How to create a scavenger hunt: your first Realm game

1. Pick a place, a purpose, and three missions

To create a scavenger hunt in Realm, choose a place, create a game, add missions and tasks, then publish it and invite players to a session. You can start with a blank game or adapt a template. This guide walks through a small neighborhood discovery game you can use as a model for a schoolyard, campus, park, or team outing.

Give your first game one clear purpose: help people notice a place together. Choose three nearby stops you can visit yourself, with space to pause and read a phone. Plan a short route with a clear meeting point and finish. A 20–30 minute outing is a useful planning target; walk and test it before promising a duration to players.

In Realm, the game is what you author. Missions organize the experience, and tasks are the individual things players do or answer. A hosted session is an occasion when people play your game together. You can reuse the game for another session without writing the missions again.

2. Create your game in Realm

Sign up or sign in, open Games, and choose a starting point. For this example, choose Blank Game, give it a title such as ‘Neighborhood Discovery,’ and select the Owner. The owner determines whether the game belongs to your personal workspace or an organization workspace. Add a short description that tells players who the game is for, where it takes place, and what they will do. Choose Create blank Game to open the builder.

Prefer a starting structure? Browse Templates and choose one that fits your outing. Creating from a template copies its content into a new, editable game; adapt the missions and check its map for your own location. Any member of the selected workspace can create from the templates listed for them there. You can also use Create with AI when your workspace has access: describe your audience and goal, draw the playable area, and review the resulting draft, including every proposed checkpoint.

For a first attempt, a blank game with three missions is enough. You do not need AI generation to follow this guide. If Realm says the workspace has reached its game limit, use the options shown to manage existing games, choose another eligible owner, or view the plan.

3. Turn your scavenger hunt ideas into clear tasks

Add one mission for each stop, then give each mission a task with an obvious finish. A useful prompt names what to look for, what to submit, and what counts as a complete answer. ‘Explore this street’ leaves players guessing. ‘Find the date on the public information sign and enter its four digits’ gives them a concrete action.

Try the three-mission outline below. Replace every example with a detail you have checked at your venue. For a multiple-choice question, supply the answer options and correct answer in the builder. For a photo task, review its grading settings so the credit matches what you intend to assess. Asking for a photo does not, by itself, prove that a player has identified the right object.

For these open-ended discovery photos, choose Auto-approve on upload if you want to award participation credit for a valid photo upload. This does not check whether the pictured object is correct. Otherwise, plan to review submissions as the host: photo tasks wait for host review by default.

1. Notice a detail: at your first stop, ask players to photograph a pattern on a building or path. Specify a public viewing spot and ask them to keep people out of the photo.
2. Solve a local clue: at an information sign, ask a multiple-choice question whose answer is visible on the sign. Write plausible alternatives and check that the wording matches the place.
3. Make a discovery: at the final stop, ask players to photograph a feature they had not noticed before. At the finish, invite each team to explain its choice to the others.

4. Check the map and walk the route

Use the builder’s map to review any mission areas and checkpoints your game uses. If a task requires a location, configure its checkpoint and make sure it is inside the relevant mission area. A place mentioned in your writing is not a substitute for configuring a required checkpoint. Resolve any location setup issues the builder flags.

Visit each stop and read the prompt where players will stand. Can they find the answer without crossing a road, entering a building, or stepping off a permitted path? Is there room for someone using a mobility aid to participate? Replace stops that do not work for your players. Check phone connectivity and location permissions for location tasks, and carry a copy of the prompts for helping anyone who gets stuck.

5. Save, publish, and test as a player

Save your draft, use Preview as a player to review the prompts, and review the publishing checks. Fix missing answers, unfinished task settings, or location issues before selecting Publish Game. Publishing prepares the game; it creates no player code and nobody can join yet. Open a Challenge or create a hosted Session when you are ready to invite players. Keep your invitation to a small test group until you have tried the complete experience.

Open the game overview and choose Let people play. For a guided first outing, choose Host live and create a Session. For self-paced play, choose Let people play on their own, check the audience, and select Open Challenge. Test its joining flow on a phone, complete every task, and check what happens after an incorrect answer. Try the photo submission and any checkpoint arrival from the actual route. If a prompt needs a verbal explanation from you, rewrite it before the event.

To change the game, even after players have started runs, choose Edit Game to return it to a draft, then save and publish again. Challenges and Sessions already created keep the version they started with, and new ones get your changes once you publish. While you edit, new Sessions and Challenges are paused until you publish. Test again when changes affect answers, scoring, or locations.

6. Invite players to your first session

Choose Host live and create the Session for your intended audience. For a session that people can join as guests with a code, choose a workspace audience, then configure Access before starting: select Public and enable Join by code and Guest access. Group sessions are invite-only, and access settings lock when a session starts.

Share the session’s join link, QR code, or join code with your players. Each Session or Challenge has its own code; publishing the Game does not create one. Test the exact invitation you plan to send, including whether players will need to sign in.

Give your invitation the practical details: meeting point, start time, expected duration, a charged phone, and any clothing appropriate to the venue. At the meeting point, explain the boundaries and where to ask for help. Wait until players have joined and are ready before starting the session. For a classroom or team event, rehearse your device and team arrangement in advance.

Finish by asking what players discovered and which instruction was confusing. Review the session results available to you. Reuse the game for your next group if it worked well, or duplicate it to revise an unclear task and publish the improved copy. Your first successful game can be three good stops that people finish and want to talk about.

Questions before you make your first game

Do I need to know how to code? No. You create missions, tasks, and places in Realm’s game builder. Start with a blank game or an available template and edit the content for your players.

Does every task need GPS? No. Location requirements depend on the tasks and checkpoint settings you choose. For an outing led by a teacher or host, you can guide players between stops; configure checkpoints when being in a particular place is part of the task, and test them on site.

Can players join without an account? Hosted sessions can allow guests, depending on the session’s access settings. Challenges require sign-in. Check your session settings and test joining before telling participants what they need.

What should I make first? Choose one familiar place and use the three-mission outline above. Create your Realm account or open your dashboard using the button below, then go to Games to start your draft.