Glossary
Scavenger hunt terms, defined.
The words that get used interchangeably and should not be.
A to Z
16 terms worth knowing.
- Scavenger hunt
- A game where players work from a list of things to find, do or photograph. Tasks are usually independent of each other, so players can tackle them in any order and a stuck team is never fully blocked.
- Treasure hunt
- A linear chain of clues where each one leads to the next and the last leads to a single destination or prize. More dramatic than a scavenger hunt, but a team that cannot solve a clue stops entirely.
- Clue
- A prompt pointing at something in the real world without naming it. A good clue is solvable from where the player is standing and meaningless from anywhere else.
- Nudge
- A small piece of help that narrows the search without giving the answer — telling someone to look up, or that they have already walked past it.
- Stop
- One location on a hunt route, and the task attached to it. A two-hour walking hunt typically has ten to twelve.
- Photo challenge
- A task completed by submitting a photograph rather than an answer. Photo challenges replaced object collection in most modern hunts, because they do not require anyone to take things that are not theirs.
- Leaderboard
- The running scoreboard across teams playing the same hunt. Used both to settle the result and to keep teams moving.
- Check-in
- Confirming a player is physically at a stop, usually by GPS. Check-ins are what stop a team from answering everything from a bar.
- Ghost sign
- Faded paint advertising a business on the side of a building, often decades after that business closed. A staple of downtown hunts because they survive above modern shopfronts.
- Historical marker
- A plaque installed by a state or local body recording an event or building. Dense with dates and names, which makes them useful clue material.
- Geocaching
- A worldwide hobby where participants use GPS coordinates to find containers hidden by other participants. Ongoing and self-directed rather than an organised event.
- Escape room
- An indoor, timed puzzle experience in a single physical space, usually an hour and usually capped around eight players.
- Self-guided tour
- A route you follow at your own pace without a guide, typically using a phone. A scavenger hunt is a self-guided tour with a game attached.
- Walkable core
- The part of a downtown where the interesting things are close enough together to cover on foot. Most city hunts stay inside it deliberately.
- Voucher
- A pre-paid code bought through a marketplace such as Groupon and exchanged with the operator later. The marketplace takes the payment, which is why refunds go back through them.
- Redemption code
- The code an operator enters to mark a voucher used. On a Groupon voucher this is printed beneath the barcode, and it is not the same as the longer voucher number above it.
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