13 Unique Virtual Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Adults - We & Goliath (2024)

With the right theme and platform, you can take your regular scavenger hunt and make it virtual for a modern twist.

The technology we have today with online meeting platforms and mobile apps makes it easy to adapt scavenger hunts to a remote setting.

Whether you want to host a virtual scavenger hunt for family, friends, colleagues, or an online community, there are so many creative ideas to try.

The key is choosing a virtual scavenger hunt format that encourages participants to work together and channel some friendly competition.

In this article, we will share 13 unique virtual scavenger hunt ideas suitable for adults of all ages.

From indoor activities to outdoor adventures, we have something for every type of group and interest.

Read on for some amazing virtual scavenger hunt inspiration!

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The goal is to have teams “travel” to different destinations and complete location-based challenges.

You can choose countries matching the interests of the group, or just pick a diverse set of places spanning the globe.

Some ideas for travel scavenger hunt tasks:

• Find a famous landmark and recreate the pose or photo. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is a good one!
• Cook a traditional dish and share the recipe. Italy has lots of options to choose from.
• Learn a common phrase and teach it to the group. Hola from Spain!
• Research a unique fact about the culture. Did you know sumo wrestling originated in Japan?
• Listen to local music and identify the artist and song title. Reggae and dancehall in Jamaica.
• Display a flag, poster, or other decor representing the destination. Show your Canadian pride!

You can make it more challenging by setting a time limit for each “stop” on the trip around the world.

Groups earn points for completing each task correctly before time runs out.

This scavenger hunt theme gets people engaged in learning about new places and cultures from home.

Select a popular movie franchise or genre to use as the foundation for the challenges and have teams hunt for clues and items related to the films.

Here are some fun movie scavenger hunt ideas to inspire you:

• Action Movie Mayhem – Find props like nerf guns, toy weapons, and spy gadgets. Recreate an iconic action scene or pose. Share favorite Schwarzenegger quotes.
• Musical Madness – Dress up and dance to a famous musical number. Belt out show tunes karaoke-style. Name that musical clip.
• Scifi Quest – Make DIY alien masks or spaceships from household items. Talk in cyborg voices or famous character impressions. Discuss favorite futuristic films.
• Disney Magic – Draw favorite characters. Make Disney-inspired crafts and foods. Complete challenges in costume. Quote lines from classic movies.
• Holiday Movie Mania – Recreate scenes from a beloved holiday film. Bake cookies or treats from iconic moments. Dress up as key characters. Name that Christmas or seasonal movie.

• Different types of trees or flowers
• Birds, bugs, butterflies and other creatures
• Cloud shapes and formations
• Interesting rocks or pine cones
• Colorful leaves during fall season
• Animal tracks and trails
• Unique plants or mushrooms

You can expand the geographic boundaries by encouraging participants to explore local parks, beaches, gardens and hiking trails.

Some other fun outdoor scavenger hunt ideas include:

• Visiting scenic spots and landmarks in the area
• Finding hidden painted rocks and geocaches
• Identifying constellations in the night sky
• Pressing flowers or collecting leaves for DIY crafting
• Spotting rare birds or cool insects
• Capturing weather phenomenon like rain, rainbows and sunsets

This type of virtual hunt promotes outdoor time while learning about the natural world.

Set a timeframe and make sure everyone shares their discoveries on your online meeting platform or in a shared photo album.

First, have teams create fun warm up exercises like dance moves or stretching routines and take turns leading the group. This gets energy levels up!

For the main event, assign active scavenger hunt challenges like:

• Show off talents with a freestyle soccer trick shot or basketball hoop skills
• Create an obstacle course in the living room incorporating furniture and household items
• Demonstrate favorite yoga poses or try advanced moves like handstands and cartwheels
• Invent a new creative exercise routine or cardio dance workout
• Complete a circuit workout including planks, lunges, push ups and jumping jacks

• Bowl or kick a ball at improvised targets in the yard
• Toss a tennis ball into cups or bins from increasing distances
• Hit a wiffle ball off DIY tee using golf clubs, baseball bats, hockey sticks
• Shoot balled up socks into laundry baskets basketball-style
• Pitch playing cards like frisbees at a distant hole or hula hoop target

First, give teams time to raid their homes for art supplies and household materials to use for their creations. Markers, cardboard, tape and paper are basic starter items.

Next, assign a list of homemade scavenger hunt projects like:

• Build a miniature paper airplane and test flight distance
• Make a paper crown or funky hat from newspaper, tissue or wrapping paper
• Construct a bridge between two stacks of books using only playing cards
• Design a marble run using paper rolls, cardboard and masking tape
• Fold an origami animal or plant figure like a frog, crane or flower
• Create a unique sculpture from aluminum foil or dough
• Draw a team logo or self portrait using any drawing materials
• Craft an art piece from reused objects like bottle caps or egg cartons

Set a time limit for teams to brainstorm and create their items.

Have everyone present their homemade projects on video at the end and award points for creativity.

Add an element of surprise by placing household items in bags and challenging teams to build something innovative on the spot after making a random draw.

• Draw caricatures of team members and share the silly portraits
• Belt out best karaoke songs in costume or with makeshift props
• Build a mini model city or art sculpture from random household items
• Perform a short improv skit or comedy sketch
• Write a poem or song parody and recite it dramatically
• Create paintings or prints using unique materials and tools
• Choreograph a dance or cheer routine and teach it to the group
• Design and wear fashionable clothes from unexpected items like plastic bags

• Make short musical compositions using pots, pans and utensils as instruments
• Record a rhythmic stomping or clapping piece layered together
• Craft handmade musical shakers or basic instruments from recycled goods
• Mix a custom lip-sync music video featuring team members
• Form humorous modeling poses showing high fashion made from home materials

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• Music – Name artists, songs, albums from song clips. Match lyrics. Identify by era.
• Movies/TV – Name titles, characters, quotes, plot points from audio/video clips. Match franchises. Puzzle theme songs.
• Literature – Complete book titles, authors, characters, quotes from passages. Unscramble book titles.
• Science – Solve trivia questions about key figures, inventions, concepts. Identify visuals. Match formulas.
• History – Answer questions about dates, events, people, places from various periods. Chronologically order key moments.
• Pop Culture – Solve trivia covering entertainment figures, trends, memes, and viral moments over time. Match facts.

You can make it collaborative by allowing teams to collectively “phone a friend” to crowdsource answers.

Or make it more competitive by using buzzers and awarding points for the fastest correct responses.

Like grabbing a book for a literature question.

Get creative with trivia delivery by using multimedia like audio clips, video Snippets, photos, screenshots and text excerpts during the challenges.

Trivia scavenger hunts are both educational and entertaining! Adjust difficulty levels and categories to create an experience tailored to any group.

First, set up a shared photo album online where everyone can upload pics from their devices or cameras during the hunt.

Then provide lists of photo challenges that encourage teams to use artistic angles, filters, compositions, poses and more.

Scavenger hunt picture prompts can include:

• A funny selfie featuring household objects as props
• A close-up shot of an interesting texture or pattern
• A photo taken from a unique vantage point or perspective
• An action shot featuring exaggerated motions or poses
• A nature photo using natural frames or macro techniques
• An artistic black-and-white or color graded image
• A picture styled after iconic movie scenes or famous paintings
• A forced-perspective optical illusion using household items

You can also provide teams with “bonus bundles” of random household objects and let their creativity run wild.

See what unique shots they can produce on the spot in a set time.

At the end, have a virtual gallery walk where teams take turns presenting the photos and explaining techniques used.

Give out awards for categories like Most Creative, Funniest Photo, Best Use of Color, Most Epic Selfie, etc.

Photography scavenger hunts inspire memorable pics and new visual skills.

The goal is to have teams collectively build a virtual time capsule full of items representing their lives and current times.

This might mean photos, videos, audio clips, documents, drawings, diary entries, and other artifacts compiled into a digital archive.

Some ideas for time capsule scavenger challenges:

• Find relics from the past like classic toys, clothing or equipment and showcase them with a photo and description. Bonus for the most retro!
• Capture video greetings and memories to preserve voices and personalities.
• Interview each other about experiences growing up compared to now. Clip key moments.
• Make recordings explaining key cultural references today for future listeners. Memes, tech, slang, and pop culture.
• Create timelines of key personal and group memories using photos, drawings, music clips.
• Document important places by taking historical tours and snapping pics around hometowns or special spots.
• Make predictions for the future and seal in envelopes to be opened years later.

The scavenging part involves completing challenges to gather meaningful contents for the capsule that capture the present moment in time.

At the end, compile everything into a collaborative digital archive to look back on in the future.

Reflect on how perspectives have changed between then and now.

Split into teams and have groups scavenge kitchens for mystery ingredients to use in an impromptu recipe challenge.

Set a timer and give teams just minutes to scan pantries, fridges and cupboards to gather their surprise ingredients.

For an added twist, have team members pick cooking tools or small appliances as part of the scavenging too.

Regroup and reveal ingredients. Next comes the fun part – getting creative cooking!

Give teams a set timeframe to brainstorm and prepare dishes using only the scavenged ingredients available. You may want to require incorporating certain items like eggs or fruits.

Broadcast live over video chat so everyone can banter and watch the cooking chaos unfold. Bonus entertainment!

When time’s up, have each team present their culinary invention. Vote for favorites based on criteria like:

• Most unique flavor combination
• Best presentation
• Creative use of ingredients
• Mastery of tools or techniques
• Biggest kitchen mishap!

You can theme the puzzles around topics like books, movies, science, history and pop culture matching the interests of the group.

Start off with an engaging hook by presenting a mysterious box, note or first clue to set the scene. Inside are cryptic puzzles providing hints that unlock the next set of challenges.

Some puzzle-based ideas include:

• Cryptograms and secret codes to decipher revealing map coordinates or locations. Send teams on a search mission.
• Riddles and brain teasers related to the theme. Solve to earn a password that opens a locked box holding the next clue.
• Objects or pictures that symbolize something else key to solving a greater puzzle. Figure out meanings.
• Ciphers using symbol or number substitutions that teams must translate back to real words and phrases.
• Logic problems and lateral thinking tests with multi-step solutions.
• Optical illusions and pictograms with hidden messages in the designs. Decode visuals.
• Physical object puzzles like locked boxes that only open when reordered or manipulated a certain way.

Add a competitive twist by giving the first team to crack all puzzles and reach the final treasure extra bragging rights!

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Choose a moderator to describe various household objects participants need to locate and “capture” on camera as they scavenge different rooms.

To set the scene, the moderator says, “I spy with my little eye something that is [color]” or “I spy something that you use for [function].”

Players race to find the object and submit a photo proving they uncovered the right item.

Sample I Spy prompts:

• I spy something green, leafy and healthy. (salad, veggies, plant)
• I spy something you wear on your feet when exercising (sneakers, running shoes)
• I spy something colorful you use to write. (markers, pens, pencils)
• I spy something cozy you sit on. (couch, chair, beanbag)

• I spy something that helps you start the day bright-eyed. (coffee, tea, energy drink)
• I spy something you use to tame a mane. (hairbrush, comb, hair ties)
• I spy something shiny you check yourself in. (mirror, reflective surface)
• I spy something bubbly you soak in. (bath tub, bath bubbles)
• I spy something squishy you rest your head on. (pillow, cushion)
• I spy something you cuddle up with at night. (stuffed animal, blanket)

Start by creating a intriguing fictional scenario and backstory, like escaping an abandoned mansion before midnight.

Transform each breakout room into a different puzzle room teams need to “escape” by finding clues, cracking codes and solving brain teasers.

Some ideas for escape room challenges:

• Finding patterns and combinations to open locks securing keys, flash drives or boxes containing the next puzzle.
• Assembling torn documents or rearranging scrambled posters to reveal hidden maps, directions or instructions.
• Watching videos and listening to audio recordings to gather information needed to advance.
• Piecing together and scanning fragmented QR codes providing passwords for locked sections.
• Solving riddles, anagrams, cryptograms and other word puzzles by finding hints scattered throughout the rooms.
• Digging through boxes, drawers and containers to locate specific everyday objects matching provided descriptions.
• Identifying differences between nearly identical images and screenshots to unlock access to the next area.

Virtual scavenger hunts are a fresh, stimulating way to engage groups of adults online.

With creativity and technology, you can adapt traditional hunts into modern remote experiences that inspire connection through friendly competition and collaborative challenges.

So rally your colleagues, friends or family members for a virtual adventure where skills are tested, laughter is guaranteed, and memories are made even from afar.

The scavenging fun awaits!

Reading about the limitless potential of virtual scavenger hunts has likely sparked ideas for your own online adventure.

But dreaming up a hunt and actually making it happen are two different giants.

Luckily, our slingshot at We & Goliath is designed to turn aspirations into realities when it comes to virtual events.

With over 20 years crafting innovative virtual experiences that engage, our experts are ready to customize the perfect scavenger hunt for your group.

We’ll tap into our creativity to build an unforgettable remote adventure fueled by friendly competition, problem-solving challenges, and non-stop laughter.

Don’t just imagine the possibilities – schedule a strategy session with We & Goliath to start collaboratively designing your ideal virtual hunt.

Let’s connect and begin creating a one-of-a-kind online event that gets people smiling, collaborating, and making memories from afar.

Your virtual adventure starts now!