A scavenger hunt is a fun and versatile type of game that’s great for people of any age, whether they’re kids or adults.
It’s also perfect for playing in groups of any size – you can organize it for just one child, for a dozen office workers or for a youth group of 100 teens.
Traditional
A traditional scavenger hunt involved players being given a list of items that they had to collect.
The winner was the person or team who collected the most items, or who managed to collect all the items on the list before anyone else.
Tasks
A twist on the traditional option is to make a list of tasks that players have to complete, rather than items they have to find.
The tasks can be designed to be difficult to complete if you want to make it hard, or goofy if you want to organize a funny scavenger hunt.
Photo & Video
Now that digital cameras and cellphones with cameras are so prevalent, two new types have become more popular in recent years – photo and video scavenger hunts.
These can involve players having to collect items or perform tasks – or a mixture of both. It also means that you can award bonus points based on how creative or funny the photos and videos are, or for getting random members of the public involved.
Scavenger Hunt vs Treasure Hunt
If you’re wondering what the difference is between a scavenger hunt and a treasure hunt, a scavenger hunt involves players having to collect items or perform tasks.
A treasure hunt on the other hand has players trying to find one or more items by following a set of clues or answering riddles.
Having said that, scavenger hunts can include clues and riddles as well, so there can sometimes be some overlap between the two different types of games.
Benefits
There are many good things about organizing scavenger hunts. We mentioned some of them above – that they’re good for people of any age and can be used with groups of any size – but here are some additional benefits:
- Team Building – They’re a great way for people to get to know each other and build relationships. That’s why it’s such a common activity used for office workers, youth groups, etc.
- Length of Time – Scavenger hunts can be played for hours, so are perfect for killing time. This is ideal for things like road trips when you need to keep your kids entertained.
- Makes Learning Fun – As it’s a game, it provides a great opportunity to incorporate some kind of learning that’s not boring. For some ideas of what this can look like, check out all of our school scavenger hunts.
So now that you know what a scavenger hunt is, why not plan one for your kids or for you and your friends? If you need some additional inspiration, check out all of our different ideas based on more than 100 themes.