Treasure Hunt Awards 2024. Black Cat Treasure Hunts` Best Treasure Hunts
Posted on: 07/11/2024By Tim Carter (Owner of Black Cat Treasure Hunts)
Right here..right now! The awards for Black Cat Treasure Hunts best treasure hunts have been fiercely contested in another wonderful year. I love writing them and, as ever, it has been extremely difficult to judge between them. A first trip to Cambridge and an intriguing treasure hunt in Marylebone, London were just two of the contenders against all the Sussex treasure hunts.
As per the last couple of years there are four categories of treasure hunt award. Two of these will be based in Sussex, for team building treasure hunts and hen party treasure hunts. The third for birthday (and celebration) treasure hunts was open to Sussex and outside (open category) whilst the fourth category was for treasure hunts outside Sussex only. The purpose of these awards is to give you some inspiration as to why you might like to choose a Black Cat treasure hunt for 2025, and what to expect once you have.
So..without further ado (at last I hear you say!) are the winners:
Best Team Building Treasure Hunt.
From vets in Chichester to insurance experts in Bexhill this has been a superb year for team building treasure hunts. There was also a lot of variety in the type of treasure hunts attempted in Brighton.
The Bexhill event is definitely a contender in this category as it broke the record for most participants in a Black Cat treasure hunt. 167 people divided up over 13 teams battled it out late afternoon one July day. As I moved from the starting point at Egerton Park to the Sackville Hotel and Bistro it was very amusing to see them all completing the challenges and looking for question answers.
A request for a Race Across Brighton in the style of Race Across the World meant a slight but interesting and enjoyable diversion from the normal format of my team building treasure hunts. Teams worked out cryptic clues and devised their own, best routes to take checkpoint photos and videos. This style may well be featuring more openly on the website as an option for 2025.
Another contender for champion was a fire safety team down from London. The treasure hunt was planned out well in advance and utilised the tried and tested inclusion of info and photos about and of the participants. A sunny day, hilariously competitive and a neatly concluded event put this just in second place.
The winning team building treasure hunt was also a company primarily based in London coming to Brighton. This group were, appropriately, legal investigators. Their skills as investigators came to the fore and the spec and request given before I wrote the treasure hunt was, "Make it really hard. The directors have said it would not be the worst thing in the World if one or two teams got a little bit lost on route!" I loved this idea and did my best to really challenge them. Video clips and convincing submissions to grab every last bonus point came in over WhatsApp. I had to be on my toes to ensure the right team from amongst them were worthy, on the day, winners.
Best Hen Party Treasure Hunt.
Hen party treasure hunts are among Black Cat Treasure Hunts` most popular options. There were a few more Stag, Sten and Hag treasure hunts amongst the top challengers this time round. Chichester was once again the venue for what was to prove a very laid-back group who took their time to complete the questions and challenges over the course of an afternoon. This was, after all, in honour of someone who recovered from hangovers by watching Barbie movies! Fair enough!
A more competitive stag do, but with selected girlfriends attending, chose a longish route from the middle of Brighton over into Hove as they had booked to watch 20/20 cricket afterwards. This one was interesting as I was able to discover a new section of route in Hove.
I am a bit torn between several as I always get sent great material to use, but the winner this year was for a mixed group on a Stag. The theme was a murder/mystery around Brighton which started inside a quirky natural history museum (Booth Museum). I allocated all of them a character and back story and they all turned up in brilliant fancy dress. Imagine an escapologist, formula 1 drivers, a surgeon, a Mexican tourist, a Hip hop singer, a ringmaster, a glamorous author, a vineyard owner, a pop star, and a Mickey Mouse impersonator (!) all looking for clues and discussing the outcome in the pub afterwards. It was a very fun day and just in case you were wondering, the culprits were the escapologist, and the ringmaster combined!
Best Birthday (celebration) Treasure Hunt.
There was a lovely selection of birthday and celebration treasure hunts to choose from this year. This style allows you to concentrate on the person it is for and include interesting facts about them. Whereas the first two awards were for treasure hunts centred in Hove/Brighton and Brighton alone...the winner of this category was an absolutely impossible decision between two London based treasure hunts.
The first one was for an 80th birthday set in the V&A museum. The birthday girl was extremely energetic and led one of four teams around selected parts of the museum that I had visited three weeks before. A lot of hilarity ensued as they copied the pose of Diana, the goddess of hunting and searched for the famous `Tippoos Tiger`.
The other London treasure hunt was for a 50th birthday around a private members club in Marylebone. I think this was the most intricate and, in some ways, risky treasure hunt I have ever written. The lady it was for owned her own jewellery business and asked for it to be themed around gemstones. In addition, as her name was Jade (a green gemstone!) she asked her guests to wear any shade of green. I developed stories and cryptic clues around distinct types of gemstones in the five different rooms she had hired. The team (you could attempt it alone or as a couple...there were 75 guests) who won the prizes (which were beautiful gemstones!) had to solve the number coded answers and claim their winnings before anyone else.
Although I think the museum treasure hunt for the 80-year-old may have won in many other years, this time around it has to be the gemstones treasure hunt. It was a great theme and when I visited the party venue to set up the clues, the birthday holder met me there and was so helpful with her guidelines as to how it could work. Trust me though when I say it took a long time to devise the stories and ensure the number codes added up properly!
Best Non-Sussex Based Treasure Hunt.
Alongside the two London, birthday treasure hunts mentioned above there is actually a third one! I have sensationally held back a 40th birthday treasure hunt for a man and his wife around the British Museum. It was great fun to set up and if the beautiful card of thanks I received from his sister, who made the booking, was anything to go by it should be the winner.
However, now might be the time to mention the Cambridge treasure hunt referred to at the start. This was for a smallish team building event around this stunning, compact city. It was the first time I had been to Cambridge too. The architecturally unique university colleges, the punting on the river (good challenge options!), numerous historical references--I`m thinking the founders of DNA, Alan Turing and the Enigma machine and several freely accessible museums were also perfect for treasure hunt content.
Just as I was about to make a decision in this category I realised there could only be one winner...one that I have not alluded to so far...here are the reasons for this alternative outcome. One of the great personalised treasure hunts.
*The treasure hunt was for a unique reason. It was for a guy to propose to his girlfriend.
*All of the preparations and devising of clues was done remotely by way of email and, more significantly, by video. I never actually went to where the treasure hunt was going to be situated (around his house in Wembley, North London.)
*There was jeopardy! Plans had to be foolproof to lure his girlfriend to the house at that time on that particular day. This was a surprise treasure hunt but with a last clue that meant him driving her back to her house which had been decorated and for him to propose!
*The clues/challenges related to their life together so far including specific dates.
*She said `yes`!
So there you have it. Four very different winning treasure hunts for very different reasons. If you want to put your own mark on a treasure hunt or have an idea that you want me to turn into reality, then contact me (Tim... or.. `Black Cat ` for those who think I should remain more mysterious) on either:
info@blackcattreasurehunts.co.uk or by phone on (01323) 655346.
Further reading:
Team building research
2023 Treasure Hunt Awards
Best Non-Sussex Based Treasure Hunt.
Alongside the two London, birthday treasure hunts mentioned above there is actually a third one! I have sensationally held back a 40th birthday treasure hunt for a man and his wife around the British Museum. It was great fun to set up and if the beautiful card of thanks I received from his sister, who made the booking, was anything to go by it should be the winner.
However, now might be the time to mention the Cambridge treasure hunt referred to at the start. This was for a smallish team building event around this stunning, compact city. It was the first time I had been to Cambridge too. The architecturally unique university colleges, the punting on the river (good challenge options!), numerous historical references--I`m thinking the founders of DNA, Alan Turing and the Enigma machine and several freely accessible museums were also perfect for treasure hunt content.
Just as I was about to make a decision in this category I realised there could only be one winner...one that I have not alluded to so far...here are the reasons for this alternative outcome. One of the great personalised treasure hunts.
*The treasure hunt was for a unique reason. It was for a guy to propose to his girlfriend.
*All of the preparations and devising of clues was done remotely by way of email and, more significantly, by video. I never actually went to where the treasure hunt was going to be situated (around his house in Wembley, North London.)
*There was jeopardy! Plans had to be foolproof to lure his girlfriend to the house at that time on that particular day. This was a surprise treasure hunt but with a last clue that meant him driving her back to her house which had been decorated and for him to propose!
*The clues/challenges related to their life together so far including specific dates.
*She said `yes`!
So there you have it. Four very different winning treasure hunts for very different reasons. If you want to put your own mark on a treasure hunt or have an idea that you want me to turn into reality, then contact me (Tim... or.. `Black Cat ` for those who think I should remain more mysterious) on either:
info@blackcattreasurehunts.co.uk or by phone on (01323) 655346.
Further reading:
Team building research
2023 Treasure Hunt Awards
©2024 Black Cat Treasure Hunts
Website design by Modern Websites