To preface all this, I make treasure hunts as a side job: tinyTreasureHunts.com.
So basically I love treasure hunts. A lot.
Anywho, so last summer Emily and I were having a little vacation at my mom’s house, with some time on our hands before other friends joined us. Having just devoured The Hunger Games, we decided to create a themed Hunger Games treasure hunt! It started out quite small and simple, and as we got more and more excited (and admittedly a tad hysterical), it eventually grew into something rather immense.
The clues were of ALL types, and were hidden all over the house, yard, and even outside in the streets. We went all out and found a cool chest at the thrift store and added a gold Mockingjay design. Geekout.
It was so extensive I had to turn this into multiple pages, and I even had to omit about half the clues. The first part starts out slow, and is not-yet Hunger Games-y…that part comes later!
The hunters—this early on, rather naive of their bloodthirsty fate!
We started by tying weird random bandanas around all their heads (you’ll see why later), letting them know there would be a fun treasure hunt, and telling them they had to work together to solve the puzzles. They warmed up with some Anagrams and Acronym clues (no pictures sadly), and gathered a few little clue boxes (this is important later), and then got to a poem:
There’s nothing I’d rather be,
Than a mockingjay in a tall tall tree
And truth be told my favorite spot
Would overlook a parking lot
But with no wings how do I fly
To a perch that is so high?
However, there was no ladder there at the time, and the garage was locked. The key had been found in an earlier clue, and they had to put 2 and 2 together!
A few clues later they were downing some horrible drink and then using a code on the bottom of one cup to decode the message in the rest of the cups:
-
- Decoded it read “Go to small metal shed”. Off they ran to the bottom of the garden!
Magnetized to the edge of the shed was a tin box, with a photo of Macgyver and the quote “A paperclip can be a wondrous thing. More times than I can remember, one of these has gotten me out of a tight spot.”
Inside the box was a piece of twine, an eraser, a paperclip and some other random knick-knacks. The top of the tin reads “Grate job! Parking lot. MacGyver.”
So, after a bit of head scratching, off they went to the grate in the front yard parking lot (I bet you thought I just spelled Great wrong, huh?). After trying some funky plans using the eraser (a red herring!), they took the twine and paperclip and fashioned a fishing hook to fish out the next clue lying at the bottom of the grate!
Goodness, what does it say? Find out on the Next Page:
The next clue was a bit of foreshadowing to the eventual theme, and it read:
“May the odds be ever in your favor.”
Page 3, first letter 4th line. Page 25 6th letter 9th line.” Etc Etc
Searching through the house, they found a bookshelf that contained The Hunger Games, and using all the above directions, ended up pulling letter by letter to create the phrase:
Under bbq sink. Yes in the mud.
Under the BBQ sink was a grotesque mud-and-slimy-thing filled jar, and after digging around in it they eventually pulled out a sealed baggie containing the next clue. Luckily we had a willing volunteer in the mix. Yuck!
Next was a little translation test:
After finding the next clue in a bunch of fake flowers, plus a few other clues in between (like I said, there is not enough room for everything!), they found a magazine-cutout clue that led them to a tree outside in the street. Searching for a tree with a hole in it, they spotted something!
Inside was a trowel, and attached to it was a hand-drawn treasure map! Let’s gooooo!
What happens next?
Ok, so here’s where it starts getting GOOD.
Very obviously, on the map X MARKS THE SPOT . This led the treasure hunters to an X marked out in stones near the back of the garden, and they set about to digging with the trowel they just picked up in the last clue (in the tree).
After some Zoolander-style digging action followed by some “Get out of the way—let me show you how it’s done!”, a cloth-covered box was pulled from the dirt!
Using a key that was hidden underneath the fake floor of one of the little clue boxes picked up earlier, the box was opened and the contents revealed…
Not only was there treasure abounds (chocolate gold coins), but also an ancient proclamation, and three envelopes.
Welcome to….The Hunger Games!
Here’s some advice: Stay alive.
Rules: TO BE READ ALOUD
1. Look at your bandana. The number tells you your District.
Join your District-mate. They may help you survive.
2. If you die, you lose.
Happy Hunger Games!
And may the odds be ever in your favor.
At this point everything got a little crazy. Team members found each other and hurriedly opened their team clues. Hostile glares were exchanged between the three Districts. Mouths salivated for blood (ok, perhaps the narrative is getting a tad dramatic…).
The clues instructed the Districts to race to the porch, where there would be a pink, green, and blue egg hidden amongst the 4 hanging flower baskets. It was advised that the ideal color to find would be blue. RUN!
All Districts having a different-colored egg in their possession, the contents revealed instructions to race to the bottom of the yard, where there would be a wheelbarrow full of HUNDREDS of eggs of various colors. Their next clue would be in the egg of the color they now held. Naturally, there were the fewest blue eggs…and oh, the poor team with the pink egg—how they suffered!
Frantic scramble through the eggs!
Inside the clue egg was a crossword, and when all the words were found the only remaining letters spelled out….
….POOL!
District clues were labelled in large numbers 1, 2, or 3 and were lying at the bottom of the pool. Weeee!
Clue inside read:
Return to the Cornucopia. Dig deeper.
Goodness, I’m getting all excited just writing about it.
So, the geeks among the group were quick to realize that the Cornucopia was the place where the Hunger Games begin, so they rushed back to the area where they had dug up the first treasure chest. And they dug deeper.
Since half of them were already all wet from jumping in the pool, this was a very muddy business. Deeper down the hole, they found yet another cloth-wrapped treasure chest, containing yet another ancient proclamation.
So…it gets a bit twisted now. As in the actual Hunger Games book, the two District-mates who thought they were a team working together are now given the choice of being pitted against each other to the death. Decisions, decisions! I suppose it all depends on what items they need to complete…
ICED! Attached to the top was a note:
“Are you here to finish me off, sweetheart?” –Peeta
To our surprise, no one double-crossed their District-mate in order to avoid this task (what nice friends!). Having all been Iced, instructions led them to a pile of rocks behind a firewood pile.
We’re getting so close to the end!
Unscrambled, the rocks spelled out BARBECUE.
A frantic race to the barbecue, and the first one there found the final winners horn:
The horn sounded and the winners were crowned, with our square gold-spray-painted cardboard crown!
Horray!
Want to see some better images of the Hunger Games Treasure hunt chest? Check out the final page!
Did you read the entire Hunger Games Treasure Hunt post? Click here to start at the beginning.
Here are some better images of the Hunger Games Treasure Hunt treasure chest:
We found this chest at a nearby thrift store for $4. The lock we grabbed from the hardware store for a couple bucks and then used a gold pen to make it look a little more fancy and old. Also, the entire box was buried in the ground for an entire week before it was found, so that helped add some natural grunge.
To make the Rule proclamation, we printed some text on a regular sheet of white printer paper using the free fonts Treasure Map Deadhand and DK Trashtype. The we put some boiling water in a baking dish with 3-4 black tea bags and let it seep for a couple minutes. We then put the printed sheet in it and left it in there for about 20 minutes.
We took it out, left it to dry in the sun (or you could use a blowdryer), and then used a lighter to burn away at the edges until it was the shape we wanted.
The gold Mockingjay I drew in and then colored using a gold pen from an art store. I painted it over with glossy mod podge in order to make it last longer. Now that the treasure hunt is over, this is the coolest, geekiest jewelry box ever—I love it!
Did you read the entire Hunger Games Treasure Hunt post? Click here to start at the beginning.
Psst….I make treasure hunt kits: tiny Treasure Hunts