Private
Treasure Hunts for Social Events and Tour Groups
A treasure hunt is a great way to enliven a social event or celebration. It's
a terrific social ice-breaker that fosters quick camaraderie.
Organized into teams of four to six, players must closely collaborate to solve a series of intellectual puzzles. The intensity of the experience can make for fast friendships! After hunting through a colorful part of the city, they'll have lots of stories to exchange about their adventures at a celebratory party or meal. As a bonus, the clues will lead them to the treasure spots of San Francisco that most visitors, and many locals never see: hidden views, secret sights and evocative remnants of the City's colorful history.
A treasure hunt offers an intense, challenging experience, a simultaneous intellectual and aerobic workout that draws out each player's knowledge and personality. Treasure hunts are excellent tools to:
Organized into teams, treasure hunters must pool their knowledge, skills and insights to solve a variety of challenging puzzles. This helps break down social barriers, and creates esprit-de-corps, as the team races against time (and other teams) to solve the clues and visit each of the mystery locations.
The puzzles are designed to test various skills: map reading; knowledge of popular culture, current events or literature; crossword puzzle solving; cracking simples codes, etc. Everyone on a team gets to contribute, and must collaboratively agree on what they think is the correct solution to each clue.
The challenge (and the fun) does not end there. The team must go to each of the mystery locations they have identified and search for landmarks referred to in the clue (see Clues & Strategy for examples of how clues work). Sharp eyes and close collaboration are required to spot the markers indicating they're in the correct place, and on the right trail. The hunt for visual markers enhances players' appreciation of their environment, directing their attention to overlooked architectural features, interesting “street hardware” and scraps of public art that they normally would not see. When the team finds the marker or hidden token proving they solved this clue, they are filled with giddy excitement at their success, and race off to the next challenge, hoping to beat out their competitors.
A treasure hunt is one of the best ways to explore and discover San Francisco. Our treasure hunts are famous for showing tourists and long-time residents alike the secret, hidden sights and treasure spots of this enchanting city.
Treasure hunters will explore narrow Chinatown alleys where the sound of clacking mah-jong tiles fill the air, climb hidden stairways to find a breathtaking bay view, and discover public and private artworks reflecting the city's artistic heritage. They'll also encounter remnants of the city's rich and exotic history and culture: the historical square where San Francisco was founded (and where the discovery of gold was announced); a plaque commemorating the site where Barbary Coast “hoodlums” were hanged by vigilantes; the art deco apartment building where Humphrey Bogart hid out in the film Dark Passage; the whisky warehouse whose owner saved it from destruction following the 1906 earthquake by bribing the firemen with some of his wares; the alley where Sam Spade's partner was gunned down in The Maltese Falcon.
Clues do not require familiarity with San Francisco to solve. Rather, they rely on simple puzzle-solving and map reading skills, and knowledge of popular culture, current events, literature and history.
