Having completed my third AZ Treasure Hunt Adventure, I figured it was time to describe it and give a little taste of the experience.

This year we definitely cranked up the volume, quickened our pace, and jettisoned ourselves with a serious demeanor onto one of Arizona’s most exhilarating geektastic adventures.

A breathtaking race against the clock, the AZ Treasure Hunt straps a team of 6 into a fun-filled mix of riddle-solving thrills, and action as they tireless attempt to solve the most clue sites in the shortest 5 hours of their lives. They pound the pavement and rack their brains like an elite crime-solving unit scour the map for the next correct clue site. only by solving a clue site do they determine the next place to go.

90 teams throw themselves into this vicious onslaught of impossible riddles, technical challenges, surprises, quirks, and twists-all for the glory – there is no cash prize. But after 64 years of this ongoing tradition, the truth is it’s a blast.

The sound of the opening of emergency envelopes echo across the 200 square mile part of the north valley desert region when the clue sites prove to be too difficult. Only elite geeks beat this quest into submission.
Every tick of the 300 minutes you have to rack up as many solves as possible is pounding with kinetic energy and double-espresso adrenaline, like a marathon inside a rave inside a fusion reactor. Okay that’s from a review of Run Lola Run, but it feels about the same.

 

You can see in the video our giant complex map of random clue sites throughout the desert.

Clue sites like are hidden throughout the desert. This one was interactive – we actually inadvertently collaborated with another team of gals who helped us hold all the right types of gate switch buttons to complete the circuit and get the right combination and a code number – which gave us an ampersand on a tiny screen… that corresponded with one on the map – the next site to find in the desert!

So… did we win?  NOPE. Not even close. We were proud of our 47th place finish right in the middle of the pack! (And the exact same position we finished in last year! hahaha)  You think you are smart? You need a humbling experience like this :)

You can find out more at http://aztreasurehunt.org/