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Create an Engaging Treasure Hunt with Certain Unusual and Intriguing Clues

Some of these Clues are so Unconventional that You Might Not Find Them Anywhere Else

Occasionally the best products are those you make yourself. Whether for a family birthday treasure hunt or a college group activity this is particularly true when it comes to creating this. Part of what makes for a great treasure hunt is having a litany of challenging clues from riddles to all types of puzzling items presented in unique and creative ways. It makes the players feel like they are a type of detective in solving their way to a reward. Here you will find several types of interesting treasure hunt clues that you can present at your activity that are sure to fire the imaginations of your participants. Some of these clues are classics that are proven to captivate and inspire. Other treasure hunt clue ideas are so out of the ordinary that you may never have seen them before. However they will definitely catch your attention!

The Circle Maze Clue

In the animated photo you can see the front and back side of the circle maze clue. This type of maze was created by James many years ago. As of this writing we have not seen another example of this type of maze. However with billions of people on this planet there is always a possibility that someone else may have created this same type of maze independently. However that remains to be seen.

The object of this maze is to begin at the hexagon marked "Start" and then follow the correct path of conected circles to the hexaon marked "Finish". The rule for movement on this type of maze is that to travel from one circle to the next you must use the straight line that connects them. It is forbidden to move to an adjacent circle where there is no straight line that directly connects them [no matter how close the circles may be to each other]. While following the correct path the clue will be revealed one letter at a time.

Using a hole punch and a protractor with a circle guide template we punched out the holes and drew the circles you see here. It was important to draw in the correct path first and write in the real clue along that path. In his case, using the "portal holes", the correct path traversed both sides of the paper twice. Each hole has it's colored circle which makes it easier for you to know where you come out on the other side. We put a one-word clue [bench] on the correct path.

Once the correct path wascomplete we then filled in the rest of the space in with as many "dead-end" paths as we could make! Two of the photos in the rotation show only the correct path. The other two show both sides of the completed maze. Take a few moments to watch the animated photo and follow the correct path to see where it all goes. As you can, see the completed maze can actually be a real challenge!

This is the complex "portal holes" version that allow you to continue the path on the either side of the paper. If you are doing this for younger children you may want to opt for a onesided version of this maze.

Maze envelope with insructions on how to navigate the maze This second photo is the envelope in which he circle maze is kept when put in a hiding spot. It looks mysterious enough in it's own right! It's our experience that most people, when confronted with this type of maze, will not correctly understand the proper way to move through it. So it would be wise to put instructions on the outside of the envelope so the participants know what's correct and incorrect about how to move through the maze. Most of you know this, but briefly, most devices have a way to expand the photo so you can see and read the instructions on the envelope better. On a PC you should be able to "right click" to see the expanded view [or view in a separate tab]. On a cell phone you put two fingers on the screen and spread them apart. The circle maze samples on the envelope explicitly show what not to do.

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link to Pacific Arc all purpose template guide on Amazon

The Color Changing Letters Clue

Color changing letters on face of envelope animated photo This clue with color changing letters was created by James many years ago. As of this writing we have not seen another example of this particular idea being used in a treasure hunt. However with billions of people on this planet there is always a possibility that someone else may have done this before. However that remains to be seen.

The random looking mixed letters that you see here in the animated photo [with the words "Clue 3"] were written on the face of an envelope. The participant would initially see, as shown in one of the frames of the animated photo, that all the lettering was written in gray pencil. However upon running water over the envelope, as you will note in the other frame of the animated photo, that part of the lettering had turned purple. This, of course, revealed the clue which reads "inbetween route books".

So here's the scenario: The participant encounters the envelope and notes that all the lettering is written in gray pencil. It will be immediately apparent that unscrambling those letters into a "clue" would be a daunting task without additional help. Well, inside the envelope the participant will find a piece of paper that had been cut into a "jigsaw" puzzle. When the puzzle is pieced together the words "Wet the envelope" will be revealed. Click HERE to see that. Oe other thing: The envelope you use needs to be pure white both inside and out. If you have security coloration of any kind o the inside of the envelope it will severely interfere with the writing you see on the outside of the envelope once it's wet.

examples of indelible pencils that change from gray to another color when wet

Preparation:

To do this you're going to need a good indelible pencil and an electric pencil sharpener. Not all indelible pencils are equal. Sometimes called "copying pencils" or "chemical pencils" indelible pencils are designed to write permanent markings on moist surfaces. None were ever designed for any recreational purpose such as a treasure hunt.

What you need here is an indelible pencil that writes in the color gray that's nearly indistinguishable from that of a regular pencil. On top of that when you get the writing wet it changes into another color. See the photo with the two examples of before and after colors [You may want to take note of the brands and number of each one].

We went on Amazon to check what on what indelible pencils are currently available on the market. As of this writing, all of the indelible pencils had different colored leading except one brand. It did have the gray leading so we bought a pack to give it a test. See the the results here. However when we wet the marks from that one there was no appreciable color change.

Though this means that the "good" indelible pencils are harder to find it doesn't mean that they can't be obtained. It's our experience that a much larger percent of older indelible pencils [made in the 1980's or earlier] will work as needed for a treasure hunt. You can still find he good indelible pencils on Ebay. Here's what you need to do since many of the sellers really don't know much about the stuff they find and sell and most of he indelible pencils are sold as unused [so they are not going to be willing to sharpen one to test it]: example of the type of damage that can happen to an indelible pencil when not sharpened properly

Contact and ask the seller to get two small pieces of clean white paper. With a fingernail pressed firmly against each piece of paper rub some of the leading at the end of the pencil onto each piece of paper enough to get two or three marks [this way the seller doesn't have to damage the pencil to test it].
Ask the seller if the marks look gray.
Ask the seller to wet one of the papers and then in good lighting compare the marks on the dry paper with that on the wet paper.
Ask if the seller can see any color differences. Does the mark on the wet paper have a tinge of another color in or around it? If so let the seller tell you what that color seems to be.
This will work better on soft pencils than on hard pencils

We tested this idea on one of our purple unsharpened pencils. It's not as ood as actually writing on paper and wetting it. But it can convey informaion which might be enough to reveal what you need to know, depending on how good a job the seller does on the other end!

Warnings:

From our experience we find that the leading on all indelible pencils are fragile so you should not attempt to sharpen them with those cheap "dollar store type" sharpeners. See the second pencil photo for the type if issue that is likely to occur. Those cheap sharpeners put high rotational stress on the pencil lead which can cause the lead to break off. A good electric pencil sharpener reduces the odds of breaking the pencil lead. Still when using your electric pencil sharpener your should insert the pencil with minimal pressure while pulling it out frequently to check the progress. Don't go for the sharpest point possible. The points you see in the photos are decent enough.

Secondly, and most importantly, you need to know that indelible pencils contain aniline dyes which are toxic. So it's important to recognize and respect this when using these. You should never put the pencil point in your mouth. If you accidentally puncture yourself with the pencil point you should get immediate medical attention since this will cause severe medical issues. By all means keep indelible pencils away from children.

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Clue written on inflated balloon with a photo of the same balloon that was shrunken superimposed over the inflated balloon

The Shrunken Balloon Clue

Look at the balloon photo which shows the words "Clue #7". Write the clue on the balloon while inflated. Deflate The balloon. It becomes the clue. You may need to practice doing this in advance since it's hard to judge how small the writing needs to be to become unreadable. We superimposed the deflated balloon over the inflated balloon so you could see how this would work. Please have the decency to practice some hygiene and use a balloon pump to do this. It's even more important to practice hygiene if you're putting on a treasure hunt for a larger group outside of your family.

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Edge of a piece of paper folded over itself with writing half on he edge and half over the paper background

Split Over the Edge Writing Clue

This clue is prepared by folding a piece of paper over onto itself and then writing the clue message across the edge of the paper so that the hand writing is split horizontally through the middle of the message. Take a look at the animated photo. The message is "Secret Spot in Fridge" when the edge is matched up properly.

Here's the scenario: The participant finds this clue which is just a small piece of paper with part of the writing in the middle on one side of the paper. Then on the other side the remainderr of the writing is along the edge at the top/side of the paper. Neither side is intelligable at all.

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Animated video showing the use of the templet key

The Templet Key Clue

For this clue you first need to prepare the templet key with a hole punch as shown in the animated photo. Decide the wording you want for the clue, then count the number of letters needed to spell it out. With a hole punch and a small piece of paper punch out the exact number of holes in random spots [as shown in the animated photo] as the number of letters needed. Then notch out one or two corners from the piece of paper. This will become your template key to decipher the clue.

Place the template key on another larger piece of paper and mark out a rough outline of each corner of the templet key. Then spell out the clue letter by letter one through one hole at a time [see the second frame in the animated photo - note the clue here is "swivel chair"]. Once that's done go ahead fill in the area surrounding the clue with random "decoy" letters. You might choose to hide this clue in a cluttered drawer that no one bothers to look in very often!

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Animated video showing different viewpoints of a piece of paper with baskwards writing

Backwards Writing Clue

This clue is pretty straight forward. The perticipant encounters backwards cursive writing on a piece of paper which can be read in a morror or through the backside of the paper in the light. The easiest way for most people to do this is to get a black felt pen and write the mesaage on a sheet of paper. Then flip the paper over and put it up against a window. Then, while taking extra care not to push too hard on the window, with a second piece of paper placed over it trace out the backwards writing. Now if you're one of those paople whose left hand tends to want to move in the opposite way that the right hand does then do the backwards writing with your left hand [or visa versa if your left handed].

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General Tips:

One of the most important things to do when putting on a treasure hunt is to set boundaries. If you are doing this for a child at home make it clear which areas are OK and which areas are not [as in "there are no clues here"]. You should exclude areas where there any kind of hazards such a storage areas or cabinets that have household chemicals, rooms with power tools or any other place containing "non-child-friendly" items. So take the time to review the "lay of the land" in advance. It is even more important to carefully study "the lay of the land" if you are doing this in a public place such as a building or a city park. Besides looking for hazards you should also exclude areas where your activity would interfere with other people who are not involved. For example we wouldn't recommend hiding a clue under a picnic table in the park.
If you have concerns about the participant finding clues out of order you can choose to hide just the pieces of paper that have the clue numbers on them. In this case he participant would find he clue number only as in "clue #1, Clue #2, etc." Then each time a clue number is found they would bring it to you and you would hand them the corresponding envelope. Then if one clue comes in out of order just have it put back until it's "found" in the proper sequence.
If you have a larger activity with several people participating it might be a good idea to have two or three separate treasure hunts running simultaneously. They can all use the same type of clue ideas but with different versions of circle mazes, etc. Assign each group a color. The blue group gets their clues in blue ink, the red group gets their clue numbers in red ink etc. Then the participants bring you the clue numbers in exchange for the corresponding clue envelope. You would have the "treasure" reserved for the group that finishes first and a consolation prize for the others.
With a multi group activity it may not even be necessary that all the clues be hidden in unique places. So there could be a place or two that would have more than one clue hidden. In that case there might be a clue for those whose clue numbers are red and alongside a clue number that's green for a competing group. It would be an "honor system" of sorts and hopefully you would know your "crowd" well enough that they would respect that and not steal someone else's clue in that instance.

If you're planning another Amazon order and you know you'll meet the free shipping minimum this would be the time to throw in a pack of these balloons:

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