Scavenger hunt

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A scavenger hunt is a game in which individuals or teams seek to find a number of specific items, or perform tasks, as given in a list. The goal is either to complete the list first, or to achieve the highest score within a given time limit.

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[edit] History

Since the beginning of man's existence, he has had to scavenge or hunt for food and other important items in order to survive. Over time, wandering food-gathering people began to settle down and become stationary food-producing people, thus followed towns, villages, and whole civilizations. The need for scavenging changed into a need for producing, but the concept of scavenger hunting never faded from civilization completely. The game of scavenger hunting is a simulation of what was once an important and necessary work in order for the human race to survive. Its use as a party game is credited to American socialite Elsa Maxwell.[1]

[edit] Entertainment

  • LOC-AID Treasure/ACE(Application Creation Engine) first of its kind location-enabled mobile “treasure/scavenger” hunt or point-to-point "chases" which encompass a relevant marketing theme within the game. What does a typical game look like? One game may direct the player to a particular location (e.g., store grand opening) which is validated, then offered a clue or puzzle to solve, the answer determines the number of points accrued. The game winner is the player that gathers the most points in the least time, while visiting all the game locations. In another game version, players who complete the game are entered into a random drawing for a prize. A community-building game may offer a point-to-point chase (e.g., “visit the 3 stores nearest your location”) as part of a larger awareness promotion. LOC-AID.
  • Downloadable Scavenger Hunts are pre-packaged kits that include everything you need to host your own scavenger hunt. Some kits include integration with GeoCaching sites to allow you to add a high tech flare to the games by using GPS devices.
  • A new twist on scavenger hunts is the annual travel adventure competition called GreatEscape2007: The Global Scavenger Hunt. Now in its 4th year, this around the world competition crowns "The World's Greatest Travelers" while raising funds for charities. It is also a so-called "Blind Date With The World" in that the travelers/competitors don't know what countries the event will visit adding to the "travel competition" aspect of the scavenger hunt.
  • The annual University of Melbourne Scavenger Hunt has 20 or more teams chasing about 300 items, 100 or more photos, and participating in events including Boat Races, a Trivia Night, Jelly Wrestling, Iron Gut, and the infamous Long Drive.
  • The Great Scavenger Hunt is a national 24 hour scavenger hunt. This photo scavenger hunt is still growing in popularity and they are now working on their third hunt. Anyone in the United States can participate being that everything is dealt with online via the website. The Great Scavenger Hunt is known for their creativity in their lists and being overly entertaining/exhausting.
  • Mall Scavenger Hunts are a popular pastime, particularly for teenagers. Mall Scavenger Hunts don't have to cost money. Lists of clues leading to various shops, lists of no-cost items, and photo lists are just a few of the possible mall hunts that can be conducted for fun, prizes and/or bragging rights. Note: It is important to check with mall security before holding any kind of mall photo hunt.
  • Scavenger Hunt software is also available that lets you generate custom lists for riddle-based hunts, photography hunts, youth food drive or service project activities, travel bingo, and especially popular for holiday activities for children such as spooky Halloween activities or Easter Egg Hunts.
  • Scavenger hunts have also entered in to the realm of team-building activities for corporations. Companies like Ravenchase Adventures ,Dr. Clue and Scaventures offer scavenger hunts as team building activities.
  • The annual Tricadecathlonomania, a 24 hour world-wide event that began in Northfield, MN, takes place in April of each year. High school and college students complete physical tasks, find items, and videotape stunts to amass points. This growing event is being filmed in 2006 for a feature length documentary.
  • The The Leif Erickson Classic - 24 hour video scavenger hunt. Taking place in July of each year, teams battle across western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and the west coast for prizes and the legendary Thryker Cup. Players search for “Artifacts”, complete “Epic” tasks and take part in “Sagas”. The hunt’s name is derived from completely made up theory that Leif Erickson, a great Viking explorer found America while on a scavenger hunt.
  • In New Orleans, Louisiana Metairie's Most Wanted holds a Scavenger Hunt every summer titled "The 20xx Triple XXXtreme Scavenger Hunt." It is in its third year. It is known for its over the top tasks and its insane after party.This year The 2007 Triple XXXtreme Scavenger Hunt will be held on July 21st 2007. It will start at 11 AM, and go until 2 AM. Things usually conclude on Bourbon street in the Vieux Carré.This Hunt also is one of the biggest in the country, with its planners spending more than 6 months just planning the list which has had over 800 tasks before.
  • Snap-Shot-City is a world wide, urban photographic scavenger hunt that takes place on September 2 all around the world. It is a game, a local event, a global event and a website. It’s a 6 hour scavenger hunt through the city. Teams are given a list of 30 items which they must photograph and upload onto the Snap-Shop-City website Snap-Shot-City is a global community engagement activity – giving people the opportunity to actively in something all over the world. Snap-Shot-City lets players tell a story about the city they live in, with each picture allowing players to become artists and storytellers. The photographs are judged by a global panel of judges from the fields of architecture, photography, urban design and social philosophy, with awards and prizes allocated for skill, artistic merit, evocativeness, and social commentary. Team sizes are normally limited to six participants, but seven is allowed if they a) are S Club 7, b) they are all dwarfs, and are accompanied by Snow-white, or c) they are handicapped by having to put with a non-native speaker.
  • The Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association hosts two yearly scavenger hunts (one of which is at Vericon) which requires teams of three to find items on a list with a one-hour time limit. These scavenger hunts are notable in that the items they require are subject to wild interpretation and may refer to inside jokes, internet memes, and other references – for example, a recent scavenger hunt requested "The Da Vinci Codex", "Crimean War 2061", "a duck (bonus points if live, extra bonus points if of doom)", and "your soul", among other items, with bribes to the judges worth extra points and creativity highly encouraged. Traditionally, the winning team of one of these scavenger hunts is charged with writing and judging the next one.

[edit] Internet

Main article: Internet scavenger hunt

Internet scavenger hunts are becoming more common for educational purposes. Wikipedia has its own scavenger hunt.

[edit] Video-games

In the video-game industry the word scavenger hunt is sometimes attributed to 3D platform games that concentrate excessively on the collection of specific items in order to progress through the game. Super Mario 64 and the Metroid series are widely attributed to be the first such games, while the Banjo-Kazooie series and Donkey Kong 64 carried on the tradition. The current series of GTA games (GTA III on) have had side bonuses for collecting N number of given objects, for example, 100 packets found on GTA 3 would give you a tank, as would 100 tiki statues on Vice city. These are side aims for when exploring terrain, and not forced missions. Also, one might say the popular Pokemon franchise is based off this trend, as the players are encouraged to catch all (now) 493 Pokemon.

[edit] References

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