Although participating in a scavenger hunt wasn’t on her typical Thursday afternoon agenda, junior screenwriting major Tosca Johnson somehow found herself racing with her teammates through campus in search of the first clue on the hunt for Pete the Panther. 

Their first mission was to solve a word puzzle with tricky riddles. Luckily, Johnson said this was one of her teammates’ strengths.

“I wouldn’t say we had much of a strategy, but we really worked together and pushed off everyone's specific, individual strengths,” Johnson said. “For example, one of my teammates was great at solving riddles, so he was able to get us past the first clue.”

The University Program Board (UPB) had been brainstorming ideas for a fun evening event meant to encourage student engagement, when suddenly they came up with the idea to host a scavenger hunt around campus. Students would download an app called The Great Game, where they could form teams with their friends and receive virtual, text-based clues that would lead them all over school grounds. 

When Johnson heard of the event, she was intrigued and quickly gathered a group of students to embark on the scavenger hunt alongside her.

Johnson and her teammates quickly made their way over to Musco Lawn, eager to see what would happen next. When the team pulled out their phones to decode the next clue, they were informed they had failed to notice popular singer Olivia O’Brien standing behind them. The team gasped as they learned O’Brien was back after the recent Chapman concert to help them with their scavenger hunt. 

The teammates worked together and swiftly moved on to the next clue, giving Johnson a rush of adrenaline.

“My favorite part was definitely that feeling whenever we got a clue right; it was overwhelming joy, and I can vividly remember me and my teammates jumping up and down being so excited once we found out a clue,” Johnson said. “We were all equally engaged, and that made it really fun but also successful.”

Johnson and her teammates stumbled upon their next clue at the statue of Charles Chapman in Chapman Plaza. Their phones buzzed in unison, foreshadowing a new hint, as the group approached in proximity. 

Before the team could read the riddle on their screens, the statue began to glow. After intense brainstorming, the group realized they had to solve a morse code message using their flashlights to figure out where to go next.

“Nobody (on my team) could solve the morse code message," Johnson said. "We stood there for 20 minutes trying to advance to the next clue. Even with the hint button, we still struggled to figure out how to move on.”

Through the app, Johnson’s team was able to use three hints throughout the game. Unfortunately the app would only provide one hint per riddle, so if they were still stumped after a hint, it was their job to figure it out. 

Johnson illustrated the limits of the hint button by describing how her group tried to use it to solve a clue in the Leatherby Libraries. To the team’s dismay, the app had not sensed their location, and the hint simply reiterated to go to the library.

After what seemed like hours, Johnson and her team were frantically searching for the final clue. It was their goal to find Pete the Panther before the one other team competing against them, and they were in a time crunch. As the minutes passed and the timer dwindled down, Johnson said she knew it was a miracle when they reached their destination. 

“The final task asked us to find a QR code, so we were running around campus trying to find it," Johnson said. "We ended up finding a real QR code on a plaque that was definitely not intended to be for the game, but we scanned it, and my friend's phone started glitching. A few moments later, one of us found the actual QR code; we scanned it, got the hint and then just took off running.”

After the group was successful in figuring out the final clue, Johnson and her team rescued Pete from Donald and Felicity Sodaro Arch. Legend says the mascot jumped into their arms, and they carried him safely back to Memorial lawn.

Though Chapman’s statue didn’t actually glow and Olivia O'Brien was not in physical attendance, the excitement and fun shared between teammates at the March 3 scavenger hunt remains true. But the biggest draw of the event, Johnson said, was the prizes.

“When (my team) first showed up to the check-in table, I saw a table full of board games,” Johnson said. “This immediately became my ultimate motivator, because I love games. After winning, I excitedly grabbed Guess Who? to play with my roommate.”

Katelyn Snook, a junior film production major who is the late night entertainment committee director at UPB, played a critical role in deciding to host a scavenger hunt on campus. 

“I recently found out about this company that makes (scavenger hunts), and I thought this would be a great opportunity for the students to possibly get to know campus,” Snook said. “I know (a lot of) transfer students, sophomores and freshmen don't know the campus super well. It’s also a great way for them to get to know campus and learn about traditions along the way.”

Unfortunately, when Thursday afternoon rolled around, only one group showed up to the event. In order to make the team feel some sort of competition, members of UPB, like Francesco Carriglio, participated in solving the clues as well. 

Carriglio, a sophomore business administration major and member of UPB’s Special Events and Traditions committee, told The Panther he thinks there was low turnout due to poor scheduling. 

“Scheduling is really hard, because there are other events that are going on,” Carriglio said. “But it's really hard (for people to attend an event) in the middle of the week. It’s a time when people are just getting out of their classes and probably want to go and settle (down) for a little bit.”

Although Johnson’s group only competed against one other team, that didn’t stop them from making the most out of their experience.

“I know it seems silly for a bunch of college students to be running around like maniacs on campus, but it was a great way to bring me, my friends and even people I didn't know very well together to get our minds off of things and just have some fun,” Johnson said.