We split the 60 family members into 7 teams, trying to balance generations and skills. Nobody knew what teams they were on until the game began.
The hunt began by assembling all teams in place and distributing to each a satchel:
Inside each satchel were the following items:
- A letter from an ancestor to the family. (See the front and back of the letter; some details have been hidden for family privacy.)
- A copy of a custom book, A Gentleman’s Guide to the Mountains of New York. The contents of the book (loosely plagiarized from various sites on the Web) are available as a PDF.
- A copy of Walden by Thoreau. Scattered throughout the book various letters, words and phrases had been circled.
- A love-note addressed to the ancestor. (See the front and back of the letter once unfolded; some details have been hidden for family privacy.)
- An engineer's compass:
- A notepad and a few pencils:
After laying out some rules for the game (no cheating, no interfering with other teams or their clues, everything you need is in the bag, you only have 3 hours before you’ll miss lunch, etc.) we read the letter aloud and the game was underway.
The entire game consisted of 6 challenges: