Cracking the Code: Organizing an Epic Treasure Hunt for College Freshers

How I organized one of the best treasure hunts our college has ever seen

Recently, I had the opportunity to plan and execute a treasure hunt for the juniors in my college as part of the freshers' event that my team from GDSC MBCET and I conducted called le Debut, which was conducted on March 25th and 26th. This was our third year running le Debut in our college, but this was the first time that it was being conducted offline. Over the years, le Debut had gained a reputation for being one of, if not the best freshers' event conducted in our college by a community or a club. It has always been a fun-filled, as well as educational and informative, experience. And each time, the treasure hunt has always been one of the most crucial parts. So, when I accepted the challenge to conduct the treasure hunt offline, there was immense pressure to nail it. So I got to work. And this is how I was able to pull off the best treasure hunt that our participants had ever participated in.

First, let me talk about some of the constraints that we faced.

1. The treasure hunt was the final program of the day.
2. Since our college forced us to wrap up the event by 4:30 PM, we were very short on time.
3. The treasure hunt couldn’t be too difficult, as we needed at least some of the students to be able to complete the puzzles in the allotted time of 1 hour and 15 minutes.
4. I couldn’t tell the clues or puzzles that we had set to the rest of my team, so I, along with only two members who had been involved in the planning, had to place the clues all around the campus in the summer afternoon heat by ourselves in a short period while another session was being conducted so no one else saw the places where the clues were placed.
5. We had to set up different clues at different places for the different teams because otherwise, the teams could just follow the ones who solved it, which ruined the fun.

Also, this would’ve been impossible to pull off if not for the support from two members of my team: Ritin George, who designed the webpages for the clues, and Jins K Varghese, who was helping me with the execution and locations. The time we spent pondering over the Figma file containing the plans and making sure everything works wasn’t insignificant.

For the treasure hunt, participants were divided into groups of 5–7. Also, they were shown what an NFC tag is and looks like, and a mentor was assigned to each team to ensure they were playing the game properly and to guide them a bit if things become too hard, although the mentors themselves had no clue as to what was in store for the participants. The participants were also told to write down and keep the word they got while solving each clue, as it would be needed in the end. Also, they were informed that they’d have to append the word they got to the le Debut website as the site path to get info on what to do. (For example, if the string was “usoclose”, they’d have to type https://le-debut.vercel.app/usoclose). Clues were hidden in various locations all over the college campus.

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The treasure hunt clues were set as follows:

1. The participants were first given a piece of paper that had a clue referring to the location where the next clue was hidden. Also, the clue word was “code1” which was common for all teams.
2. Upon finding the place mentioned in the first clue, they’d find a QR code, which, upon scanning, gave the clue to the location where they could find the next clue. In this round, the clue word was “code2”, which was also common for all teams.
3. Knowing that some big brain people might think, Oh, the first clue was code1 and the second clue was code 2, so the remaining should be code3, code4, and so on.” We decided to mess with them a little bit and set actual pages with clues for code3, code4, etc., just not the right clues… Instead, just some stuff to waste their time, as they would realize later on. There were actual puzzles on the “code-n” pages that were of the same type as those they’d encounter if they went the right way but that led them the wrong way.
4. When the participants found the location mentioned in the QR code text, they’d have to search and find the NFC tag, which upon tapping would give them the clue word, which, when added as path to le Debut website, would take them to a vector image that can be downloaded. The next clue is hidden in the code of the SVG image as a comment.
5. The word obtained from the comment inside the SVG image, when added to path of the website, would give a hex string, which, when converted to text, would give the clue to the location where the next clue can be found.
6. In the location specified in the previous clue, the participants would find a QR code, which when scanned, would give the next clue word, which when added to path of the website gives the next clue.
7. On the website, a picture of Julius Caesar is shown along with a number and a text string. The text string is a Caesar cipher, which can be decoded using the number as a key. The decoded string gives clue of the location where you can find the next clue.
8. In the location given by the previous clue, an NFC tag is hidden, which when tapped gives a word that when added to path of the website would give an audio file that contains Morse code.
9. The morse code, when decoded, would give a word which when added to path of website would take you to a Slide 8 game. Solving the game shows a warning message asking not to close. Then the video for Never Gonna Give You Up starts playing without a skip or pause option. If the participant closes the tab or reloads it, they’re going to have to solve the puzzle again to get the video. The next clue is shown after the video stops playing.
10. When the clue obtained in the last step is added to path of the website, the participant is taken to a page where they have to enter all the clue words they’ve gathered in the correct order. This is to ensure that they have followed their correct path and haven’t followed any other team’s path and/or haven’t engaged in any foul play or guesswork or skipped any steps.
    It is at this step that the people who decided to guess and use code3, code4, code5, etc are given an awakening that the people who organized the event are not that dumb, and a prompt is given that they have to go back to step 3 and find the correct clues to proceed to the next round.
    If a participant enters their correct set of clue words, they’re given the final clue to go back to where they started and find a particular person.
11. The team that finds the person mentioned in the last clue wins the treasure hunt.

So yeah, that was how I set up the treasure hunt for the participants. And unsurprisingly, several teams fell into the trap that was set for them, i.e., simply entering code3, code4, etc.

Overall, the treasure hunt was a resounding success, with participants thoroughly enjoying the challenge and excitement of cracking the code and uncovering the hidden treasures. It was a memorable experience for everyone involved, and a testament to the hard work, creativity, and ingenuity of the organizers in planning and executing an epic treasure hunt for college freshers. As the treasure hunt came to a close, participants were left with a sense of accomplishment, having conquered the challenges and bonded with their teammates. It was a fitting finale to the le Debut event and a cherished memory that the freshers will carry with them throughout their college years.

In conclusion, organizing an epic treasure hunt for college freshers requires meticulous planning, creativity, and teamwork. Despite the challenges, the treasure hunt was a thrilling and educational experience that brought participants together, promoting problem-solving skills, collaboration, and bonding among the freshers. The success of the treasure hunt was a result of the hard work and dedication of the organizers, as well as the enthusiastic participation of the freshers. As the event came to a close, it left behind lasting memories and a sense of accomplishment, making it a highlight of the le Debut event and setting the bar high for future freshers' events in the college.