Here’s a great little coffee shop gambit you can use in your Adventure!
I’ve built and run over 100 Adventures. One location that’s played a role more than any others is the coffee shop. If your player is a coffee drinker, it’s one of the best early stops on an Adventure. There’s always a close coffee shop, it’s intimate, and it’s usually familiar. Plus, it’s alway good to give your player a little speedy brain juice before you pummel them with puzzles all day long.
Here’s a quick tutorial on a great way to utilize a coffee shop in a Treasure/Scavenger hunt.
here’s how the gambit should play out:
At the previous stop, your player receives the following:
A coffee cup sleeve with squares cut out.
Instruction to the specific coffee shop (You might not need this if the name of the coffee shop is printed on the sleeve)
The password to give the barista. (If you don’t want to make a puzzle out of this, the password can be written on the sleeve.)
The player arrives at the coffee shop, gives the barista the password, and the barista then gives them a cup of their favorite drink in the cup. However, this cup has a bunch of letters written on the side. When they put the sleeve on the cup of coffee, it becomes a “wheel cipher style” puzzle. Your player turns the sleeve to figure out the correct word or phrase. You can use this to tell them where to go next, or the password can open a cryptex or a lockbox containing a more detailed instruction to get to the next step.
Here’s the step by step process to put it all together
Start by going to the coffee shop and chatting with a manager. There’s no reason to move forward if you don’t have the ok from a decision maker there. You’ll need to give them a timeframe and outline of what you’re hoping to pull off, and see if they’re ok with it. Keep in mind that the busiest time might be a bad time to send your player to the shop.
Pro tip: Go with a local coffee shop, it’ll make it clearer for the player and you’re supporting a local business. As always, be friendly, be ready to take no for an answer, and make sure you tip well.
When talking to the manager, you’re asking the following: “I would like to use your location as a stop on a fun treasure scavenger hunt for my friend/partner/whomever. Would it be possible to send them here on ________ day around _______ time, have them give the barista a password, and prepay for a drink? The barista will give them a cup with a bunch of letter’s drawn on and they’ll head to the next location!”
Once you get the ok from the coffee shop, ask if you can take a few of their cups and a few of their sleeves. You probably just need two of each just in case you make a mistake. It’s worth noting that some places might not be keen on having you take a cup away and then bring it back.
Once you have the cup and sleeve, you’re going to use the “overlay gambit.” Start by tracing little squares on the sleeve. You can do both sides, or you can just keep it at one. More holes makes this puzzle more difficult. I recommend using the exact amount of squares for the password or passphrase.
Once you’ve traced your squares, get an X-Acto knife and some type of hard surface or cutting board that can go in between the sleeve. I used a metal ruler since none of my cutting boards were small enough.
One by one cut out the holes on the sleeve.
Put the sleeve on the coffee cup. Write your message/password in the squares. Make sure the letters perfectly line up in each square so it’s very obvious when the player gets the correct answer.
Finally, write extra letters all over the coffee cup. I recommend keeping them very spaced out to make sure you don’t run into any confusion.
I hope this is helpful! It’s fun and flexible to be made simple or difficult depending on the player level. I always recommend making things easier and simpler. Happy building!