Adventure 127: Family Friendly Halloween Hunt
My team and I were tasked with building an Adventure for YPO BOULDER the day before Halloween. The “Adventure” portion was to last 2 hours in downtown Boulder, Colorado. It needed to be family friendly and walkable. Since it was a non-mandatory family event, we had to be prepared for any number of participants of all ages.
When the families entered the Boulderado Hotel, they were initiated into the “Paranormal Prevention Agency.” I played the director of The Agency and had a few of my fellow agents help onboard the players, teach them the basics, and get them ready for the Adventure.
A portal had opened up between our world and the monster world. Monsters had entered into our world and were planning on wreaking havoc on Halloween. Teams needed to find as many monsters as possible, challenge them to a duel by saying “ We are ready to compete! Invoke the rules of trick-or-treat!” Once the challenge began, they needed to defeat the monsters and take their energy. The energy came in the form of little glow in the dark marbles.
The Adventure started and ended at historic Hotel Boulderado. Teams were given a map of the area. The map showed the location of 5 witches. These witches were willing to make a trade: If players helped with their witches brew, they would reward them with energy and the location of two monsters. Teams had two hours to locate witches, help them with their brew, then find and defeat as many monsters as possible, collect their energy, and get back back to headquarters.
We took a lot of simple and fun mechanics, whittled them down to make sure they were fair and fun for kids and then fit them with different monster themes. Below are a few of my favorites:
Mad Scientist - One player would be blindfolded and needed to pour vials of different color sand into one main beaker to match the example beaker. Their team needed to direct them on what to grab and how much to pour even though they were blindfolded.
Dracula Photo Bomb - An iPad was set to take a photo every 10 seconds. The teams needed to take a full photo with every member in frame. Dracula held two paper copies of his face. As the timer counted down, Dracula’s goal was to try to block the players faces with his faces. The players needed to bob and weave to get in frame before the picture was taken.
Secret Werewolf - There was a man walking around a highlighted area on their map. Players had a vague description of the man and to look for the signs he might be a werewolf. The man was dressed in regular clothes, but had tufts of fur sticking out of his collar and wrist cuffs, around his ankles, and in holes in his clothing. Team needed to find him, catch him, and take his energy.
Jellybean taste test - One of the witches needed players to assist making a jellybean brew. Players were tasked with figuring out the flavor of various jellybeans in a grid box and solving a password.
Evil pumpkin patch - Players acquired a tiny pumpkin whose dream was to spread and grow into a giant evil pumpkin patch. However, there was a “no pumpkin zone” where pumpkins were not allowed. This zone was patrolled by a farmer guard. Players had to sneak past the guard, place the tiny pumpkin, and grab an energy ball left behind!
There were 15 total challenges. We built this so no team could complete every one. Teams picked what they wanted to do the most or what they felt the most comfortable doing. It allowed parents and kids to go at their own pace. If anybody arrived late, they could jump in and not feel left behind.
When the players returned for dinner, the monsters came running into the room and were “sucked back into the portal.” They’d been defeated!
I used a giant tipping scale to weigh each team’s bag of energy against each other. Heaviest bag won! This is such a blast because no teams have ANY idea who won until the last two bags had been weighed. It was an extremely close finish with one team beating another team by just one energy orb. It made for an unforgettable experience and it was such a blast working with YPO and building an adventure around downtown Boulder.
