Scavenger hunt riddles

Riddles for the scavenger hunt - How to make it an unforgettable pleasure

The scavenger hunt has been one of the most popular games for generations. This is mainly because the "treasure hunt" can be reinvented again and again by choosing a location, motto, or theme and the scavenger hunt puzzles vary accordingly. Scavenger hunts are great for children's birthday parties and celebrations and are an entertaining adult amusement for bachelor parties, club anniversaries, or team-building events. Whether for children or adults, a treasure hunt's success stands and falls with the scavenger hunt tasks. They must not be too easy or too difficult, should involve the whole group and, of course, have a great fun factor. Below you will find a few suggestions for scavenger hunt riddles that you can modify individually.

Scavenger hunt puzzles for children

Ideally, a treasure hunt, for example, on a child's birthday, should, of course, take place outdoors, i.e., in a park, in the neighborhood (if the residential area is safe for traffic), or in the forest. If the birthday child has requested a motto or theme, consider this for the scavenger hunt questions/riddles. For example, a pirate party should include a compass task. A princess expects a puzzle that revolves around the glittering crown.

Ideas for entertaining scavenger hunt tasks

These puzzles for a scavenger hunt bring a lot of fun to children:

• Find out how old the participants are in total and "paint" this number on the floor. Use small stones, branches, leaves, or whatever else you can find.
• What is in this bag? Determine the objects by touching them. To do this, fill a jute bag with small things like an eraser, pencil, paper clip, marble, a pack of tempo wipes, a spoon, fork, or jelly babies. Close it and pass it around.
• Your next clue has accidentally got into the shredder. Can you find all the strips and put them back together again? You can only continue when the picture is complete. To set up this task, print out a photo of the next station, cut it into pieces, and hide the snippets in the surroundings.
• Who has a good sense of smell? The participants are blindfolded and have to smell garlic or lemon, for example, or taste cucumber, tomato, or strawberry.

Scavenger hunt puzzle à la Indiana Jones: Who cracks the code?

Depending on the age of the children, you can, of course, add slightly trickier scavenger hunt questions:

• What do these numbers mean? Number the alphabet and replace the letters with the respective number (example: 4 -> D; 7 -> G).
• Leave a hidden letter at each station. What is the code word needed to open the treasure chest?
• Clues that lead the kids to the next station. "Follow the road until you reach a red house with a black roof. Turn towards the large oak and walk twenty paces north."

Scavenger hunt puzzles for adults

The scavenger hunt for adults is an excellent alternative to bachelor/bachelorette parties, usually associated with all kinds of embarrassment. It can also be a perfect team building measure or even a great idea for various types of anniversaries. It is fascinating when it takes place in a public space, i.e., in the city. After all, it can then be enriched by the invaluable factor of "uninvolved third parties"!

Film stories, noodles, and a friendly bartender

These tasks for your scavenger hunt with adults can be customized:

• What is the puzzle? Before starting the actual tour, hand over pieces of a puzzle that must be put together first to read the first task.
• Which film was the most successful last year and who was the main actor? Which saying is the most famous from the most successful series of the previous year? Think of a logical story in which the three answers appear.
• Name at least six different types of Italian pasta. What word can you determine when combining the first letters of the pasta types?
• Each of you now receives one euro. Get the largest object you can find. You have xx minutes. In a scavenger hunt, this task is, of course, linked to the condition that there are enough shops in the immediate vicinity.
• Where is the next station? For this purpose, provide a photo with only one small, greatly enlarged detail of the house, the lantern, or the statue, or alter the image with Photoshop.
• “A tangy refreshment provides the next clue.” For this and similar scavenger hunt puzzles, you should have made an appointment beforehand with the bartender of a local bar or the owner of the nearest kiosk. As soon as the group arrives and orders something, they will receive a prepared beer mat or marked napkin on which the required information is written.

With or without a smartphone? It depends

The discussion about whether smartphones should be allowed in a scavenger hunt or not frequently comes up. Of course, they should stay in your pocket during fact-based scavenger hunt questions because otherwise, all the fun of the puzzle is lost. On the other hand, knowing that smartphones are available can help devise tasks for your scavenger hunt. For example, you can indicate the way to the next station only by compass directions. For instance: go north to the next traffic light, then south to the crossroads, and so on. The task is quite easy to solve - provided someone comes up with the idea of quickly downloading a compass app. Or you can simply enter a series of numbers separated by a comma. The participants have to find out for themselves that these are coordinates.

"Would you please stand up for a moment?" - When third parties are involved

Depending on the occasion of the scavenger hunt and the composition of the team, you can also extend the scavenger hunt tasks more intensively to strangers:

• Ask all players to collect a shopping receipt from any passer-by within the next 5 minutes.
• Hide the next clue under a table in a usually busy café or at McDonald's, Burger King, etc. The "hunters" must now ask all the visitors to stand up to look under the table.

The listed riddles for a scavenger hunt can be tailored to your guests and the event's occasion, i.e., you can modify and add your own ideas.

One final tip: Make sure you have plenty of snacks, and drinks during the hunt. And of course: think of a fantastic treasure that is also worth the effort!

Organize a scavenger hunt yourself or book it?

Equipped with the above information, you have already taken a big step towards creating your scavenger hunt. However, you will have noticed that there are many things to consider and that developing your scavenger hunt takes a lot of time. There is also the question of whether the participants will like their scavenger hunt puzzles in the end. Therefore, it is worth considering whether you want to plan and organize the scavenger hunt yourself or whether you would prefer to use a tried and tested concept. In the following table, we compare the advantages and disadvantages of both options.