It began with a family trip to Ventura, a place we’d been to enough times to know we hadn’t really seen it at all. A kind of restlessness set in–we’d returned to the pier, the fish place, the downtown walk, to nearby Geocaching. There was clearly much more to the town worth finding. Ventura, like anywhere else, has layers: history, art, genuinely weird little corners tucked into buildings that have been standing longer than anyone remembers. But there was no obvious way to find it.
And then, an idea. What if you could do an app-guided scavenger hunt wherever you are, specific to the place, custom made for the moment.
So…searched for it. Nothing. Just apps offering static, pre-built scavenger hunts in prescribed areas. Nothing free-range and truly adventure-building.
It didn’t exist.
Then followed the gulp moment. Someone needs to build this. Because it would be amazing.
A few very lucky phone calls and Zooms later, we had our core team. And we started building the then yet-to-be-named app.
Hours of creating and conceptualizing and coding followed, all aimed at generating the magic a-ha moment where you crack a riddle and find yourself standing in front of something worth noticing, in a place you might’ve thought you knew.
The app took shape. It got named. And here we are. The first version of Scavtopia is close now. It does all the essentials: pick a mood, get a clue, go find it. More is coming after that: leaderboards, city-wide competitions, outdoor escape rooms where an entire street becomes a puzzle. We have so many ideas.
The world is a game. Can’t wait for you to start playing.
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