- Number of teams/players, age range, length of hunt, pre-hunt prep time for all our scavenger hunt games
- Customizing a hunt
- What software is needed
- Digital camera options
NUMBER OF TEAMS or PARTICIPANTS:Unlimited number of teams with a minimum of 3 or 4 to a maximum of 10 people per team. We do recommend one facilitator/helper for every 2-3 teams to keep things running smoothly, especially when you grade team efforts and tally up completed challenges.
What if you only have a few people participating in scavenger hunt? Instead of dividing them into teams, you can keep them all on one team and have them race against the clock, giving the single team a time limit to complete each section of the hunt (photos, find items, etc.), report back to you for the next section and so on until the hunt is complete.
AGE RANGE:
- Operation Our Town, Operation When Nature Calls and Operation Recovery: Age 10 to adult.
- Operation City Slickers, Operation Viva Las Vegas, Operation Streets of San Francisco, Operation Black Cat: Age 14 to adult.
- Operation Romantic Rendezvous: Adults only; couples only.
- All our team versions of the hunts are designed for corporate and business events.
LENGTH OF THE HUNTS: 1 1/2 - 4 hours, depending on the size of your group*: 5 minutes for opening instructions; 1 1/2 - 2 hours for the scavenger hunt and about 1/2 hour or more for the grading, team presentations and awards presentation.
For the team versions of the hunts, allow 2 - 4+ hours, depending on the size of your group: 15-20 minutes for opening instructions, warm up game and team organization; 1 1/2 - 2 hours for the hunt and about 1/2 hour (or more) for grading, team presentations, awards and optional but recommended team assessment discussion.
PRE-HUNT PREP TIME: For up to 6 teams, you can put our scavenger hunts together in about 4-6 hours (includes shopping for supplies, reading the scavenger hunt and prepping the materials); as you add teams, you'll need to add time to the pre-hunt prep. You mostly need to print (and perhaps edit) the documents included with the kit, pack the collection bags and you'll need to get team prizes, digital cameras and other inexpensive supplies like clipboards and pens. Our facilitator guide included with your hunt provides a supply checklist for you.
HOW TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR SCAVENGER HUNT GAME: All our scavenger hunt games are formatted in Microsoft Word which means you can EASILY edit them to personalize the scavenger hunt for your event and add in your own custom challenges and ideas. For example, if you select the Our Town hunt for a birthday party, you can have the teams make a birthday present as one of the team projects. If you're going to a place you've never been, search the Internet for the "city name" and the results will provide you with informative web sites you can use to plug in location specific challenges. You'll also find some nice suggestions on our testimonial pages.
The 3 software programs you'll need:
1) WinZip - or similar program (for PC users) or Unstuffit (Mac users). Your game documents will be contained in a .zip file (think of it as a container). Winzip (or Unstuffit) opens that container so you can get to the game documents.
- FOR WINDOWS USERS, use the FREE ZipGenius - http://www.download.com/ZipGenius/3000-2250_4-10179818.html
- FOR MAC USERS, use the FREE StuffIt Expander: http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/
2) Microsoft Word or similar word processing software (like Microsoft
Works or Word Perfect). If you have a Mac and don't have Microsoft
Word, download this software for
a free 30 day trial so you can view, print and edit our game as needed.
Don't have ANY word processing software on your computer? Try the free OpenOffice software.
3) Some hunts require the most current version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you have ANY trouble opening ANYTHING, just email Haley
Productions.
We will help - really we will.
3 Options for Our Hunts That Require Digital Cameras
OPTION 1: Ask those participating in the scavenger hunt to bring their digital camera for their team photos. Almost everyone has a digital camera these days and you should be able to find one person on each team that has one.
OPTION 2: Here are some digital camera suggestions that cost less than $100 (as of 3/2008). My sources: http://reviews.cnet.com/4566-6501_7-0.html?filter=100021_9231531_&sort=lowPrice9+asc and http://cameras.about.com/od/digitalcameratoppicks/tp/under100.htm
- Fujifilm FinePix F810
- Nikon Coolpix L11 Digital Camera.
- Samsung S630 Budget Digital Camera
- VuPoint DC-WPC-ST531T-VP Budget Underwater Digital Camera
- Digital Concepts Video Camcorder and Digital Camera
Check http://www.amazon.com for the best prices and be sure to read their customer reviews; also check your local discount department stores to see what they offer (stores like Walmart can offer some pretty inexpensive cameras from what I've been told) . One of my customers reported an awful experience using http://www.ecamerafilms.com so I don’t recommend them at this time. I love http://www.cnet.com for tech product reviews.
OPTION 3: Use cell phone cameras.
OPTION 4: You can time each section of the game so only 1 or 2 teams have a camera at a time.
Here's an example:
Part 1: 30 minutes
- Teams 1 and 2: get the picture challenges only
- Team 3 and 4: get the collection challenges only
All teams return in 25 minutes to get the next part of the game.
Part 2: 30 minutes
- Teams 3 and 4: get the picture challenges only
- Team 1 and 2: get the collection challenges only
All teams do the project and/or quiz challenges at the same time.
