Scavenger Hunt Task Types, and When to Use Each

August 7, 2026 6 min read

Every scavenger hunt eventually needs an answer to the same question: what actually happens when a team arrives somewhere? The default answer is “take a photo,” mostly because it’s the easiest task to set up. It works, too — for a while. By the ninth photo in a row, nobody’s really looking at the location anymore, they’re just going through the motions of pointing a phone at something. The fix isn’t a cleverer photo prompt. It’s knowing which of the five task formats actually fits what you’re asking a team to do.

Photo and video, for proof someone was there

This one’s the workhorse. It’s the only format that proves a team is physically where they say they are, at least once it’s checked against their GPS position instead of taken on trust. Use it for the moments actually worth documenting — a pose in front of something specific, a video of someone attempting whatever the task demands. Where it falls apart is as a default for everything else, because a good photo task takes real effort to design and almost none to answer badly.

Open questions, for whatever needs a closer look

A written answer works for anything that rewards actually noticing something — a name on a plaque, a number carved into a bench, some detail you’d only catch by reading rather than glancing. It’s also the slowest format to grade, since someone has to decide what counts as close enough, so save it for tasks where that judgment call is worth the time it costs. Are there really only one or two plausible answers anyway? Then skip the open text box — multiple choice does the same job faster.

Multiple choice, to keep things moving

Nothing here needs a judgment call — an answer is either right or it isn’t, and the leaderboard updates the second it lands. That speed is exactly why it works better as a breather between bigger tasks than as the main event. Lean on it too hard and a hunt starts to feel like a pop quiz with a short walk between questions.

Hidden codes, for the task that rewards searching

A code taped under a bench, tucked inside a specific book, hidden on the back of something — this format asks for a different kind of effort than a photo or a question. Not cleverness. Just the patience to actually look instead of assuming the obvious spot is the right one. One well-placed code per hunt feels like a discovery. Three or four, and the whole thing turns into a scavenger hunt for scavenger-hunt clues.

Check-ins, the task that barely is one

Sometimes the point of a stop is just arriving — no photo, no question, nothing to grade beyond a GPS-verified ping confirming the team made it. Overused, this would feel like padding. Placed once or twice at the right moment, right after something that took real thought or a long walk, it works as a breather that doesn’t actually stop the hunt.

Mixing them is the actual skill

None of these formats are clever on their own. What makes a hunt feel varied is refusing to lean on any one of them for more than two stops running. A reasonable ten-task hunt might look something like:

Four photo or video tasks
Two open questions
Two multiple choice
One hidden code
One check-in

That ratio does more for how a hunt feels than any single task being individually brilliant would. Variety in kind of effort beats variety in difficulty of idea, almost every time. There’s more on why that matters for pacing in the guide to designing an interesting hunt.