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Treasure hunts aren't exactly what they sound like: you're not really looking for money or prizes or anything. What you're doing is following clues to various places. There are prizes for the winners, but much of the reward in these treasure hunts is just getting to go to the places.
For example, many clues direct you to historical locations or to places that are particularly scenic or otherwise unique. Sometimes when you get there, you get to interact with someone, such as the time we got to re-enact a famous duel.
The main thing is that the hunt itself is fun. Solving the clues is challenging, as is navigating to all the locations.
There are three main treasure hunts I'm aware of in the Bay Area:
This is a marvelous hunt. Bay Area private eye Jayson Wechter runs this event every year in San Francisco on the night of the Chinese New Year Parade. That means that the parade itself, with the crowds and blocked traffic and all, becomes an integral part of the hunt. Each year, Jayson picks a local charity to benefit from the entry fees, and prizes are donated by local businesses.
This year's hunt will be on Saturday, February 14th, starting at 5:00 pm at Pier 1/2 in San Francisco. The hunt will have three divisions, for beginners, regular, and masters.
For more information, see Jayson's web site or call 415-564-9400 or e-mail Jayson at jayson@well.com.
This is the first of this genre that I know of. It's the biggest of the hunts, and covers by far the largest area, practically the whole city of San Francisco. Teams use vehicles to get around town to the clue sites, and many of the sites are interactive. The hunt takes place in the summertime, and it's really fun to romp all over town.
The Great San Francisco Treasure Hunt is organized by Jayson Wechter along with Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle. The hunt benefits the San Francisco Mime Troupe. No, they're not mimes. They are a political musical comedy theater group. Many troupe members participate in the interactive sites in the hunt.
Click here to see a column Jon Carroll wrote about the 1997 hunt.
This is the new kid on the block, started in 1997. The hunt is on foot, covering the University of California campus and the downtown Berkeley area. The inaugural hunt was a benefit for Berkeley public schools.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a second annual event in 1998. I don't know yet what the plans are for this.