How to Plan a Scavenger Hunt

Seekt Quick Guide: Planning Your First Hunt

Welcome to the Seekt Quick Guide series. In this episode, we are sharing practical advice for planning your first scavenger hunt with Seekt.

Start small. Eight to twelve items is plenty for a thirty-minute game. You can always add more items or extend the time in future events. A short, well-paced hunt is more fun than a long one where teams run out of steam.

Mix up the item types. A hunt with nothing but photo items works, but it gets repetitive. Throw in a question or two, a collect item, maybe a multiple choice quiz. The variety keeps teams engaged and gives different personalities a chance to contribute — the photographer, the trivia expert, the explorer.

Write clues that are clear but not too easy. "Find something red" is straightforward. "Find something red that is taller than you" is more interesting. "Find the red thing near the big tree" gives too much away. The best clues make the team think for a moment without getting frustrated.

Think about the physical space. If your hunt is in a park, spread the items out so teams are not all crowded in one area. Seekt already randomises the item order for each team to help with this, but designing items that lead to different parts of the space makes it even better.

Set a game zone if you have a defined area. It keeps players within bounds and flags any submissions from outside the boundary. Even if you are not strict about it, the zone shows on the map and gives players a sense of where they should be.

Set a home base before starting the game. When the game ends or a team finishes all items, a directional arrow guides them back. This is especially important for larger spaces where teams might wander far from the starting point.

Test your hunt before the event. Everyone can host for free with one player device. Create a game, join it from a second phone or have a friend join, and walk through a few items. You will catch clues that are confusing, point values that feel wrong, and locations that do not work.

And finally, do not overthink it. The app handles scoring, timing, submissions, and the leaderboard. Your job is to write fun clues and enjoy watching the teams compete.

That is "planning your first hunt" in Seekt. For more, visit the seekt.ca website.