There are many categories of clues: riddles, puzzles, joint, photos, educational, and themed. Riddles You can make simple riddles that disclose the location of the next clue. These riddles can be rhyming, or not. They can be easy or difficult. Here are some examples: Clock: I have a face but no nose, eyes or mouth. I have numbers on me.
Refrigerator: look where there are magnets close to eggs and milk Eggs: You must break me before you can taste me Freezer: Find the place that is like the North Pole Tree: I am tall and for some reason I change my clothes with every season Birds love to use me as a home I’m stuck in one place and cannot roam Mailbox: Put some words into my mouth and they will go away. I will give you words as well, but not one will I say. Couch: I am soft and comfortable Not a bed, not a chair, what am I? Shower: where it rains indoors Piano: My colors are like a skunk But I do not affect the nose, just the ears. I can be loud, beautiful, quiet, or annoying depending on who is with me. Window: “You make a better door than a” what? Create Your Own Riddle Clue To create a riddle, first think of the location or object where you will hide the next clue.
For example “toaster”. Then start the riddle with something like “I have”, “I am”, “Look where”, “Find the”, “My”, “What is”, “What has”, etc. “I am” To make a rhyming riddle, think of a sentence about the object. Make sure the last word in the sentence rhymes well with other words (don’t make the last word be something like “orange”). “I am square and love heat” Then think of a few words that rhyme with that word.
“seat, meat, eat” If you can’t think of any, you can change out that word with a synonym. For example, instead of saying “house” you could say “home”. They mean almost the same thing but rhyme with very different words. Next, choose one of the ryhming words to make the second sentence. “I am square and love heat, I make bread more delicious to eat.” It may seem difficult to make two sentences that rhyme, but you can do it with a little practice. If the riddle seems is too easy or too hard, consider changing out some of the words to make it more obvious or more vague.
Harder: “I am metal and love heat, I make something delicious to eat.” You can also add extra sentences to make it easier – the more information the participants have, the easier it should be to figure out what it is. To make the rhyme sound better, consider making the number of syllables the same in both sentences. This is optional of course. “I am square and love heat, = 7 syllables I make bread more delicious to eat.” = 9 syllables to “I am small, square, and I adore heat, = 9 syllables I make bread more delicious to eat.” = 9 syllables Puzzles Mystery Language Clue: Create a clue that is simply translated in a different language. If you know a foreign language you can do this yourself, if not you can use google translate.
This type of clue is easy to adjust the difficulty. For the easiest, begin the clue with “Translate me:” and use a language that is somewhat close to english, such as spanish, italian, or german.
To add difficulty, try translating to a language such as arabic, and leave off the “Translate me” part. Imagine opening a slip of paper to find some strange characters: Κοιτάξτε κάτω από το κρεβάτι. (greek) They must ascertain the fact that it is a foreign language (a difficult task if they are unfamiliar with that language) Then they must figure out which language it is, and how to type it into google translate to be translated. (Hint: one way for them to accomplish this is to copy/paste a large paragraph of random english text into google translate, and click through the languages until the one with matching symbols is found. Then copy paste the same symbols as the clue holds, to create the message. Then translate the message. Jigsaw puzzle: Take a regular jigsaw puzzle (preferable a brand new one, so that you can be sure all the pieces are there) and put it together.
Treasure hunt ideas for adults can include challenges and cryptic clues. Treasure Hunt Ideas.co.uk gives you inspiration and treasure hunt clue ideas for creating a. Whether you have a party at home or feel like jazzing up your weekend, playing scavenger hunt is quite energizing. Let us help you come up with challenging riddles for whenever the mood for a hunt rises. Treasure hunt ideas for adults can include challenges and cryptic clues. Treasure Hunt Ideas.co.uk gives you inspiration and treasure hunt clue ideas for creating a. Treasure Hunt packages, hints, tips and help with clues,riddles and maps for your scavenger hunt from industry experts Treasure Hunt Design.
Make sure you can flip it over once it is put together (you can use a couple of sheets of cardboard, one on bottom one on top, hold together and flip). On the back of the puzzle, you can either write the location of the next clue, or draw a map. The puzzle can be used either as a single clue, or gathered a few pieces at a time – you can include a ziplock bag of puzzle pieces with each riddle clue. You can use it as a “cumulative clue” by having it split up like this.
(see “cumulative clues” below). Tip: the more pieces in the puzzle, the longer it will take & the more difficult it will be for your participants. A puzzle under 200 pieces is generally a good number. Word search: Create a word search that reveals the location of the next clue.
This can be done several ways. Here is an example: Find all the words in the search. Use the red letters that are part of the found words to spell out the location of the next clue. Disregard red letters that are not part of the words you find. Word scramble You can use this as part of a sentence: Look in the book in the library, it’s name is: O Tale fA Two Cities =A Tale Of Two Cities Cryptogram Puzzle Common knowledge cryptogram puzzle: Write the clue down, for example “Look in the refrigerator” Use numbers to replace the letters, with the letter A corresponding to the number 1, B is 2, C is 3, and so forth. You can underline the numbers when they get to double digits to made the puzzle easier (so that they know it is 13 not 1 and 3) or if you don’t want to underline them, you can also just place them very close together to signify that they are one number. For an easier clue, put the key on the same page.
For a difficult clue, leave off the key. So, to make the example into a clue, “Look in the refrigerator” would read 12 15 15 11 9 14 20 8 5 18 5 6 18 9 7 5 18 1 20 15 18 and the key would be: 1=A 2=B 3=C 4=D 5=E 6=F 7=G 8=H 9=I 10=J 11=K 12=L 13=M 14=N 15=O 16=P 17=Q 18=R 19=S 20=T 21=U 22=V 23=W 24=X 25=Y 26=Z This is the “common knowledge” puzzle because many people have heard of or seen this type of number to letter association key. Random cryptogram puzzle: The same as the common knowledge puzzle, except the “key” is custom. You can use random (out of order) numbers, symbols, other letters, etc.
For example: 1=F 2=M 3=Z +=A @=B &=C A=U B=R C=P Soduku Find a soduku. Solve the soduku yourself first, so you know what numbers you have to work with. OR get a book of soduku puzzles and turn to the solutions area.
You may also want to know what numbers you are looking for, so you may want to choose your clue location before choosing the soduku. Use a clue location that requires a number, for example: Look in the library, on shelf #_ (counting up from the bottom), book #_ (counting from left to right), page # _ _ _, line # _ (counting from bottom to top), word # _ _. (the word could be something like “refrigerator” or “mailbox”. Simply the location of the next clue) You could also tape a small piece of paper into the book on that page, if it is hard to make the numbers line up with the word you want. To make the soduku into a clue: You can highlight the boxes or trace the boxes with a colored pencil for the numbers you will use. Try to use only boxes that the participant had to solve, rather than the ones that were already there. Joint Clue Combine any of the clues.
For example: Use the soduku puzzle, but instead of the numbers in the solution corresponding to a number clue, have them correspond to a cryptogram puzzle. Photo Clues You can take a photo of the location or object that the participants must get to or find. For example, you could have a photo of the fish tank and the participants would go to the tank to find the next photo. For increased difficulty, you could have the photo be very close up, or of an obscure part of the tank (you could do a close up of the fish even). This can make it difficult to tell what the object is. For photos of locations, you could make it so the participant has to stand exactly where you stood when you took the photo in order to find the next clue. You can also take “close up” photos at locations, just be sure to leave enough evidence that the participant will be able to decipher where you were (close up of a park bench, be sure the participant is familiar with the benches in the park or they may never guess it) Another fun thing to do with photos of locations, is to make a romantic treasure hunt with it.
Take photos of places that mean something to both of you. You could both go along on the treasure hunt, and each photo could have something sweet written on the back of it about your memory of you two visiting the location together. You could even do this for around the house you don’t want to travel very far. Alternately, you could use this as a surprise for a second honeymoon or a long road trip.
You could just hand your partner the next clue when you arrive at the destination if it is not possible to hide the clues at the destinations beforehand. Only do it that way if absolutely necessary. You see, if you go through the effort of preparing the clues and going around hiding them beforehand, it is very flattering for your partner as it shows your thoughtfulness (ie you score points!). Cumulative Clues You can make clues that are cumulative to add another dimension to the hunt. A cumulative clue has several pieces to it.
The pieces must be collected and then when they are all put together they create the solution. For example, you can have the clue say, “look on all forms of transportation that we own – collect all 4” and the participant(s) will have to go search the car, truck, bike, and boat. They will come up with 4 pieces of paper or whatever you’ve hidden there, and when they put them together they can read the instructions for finding the next clue. A map can be torn into pieces and used as a cumulative clue. Educational Clues You can make clues that are educational by requiring the participant(s) to learn or practice something in order to solve the riddle.
For example, you might ask them “find the item that Louis Pasteur made safe to drink.” (answer: milk. You can tape the next clue to the bottom of the milk carton in the fridge) you can also make a short puzzle like this: What is the capital of alaska? _ _ _ _ _ _ (Juneau) What is the answer to: (2426+5522) /956? _ _ _ _ _ (eight) What is the last word of the Gettysberg address? Earth Who was the 16th president of the united states? Abraham Lincoln How many bones are there in the human body? 206 There are 3 types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary and what?
Metamorphic You can make an entire treasure hunt with an educational theme. You can choose a variety of topics or just stick to one (if your child is struggling with mathematics, you can do a math theme. This is a fun way to help him or her practice). Themed Clues You can add a fun theme to your clues; a common example is a pirate theme.
You can make the language in the clues sound like pirate speak (Aye aye, matie!) and the clue attributes could be skulls, crossbones, black pirate flags, etc. See the for more examples. There are many other themes for treasure hunts. Some ideas are: • luau (island theme) • victorian • 70’s • fairies • princess The possibilities are endless.
Yesterday was Wonder Boy’s birthday. Leading up to it I worried that I’d used up all my surprises on, but I had one more in store – a treasure hunt!
I’ve had this idea for awhile but never think of it in time to prepare one. You make a treasure hunt that ultimately leads the person to their present. I thought I’d share the clues in case other people have a geek in their lives that they’d like to do a treasure hunt for. Some of the clues are your run of the mill riddles and word games, but I did try to come up with some nerdy ones on my own. It was a lot of fun following Steve around and watching the wheels turning as he figured out each clue 🙂 I started by handing him this on a card: And then gave him his first clue.
I made the first clue easy to start things off slow. Also I just needed a clue that involved keys because I bought him some cute for his birthday and hid them with the next clue 🙂 Any treasure hunt for nerds has to involve a Spock quote, I think: Clue 2 solution: computer keyboard Clue 3 solution: “Find your next clue under couch cushions.” To make it a little harder, I hid the clue (along with some mini chocolate bars! Yum!) inside the couch cushion, since our cushion covers unzip and come off.
Steve had no trouble finding them, though. I got the idea to make one of the clues in morse code. To pull it off, I was able to find.
One of the fonts didn’t work for me, but the other one did. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that the font had an error where “F” and “L” are the same. But that just added another element of decoding to the clue and Steve was still able to figure it out 🙂 Clue 4 solution: “You’ll find your next clue taped to the bottom of the bathroom trash can.” Clue 5 involved some word scrambles, which I love. I’m obsessed with the iPhone app “Word Warp.” I play it every night in bed to help fall asleep. This one turned out to be a little too easy.
I’d make it harder next time. Clue 5 solution: envelope / microwave / kitchen Clue 6 solution: clock While Steve was figuring out one of the earlier clues, I sent him an email with the subject line “Clue 8”. Steve and I both love Pink and I got us tickets to one of her concerts for Steve’s birthday two years ago. This could work for any artist of your choice. To make it even harder you could go with song lyrics instead of titles. Note: Instead of attaching the image, I copied and pasted it right into the email.
Something messed up in the transmission and Steve received the email with a bunch of garbledee-goop text in place of the image. But being the nerd that he is, he was able to take that garbledee-goop and somehow make it turn into the image. So actually the clue worked out even better than planned because it involved a nerdy unexpected step to figure out 🙂 If I had any idea how to recreate the garbledee-goop mistake, I would tell you, but I have no clue what happened. Clue 8 solution: “Raise your glass” – I hid the next clue in a wine glass in our cupboard. I wanted the last clues to be a little harder so I deliberately made this one pretty vague. Also I really needed an excuse to use this image! Clue 9 solution: I hid the next clue in our oven, along with some tasty homemade apple cinnamon donuts (recipe ) – I would have made a pie if I knew how!
*Warning: the next clue is cheesy and may have TMI. Steve calls me “silly-bum” and has since we first started dating. Actually he first started calling me “silly-toes” and it graduated to silly-bum later. Unfortunately this clue totally backfired.
I hid the clue in my pants at an opportune moment in the hunt a couple clues prior and Steve grabbed my butt while we climbed the stairs to find one of the clues and felt the paper there. The image is from the web-comic. If you’re nerdy and you haven’t read this comic, you must live under a rock. Come out from under your rock and go read that comic now. It’s brilliant and hilarious and you’ll wonder where it’s been all your life.
Even if you’re not nerdy go read that comic. Maybe it’ll erase the TMI I just shared with you!
I needed the last clue to be the hardest one of all. It also needed to be super nerdy. So I turned the clue into binary using that has a binary to text converter. Last clue solution: the binary reads – “When you’re away from home, travelling the world there’s a place where you keep all your clothes. You’ll find your present waiting there who knew it was right under your nose!” Answer: suitcase Steve was even nerdier than I thought with this clue. Instead of typing out the binary into the converter like I thought he would do, he scanned the clue and used to turn the image into text. Then he copied the text into the above website with the binary to text converter.
Finally Steve got his presents – the Planet Earth dvd series in Blu-ray, and a Tardis USB hub. The latter is seriously nerdy – it even lights up and makes the sound that the Dr. Who tardis makes when it’s taking off.
Steve loves it 🙂 Happy treasure hunting! 'One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.'
–- Henry Miller 'A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.' -- Lao Tzu 'All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.' — Martin Buber “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” -- Maya Angelou 'I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.'
-- Lillian Smith. Singer Maxwell Dating.