Puzzle
Rebuild a photo
No reading involved, so it works for the ones who aren't fluent readers yet.
Why it works
The phone gives the clues. Everything else happens at a run.
The trouble with most digital things for kids is that they're played sitting down. Here the phone only says where to go — solving the step means getting up.
Parents build the route in half an hour and then just watch. The kids pick the way, argue about the answers and come home exhausted.
Played standing up
GPS and shake steps force movement. The screen gets about ten seconds of attention per step.
The more the better
One phone for the whole group beats one each: they have to agree before they can answer.
Half an hour to build
Nothing to print, no slips of paper hidden around the park. You write it from the sofa the night before.
In three steps
How to build the hunt
No card, no tape, and no clues blowing away.
Pick the ground
A park, your block, the village in summer. Four or five pins is already an afternoon.
Keep the steps short
Puzzles, picture quizzes and shake steps. Five minutes per step is the ceiling at this age.
Hand over the phone and step back
Open the link and pass it over. From there your job is not to help too much.
Full example
A seven-step treasure hunt around the park
A Saturday afternoon with a group of six- to ten-year-olds. Swap in your park.
- VideoStep 1
There's treasure hidden here
Fifteen seconds of an adult keeping a straight face, explaining that somebody hid something in the park.
- PuzzleStep 2
The torn map
A photo of the park in pieces. Put back together, it shows where the search starts.
- GPSStep 3
To the big slide
The next step won't appear until they're there. This is the part where they run.
- TriviaStep 4
Three easy questions
About animals, about school, about the family. With pictures instead of long text for the ones still reading slowly.
- PhotosStep 5
Put the photos in order
Five photos from the route, shuffled. They have to arrange them in the order they saw them.
- ShakeStep 6
Everybody shake the phone
The silly step that's always the favourite. Ten seconds of shouting around one handset.
- RiddleStep 7
The secret word
Using the letters won at each step, they spell the word that opens the last one.
- Final screen
The treasure is under the green bench
A box with snacks, some badges and a hunt certificate with all your names on it.
Idea bank
Step ideas for kids
There are 13 types. These are the ones that work when the player is eight.
Shake
Shake the phone
The simplest one and the one they love most. Put it in the middle, when energy starts dipping.
GPS
Reach a spot
The fountain, the big tree, the goalposts. Turns the whole park into the board.
Trivia
Picture questions
Four options and an image. Quick to answer and easy to argue about as a group.
Photos
Order the photos
Makes them recall the route. Works especially well as the second-to-last step.
Sequence
Repeat a sequence
Colours or symbols in the right order. The old memory game, on a phone.
Variants
By age and setting
Four to six
Four steps, all pictures, no typing. Half an hour at most and always with an adult alongside.
Seven to eleven
Six or seven steps with written riddles and GPS. At this age they can roam the park and argue it out themselves.
Kids' birthday party
The whole group with two or three phones. The hunt fills the part of the party nobody knows what to do with.
A rainy afternoon indoors
No GPS: puzzles, sequences and clues hidden around the rooms. Enough for a whole winter afternoon.
Reviews
What users are saying
I'm a teacher and used it to create an end-of-year treasure hunt. The 5th graders spent the whole morning engaged solving clues around the school. The step where they had to shake the phone to "break the lock" was absolute chaos, in the best sense. The following week three parents asked me how it was done so they could do it at home.
Our story in 10 steps so our children could understand how their mother and I met. There are things we had never told. It was a very special afternoon. My 9-year-old son asked if he could make one for his grandmother.
I set it up for my boyfriend's birthday with 8 steps through the places where we've shared memories. It took me an afternoon, and he still talks about it. The GPS step that took him to the restaurant of our first date was the perfect ending.
Public or private. That is the whole decision.
The mechanism is identical in both: the same challenges, the same steps, the same ending. The only thing that changes is who can reach your adventure.
Identical in both
- All 13 instruments, none held back
- Unlimited steps, no expiry
- You write the ending: letter, photo or video
- Link and QR ready the moment you publish
The only thing that changes
Public
FREE
no cost · no expiry
Anyone can find it
It goes up on Explore and anyone can play it. Good if what you want is to be discovered.
- It goes up on Explore, so people find you
- Classic and pirate themes
Private
$9.99
one-time · per challenge
Only whoever has your link
It appears in no listing and no search engine. If you have not sent them the link, it does not exist for them.
- Schedule the exact date and time it opens
- Optional password, if you want another door
- Cyberpunk and romantic themes, plus the usual two
No subscription · no card to start
If your family appears in the photos and videos, go private: it stays out of the public catalogue.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
From four or five with an adult reading the steps, and independently from about seven or eight.
What are you doing this Saturday?
Half an hour tonight and tomorrow afternoon is sorted. And no card scraps on the floor.
Free · No card · Nothing to install