Back when your parents were young, one of the most popular outdoor games for kids was scavenger hunt. They’d be divided in teams and given a list of things to find and bring back to home base and whichever team finished first was the winner. Snooping around in the woods or the campground for a maple leaf or a hickory nut is a little old school these days. This Freaky activity drags the ancient art of scavenging into the 21st century.
Instead of tramping around with a walking stick at camp, you might be traipsing through life with a smartphone or tablet. Those tools, with all their photographic, recording and social media capabilities, are the key to our latest twist on scavenger hunt. There’s no need to pack a bunch of items back to home base when you can use technology to grab the objects on your list and transmit them back as megapixels.
Using your smartphone also explodes the old rules about what can be put on your scavenging list. Your gamemaker isn’t confined to tiny objects you could carry easily because all you need is a photo or sound/video recording of them. Your list can now include huge things like the water tower, a Ford Mustang, a refrigerator. Ask your parents… no one ever had to bring back a fridge on their scavenger hunt in the old days!
You can play this with a couple of friends and work as individuals or invite enough players to have teams. You still need an adult or older sibling to make the lists so it’s fair, but they don’t even have to use paper, just e-mail it to each of the players and set a stopwatch to see who reports in first.
As soon as you get the e-mail of items to hunt for, you head out in search of them. Make sure there’s enough memory on your phone for the pictures before you begin—nothing worse than being the first to locate the tractor tire but having no memory card space to photograph it. Text or e-mail in your items as you capture them and the time stamp on your message will tell the tale of who is quickest. When the first player/team has completed the list, your captain sends an “all in” message to meet back at home base and announce the winner. So be quick, be accurate, and winner winner chicken dinner!
