TREASURE HUNT

Popularity: (1 star: The game is popular only in some groups or areas / 2 stars: The game is very
popular but nowadays few people play it / 3 stars: The game is famous and much people play it)

Origin:
According to game scholar Markus
Montola, treasure hunts evolved from
ancient folk games.
Gossip columnist Elsa Maxwell
popularized scavenger hunts in the United
States with a series of exclusive New York
parties starting in the early 1930s.

How to play:

The treasure hunt is a board game in which the competitors, organized in teams or
individually, must find certain hidden objects. The game can be played indoors or in open
spaces, even of geographic extent. In this case the movements can take place by car or
other means. A treasure hunt is a game in which the organizers prepare a list defining
specific items, which the participants seek to gather or complete all items on the list, usually
without purchasing them. Usually participants work in small teams, although the rules may
allow individuals to participate. The goal is to be the first to complete the list or to complete
the most items on that list. In variations of the game, players take photographs of listed
items or be challenged to complete the tasks on the list in the most creative manner.
A treasure hunt may involve following a series of clues to find objects or a single prize in a
particular order.

There are various types of treasure hunts:

Players must find a hidden object (which can be the prize itself) by following a chain of
clues, which are also hidden. At the start, the position of the first clue is communicated to
the participants in an enigmatic form. This can be a hidden ticket with instructions on how to
get to the next stop and so on for an arbitrarily large number of steps until you reach the
hidden treasure.

Players are given a list of items to be found. Victory goes to whoever delivers the most
items within a time limit or delivers all items in the shortest time. The objects can be
previously placed on the playing territory by the organizers or present naturally. To liven up
the game, the introduction of particular people or the solving of games of skill or puzzles
may be required.

Similar to treasure hunts are the amateur radio contests in which the competitors, equipped
with vehicular radio equipment, must reach a hidden location in the area with the aid of
radio communications and orientation techniques. With the advent of the Internet, and the
increasingly intensive use of the network, the tendency to organize "virtual" online treasure
hunts has also spread to the web. With the spread of GPS-based personal tracking
devices, a hybrid treasure hunt, based partly on the internet and partly on the territory,
called geocaching, has also increased its popularity: the longitude and latitude of a treasure
are published on a special website. (generally a box containing simple gadgets), hidden by
some user of the site itself, which must be found by other users only through the
coordinates provided.

Presentation: https://youtu.be/jqZxDQ4zQ5k

Educational use:
The great thing is that scavenger hunts don’t require much at all. They're easy,
inexpensive, and can often be done using things you already have at home or at school.
You can choose a hunt specifically to be done inside or outside and scavenger hunts can
also add an educational element.