13 Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Adults

A scavenger hunt is not just a game for children. Scavenger hunt ideas for adults can be a group reward activity that is worthy of grown-ups.

Updated: July 23, 2024

If the term “scavenger hunt” conjures up images of games for children, such as tag and hide-and-seek, that’s not too surprising. It’s not often that activities with simple search-and-gather objectives are connected to adults. But with the right scavenger hunt ideas for adults, this can all change.

In the corporate world, scavenger hunts are a solution that employees can participate in as a team building activity. In fact, budget team building activities like scavenger hunts continue to be one of our most popular team building activities for employees.

That said, not all scavenger hunts are made the same. Certain features can contribute to a more enjoyable and exciting scavenger hunt experience for adults, including:

• Competition
• Teamwork
• Cognitive Challenges

So, we created this scavenger hunt list for adults to help you find the perfect activity for yourself and your colleagues.

Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Adults: What Makes Them More Suited for Grown-Ups?

While children might be happy to simply search for and collect random items, adults usually need a bit more to enjoy the experience. Three features that we have found to be valuable additions to scavenger hunts for adults, include:

• Competition: When scavenger hunt participants know that there is competition, it can push them to try harder and take the challenges more seriously. With a live leaderboard that is accessible to participants through their smartphones, each team can monitor the progress of their competition.
• Teamwork: When children participate in a scavenger hunt, they generally search by themselves or in pairs. What can add to the experience for adults is having the opportunity to work through challenges as a unit and gain respect for their teammates’ strengths.
• Cognitive Challenges: By having participants solve problems as they work through the activity, you can make a scavenger hunt more exciting for adults. The opportunity for participants to solve problems successfully can also help build their confidence and leave them feeling accomplished.

With that all being said, let’s dive into our adult scavenger hunt list for corporate teams.

10 In-Person Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Adults

If you work in the office with your colleagues, there are a ton of incredible team building scavenger hunt ideas for adults you can try out.

Here are a few you’ll love.

1. Wild Goose Chase

In this scavenger hunt for adults, your team can get out of the office and explore your city in a whole new way. Together, you’ll need to think outside the box, bond as a group, and venture outside into the community in order to complete a series of fun and unique photo and video challenges.

You’ll need to tackle a list of challenges, including:

• Snap a photo of your team standing next to a large public clock that reads EXACTLY 22 minutes past the hour
• Search for a business that is open 24 hours 7 days a week and snap a photo of a team member with the sign showing the business’ hours
• Snap a photo of a teammate next to a vehicle that has an “antique” or “collectible” license plate
• Head to a nearby playground and take a photo of your entire team balanced on a seesaw. Here’s the catch: everyone’s feet must be off the ground while balanced!
• Find a hopscotch course or use a piece of chalk to create your own on a sidewalk. Record a 5-second video of a teammate hopping and completing it
• Stage a martial arts battle with another team in a nearby park. Record a 5-second video of both teams facing each other (with plenty of space between you) and doing the famous crane kick

The team with the most points when time runs out will be named the winners!

This activity is available in the following formats:

• Hosted: Completely turnkey, you’ll have a live host who coordinates all logistics and runs the event from start to finish.
• Remote-Hosted: When you don’t need an in-person host at the event, you can have a virtual host who will kick off your event, make sure everything is running smoothly, be available for troubleshooting and questions, and then wrap things up for you.
• Self-Hosted: Rather than having a host, our team will give you detailed instructions on everything you need to successfully set up and run the event as well as access to Outback’s proprietary app.

So, you can do your team building activity in the format that works best for you.

2. Storage Locker Scavenger Hunt

Have you ever watched Storage Wars–the show where people bid on storage lockers and auction off the contents–and thought it would be cool to do on your own?

Even if you haven’t, you can take our word for the fact that it looks like fun!

And with a storage locker scavenger hunt for adults, you can do your own iteration of this show (without actually needing a storage locker to root through).

You can ask your team to find things like:

• Old computers running on outdated operating systems. If the machines are functional, participants can take a picture of the start menu or a video of a team member using the computer.
• Videotapes, cassettes, records, BlueRay movies, MP3 players, and Discmans (or even Walkmans!)
• Old cell phones
• Old magazines
• Vintage clothing
• Old photos of family members or friends
• Old-school sportswear or gear

Your team can look search for items stored in their homes and share their findings with their colleagues.

3. Selfie Challenge

Looking for a fun and simple scavenger hunt idea for adults? Then you’ll love the Selfie Challenge scavenger hunt.

The premise is simple: your group just needs to break into teams and head out into the city (or office or any other location you choose!) to take selfies that match a predetermined list.

To make this extra fun, we recommend making it last for a few days—or even a week—so that you can incorporate some really fun and interesting selfies, like:

• On top of a mountain
• At a zoo
• In a bar
• With your pets
• When you first wake up
• In a forest
• By a lake

You can also include some quicker and simpler ones, such as:

• With your team
• By a statue
• In a mirror
• With a teammate’s lookalike
• Making a human pyramid
• With a stranger

The opportunities are virtually endless for this team building scavenger hunt.

4. Scavenger Hike

Nothing helps your team to relax and recharge like getting out into nature. So, consider heading out for a day hike or nature walk with your group and doing a scavenger hunt for adults while you’re at it.

Before you go, create a list of things your team will have to take photos of. This could include:

• Birds
• Animal tracks
• A tree growing out of a tree trunk
• A stream of river
• A waterfall
• Berries
• Wildflowers
• A cave
• Trail markers
• A beautiful view
• Fruit on trees
• Rock formations
• Spiderwebs
• Trash or litter you can clean up
• Fallen branches or trees

This will vary depending on where you live, but you can tailor your hiking scavenger hunt list to align with your geographical location.

5. City Chase

Much like Wild Goose Chase, this scavenger hunt for adults will have you embark on the ultimate urban adventure with your colleagues.

This entire activity is centered around city-themed challenges that will get you out and enjoying your neck of the woods from a whole new perspective. It’s also a great option for teams who are out of town for conferences, annual retreats, or multi-day meetings.

6. GPS Scavenger Hunts

Whether you’re in your hometown or traveling with your team for a meeting or conference, GPS scavenger hunts for adults help you get better acquainted with the local area.

Here’s how it works.

Using a GPS on a smartphone, you can create clues that include GPS locations and send your team out into the city to find them.

This could be things like:

• Type in a pre-determined address, go there, then take 10 steps in any direction. Look to your left. What do you see?
• Use your GPS to travel 1.3 miles from your starting place and check in at the city’s most famous landmark. 
• Check out the great exhibit at this address and check in.
• What type of attractions can you find when you visit the corner of [Intersection]? Check in while you’re there.
• Type your hotel name in the GPS. What’s the next closest hotel? Go check it out and check-in.

This is a great way to get people exploring and outside of their comfort zones. Just make sure that the coordinates where you send people are in a safe part of town!

7. Alphabet Hunt

With this scavenger hunt for adults, you won’t even need to create a list of items for your team to find. You simply need to set them loose and ask them to take a photo of a place, object, or person for each letter of the alphabet.

For instance, their B photo might be a bridge, and their T photo might be a train.

This scavenger hunt is fun because it’s extremely open-ended, and you can compare photos when your colleagues regroup at the end.

But it also gets interesting because some letters—like X and Z—are more challenging to work with than others.

8. The Amazing Chase

Inspired by the popular reality TV show The Amazing Race–on which teams race around the world, with each leg of the competition requiring the groups to solve puzzles, interact with locals, and complete challenges–this interactive scavenger hunt for adults has teams following clues around their city and taking on physical and mental challenges to move on to the next destination.

With more teams in play, the stakes are even higher, and the competition is even more fierce.

9. Random Acts of Kindness

Feel like getting out and spreading some kindness? We recommend it! Doing good in the world is good for you. In fact, it actually builds team morale.

And that’s why Random Acts of Kindness fuses the scavenger hunt concept with a charity team building twist.

With this scavenger hunt for adults, you and your team will head out into the city and race against one another to try and complete as many good deeds as possible before time runs out.

Your good deed challenges will include:

• Partner with another team and head to a park or other area that could use a bit of cleanup. Snap a photo of your two teams beautifying the area by picking up litter and placing it in a trash or recycling bin.
  
• If you see someone who looks lost, don’t wait for them to ask for directions. Snap a photo of a teammate providing directions to that person’s destination.
  
• Help a worker outside complete a task they’re working on such as sweeping, gardening, cleaning or dog walking. Snap a photo of the group effort.
  
• One teammate must create a list of 10 things they love about their partner or a family member and text the list to that person. Upload a screenshot of the sent message.
  
• Write an encouraging poem of at least 4 lines on a piece of paper and snap a photo of a teammate showing off your poem. Then give your uplifting poem to a passerby.

The team with the highest number of good deeds done at the end of the scavenger hunt will be crowned the winners.

But remember: when you’re out doing good in the world, everyone wins!

10. Campus Goose Chase

This student- and faculty-focused scavenger hunt activity idea for adults is an instant classic and a favorite from coast to coast.

Campus Goose Chase is just like Wild Goose Chase, but it’s entirely focused on getting you out to explore your local campus, get out of your comfort zone, and have a ton of fun. 

The challenges are also campus-themed, making it a perfect tie-in for your frosh week celebrations. It’s perfect for students who are social, energetic, and competitive. 

If you’re a student or teacher looking for fun ways to connect with your peers or faculty, check out our list of 26 team building activities for students and teachers.

3 Virtual Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Adults

Think scavenger hunts for adults are only a fit for in-person teams? You might be surprised to know there are a ton of great adult scavenger hunts you can do with your remote colleagues.

Here are a few to consider.

1. Wiki-hunt

Wikipedia isn’t just for finding information. Well, technically it is, but you can also use it for virtual scavenger hunts.

Hear us out: it’s called Wiki-hunt.

First, decide whether to play individually or in teams. Then, select a random Wikipedia page. This will be your beginning page.

Next, choose a destination page.

The goal of this game is to get from the beginning page to the destination page using only links within the Wikipedia page.

Generally, the destination page is something very unrelated to the beginning page. For example, going from apple to orange would not be challenging, as you would simply start at the apple page, click a link to fruit and then proceed to orange. A race from Roman Colosseum to orthopedic surgeon would be a much more difficult game.

The first person or team to reach the destination page wins!

2. Meme Scavenger Hunts

Memes are images, videos, or texts that internet users share on digital platforms.

And meme scavenger hunts for adults are a great way to have a ton of fun while cruising for fun, hilarious, and light-hearted content your employees can share with one another.

In this scavenger hunt, your team will find and share memes that best describe various situations.

Meme scavenger hunt ideas can include things like:

• Memes that describe your current feeling
• Memes that describe what you are doing
• Memes that show what your pet is doing
• Memes that describe the weather

Just make sure to remind your team that they should keep these memes work-appropriate!

3. Home Office Hunt

The premise of this home-based scavenger hunt for adults is simple, and it can be done in any amount of time available to you—whether you have an hour to allocate or ten minutes to kill between meetings.

All you need to do is develop a list of items that might be found in someone’s house and then call them out one by one.

As everyone scrambles to find the item, the first person back to their computer with it will get a point.

Have some fun with this and don’t be afraid to send people running all over their house, but just make sure the items you include are reasonably likely to be found in someone’s house.

Learn more about scavenger hunt ideas for adults.

If you’ve got questions about scavenger hunt ideas for adults, reach out to an Employee Engagement Consultant.