Arizona Treasure Hunt

History

The Arizona Treasure Hunt has been an annual tradition since the Phoenix section of the IEEE initiated the Hunt in 1951. The Hunt had been an annual event in the Chicago area and with the development of the electronics industry in the Valley, many transplanted Chicagoans (mostly Motorola engineers) persuaded the Phoenix section directors to sponsor a Valley version. It has run annually since then.

In the early years, The Hunt had a definite engineering flavor, but it has evolved to be more reflective of the social nature of the event. While there are still some occasional clues requiring engineering knowledge and proficiency, the material relates more to current events, pop culture and general knowledge. This evolution has made it more enjoyable for participants of all professions. Each of the 78 six-person teams historically consisted of three husband and wife pairs, but present-day Hunts have consisted of more diverse teams.

OK, so what is The Hunt?

The Hunt is fun time of puzzle solving, teamwork, desert searching, map navigating and creative driving. The basic idea of The Hunt is quite simple: solve as many clues (or puzzles) as possible in the given time (approximately 5 hours). There are a total of 26 clues, labeled A through Z. The committee places the clues in open desert areas bounded approximately by Bell Road to the south, the Cave Creek-Carefree area to the north, and between 19th Avenue and 148th Street. This is roughly 300 square miles.

Teams consist of up to six people who drive throughout The Hunt area in a single vehicle. Usually the vehicles are full size vans or minivans. Teams find clues one at a time, then solve the puzzle located at each clue site in order to find the location of the next clue site they are to visit. This process continues throughout the timespan of The Hunt. At the end, all teams check in and the team with the lowest average time per clue is declared the winner.

To make finding clue sites even more fun, The Hunt begins at dusk and ends between 11:00pm and midnight. Yes, flashlights are highly recommended equipment for hunters.

So why do people participate in The Hunt?

Well, because it’s a lot of fun! Running around in the desert at night, solving puzzles with your friends and competing just for the sake of competition drives teams to return year after year. However, there is an award ceremony held at the conclusion of the evening in which the top three teams are recognized for their stellar performances. The third place team is declared the runners-up, the second place team is known as the true winners and the first place team earns the title of “suckers who have to help plan The Hunt for the next three years”. That’s right, the winning team gets the honor and privilege of serving on the Treasure Hunt Committee!

A committee plans this thing?

That’s right! The Treasure Hunt Committee consists of 18 people from the winners of the last three Hunts. Making The Hunt happen is a lot of work, but thanks to a process which has been honed over 60 years, the workload is spread out across well-defined roles. And yes, it’s fun to come up with clues to inflict on fellow hunters.