Scavenger Hunt

The 20th Century saw a Cambrian Explosion of games. Before that you had card games — lots of card games — abstracts, a few classics like Chess or Backgammon, Ur-wargames (used by actual soldiers), and sports¹. After the 20th Century you had computer games, tabletop role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, Interactive Fiction, and all sorts of board games.

Sometimes it is difficult to trace out the history of games, and people are surprised to find out how old (or young) something is.

Which brings us to the (modern) Scavenger Hunt. I never even considered them until prompted. I thought they were Victorian game, that sort of thing that royalty did to party during a weekend …. but Wikipedia says that it was created/popularized by Elsa Maxwell²³ and entered into the public consciousness when they appeared as a plot point in Man Man Godfrey⁴. To say that started a craze overstates the point; but Scavenger Hunts have been chugging along ever since.

Scavenger Hunts are simplicity itself — here’s a list of bizarre and obscure things. Get as many of them as you can in the time allotted. From that basic premise they have evolved and morphed ….

One convention I attended had a Photo Scavenger Hunt (my wife’s favorite event). Each team got a disposable camera, and dozens or hundreds of things/situations to take capture in that single roll of film⁵. The (excellent) TV show Taskmaster opens each episode with a mini scavenger hunt, each contestant bringing in one item that best exemplifies whatever category they were given⁶. And of course there are Puzzle Hunts (such as the famous MIT Puzzle Hunt), which combine Scavenger Hunts and solving puzzles (in various proportions).

Actual ‘pure’ Scavenger Hunts are rare, but its impact has echoed through the last century. As much event as game, the Scavenger Hunt is an interesting and unexpected candidate for inclusion in The 100 Most Influential Games of the 20th Century.

1. Which are games, but I’m not looking at Sports in the 20th Century.

2. Although there were certainly folk games that inspired/preceded it, including Easter Egg Hunts.

3. Other web sites say it was in fact Eleanor Roosevelt, but those websites had a strong odor of AI generated slop, so I am discounting them.

4. And as the the entire plot of 1979’s Scavenger Hunt movie (which was really more of a puzzle hunt from what little I can recall from catching glimpses of it on endless cable rotation in the 80s).

5. Camera clicks were once a scarce resource. The past is a different country.

6. Such as “Most Confusing Thing,” or “Best Drinking Vessel,” or “Most respected item that retains its credibility when you talk about it in a high-pitched voice.”