Huntopoly: The Art of the Short Quest

We’ve been happily collaborating over the last couple of months with writer Mike Lanza, author of Playborhood: Turn Your Neighborhood Into a Place for Play.

Every year Mike turns his neighborhood into a outdoor play area where kids play games, solve puzzles, and enter a world of treasure hunting called… Huntopoly.

This year, five of our “Seattle” model Quest Boxes formed the cornerstone of the 2013 incarnation of Huntopoly. Guided only by the clues on their boxes, kids streamed out onto neighboring streets, seeking adventure, treasure, fun, and camaraderie. Mike reports that Huntopoly was a great success, with many of the “campers” returning to home base begging to be sent on further Quests.

But what I find noteworthy about Huntopoly is that it is such an excellent example of how really short Quests can be exciting and rewarding. None of the destinations were more than about 1500 feet away, yet the feeling of accomplishment and pure joy these happy kids experienced is not so easily measured.

Read all about Huntopoly 3.0 here.

And stay tuned for news of a much, much more complicated Quest. Just trying to be balanced.