Consultancy
We offer a range of consultancy services for your trail projects, from planning and research to design and print, testing, staffing (event hosts and actors), photography, social media marketing and follow-up.
Our projects include educational trails, custom treasure hunts, outdoor puzzles and games for all purposes. So far these have been used for:
- Private games and parties
- Educational workbooks
- Community projects and festivals
- Marketing activity
- Venue enhancement
- Conference and trade exhibition activity
- TV productions
- A successful World Record attempt
We'd love to consult with you on the logistics, practicalities and creative elements that go into producing a trail or treasure hunt activity, whether it is for a fixed venue, festival or one-off occasion.
Operation Pennsylvania
Bespoke team-building treasure-hunt events are always a delight for us, allowing our team to give full rein to our creativity and love of games! In addition to our tried-and-tested personalisable event products for team awaydays, hen and stag parties and special events in popular outdoor locations, we can also craft adventures from scratch to suit very specific requirements and 'vanilla' locations such as private estates. In 2021 our client, a London consultancy firm, asked us to invent a game for their staff for a team weekend held offsite in a country house. For this challenge we created "The Astry Formula", a game related to the history of Hinwick Hall in Northamptonshire. Then in 2023 the same client invited us to come up with an entertaining team game set in Pennsylvania Castle, Portland, Dorset, for 40 staff. This time the game was themed around the exciting history of the estate related to the planning for the D-Day landings in 1944.
Please contact us if you would like our help to create your own unique treasure hunt or puzzle-game adventure.
South Norfolk and Broadland Discovery Trails 2022
For The Queen's Platinum Jubilee year we were invited to devise a pair of exciting Trail projects for families living in and visiting Norfolk. The brief was to create two story-based puzzle trails encouraging people to use public transport, bicycles and walking to acquaint themselves better with the towns and villages away from busy Norwich and the popular Norfolk coast. We based the Puzzle Trails on local history and folklore and came up with a number of puzzle types and fascinating facts to entertain and inform participants aged from 7 to adult.
These Trails have been updated for use in 2023 and are available for free download (print at home) here:
The Queen's Treasure (South Norfolk)
The Traveller's Charm (Broadland)
Mayor of London "World of Work" 2018-19
During 2018 and 2019 Discovery Games was commissioned to produce a set of "World of Work" trails and workbooks for London families and schools. Five neighbourhoods in London were selected. Our team included trail writers and games designers, an educational consultant and graphic designers who worked closely with the Mayor of London Education and Youth and marketing departments. We planned routes, found interesting locations and designed activities along the route to match areas of the school curriculum. The overarching theme was about inspiring young people to think very openly and ambitiously about a broad array of work opportunities, using examples around them in London's daily life.
The workbooks, featuring trails in Brixton, Stratford, Covent Garden, Southwark and Old Street, were printed and distributed to schools and public resource centres around London.
Mayor of London 2017
Summer of 2017 saw us working alongside the Mayor of London's Youth and Education team to develop and produce a series of family-friendly 'London Curriculum' workbooks. We researched routes and sites of interest in four 'quarters' of central London and designed activities along the route to match areas of the curriculum such as maths and science, languages, history, music and geography.
South of France Exploration Trails 2017
A private family commission in 2017 saw our team creating, testing and printing a set of four exciting discovery trails in beautiful Provence. These were themed puzzle trails including a mystery in Tourrettes, a murder mystery in St Paul de Vence, a secret mission in Grasse, and a Knights Templar themed driving trail between fortified and hilltop towns in the local area.
We speak French and Spanish and are willing to undertake private trailwriting commissions in Europe and other overseas destinations. Please contact us to discuss your requirements.
Mayor of London Feast of St George 2017
Following the success of the St Patrick's Festival event in March, Mayor of London again commissioned Discovery Games to create an interactive trail event for families for St George's Day. We engaged a team of actors and designer to create an adventure in the vicinity of Trafalgar Square, searching for 'Knights and Ladies' who were 'Guardians of the Dragon's Name'. Successful participants received a mock knighthood for their services from our 'King'!
Mayor of London St Patrick's Festival 2017
For the 'biggest St Patrick's Festival in London to date', we were commissioned by the Mayor's events team to come up with an Irish-themed Trail in central London. We researched and designed an interactive Trail celebrating famous Irish Londoners, with actors along the route and a grand finale inside the National Portrait Gallery. Our trail featured a fictional adventurer, Siofra, and clues along a 1-mile route.
Keepmoat Homes and Zoe Chamberlain 2015-2016
We are proud to have been commissioned by Zoe Chamberlain, a renowned public artist, to develop a series of three original community treasure hunt trails for villages around Cambridge.The brief was to create something which will help new and established local residents to explore their neighbourhood, learn something new and bring people together. In 2015 and 2016 we created a series of titles with prizes sponsored by local business and amenities.
The project was funded by Keepmoat Homes and Cambridge City Council. The prize competition for Barnwell ran until October 2015, and the Cherry Hinton and Chesterton competitions are live until later in 2016.
Playmobil Super 4 in London
To tie in with the launch of the Super 4 play characters based upon the animated TV series in October 2015, we were commissioned by Playmobil's UK PR and communications agency to create four original puzzle trails in central London, suitable for ages 5 to 11. The puzzle trails needed to follow brand guidelines, and were carefully constructed and tested to appeal to the target demographic. Importantly for Playmobil, the trails needed to lead the families taking part to their partner retailer in London, Hamley's on Regent Street, to claim their prize.
The campaign was augmented via social media and the addition of four gold-plated figures to be 'found' by lucky winners on secret dates in the run-up to Christmas 2015.
Immersive themed Dr Who Adventure trail, June 2015
In one of our most entertaining private commissions to date, we were asked at short notice to create an immersive treasure hunt trail for a father and daughter team visiting the UK from the USA for a very special occasion. Our trail began at Heathrow airport and took the couple from central London via the Summer Solstice festival at Stonehenge to visit real daleks at a secret location in Wiltshire. They then travelled on to get involved in graffiti art in Bristol, and concluded their adventure at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff. The Discovery Games team featured our core team of event staff plus five actors and a friendly London cab driver who was in on the secret.
Hidden River Festival 2013
Discovery Games was approached to create a puzzle trail for families as part of North-East London's Hidden River Festival in September 2013. This event celebrated the 400th anniversary of the opening of the New River, a man-made water conduit bringing clean water from Hertfordshire to London, which still functions today! Our family-oriented activity booklet encourages groups to explore a length of the New River Path from Finsbury Park to Stoke Newington, spotting wildlife and solving a mystery from clues found along the way.
The Last Cudham Dragon
At Cudham Shaws in Kent, a well known favourite Girl Guide camp set in ancient woodland, the owners wanted to introduce a trail-based set of activities for visiting groups to be able to use all year round.
We created a set of four fun clue-hunting games using plaques set round the site, encouraging the children and young adults (aged 5-105) to participate in age-appropriate races and exploration.
Games embrace skills and topics as diverse as orienteering and map reading, number skills, reading, groupwork, leadership, problem-solving and basic programming logic!
Secrets and Treasures of Muswell Hill
In 2012 Muswell Hill Traders Group ran a prize treasure hunt encouraging participants to visit local stores, community and historic venues around Muswell Hill. We built them a game based on a smartphone app. Clues were found in six categories from Food and Drink to History and Community in Muswell Hill. The app featured archive photography of old Muswell Hill from the early 20th century, and was GPS driven so that clues and photos popped up in relevant locations.
We also designed a plaque-based children's clue hunt called 'Find Teddy Boris!' with the chance for children to win a lovable cuddly bear.
