Most people remember childhood scavenger hunts, but communities have used the game to build community, identify local assets and character, and sometimes take advantage of new GIS and location-based tools.
There are several new versions of scavenger hunts today that are quickly gaining in popularity, many of which are tied to the special places and resources of communities and/or use spatial technology.
Geocaching is a high-tech version of the traditional treasure hunt, facilitated by hand-held GPS (Global Positioning System) units. Individuals hide small boxes with a few trinkets somewhere (i.e. at the base of a tree, in a stone wall, under a fence, etc.) and record the geographic coordinates of the location. They then publish those coordinates on a website, making them accessible to the general public. Anyone else can then find the coordinates and navigate to the box using a GPS unit; when someone finds a box, he or she will traditionally leave a new trinket and take one from the box.
Letterboxing is the precursor to most modern versions of the scavenger hunt, and contains elements of each. Individuals hide boxes with unique rubber stamps and log books and create a set of directions to the box (directions might include riddles, straightforward instructions, maps, or coordinates). When someone finds a letterbox, he or she stamps the log book with a personal stamp, and stamps his or her personal letterbox journal with the stamp from the box.
Questing is a treasure hunt that involves following a poem with clues in it to find a special location. There is typically no "prize" or marker at the end, but the final destination is a location with historical, natural, or cultural significance. Many schools have incorporated questing into their curricula; writing a quest is a great way for students to combine skills in history, writing, research, and even math and science. Finished quests are a great resource to the community, showcasing and directing people to special places.
Most scavenger hunts follow a basic formula, though they may vary in terms of specific procedures and technology required. If communities or organizations develop their own scavenger hunts, they can be used to introduce people to new, unusual, or important places in the community; when hunts are created on a grassroots level, with individual people marking and writing clues for their own special places, hunts can be used for the identification of community character as well.
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