Treasure hunt

[MartT]

Hi

Anyone organised a treasure hunt before. (Not in your back garden though      )

I'd like to do one for our local area but could do with a few pointers.

Cheers

Martin

[studbuckle]

One pointer

-------------------------------->> The treasure is over there

Sorry, A more sensible answer will follow when I get shut of silly MCSE people

[a4gom]

I assume this is a family, friends and grannies type thing not a pucker navigational scatter? although the basics are similar.

Start at the end and work backwards, secure a finish venue preferable one which has space to accomodate number of cars and people, serve refreshments and food?

Get an O/S map depending on how long you want it to last mark up a route for the appropriate distance I usually base this on 15-20 mph ave depending on how hard you are going to make clues and if they will need to get out of car.

Drive round the route a couple of times looking for good clues, make notes then start at the beginning and drive slowly round. You need enough clues to make sure people keep to the route and you need questions for them to answer as they go round. When I've done them before I've sorted the route and the clues then my mate has gone round and re worded the clues in a cryptic manner as I'm no good at that.

You also need to record the actual mileage of the route.

I like to throw in a few items which they also need to collect and a few general knowledge questions.

I usually set them of at 5 minute intervals. Record the start time and mileage.

To score they get a point for each correct answer and each item they have collected.

Points are then deducted for number of miles under or over the correct value you have recorded and the amount of time they have taken over the alloted time.

You may need a tie breaker question so be prepared.

Hope this is clearer than mud.

(word of warning there used to be a rule set by the msa that competition license holders were not allowed to enter any type of event on public roads which were timed unless it was authorised by them and had the relevant permit. Don't know if this still counts, haven't read my licence renewal yet.)

[KerryS]

Sounds about right. My wife's school have this daft idea that the winnners one year compile next year's and we were stupid enough to put in too much effort and won.

I agree to start with route - keep away from main roads as folks will be driving erratically and best away from other road users IMHO. I made a piece of string 20 miles long (scale length) and laid it on the local OS map to derive the first draft of the route and then drove it and modified it thereafter.We also tended to keep on-the-move clues fairly simple and to make stops for folks to do more intricate ones on foot, again safety related.

For one village we compliled a photo-mosaic of digicam close ups of various things for them to find.

Get money in a few days before then confirm with finish site the numbers and food requirements.

Once you get everyone off, you can be reall cunning and turn up at some points along the route to laugh at them struggling and then head off to the pub awaiting the mad marking seesion when they eventually find you.

Other ideas are a sealed envelope with end location or mobile number in with a penalty for opening. You find then someone has said sod it and opened it straightaway and headed to the pub!

We have also had ones where there is some sort of additional competition back at the end point eg name celeb photos, stills from films to name or famous landmark photos to name.

Good luck

[a4gom]

Good point, forgot to mention the I'm totally screwed envelope

[Mark Purves]

I do not know if it still applies but I am sure that you had to tell the police if more than 6 cars were involved.

   

[CrashBangWallop]

We had one in the cambs area this year.  About ten cars involved.  Fantastic day out!  Hopping out of the car in city centre traffic to read a plaque was funny.  All those cars, a few minutes apart, drew a LOT of attention

Ask Chazpowerslide (our AO) how he went about it.  Though, he may be up to his eyeballs in tagliatelle and bolognese at the moment

Cheers,

Neil

[MartT]

Thanks for all the advice and keep it coming.

I think I have my start and end points, so need to get a decent map to plot the basic route.

Examples of clues would be good.

Cheers

Martin

[Major Stare]

Make sure your route has plenty of petrol stations    

[studbuckle]

OK, a more sensible answer.

From a club point of view if you're organising a treasure hunt, then it falls under the MSA rules for events. As such, if it's a prearrange event and published through the clubs publications (WW, The Boardroom and even an AO's Mailing or E-mailing list) then it will require authorisation from the MSA. This then ensures that the participants are all covered by the clubs Public Liability Insurance.

It's different if you're just having a scenic drive on a Sunday or similar as that's not normally published and is not specific in it's route.

[Liam]

Make sure your route has plenty of petrol stations  

Yes we know all about that, don't we ChrisF  

[ChrisF]

   

[chazpowerslide]

PM me with your address and I'll send a copy of the one I did for the Cambs area.

It will give you an idea hf how to go about it.

Chaz.