3 hours before your hunt you should receive a link in your inbox that you click on to start your treasure hunt. If you do not see it in your inbox please check your spam folder. Many times, our customers find their link to start the hunt in their spam folder. If you still haven’t received one then please contact us immediately and we will send you your link manually from our end.

You may use our live chat (we typically reply within minutes) to speak with us, send us a message to cincinnatitreasurehunts@gmail.com, or you may call Prof. Arthur Hunt’s assistant, Joe, at 859-620-3331 to receive your link.

The hunts all have a starting point with a mystery question theme. You will be led to the spot where the answer lies at the end of the hunt. In between are typically 15 – 18 “clues” or “stops” along the way. The directions to the next clue is never told in a straight forward manner. Rather you are given a rhyming clue that you have to decipher the clues within, usually  needing to be on the lookout for things along the path that lead you in the right direction. After you reach where you think the clue told you to go, you are challenged with some sort of quiz, historical trivia question,  riddle, test, “I Spy”, etc. that is keyed to something at the spot you are at.

Thus, in sum, each step along the way consists of 2 challenges – getting there correctly and then answering the question so you are kept pretty “mentally” busy the whole time.

We would recommend either the Eden Park hunt or the Spring Grove Hunt. The quizzes and challenges in all of the hunts are a mix of easy to hard brain-teaser level so there will be questions too difficult for small children invariable. However, any parent knows that they will be able to kind of give some help or clues to make it easier for their younger children to be able to answer as well.

Yes, gold coins and diamonds usually. Just kidding, haha. Sorry, no actual buried treasure but at the end you are rewarded with the answer to the mystery question posed at the beginning of the hunt. However, we do know of parents who prepared candy bars, old coins, etc. as a prize at the end.

The hunts are definitely not scavenger hunts that one might expect to do at a children’s birthday party. They typically take about 3 months to create. They are meant to be enjoyed by any age but you certainly don’t have to be a Jeopardy champ to do one! What you do have to be is visually sharp and appreciate word play because the clues telling you where to go are never straight forward. Here’s an example of what we mean. In one hunt, the clue giving you the directions to the next stop tell you to look around and head to something that is,

“long and tall like a straw but on its top sits a big brass ball.”

It is actually a flagpole. So whether you’re 8, 48, or 88, you can do it!

We try to mix up the quizzes or little challenges at each stop too to keep you on your toes. You might be faced with a Cincinnati history trivia question about the spot you have been brought to, or perhaps be asked to “spot the difference” between what you seen now and a historical photo taken from the same spot, “Eye Spy” some object along the way (it’s never straight forward though), maybe take a guess what the title of some sculpture you pass along the way is. In any case, you are going to be surprised and delighted by how many interesting things you learn and things you will see that you have probably passed by dozens and dozens of time s before but never really noticed!

Generally speaking, figure on about 1 hour. However, this really is just a generalization as it is going to really depend on you. Some groups are going to move slowly and take 2 hours and others, say just a couple, will zip through and be done in 45 minutes.

The hunts are self guided using your smart phone. You do NOT download an app. Instead, we send you a link on the day of your scheduled hunt 3 hours ahead of time to your email.  Click the link and it will launch the hunt for you.