General FAQ

On most of our hunts, you and your teammates are not collecting objects (drop that pigeon!)—you’re searching for answers to tricky, humorous questions about the amusing things and cool places you discover. No previous knowledge is required: you just need a sharp mind and comfy shoes. The best teams quickly learn that they must use the strengths of everyone in the group.

We also offer a variety of special scavenger hunts in select locations, including

• Murder Mystery Hunts
• puzzle-filled Escape the Museum Hunts
• snack-filled Munch Hunts
• Ghost Hunts that feature haunted locations
• Trivia Hunts
• Scavenger hunts for kids
• Bachelorette hunts

The hunts are led by our acclaimed Hunt Hosts. Depending on the size of your group, the Host might be accompanied by assistants. Once the game begins, the teams hunt on their own, and usually encounter the Host at least once for a bonus challenge. We do not offer games without our hosts: they orchestrate the game to make sure you have a great experience.

Virtual scavenger hunts and other virtual games are also available: See the “Virtual Group Games” FAQ above.

The hunts are not races, and running disqualifies you. The hunts are a test of your wits and your teamwork, not a test of physical fitness. We don’t want anyone to feel embarrassed or excluded—and we don’t want to distress your lawyer (or ours, for that matter). The people who live at the gym won’t necessarily win.

On the scavenger hunts, most of the questions don’t work out of context: they’re designed so that you can answer them only when you are standing in the correct spot. And they aren’t Google-able: we don’t want you sitting on a bench with your smartphone.

Example from a museum hunt

This question is from the Met Madness Scavenger Hunt at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art:

In the Medieval Treasury, find the stained-glass saint who looks like he can’t get no satisfaction. (You might find his name appropriate.) Who most likely sought his help? Answer: Resembling Mick Jagger, St. Roch is the patron saint of plague sufferers, as revealed by the label near the window.

Example from a neighborhood hunt

We also offer outdoor hunts in historic and fascinating places. Here’s a question from the Downtown Movie Locations Scavenger Hunt in Los Angeles:

Bradbury Building, Broadway & 3rd: This is one of L.A.’s architectural landmarks. Architect George Wyman was influenced by an 1887 sci-fi novel. Go inside to see the dramatic lobby, which has inspired dramatic scenes. In The Artist, Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo flirt on the ornate stairs. In Blade Runner, it poses as the toymaker Sebastian’s waterlogged home, where Harrison Ford has his final showdown with Rutger Hauer. Near the “birdcage” elevators, find something that would escape from such a cage. What city did it come from? Answer: The mailbox, made in Rochester, features an eagle.

Didn’t get the answers to those questions? Of course you didn’t! We write the questions so you can get the answer only when you’re standing in the right spot. (We’ve also left out some of the clues that help you get to the right gallery.) Each question is designed to have a distinct payoff: you will see something cool, learn an intriguing or bizarre fact, or have a good laugh.

Most of our games are played using a smartphone, but our “app” work in any browser on any smartphone or tablet! There’s no need to visit any app store to download and install anything.

You’ll enjoy the fun, funny questions of our acclaimed hunts with the bonus of real-time answers, hints, a countdown timer, humorous sounds, and more.

Some hunts, such as games for kids, are on paper.

These games are always staged with a Watson Adventures host, to set you up with the app, check in with you during the game, and announce the results at the end.  We do not offer smartphone games to play on your own.

Fun in a variety of locations. Our scavenger hunts work basically the same way in every location. It’s the venue that changes the overall feeling of the hunt.

Indoors or outdoors? You might want to pick a location where you don’t have to worry about weather, or a location that is most convenient to your office, or a location that’s near a great place to have a post-hunt party. If your hunt is in someone’s honor, you might pick a place based on the guest of honor’s interests.

We can come to you! If you can’t get to a venue where we stage hunts, don’t forget our Anywhere games, featuring scavenger hunts, quiz games, and even games that can take place in your office or other indoor locations—all conducted by our stellar Hunt Hosts.

Can’t meet in person? Go virtual. Our wide selection of Virtual Games gives you options for any occasion—corporate team-building, weekend fun with friends, school virtual field trips, you name it. Games can include customized challenges to celebrate birthdays, graduation, bridal showers, or any special occasion.

Groups can be as small as four people—although please keep in mind that prices for private hunts start at $650 for weekend hunts and $715 for weekday hunts.

As for maximum group size, it depends on the location. But we’ve staged outdoor hunts for as many as 500 people. Contact us for details about specific locations.

In select cities, if you have a group of 12 or fewer, you can arrange a Private Small Group Scavenger Hunt.

Check out what hunts are available to the general public by selecting your city: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Chicago, or Los Angeles. Click on the Public Hunt Calendar button to see the latest schedule. Or scroll down to learn more about the scavenger hunts that are offered to the general public.

You must buy tickets in advance. We do not take cash at the door, and we do not accept “walk-ups.” We need to know in advance how many people will come so that we can prepare for the correct number of participants. Plus, our public hunts often sell out. On top of that, many of the locations where we conduct hunts, particularly museums, do not permit us to sell tickets on the premises.

Each person on your team can purchase tickets separately. During the checkout process, we’ll ask if you are joining friends who are signing up separately. If so, tell us their names during checkout and we’ll make sure that you’re on the same team. If you are attending with a Meetup group or for someone’s birthday, please tell us the name of the group or the birthday hunter during the checkout process.

Size matters: The hunt is played on teams of two to six people. You can have a team larger than six people, but you won’t be eligible to win the hunt, because your team will have an unfair advantage. If you do bring a large group to a public hunt, we ask that you have at least five to six people per team.

We never force anyone to join a team—except that we do not let people hunt solo. If you would like to join up with other people on an adult hunt, we’ll help you meet kindred spirits at the start. We find over and over that people who are game for joining others and meeting new people end up really hitting it off.

Please keep in mind that the questions are designed to entertain up to six brains, and teams of two or three sometimes struggle. But teams of two have many a time emerged victorious over larger teams. Err on the side of having fun with more people.

If you have a group of 12 people or fewer, you can arrange a Private Small Group Scavenger Hunt in select cities at some of our most popular hunt locations.

If they already have tickets: maybe. Typically, team size is limited to six people (larger teams are not eligible to win). But there are other factors that determine whether we can accommodate you. Please note that Murder Hunts tend to sell out several days or as much as a week in advance, so buy all the tickets you need early to guarantee participation. To check with us about getting into a sold-out hunt, e-mail us or call 877-9-GO HUNT, extension 12.

At the end of your online purchase, you will receive an email confirmation. The Hunt Host will have a record of your purchase.

If you didn’t receive your email confirmation, check your junk-mail folder. Failing that, contact our office using the contact form at the bottom of this page.

You will not receive tickets in the mail, nor will there be tickets waiting for you at the hunt location. Do not ask people at information desks or ticket windows at museums or zoos, because they will not know about the hunt.

Yes. Once you tell us you are coming, we include you when preparing hunt materials and booking people to run the hunt. Plus, if a hunt sells out, we turn away people who would otherwise take your place. Thus, there are no refunds. If you are absolutely, positively in a pickle, can’t attend a hunt, and can give us sufficient notice, we might be able to reschedule you—in which case, call us at 877-9-GO HUNT, extension 12.

Hunts almost always run, rain or shine. If we are forced to cancel a hunt due to dangerous conditions or because a venue, such as a museum, has closed, we will notify you by email. But we know that many hunters are intrepid, so we seldom cancel hunts due to poor weather. If you would prefer to reschedule, please call the Hunt Hotline, 877-9-GO HUNT, extension 12, or email us, to see if we can accomodate you.

Sorry, but no. The public hunts are already discounted from our private-hunt rates. Large groups cannot expect special treatment at a public hunt—we urge you instead to consider a private hunt, where you get to call the shots. In more than ten cities, we offer discounted Small-Group Private Hunts. Or check out all of our Private Hunts for options just about anywhere. Or contact us and we’ll help you find more fun!

Some museums tell us that participation in events not sponsored by the museum, such as our hunts, is not a benefit of membership. For those locations, the museum charges us for your participation, so museum admission must be included in every ticket for that venue.

If a museum allows participants to purchase their own museum admission or use their membership, we do not include admission in the price of our ticket and it is up to the participant to secure their admission to the venue for the hunt.

Yes, but only when you see a Student Ticket option during the ticket-purchasing process. And you must present a current, valid student ID at the hunt. If you don’t see a special ticket for students, it means we can’t offer a discount for that hunt.

It depends! Some of our hunt tickets include museum admission, while others do not. If you’re attending a hunt that requires you to purchase your own museum admission, then you can arrive as early you’d like—although you might end up wishing you had all of your energy during the hunt itself.

If you’re attending a hunt in which museum admission is included, such as our games at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, those museum tickets will not be available until about 15 minutes before the start of the hunt.

Visit the Gift Certificates page. Your certificate will be delivered electronically.

Visit the Public Hunts section, choose a hunt, and enter the claim code during checkout. Easy peasy! If your purchase doesn’t use up the full value of the gift certificate, your account in our system will have a record of your balance, to apply toward your next hunt purchase.

If you’re having trouble, make sure you’re entering your card code in the “apply a gift card” box, directly above the payment section, and not in the “promo code” section.

Our virtual games bring together players in separate locations using video conferencing technologies such as Zoom. A team typically consists of 5-6 players, and can accomodate people joining from multiple locations.

When you “arrive,” a Watson Adventures host will greet you, explain the rules, and set you up with our custom app, which works in any browser.

After the host explains how the game works, your team will enter a virtual “breakout room,” where you can communicate with each other in private and collaborate on the challenges.

During the game the host will drop in on your breakout room to answer questions, give you hints, and perhaps give you a bonus challenge.

Games generally last about an hour. Including set up and announcing the results at the end, the entire event lasts about 90 minutes.

Absolutely! Each team will get a unique code for the Watson Adventures app, so you and your teammates can all play along together. And with the video conferencing app the host can send your team into a “breakout room” where you can see, speak with, and collaborate with your teammates in private.

We offer trivia games, murder mysteries, games that explore museums online, virtual city tour games, and virtual around-the-world scavenger hunts. Our virtual games are available in versions for adults and for kids. Go to the Virtual Team Building page to learn more.

Contact us to discuss any particular needs or concerns you might have about Zoom or any other platform.

Pricing for virtual games varies based on the number of people in your group and whether you want a weekday or a weekend game.

Prices for private games start at $525 on weekends and $650 on weekdays.

Groups of 12 people or less can book select games directly at a reduced rate ($420 on weekends, $560 on weekdays).  Learn more

Contact us to learn about what we can do for your group!

For the best experience, we recommend that you use a desktop computer for the video conferencing program. Often we use Zoom: we will provide you with a link, which you should use to launch the Zoom app at least ten minutes before game time. We take precautions to keep the game safe and secure, and stress that you should not share the link with anyone not on your team. If you have a corporate group that uses another video conferencing platform, let us know and we’ll adapt the game accordingly.

You’ll also use our browser-based app to play the game, which we will recommend you use either on your desktop or on a phone or tablet, depending on the particular game. (We’ll tell you which is best in a pre-game email.) At the start of the game we will give you the web address for the app and a code to access the game.

We recommend at least one adult per team, although that adult does not have to be in the same location as the kids. In other words, the kids can be in your home office while Grandma and Grandpa join them from their home.

Prices vary based on the number of people you have, your choice of game, the length of the game, and any add-ons you want.

Outdoor and museum scavenger hunts start at $650 on weekends and $715 on weekdays.

Virtual games start at $525 on weekends and $650 on weekdays.

Contact us for a quote.

Groups of 12 people or fewer can get a discounted rate for certain games, both virtually and in select cities. Learn more.

If a museum or other venue says your group must pay admission, then we will include the group rate for tickets as part of the price of the hunt and acquire the tickets on your behalf. Some museums have a “suggested admission” price, but it applies only to individuals, not groups. The museums charge groups at a fixed, mandatory group rate.

If your group has a museum membership, you might still be subject to admission charges. Museums say that participation in group events conducted by outside suppliers, such as Watson Adventures, is not a benefit included in membership.

We ask for one month of lead time, but we often can pull a hunt together quickly, depending on the location.

Payment for the contracted amount is due at least three weeks before the hunt. If you have more people than the original contracted amount, the balance can be paid after the hunt.

If you are worried about bad weather, your sales representative will discuss various options that work for your group, location, and timing. In certain locations, you can choose to switch to an indoor hunt, if available, up to three business days before the hunt.

We do not. On Munch Hunts, we do recommend places where hunters can buy great snacks. Otherwise, it’s up to you to provide food and drinks.

Groups wishing to provide food generally choose a restaurant as the finish line. Often we can make suggestions of places near where you are hunting that would work for your group. From there, you can contact the venue directly.

Yes. We have met the requirements of every company we’ve worked with. It’s always a good idea to make sure that any special-events vendor you deal with is covered. That said, Watson Adventures takes great care to make every hunt safe, and not one of the tens of thousands of people who have participated in our hunts since 1998 has reported a serious mishap.

Nearly all of our hunts include Team Photo Challenges, with the exception of hunts in art museums. The challenges prompt your team to meet the requirements of various fun, funny photo ops. Everyone has to get into the picture (except the person holding the camera, of course). And you can see the fun results all over our website!

After the hunt, teams can enjoy each other’s photos via a gallery link generated by our custom app. You can easily download all of the photos to share in a slideshow, or enjoy back at the office.

We’ve been creating great Team Photo Challenges for more than 15 years, and writing good ones takes more skill than you might think. We work hard to come up with challenges that prompt your team to get creative while also producing great photos. The team with the most creative photos gets bonus points—which ensures that everyone goes back home with memorable photos of their experience.

Absolutely! All of the hunts do that, but we also have options that provide even more of a team-building boost. Check out the Mix and Mingle Games to learn about the Know Your Colleagues Quiz, the Mixed Alliances Scavenger Hunts, and the Better Get Acquainted Game.

Need to highlight particular goals or facts? Want to celebrate a particular person? Our customization options range from adding a few special questions to creating an entire custom hunt. Here are just a few examples of custom hunts we’ve created for prestigious clients:

• For O, the Oprah Magazine, we created a hunt in which every question somehow involved Oprah Winfrey or her magazine.

• When HBO Home Video wanted to celebrate the release of Sex and the City on DVD, we created a hunt entirely made up of locations featured in the series.

• For Lucky magazine, we created a custom shopping hunt focused on their advertisers in New York City’s SoHo and in Chicago’s Wicker Park.

• For a Fortune 500 financial firm, we staged a hunt that introduced new employees to the company’s rich history in the Wall Street area.

• For the New York Production Alliance, we staged two fund-raising hunts that celebrated movies and TV shows made in New York.

• Museums such as the Museum of Science, Boston, the New-York Historical Society, the Brooklyn Museum, the Penn Museum, the Harley-Davidson Museum, LACMA, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science have asked us to create hunts for their venues.

Our writers will work with you to determine what you would most like to highlight about your company to the hunt participants, or what skills and goals you would most like to drive home in a fun, team-building format. Contact us to find out what we can create for you!

Every hunt imparts valuable team-building benefits to boost morale and get colleagues to work together better. But if you want to emphasize the lessons learned, we offer the Short and Sweet Team-Building Power-Up. This option adds a pre-hunt briefing on “How to Win This Hunt,” which highlights successful teamwork strategies, followed by a fun debrief quiz after the hunt to drive home the lessons learned and celebrate triumphs and star players.

Our scavenger hunts in famous and interesting places mix in a bit of history with questions that are designed to foster teamwork. You don’t need to know the history to answer the questions, but you’ll be surprised at the cool stuff you discover along the way. Here’s an example from a hunt in midtown Manhattan that includes a stop in Grand Central Terminal:

Find the Main Concourse or great central hall of the terminal. Look up at the stars. The sky is backwards, but the builders said the view is from God’s perspective. In the 1990s the ceiling was cleaned, but one patch was left untouched. (The grime turned out to be tar and nicotine from cigarette smoke.) What Zodiac creature is closest to that patch?

Answer: A crab is closest to the dark rectangular patch. The spectacular ceiling is decorated with Zodiac signs (among other things), and the crab of course represents Cancer.

Some of our themed scavenger hunts contain extra information about special locations, such as our Munch Hunts (with stops at great places to get food) and our Haunted Hunts (featuring places that are said to be plagued with ghosts). Here’s an example from the latter, our Haunted Hollywood Scavenger Hunt:

On Hollywood Boulevard, visit the place where stars seldom tread lightly. If you went inside, you might run into Annabell, a young ghost you’ll meet elsewhere on the hunt. Outside, you might spot the pacing, glum ghost of actor Victor Killian….In the pavement, find where a droid left its mark. Nearby, a celeb who dunked his heels would have given Ella Fitzgerald a particularly elevating name if he married her. What year did he stand beside his enemies here?

Directions leading up to this location take you to the famous Chinese Theater, where stars, including R2D2, have left their footprints in the pavement. Darth Vader set foot nearby in 1977. Fortunately, Ella Fitzgerald never married him to become Mrs. Ella Vader.

Our scavenger hunt questions in museums very rarely require previous knowledge. They’re more about thinking as a team and keeping your eyes open. Here’s an example from the National Treasures Scavenger Hunt at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.:

On the First Floor, in the East Wing, visit the exhibit “Food: Transforming the American Table.” Look in Julia Child’s kitchen. Near something to help her check her weights, find out: If she wasn’t there, and it didn’t happen, who did it? 

The famous TV chef’s actual kitchen has been installed in this Smithsonian museum. You can peer into it. On one counter, near a scale and a coffee maker, you can see a sign that says, “I wasn’t there. I didn’t do it. It was the little people.” Good excuse!

We love staging hunts in art museums and offer many across the nation, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Again, no previous knowledge is required, but here’s an example involving a painting you’re probably familiar with, on our hunts at the Art Institute of Chicago:

On Level 2 of the American art wing, find a famous man whose outfit faintly echoes the potential weapon he holds. In real life, what would he have wanted you to open, so he could cause you pain?

Your team would discover the famous painting American Gothic, with a farmer in overalls holding a pitchfork and a rather button-up woman by his side. The answer is your mouth, because in real life that farmer was actually the artist’s dentist, as you’d learn from the wall label.

It’s really easy to create a mediocre photo challenge. Just tell the teams exactly what to do and leave no room for creative teamwork. So of course we hate those kinds of photo challenges. We find that often what makes for a great photo challenge is what you leave out: you want to suggest a problem that teams can solve in a variety of creative ways. For example, here are some from our scavenger hunts:

Take a photo that somehow doubles the number of people on the team.

Take a photo of the team interacting with a statue or sculpture.

Take a photo demonstrating a team member’s hidden talent, while the rest of the team reacts.

If you click around the different cities and venues available on our website, you’ll see many great photos taken by actual teams on our scavenger hunts across the country.

On Watson Adventures scavenger hunts, teams are usually seeking answers to tricky, humorous questions about things they find and places they explore. But we often are asked to include a classic scavenger hunt list of items to find or create along the way. It’s easy to make a list of random objects, but to really challenge a group of six brains, we like to make the questions a bit open-ended, to evoke creativity and surprise. For example…

Find an object that is better by being broken.

Create a new snack sensation with three edible ingredients that are seldom combined.

Collect three objects whose names rhyme.

You get the picture.

We stage hunts at zoos across the country—the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, the Bronx Zoo in New York City, the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, the St. Louis Zoo…the list goes on and on. We love zoos. Our zoo hunts all include team photo challenges, to get the team to think creatively together but also to unite them, at least visually, with the animals. Along the way you’ll also tackle questions about the animals and their habitats, revealing fascinating facts and making you look more closely. Here’s an example from our hunt at the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona:

At the elephant enclosure, meet a massive country star who splashed onto the Phoenix scene in 1999. What condition might a bad eye doctor mistakenly diagnose her with?

A sign about Reba the elephant (not to be confused with Reba McEntire) reveals that she has a natural pink coloration around here eyes—but it’s not a case of pinkeye!

Or here’s a question from our Woodland Park Zoo hunt in Seattle:

In Tropical Asia, make orangutans vocalize. What kind of “kiss” would you get from one that’s annoyed with you?

A display where you can activate orangutan calls reveals that their “kiss squeak” sound expresses annoyance.

Since 1999, thousands of school children have explored some of America’s best museums and history-packed neighborhoods on our Field Trip Scavenger Hunts. They are designed to accomplish several objectives:

• Get adults and kids working together on a shared adventure, whether it’s with teachers or chaperones. (Please note: you must provide at least one adult chaperone per team.)

• Pose questions that spur teamwork and discovery without requiring previous knowledge—but providing many opportunities for learning along the way.

• Introduce young minds to the breadth of a museum or historic location so that each hunter gets the chance to discover what most intrigues him or her.

• Stimulate curiosity so that students are eager to learn more and explore further in the classroom and on their own.

Dozens of schools have turned to us for fun, educational hunts.

Ages: The hunts are appropriate for ages 7 and up, with special versions for teens.

Group size: We can handle groups large and small. And more than once, we have even had hundreds of students hunting simultaneously at such locations as the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the historic streets of Philadelphia, and the Freedom Trail in Boston.

Next step: Choose your location to discover what scavenger hunts are available near you! Take a look…

Our hunts offer the opportunity to…

• Develop critical thinking and sequencing skills. Students must follow directions, pay attention to the wording of clues, and work together to navigate the hunt route. There’s no passive learning on one of our hunts—the students are actively doing and thinking the entire time.

• Stimulate students with cooperative learning in the form of team-building activities. You can create teams ahead of time and even pre-assign roles to team members. For example, one student can be the navigator, another can be the recorder for the team’s answers, another can be the organizer who keeps the team on track, and others can be readers who make sure that the team is paying attention to the details of each clue.

• Integrate curriculum with real-life experiences. Students are often told to make text-to-world connections, and by seeing the actual historical artifacts in a museum—such as dinosaur bones, suits of armor, and portraits of famous people—or visiting places where history actually happened, they get a richer understanding of the material in their textbooks.

These suggestions just scratch the surface of what an adept educator can do on a field trip with Watson Adventures. After more than 10 years of providing hunts for students, we’re still learning new ways students can benefit from our hunts!

What’s the next step? Choose your location to find out whata scavenger hunts are available near you. Take a look…

“We had a blast. Everyone has had so many positive things to say about the hunt. You guys really did a great job! I have already recommended your company to several people, and I plan on doing something like it again. Thanks for all of your help!” –Georgetown Middle High School, Massachusetts

“The kids had a great time—they were all very excited about being in NYC, too. We will do this again next year for 9th grade.” –The Pingry School, New Jersey

“The kids and the parents LOVED the hunt this year! It was very well organized and appropriately challenging. So many of our field trips are passive, in terms of the students following and listening to docents and guides. The hunt provided us an activity that was interactive and challenging, and the students were able to learn about the city, its history, its architecture, and its residents. Watson Adventures has been professional and accommodating. The ease of scheduling, the quality of the hunts, and the positive feedback from students support my recommendation.” –Emily Sigman, Poolesville High School Magnet, Pennsylvania

From a teacher who asked us to stage our Met Museum hunt for an elementary school field trip: “Your organization does a wonderful job, and we had positive feedback from our students and parents. Many have already planned another trip into the Met Museum to see more and thought the hunt was a great way to get the children interested in the museum. Thanks for making the planning as easy as it could be! We look forward to another Watson adventure in the future.”

From another teacher who took her school on a hunt: “This was the second hunt I did with your company but the first school hunt I participated in. Words cannot say how much fun we had! The students were engaged and motivated the entire time. They were so excited to get to see Grand Central Terminal, and they all wanted to win! Speaking on behalf of all the teachers that went, we loved the experience! We became more competitive than the kids! We all had a wonderful time and will definitely be using Watson Adventures again. Several of the students said this was the best field trip they had even been on!”

From the leader of a Girl Scout troop who went on a museum hunt: “The scavenger hunt was terrific! The girls had a wonderful time and learned a lot, not only about the objects in the museum but also about how to work effectively and efficiently as a team while having fun! It was a great way to kick off this year’s Girl Scout season. Thank you for your help in organizing the event. We hope to schedule another hunt in the future.”

From a teacher who took a high school group on one of our museum hunts: “Our group had a fantastic time on the Harry Potter[-themed] scavenger hunt! The staff was terrific—helpful, upbeat, and engaging. It was a perfect fit for our group of students with chaperones. I knew the kids would get a charge out of it, but I was so surprised at how much the parents enjoyed the hunt, too. I’ll heartily recommend your company and a scavenger hunt to anyone.”

What’s the next step? Choose your location to find out whata scavenger hunts are available near you. Take a look…

In New York City, we offer one public hunt for families per month. In Los Angeles, we offer regular Wizard School Hunts for Harry Potter fans. Private hunts for kids are available almost anywhere, anytime.

Generally, ages 7 and up. Younger children might find a hunt too long, too difficult, and too exhausting. Reading skills are also important to a child’s enjoyment of the hunts.

There must be at least one adult per team. You must purchase a ticket for everyone on the team.

Yes, but we don’t recommend it. Kids will probably find the questions too hard or complain that there is too much walking. The games usually last 2 hours from start to finish. Also, there is no discount for children at an adult hunt. We urge you instead to bring kids to our family hunts, which are specifically designed for kids and adults to do together.

Sorry, no. That’s not fair to the teams with kids on them. But there’s one exception: our Wizard School Scavenger Hunts allow all-adult teams to compete separately.

Most games are played using the browser on your phone. (There’s no need to install an app.) Ideally, everyone on the team should come with their phone ready with a strong charge.

Dress comfortably in weather-appropriate clothing. In particular, be sure to wear comfortable shoes. Avoid carrying anything heavy.

Carry as little as possible. If you are doing an outdoor hunt, you will have to carry anything you bring with you.

If you are doing a museum hunt, keep in mind that museums often prohibit large bags in the galleries. And you probably don’t want to check your valuable laptop in the coatroom. Don’t bring luggage: some museums won’t even let you in the front door. Some museums charge a fee for checking coats, and lines can be long and slow, so allow extra time for checking coats when the weather is inclement.

Sorry, but Watson Adventures staffers cannot sit with your belongings during the hunt—they are needed on the hunt trail to interact with the teams!