Tailor your Puzzles to make your hunt that much more SPecial!

The Architect has a saying when it comes to treasure scavenger hunt Adventures:

“Building an Adventure is an act of extreme thoughtfulness”

I COMPLETELY agree with this statement. Building an Adventure for someone is a wonderful way to show that you care about them. I have crafted many Adventures for people I care about; partly because I enjoy making them, but also because I want them to know how much they mean to me. My family likes when I do this because they love the special experience it provides! All together it's a win-win!

One way that I have found to make a hunt even more personal is by tailoring the puzzles in the hunt for the player(s)! It will make the experience extra special since you took the time to incorporate puzzles, dates, and other things that are specifically unique to them.

HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO ADD THAT EXTRA SPECIAL PERSONAL TOUCH TO YOUR ADVENTURE:

1- Use an important date in their lives as a code to unlock a lock.

You can use things like their birthday, an anniversary, etc… (both the "day/month" format and "year" works great for this!)

2- Take some facts about the person/people and make a puzzle out of them.

Here's a cool example: Get a directional lock and find 4 people that are special in the players' lives. Designate them a direction (Up, Down, Left, Right), then write the code to unlock the lock by listing facts that only pertain to that person! It's a fun way to go down memory lane and make the puzzle personal!

An Example of the Directional Lock Puzzle

3- Is there a kind of puzzle that they enjoy most? Be sure to include it in the hunt!

Do they like word searches? Crosswords? Sudoku? Whatever it is, include it in the hunt. It will make the hunt extra fun for the player, and they will be touched that you remembered what they like.

Be sure to ask the players what puzzles they don’t enjoy, so that you can avoid them.

Here's a great example: If your player likes sudoku, give them a mostly completed sudoku puzzle that is missing the numbers in your lock code. Be sure to put a little “1, 2, 3, etc.” in the boxes that they need to fill so they know what order to use the numbers!

Example of Sudoku Puzzle

4- Make a puzzle where you have to put significant events in their life in the correct order!

This works great for an anniversary or even a proposal.

Up the Ante! Put letters on the back of the cards in UV marker so that they will get a code/location/message when they put in the right sequence and shine a blacklight on it!

5- If your player has a favorite song, you can use that in the hunt too!

Check out my friend, The Mystic’s, previous post on how to use music in your hunt! He has a bunch of great ideas including having them play the tune of the song on an instrument like a piano or xylophone! Or you could do what I did in my "Pirate's of the Caribbean Birthday" hunt! I used a music box to play a punch strip I made of a song from the movies. The player needed to identify whose song it was, and spell out their name using paper packets I made to give them the location of their next clue!

6- In the same vein, you can do something similar if your player has a favorite book or quote!

Find a recognizable quote from the book, and use that to make a puzzle!

Example:

"Happiness 5 _ _ be found even in the _ 2 _ _ _ _ _ of _ _ 1 _ _,  4 _ one only remembers to turn on the _ _ 3 _ _." 

-Albus Dumbledore

This puzzle will give you a 5-letter word lock code that is relevant to the quote. Can you figure out what it is? (answer is at the bottom of this post)

Custom cipher I made for the Pirates of the Caribbean Birthday Hunt!

7- A simple way to personalize your hunt is by making a custom cipher!

Find 26 symbols or pictures from a hobby or activity the player enjoys to represent the 26 letters of the alphabet. Then write a secret message using these symbols that the player needs to decipher! It's a great way to incorporate a theme into your hunt!

I hope that you have found some good information on how to add a special touch or two to your next hunt in this post! If you make a personalized puzzle or hunt for a loved one, we want to hear all about it! Tag us on Instagram with #ConstructedAdventures, join us on the Constructed Adventures subreddit, or come and chat with us on the Constructed Adventures Discord!

Until next time,

Happy adventuring!