Once an activity made popular at children's birthday parties, the typical American scavenger hunt has morphed and evolved to include a new generation of treasure seekers. The scavenger hunt has grown from a backyard or neighborhood and taken American and global cities by storm with citywide searches occurring daily. Whether a scavenger hunt designed to promote team-building within companies or a challenge among online strangers, the modern scavenger hunt has never been more of a trend than it is today.
Scavenger hunts have become popular in corporations throughout the United States, both large and small. With the ability to take place in any city, companies design scavenger hunts to promote problem solving, team-building, camaraderie and reasoning within their employees. Scavenger hunt companies have made businesses on designing group-specific scavenger hunts within America's cities for the corporate client. Scavenger hunts can range from the basic hunt to a GPS citywide search to navigate teams' clue-solving ability.
Scavenger hunts are becoming ever-popular competitive activities among friends. Groups of friends can spend a Friday or Saturday evening divided into teams solving clues, taking photos of objects and collecting items throughout America's cities. Many bus and tour companies design tours for the scavenger hunt thrill seeker, provide the group with city-specific lists to begin the game and visit area bars and restaurants along the way. Typically, the evening ends at a city bar or restaurant to celebrate the winning team.
Complete strangers now participate in scavenger hunts as well. With the popularity and expansive reach of social media, websites like Twitter and Foursquare are seeing citywide scavenger hunts grow exponentially. Foursquare uses geolocation technology to unlock new ways to explore a city. The website allows users to "check in" at museums, shops, restaurants and more venues throughout a city and unlock different layers of rewards for becoming a frequenter of the space. This technology has created a competitive edge among complete strangers across America's cities.
