[Image courtesy of Cornell.edu.]

Have you ever done a scavenger hunt, fellow puzzler? They can be a lot of fun.

Some simply challenge you to find a bunch of random items, while others create a laundry list of activities to complete. Over the last decade or so, businesses have even sprung up to fulfill any party, group, or even city that might require a scavenger hunt for an event.

Yes, you can easily gather a group of friends, hit up any city at a certain point in the year, and find a scavenger hunt event waiting for you. They often involve puzzles, trivia, and other obstacles to success, rather than just a list of tasks to accomplish.

I’ve served as tech support for several, as well as an organizer for themed scavenger hunts at various sci-fi, fantasy, and writing conventions. I was supposed to be running one this weekend; that event, like so many others, was cancelled due to preventative measures to contain COVID-19.

So, as you might expect, I’ve got scavenger hunts on the brain. And with ample time to ponder, I couldn’t help but wonder… how big could you go?

[Image courtesy of Guinness Book of World Records.]

I mean, if we’re talking a city-wide competition, you’d probably need to complete a half-dozen or a dozen objectives, based on previous city-themed hunts I’ve seen.

But what if it was the biggest scavenger hunt in the world? How many would it be then?

If you said as many as you could from a list of 150, then you have some impressive and specific guessing skills.

On September 10, 2017, the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, hosted a mass scavenger hunt to celebrate the city’s 150th anniversary. (For comparison’s sake, the one listed on the website for this year involved twenty obstacles.)

[Image courtesy of Ottawa Citizen.]

So, how many people showed up to tackle 150 challenges for this world-record-setting scavenger hunt?

2,733.

Many of them wearing costumes.

Each of them pitched in on answering trivia, solving puzzles, exploring the city, and taking pictures of specific items or scenarios throughout the area.

It sounds like an absolute blast, one that Ottawa went all out for.

I wonder who will try to topple a record like that.

Well, if they do, I can’t wait to see it.

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