This article is about the Proxi admin app at app.proxi.co, and the experience editor released September 15, 2026. If your participation link starts with map.proxi.co, yours is a legacy experience: it keeps working without interruption and there is nothing you need to migrate, but the steps below won't match its screens.
A scavenger hunt is the most engaging thing you can run downtown: clue by clue, players hunt for locations they don't know yet — which means they walk into businesses they've never entered. Here's the full build for a "Discover Downtown Hunt" with 12 stops.
Hunt or Passport? Pick the Right Game First
Quick gut check: in a Passport, players see all the locations and try to visit them; in a Scavenger Hunt, locations are hidden behind clues and players have to figure them out. Passports maximize total visits; hunts maximize engagement and discovery. Competitive crowds and mystery themes want a hunt; "visit them all" promotions want a passport (see Running a Restaurant Week Passport for that build).
1. Create the Hunt
Go to Scavenger Hunts in the sidebar. In the Start from a template strip, pick Downtown Scavenger Hunt (or click New Scavenger Hunt and choose it there). Rerunning last year's hunt, or one from the old editor? Pick Copy one of yours or Bring in one from the old editor instead (see Start From an Experience You Already Have).
Keep the suggested name or type your own: "Discover Downtown Hunt."
Under Where should the places people visit come from? choose Use a collection you already have if your downtown businesses are already a collection, Build one from your listings to check off the 12 stops, or Start a new collection and add them next. Click Create & edit.
The template already sets How It Plays to Scavenger Hunt, so places are hidden behind clues from the start. (See Create Your First Experience From a Template.)
2. Write the Clues
On the Places tab, each stop has + Add a Clue:
Clue — the craft: reference something players can only verify in person. "Find the mural with three birds, then look across the street" beats "the coffee shop on Main."
Hint — the escape valve for stuck players. Under Gameplay → Hunt Settings, Hint Cost sets what a peek costs in points (0 makes hints free). The same card has Allow Giving Up (off for a short hunt where everyone should finish) and Directions on Clues (on for a family walk, off when solving the place is the game).
Clue Photo — a cropped photo detail makes a great visual clue.
Points — weight the far-flung or tricky stops higher. Set points for all… gives every stop the same starting value.
Also under Gameplay: How the places come out — One at a time, in the order below (a guided chain; drag the stops into order) or All the clues at once. And Giving Up — Skip to the next clue, or They still visit to move on. Under Settings → Place Content, Before Someone Finds a Clue Stop decides whether an unsolved stop shows just the clue, the clue and the name, or everything. (See Turning It Into a Scavenger Hunt.)
3. Set Up Check-Ins
On the Places tab under Check-in Rules, turn on Verify check-ins and pick how players prove they found it: QR code (print them from Print → Check-in QR codes and hide one at each stop; by the register is the classic, since it walks players inside), Code (staff share the word when asked, great for making players talk to shopkeepers), Location (geofence), or Photo for a photo-safari feel. (See How People Check In.)
4. Style and Tune the Experience
Settings → Branding — upload your Logo and a Cover image (this is the hero on the welcome screen, so make it good), tick White background behind logo if your logo needs it, and design the Stamps and stickers players collect.
Settings → Features & Tabs — set Opens on, keep Leaderboard on, and turn on Photos if you're using photo check-ins. Rename the places tab to "Locations" or "Clues" here if you like.
On the Places tab, each stop has an Active switch, handy for taking one out without deleting it, and Display sets the list layout.
5. Prizes, Sign-Up, and Launch
On the Badges tab, add First Find and a "Found Them All" finisher (Earn when → Visit all stops) with a Completion message for prize redemption. (See Badges, Points, and Prizes.)
Under Registration, write the Heading and Description, and under Sign-up Fields make Display name required so the leaderboard shows chosen names. Click the sign-ups pill in the header and choose Let people sign up early; sign-ups can open before the hunt does.
Click Share for the link (pick A printed sign or Social under Where is this one going? so you'll know what worked) and the Sign-Up Form embed for your site. Print → Sign-up poster gives you a QR poster with the Join Code players can type at play.proxi.co.
Click Add a tester, open the link, and solve the first three clues for real; clue difficulty is impossible to judge from your desk. Set Starts and Ends under Settings → General and it goes live on its own. (See Testing Your Experience Before You Launch.)
6. Bring the Businesses In
Each stop's shopkeeper should know: the hunt is running, where their code lives, and the one-line answer to "am I in the right place?" If your stops are listings with portal contacts, they get all of that themselves: in the portal, Open Your Kit shows their part, the clue pointing at them, and printable signs. A win-win framing gets enthusiastic hosts: the hunt delivers new faces; all they do is keep a card by the register. Afterward, Participants & Activity ranks every place by check-ins, so each business sees exactly how many hunters they got. (See Your Experience Kit: Codes, Signs, and How It's Going.)
Worth a read on the Proxi blog: how to run a downtown scavenger hunt, digital scavenger hunts for main streets, 10 fun hunt ideas, and passport or scavenger hunt — choosing the right adventure.