Treasure Hunt Clues & Riddles for Teens

If you are having a party for a group of teens, force them to think in addition to eating food and playing video games by challenging them to complete a treasure hunt. Your standard X marks the spot treasure map is for younger children, so you need to come up with clues or riddles that will engage teens.

Encryption

One way to provide clues is to encrypt them. This doesn't require that you have an NSA computer. Simply use a basic substitution code. For example, in the message, I could be substituted for E and F for A. The message needs to be long enough that the teens have a chance of figuring it out, since this is almost impossible with a short message. Make sure that you consistently use the same letters when substituting; otherwise, it can't be done.

Trivia

Challenge teenagers' knowledge as they search. For example, you might leave a clue like "walk due south the Battle of Hastings minus the Magna Carta feet." Or you could give a clue from popular culture, such as "Walk 5 x Beatles." You could take it beyond measurements by telling them something like "look under the Gilligan's shirt." If they know old TV shows, they will look for a red shirt.

Crosswords

Create a series of simple crosswords. By solving the horizontal questions, the teen can read the next clue in the treasure hunt in the vertical squares. For example, if the 1, 2 and 3 horizontal answers were, respectively, cat, arm and rope, the clue could be the vertical word formed by the first three letters of these words, or "car."

Logic Problems

Another approach is to require the teens to solve problems in logic to get access to the next clue. For example, you could ask them to divide the height of a tree by a given number to know how many paces to walk to the next clue. To determine the height of the tree, you will provide them with a ruler. If they are thinking, they will figure out that they can find the height of the tree by measuring the height of its shadow and the shadow of the ruler.

References

• Go Articles: How to Make a Treasure Hunt Game: Learn to Write & Create Treasure Hunt Clues for Kids