Treasure Hunts

Throughout modern history, the idea of the treasure hunt has always fascinated. The idea that wealthy rulers and pirates had hidden their hoards and then died without revealing the whereabouts of their treasure, has driven thousands of people to go hunting for this 'buried treasure', with varying degrees of success. Indeed, it was the idea of the treasure hunt that led Robert Loius Stevenson to write his successful book Treasure Island. Another book that was famously based on a treasure hunt was Tolkein's Hobbit, in which a bunch of Dwarves and a hobbit went to plunder the treasure hoard of a dragon.

I suppose that the idea of hunting for treasure was also a fascination of ancient civilisations too, as looters would visit the graves of chiefs, royalty and Pharoes to plunder the treasure that had been buried with them. One of the most famous hoards discovered in the 20th century was the treasures of Tutenkhamun, the boy king of Egypt. Howard Carter was the man who led this treasure hunt and was one of the first people to enter the tomb in over 2000 years, treasure can remain hidden for a long time! The treasure of Tutenkhamun was allegedly cursed, several people from the expedition, including Carter, died in unusual cirumstances ... make up your own mind!

Other sources of treasure are created by invasions and wars, national treasures and personal treasures are hidden from the invader with the idea that they can be retrieved at a later date. Great if you don't get caught or killed by the invaders! Personal belongings can end up being scattered during battles or just lost as part of everyday life, very soon, they end up being buried one way or another. Treasure hunters will generally search at or near such sites, often using metal detectors as the majority of items regarded as treasure will be partly or wholly metallic.

There must be a whole host of treasure out there still waiting to be discovered, some of which will have more than just a monetary value as it will give an insight into how we lived in the past.

More recently, in the 1979, an artist and author, famously tapped into the commercial treasure hunt market. He buried a gold pendant at a secret location and the clues to its whereabouts were contained in the illustrations in his book. The book sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide and after a bit of a scandal and a lot of random digging in public places, the correct location was worked out by a couple of physics teachers in 1982. No other similar book, based on a treasure hunt, has ever come close to emulating the success of Masquerade.

The idea of the treasure hunt started to be come a popular office party type of activity at about the same time. It was a social event that was usually organised by a couple of willing volunteers. Generally, the office treasure hunt was a evening driving event, with the participants teaming up and visiting villages in the locality. The clues were simply based on on observations of signs, house names, road names etc and the treasure hunters ended up in a country pub for a drink and a buffet. The only treasure were the answers to the clues and the bottle of wine as a prize for the winners, plus an evening in the company of your colleagues.

There is nothing wrong with that type of treasure hunt but gradually it dawned on management teams and corporate entertainment organisers that the treasure hunt could be used as an effective form of corporate entertainment or for team building and it suddenly became big business. The nature of the treasure hunt had to change though. It needed to become more sophisticated. Contemporary corporate treasure hunts develop the use of many skills that are extremely useful in the corporate environment. They are also great fun so that the participants do not realise that team building is taking place, the phrase 'team building by stealth' is at the heart of this type of corporate event.

But the treasure hunt can, and is, used simply for corporate pleasure, as a pure corporate entertainment event. However, team building will still take place so it can give a shrewd manager the chance to carry out a team bonding exercise whilst disguising it as a staff reward. It can also be used as a conference break, a short energiser event that can refresh delegates at an intense corporate conference. Corporate treasure hunts can be organised to be on foot walking events or be motorised such as by car, taxi or public transport! The skills needed to succeed are planning, organisation, lateral thinking, negotiating and persuasion and the whole event will bond the members through a vommon aim in a fun competitive event.

Below are a few web sites that offer corporate treasure hunts:

Hunt for Treasure - Treasure Hunts in a venue of your choice or use their already prepared hunts

A Winning Team - corporate events including treasure hunts and archery

London Treasure Hunt - exactly as billed, ready made corporate treasure hunts in London, including Canary Wharf and the Jack the Ripper treasure hunt round Whitechapel

Irish treasure hunts in Dublin and Belfast

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