Scavenger Hunt with Friends: Or Anyone Else For That Matter

Have you heard the latest craze about scavenger hunting which seems to be coming from the underground into the mainstream? Well if not, then you probably will start seeing an awful lot more bizarre behaviour from people armed with an iPhone.

Scavenger hunting is an increasingly popular way of setting tasks for yourself and others to follow, (or indeed participating in a hunt that others have created). Take for example a themed hunt to capture the summer in images. You have to take a variety of pictures which match the task outlined and these vary in terms of points for how difficult these images may be to get i.e. a coastguard with sun-block on their nose is worth 25 points, meanwhile an image of holding ice-cream in your bare hands is worth 100, (I guess taking the picture is more tricky with sticky fingers!).

This game starts by having you register and logging in and once you’ve done this you can set your own hunt up or look for others to get involved with.

From what I found, the hunts were predominantly American so it does leave a disadvantage for the rest of the world to get playing and leading the scoreboards. For example snapping an image of a double-decker smores sandwich isn’t possible unless you know how to get hold of some smores to start with.

The game does have flagging option to highlight any images that are not appropriate. It’s not clear if this is to flag it up for referral to see if the image should merit the points or if this is to have it monitored for removal.

Overall, this is a novel way of using the features of the iPhone and could lead to more social interaction rather than what usually happens with mobile devices, (shutting yourself off from the world – unless you’re texting or calling, that is).

Positives

• Pretty original
• Plenty of scope for unlimited challenging fun
• Simple to use
• You can add people to hunts via contacts or searching

Negatives

• Largely US based challenges – should change with more international players
• Only really any good if you have a camera