This article is about the Proxi admin app at app.proxi.co. Its experience steps are for the experience editor released September 15, 2026; experiences built before then are legacy and have different screens.
Every August, thousands of new students arrive not knowing where anything is — and every orientation office rediscovers that a PDF campus map doesn't cut it. The fix is two layers: a living campus map, and a welcome week scavenger hunt or passport that turns learning the campus into the first fun thing that happens at school.
1. The Campus Map
Create a map and add every building and landmark — double-click works beautifully on a campus, where "the fountain" and "the quad" don't have street addresses. Import the registrar's building list if one exists.
Category by what students need: "Dining, Residence Halls, Classrooms & Labs, Study Spots, Health & Wellness, Offices & Services, Athletics." Add fields like "Open Late" and "Swipes Accepted" as filters.
Building codes go in a Short code field with Numbers on markers on — pins labeled "SCI," "LIB," "SU" match the course catalog.
Style it properly: in Branding, set the school colors under Brand colors (the contrast warning will save you from maroon-on-crimson), upload the university mark as the Logo, and pick a Custom font close to the brand standard. A Minimal or Standard map style keeps 80 building pins readable.
Turn on the search bar (Filters → Search bar) with a placeholder like "Search buildings, dining, offices…" — Search this map matches building codes and names alike, so "SCI" and "Science Hall" both land.
Two viewer features made for campus: Allow users to send map to their phone from desktop (Viewer actions) — students browsing on a laptop zap it to their phone — and Save to home screen (Sharing section: Short name like "GSU Map" plus the two app icons) so orientation leaders can say "add it to your phone," no app-store approvals needed.
Embed it on the student-life site and put the QR in every orientation packet.
2. The Welcome Week Hunt
Go to Scavenger Hunts in the sidebar and pick the Downtown Scavenger Hunt template (or Family Adventure Hunt for free hints and an easier pace; or a template under Passports if you'd rather show all the stops). Under Where should the places people visit come from? choose Use a collection you already have and pick the campus collection:
Stops that teach the campus: the tutoring center, the counseling office, the rec center desk, the financial-aid window, the best late-night dining hall — the places students need to know before they need them. Switch Active off on the rest.
Clues with personality beat wayfinding: click + Add a Clue on each stop — "Find the statue everyone rubs for luck before finals." Add a Hint so nobody stays stuck, and set Hint Cost to 0 under Gameplay. (See Turning It Into a Scavenger Hunt.)
Under Check-in Rules, QR code with a sign at each stop (front desks love hosting them — Print → Check-in QR codes), or Photo for a photo-scavenger feel with Photos turned on under Features & Tabs so the feed becomes orientation's shared album.
On the Badges tab: "Found 10 Spots" (Earn when → Visit 10 stops) earns swag at the student union; "Campus Expert" (Visit all stops) for finishing. Keep the Leaderboard row on under Features & Tabs — res-hall floors competing against each other is instant community.
Students join via the Sign-up poster QR in the orientation packet or the Join Code at play.proxi.co — a 10-second pitch from any orientation leader.
3. Run It Like Orientation Staff
Set Starts and Ends under Settings → General to welcome week, then click the sign-ups pill in the header and choose Let people sign up early so students can join during move-in.
Click Add a tester and add a few orientation leaders, then have them walk the route the week before — clue difficulty and QR placement always need one real pass. Testers stay out of the leaderboard and the numbers. (See Testing Your Experience Before You Launch.)
Use Messages mid-week: the Nudge People Who Haven't Started idea is pre-written — "3 days left — the rec center and the observatory are still waiting."
Afterward, Busiest places and the recap on Participants & Activity tell student affairs which resources new students actually found — data the offices themselves will want.
Built your experience before September 15, 2026? That one is a legacy experience with different screens, and its participation link starts with map.proxi.co. It keeps working without interruption, and there is nothing you need to migrate. The steps here are for the experience editor; the legacy tester steps are in Testing Your Challenge or Scavenger Hunt Before Launch.
Beyond Welcome Week
The same campus collection powers the rest of the year: an admissions self-guided tour (numbered stops + walking route — see the walking tours guide), a homecoming passport for alumni, and department-specific maps filtered from the master collection.
Worth a read on the Proxi blog: 5 creative scavenger hunt ideas for college welcome week, campus scavenger hunts and passport events, the Monmouth University campus map, and back-to-school bash event maps.