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Traffic
control within a treasure hunt refers to the management of
the flow of people as they frantically go through your adventure.
Whether your participants are on foot, in a car, on horseback
or in boats…the need to anticipate potential obstacles
in the overall flow is a must for any treasure hunt to be
successful. Of course, if your hunt is solely for an individual
or a single small group of volunteers, than one doesn't need
to concern themselves as much with it. However, for the rest
of us who are anticipating more teams or participants, you'll
find these tips useful.
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If you have different stops on your hunts at different locations
where teams/individuals must collect a clue or speak to someone,
avoid stationing the person or clue at dead end or cul de
sac (if driving.) This is because when a team is done, they'll
need to exit cleanly allowing the next team to approach without
possible collisions…keep the movement in one direction
at all times when possible.
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Have volunteers stationed at different spots where you anticipate
a lot of traffic. These individuals can maintain order where
there might not be otherwise. These individuals are best to
be holding the key piece of information that the teams need
at the stop to ensure an easy flow of traffic.
~ The average age of your participant is important when dealing
with traffic control. Typically, an older crowd will want
to move at a more leisurely pace than a younger one. My rule
of thumb has always been this: the younger the crowd, the
more physical the activity. The best test for this is to walk/drive
your hunt yourself. Then you will get a greater feel of how
tired your guests may be.
A
common problem with setting up any kind of treasure hunt is
dealing with the inevitable 'everyone running to the same
location at the same time' creating a following the leader
of sorts. Here are some suggestions for dealing with this
problem:
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Stagger the participants in the launching phase of the hunt.
This can be done in several ways. The first is to offer some
sort of challenge that the teams must complete before they
are allowed to leave. This will create a natural staggering.
Another way is to use time cards…each team will have
a card with the exact time when they left (used by the same
timepiece for all teams for consistency.) At the end of the
hunt, have a volunteer write down their ending times. In this
way it won't matter how you stagger the teams or when a team
actually leaves to begin.
~ Link the treasure hunt in a circle. Connect the final destination
of the hunt to the first location. Then, send each team to
a different location on the hunt. Once the team has visited
the specific number of locations (that you explain to them
during your launching) they can then proceed to the final
location.
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