Quest Theme Pages
Quest Treasure Hunt and Theme Party Downloads

For centuries, man has marvelled at the mystery and majesty of the ancient civilization of Egypt. Men have lost their lives attempting to uncover its lost treasures. This page is committed to capturing the spirit of that adventure and to giving tips on how to create your own treasure hunts within the theme of this spectacular culture.

 

Using Hieroglyphs in Your Treasure Hunts

What adventure has been romanticized more than the mysterious unveiling of an undisturbed, Egyptian tomb? These kinds of hunts are an absolute blast to plan - a chance to let your creative spirit run a muck!

Wouldn't it be great if we were all fluent in the ancient glyphs (writing) of Egypt? I dare say that probably none of us are Egyptologists - but that doesn't mean that you can't include that beautiful writing in your treasure hunts.

The first point I'd like to make is a very positive one... that is that probably none of your participants will be able to read a lick of the writing either...which also means that they would never know if you faked the whole thing. Now don't get me wrong, having a degree in Art History, the purist in me would like to imagine spending countless hours designing historically accurate documents for my participants to translate...however, reality sets in and I am forced to return to 'faking it' mode...

The following are some ideas to incorporate Egyptian Hierogliphic writing into your hunts:

* First off, there ARE some Egyptian Translator links on the internet. However, I've only found two (so far) that are still active links.

http://www.egyptvoyager.com/hieroglyph_translator.htm - This translator will take any 10 letter English word and translate it phonetically letter for letter (as well as it can be translated) into Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. Although the phonetic representation is there, it doesn't coordinate the slightest in meaning.

http://www.virtual-egypt.com/newhtml/glyph/glyph.html - This translator will take any name and translate it according to the principles above. The only difference is that it can take more than 10 characters. This one also prints it vertically in a cartouche.

* Since probably you aren't going to be going for the 'historically accurate' route anyway...I would suggest downloading some Egyptian fonts for Windows. This way you can play around with what characters look the best.
Additionally, since you can fire them up in WORD, you won't need to be an artist to produce some great clues. Here is a site where you can download a full set of characters in five files. They look great.

http://personalwebs.myriad.net/steveb/egypt.html

* Something to remember is that the Egyptian scribes wrote BOTH from left to right and from right to left. Additionally, they often wrote from top to bottom.

* If you really want to make something look great... and is cheap - try this:

Once I made a large Egyptian coffin. I took a large, long moving box and spray painted it gold. With a pencil I drew different glyphs and figures and then, with black acrylic paint (poster paint would probably work just fine as well...I just had the acrylic paint handy...) paint on the pencil lines with a thin paint brush. Don't try using a black permanent marker...tried that and it didn't work. Then, with other colored paints (ocre, mud red, turquoise and white) paint different aspects of any figures or images you drew. It took some time...but it looked very impressive!

* If you need to do a lot, check out a rubber stamp store. I bought a 5x5 inch square rubber stamp of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. It works with any standard ink pad and works pretty well (as long as you press evenly.... sometimes easier said than done.)

These stamps also work great in clay. Bake the clay once it's stamped to make it hard and you could have a great looking Egyptian stele. If you are lucky, find someone who does ceramics...they could fire the ceramic clay in the kiln. That produces fantastic results!

Return to Egypt Port
Return to Adventure Theme Pages

A Treasure of a Fundraiser
By Joe Dean

Throughout the 15+ years of designing themed treasure hunts professionally, some of the most successful and exciting events planned were for fundraising efforts. With low overhead costs and the ability to generate a lot of excitement for a fresh, new type of event, themed adventures are proving to be more and more successful in raising money for private and public organizations, large and small.

There are a number of different creative and exciting ways to raise money by planning a themed treasure hunt. This article will attempt to 'whet your appetite' as to the numerous ways funds can be raised and excitement generated for your next fundraising event.

The hunt itself can vary greatly in both size and budget. Some hunts I've produced have been for crowds in the hundreds paying small entrant fees - all attempting to be the first to complete the hunt for a prize donated by a local merchant. Others have been considerably more sophisticated, as in the case of a California Department of Mental Health function held a few years ago. Bids were sold to a more affluent crowd and a Quest for the Holy Grail adventure was held on the grounds of a very large and wealthy estate. (For more information on the Quest for the Holy Grail adventure, click here) The flexibility exists to ensure that every group fundraiser can be successful, no matter the size, age or affluence of the
participants.

The following is a collection of ideas to show the various and numerous ways to raise money easily and creatively by planning a fantastic themed treasure hunt adventure &

· Begin by planning on selling tickets to participate in the event. The adventure itself will be worth the price of the ticket, by following the step-by-step instructions of planning this kind of themed adventure. Ticket prices can vary depending on the demographics of your participants. For example, if your are planning an event involving high school aged students, you'd probably fair better at selling hundreds of tickets at a cheaper price. However, if you were planning an event for a more mature and sophisticated crowd, you might want sell tickets at a much higher price, making available only a set number of tickets for purchase to ensure higher odds at winning the grand prize for the participants (especially if a prize is given for the winning team.)

· Great prizes can be offered. Many groups have been very successful at arranging for prizes to be donated by local merchants. Sometimes a large prize was donated, such as a television set. At other times, a small basket of several smaller gifts has been offered from donating merchants ($15 gift certificates, etc.) Prizes can also come in the form of services provided by the organization planning the adventure. For example, a prom committee raising funds for their dance could give out free Prom bids to the first five finishing teams. Another idea for a prize is to have the top placing teams being refunded their entry fee - or even getting a percentage of the total proceeds taken in by the event.

· Here are a few tricks to get prizes donated
o Offer the vendor's location as one of the stop's (free advertising)
o Offer to photocopy a small advertisement on the back of a map or clue
o Allow the vendor (depending on the type of business they are in) to set up a booth or something thereof at the final destination.
o Put the sponsor's advertisement on the ticket the participants buy

· As a way to enhance your theme, find out if a local costume shop will donate one or some of the needed costumes

· Curtailing the above, if there are any other props or set pieces that would enhance your theme, find out if there are any vendors who would donate them in exchange for a form of advertising

· Capitalize on your theme. Is your theme based on Pirates of the Caribbean? Why not have a small pirate port themed area at the beginning/end of the hunt and sell spaces to vendors where themed items and food can be sold? The same would work for a mini Renaissance Faire or an Egyptian marketplace. Depending on your theme, you could really plan a spectacular bazaar that could rival the hunt itself for excitement!

· Print up a mini story or background piece about the theme and storyline of your adventure treasure hunt and distribute them to the participants before they begin. It will generate a lot of enthusiasm when your participants get consumed with the story.

· Once the event is proven as a success, it could easily be turned into an annual event, as it did with several of my clients. Teams from the year before often reassembled in later hunts to try once more to win the prize. A continuing plaque or trophy could be displayed with the current and all past year's winners.

Perhaps the greatest part about planning a themed treasure hunt adventure for your next fundraiser, besides all the excitement it will generate, is the fact that it has a potentially very high chance of having very little overhead costs. Aside from some photocopies and footwork, few other expenses need to be expended - now that is music to a fundraiser's ears!

Plan something new and exciting that everyone will remember in future years! Plan a treasure of a fundraiser!

Return to Egypt Port
Return to Adventure Theme Pages