The Lost

The Concept

On 29th October. 2005, I ran a “treasure hunt” game for the Halloween weekend. The game required teams, each with a car, a mobile phone, and a digital camera, and involved driving around, doing things, solving clues, and working out where you need to be next.

The setting involved ghosts who could not move on to the next plane of existance, unless they could resolve an issue from their lifetime. In order to do this, they needed the help of a powerful spirit, known only as Monsieur le Carrefour, who could open a portal through time to allow a group of lost spirits to return to their time of death, giving them one last chance to resolve their livetime.

Three teams played – one representing ghosts from the 18th century, one from the 1960’s, and one from the 1980’s. Players didn’t know how it would work until it started. They just knew being in costume would give a slight advantage, and that they would have an envelope to open at 4pm when the game started.

The First Envelope (“Life”)

The first envelope contained a  briefing sheet , and a set of “clue envelopes”, which it cost points to open.

Meeting Carrefour

At the end of this first phase (“Life”), the teams had to meet with M. le Carrefour, tell the story of their lives, including in some way each of the items they had scored points for, and then would be given the briefing for part 2.

The Second Envelope (“Death”)

The second envelope contained a briefing sheet, and a set of photographs.

Finding Carrefour

To complete the game, the team had to find M. le Carrefour again – and tell the story of their deaths, including the items they had scored points for in the second part of the game.

Results

The  final scores were

 

  18th C 1960’s 1980’s
Life 13 15 9
Finding Carrefour -5 -7 -7
Death 7 16 9
Finding Carrefour -4 -4 0
Best Costumes   2  
TOTAL 11 22 11

The 18th century team would have probably done a lot better if they hadn’t had to drop off one player for an hour in the middle of the game, and also if they had found the photographs in the second envelope.

The 1960’s team got 2 extra points for best costumes, simply because they were so outragously silly.

The 1980’s team got the bonus points for the best “exceptional view” 🙂