significant aspect of treasure hunt; Heinrich Schliemann's excavations at Troy, and later at...
can also be a real life activity. Treasure hunt games may be an indoor or outdoor activity. Outdoors they can be played in a garden or the treasure could be located anywhere around the world.
Children's games
Treasure hunt are sometimes organised by parents as a game to be played at children's parties. This could be in a range of formats; just searching for items, following clues as a group or splitting into teams to race to a prize.An armchair treasure hunt is any activity that requires solving puzzle
Puzzle
A puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
s or riddle
Riddle
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...
s in some easily portable and widely reproduced format (often an illustrated children's book), and then using clues hidden either in the story or the graphics of the book to find a real treasure somewhere in the physical world. However, although these may seem to be for children, this genre is aimed at dedicated adults.
Adult games
Elsa Maxwell
Elsa Maxwell was an American gossip columnist and author, songwriter, and professional hostess renowned for her parties for royalty and high society figures of her day....
. She said that:
- In the Treasure Hunt . . . intellectual men were paired off with great beauties, glamor with talent. In the course of the night's escapades anything could happen.
There is a growing market for treasure hunts consisting of fixed landmarks in the real world, rather than a specially-laid trail at a particular event. Companies are providing these hunts as corporate team building activities in cities around the world with London, Dublin and Sydney key examples.
Geocaching
Geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world....
is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a global positioning system (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world.
Letterboxing
Letterboxing
Letterboxing is an outdoor hobby that combines elements of orienteering, art, and puzzle solving. Letterboxers hide small, weatherproof boxes in publicly-accessible places and distribute clues to finding the box in printed catalogs, on one of several web sites, or by word of mouth. Individual...
is another treasure hunt game. It is played outdoors and combines elements of orienteering
Orienteering
Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...
, art and problem-solving. Letterboxers hide small, weatherproof boxes in publicly-accessible places (like parks) and distribute clues to finding the box in printed catalogs, on one of several web sites, or by word of mouth. Individual letterboxes usually contain a logbook and a rubber stamp.
An armchair treasure hunt uses a book or a puzzle as basis, in which clues are hidden. This type of Treasure Hunt normally takes months to solve and has immense prizes to be won, for example the lipogram book: Toxic Panda by Adam Adams.
Online treasure hunts are a new development where participants follow clues and visit different websites (or even physical locations) to solve riddles. Participants can win prizes for correctly solving puzzles to win treasure hunts. Many of these online hunts are subject to internet gaming laws that vary between jurisdiction.
A photo treasure hunt is a new way to play the well-known Treasure Hunt game. The main difference between them is that in a Photo Treasure Hunt the competitors have to collect pictures rather than collecting items.
In 1956, comedian Jan Murray
Jan Murray
Jan Murray was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and game show host who made his name on the Borscht Belt.-Early life:Murray was born Murray Janofsky in The Bronx, New York City...
created and hosted a variation for television, also known as Treasure Hunt. The game pitted a pair of contestants answering questions to qualify to go on a treasure hunt that involved choosing from among thirty treasure chests that included anything from gag prizes to valuable merchandise and/or cash. The show also offered home viewers a chance for a treasure hunt, when a postcard was chosen from a large drum by a young guest who revolved the drum several times to mix up the entries. The show aired daily in the morning and once a week in the evening until 1959, when the networks began canceling game shows in the wake of the quiz show scandal.
See also
- Encounter (game)Encounter (game)Encounter is an international network of active urban games.Also known as "Схватка" – the game that gave birth to this project.- Project history :...
- The Clock Without a FaceThe Clock Without a FaceThe Clock Without a Face is puzzle book by Eli Horowitz and Mac Barnett with illustrations by Scott Teplin. It was published in 2010 by McSweeney's...
- Money Hunt: The Mystery of the Missing LinkMoney Hunt: The Mystery of the Missing LinkMoney Hunt: The Mystery of the Missing Link was a 1984 contest video directed by David Hemmings and written by Gregory Ross. The video was a contest containing the clues necessary to solve a puzzle...
- Masquerade (book)Masquerade (book)Masquerade is a children’s book, written and illustrated by Kit Williams, which sparked a treasure hunt by concealing clues to the location of a jewelled golden hare, created and hidden somewhere in Britain by Williams...
- Merlin Mystery
- Treasure: In Search of the Golden HorseTreasure: In Search of the Golden HorseTreasure: In Search of the Golden Horse, or TISOTGH, was a treasure hunting puzzle published in 1984 by the Intravision production company. It was conceived as a story-based contest by filmmaker Sheldon Renan similar in concept to that of Kit Williams' Masquerade...