Universities are increasingly using scavenger hunts to engage students during orientation, campus tours, and team-building events.
With hundreds or even thousands of students participating, organizing these activities manually can be difficult. Scavenger hunt apps make it easy to run interactive campus scavenger hunts, track progress in real time, and create memorable experiences for students.
There are many digital scavenger hunt platforms available today, but not all of them are designed for large university events or campus activities. In this guide, we focus on some of the most popular and widely used platforms.
The apps included in this comparison are:
PlayTours is a flexible scavenger hunt app designed for interactive campus experiences such as university orientation programs, campus open houses, and student engagement events.
Unlike many apps that require downloads, PlayTours is a web-based scavenger hunt app, allowing participants to simply scan a QR code and start playing instantly. This makes it particularly suitable for large university events, where requiring hundreds or thousands of participants to install an app can create friction.
Another key advantage is that PlayTours is ISO 27001 certified, meeting internationally recognized standards for information security management. This provides an additional level of trust and reliability for universities and colleges that handle large numbers of participants and sensitive event data.
PlayTours was commonly used by top universities, and one example is Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) in Singapore, which used PlayTours to power its Open House 2025 visitor experience. Thousands of prospective students explored the campus through interactive missions that guided them across booths, activities, and academic departments.
To manage the event smoothly, NYP used several PlayTours features:
This approach helped NYP transform its open house into an engaging, gamified campus experience while keeping participation simple and accessible for visitors.
Goosechase is a popular scavenger hunt platform used for team-based challenges and gamified campus activities. The app supports large groups of participants and is commonly used for university orientations, campus engagement events, and classroom activities.
Several universities have used Goosechase for activities like orientation programs, sustainability initiatives, and campus engagement events. By incorporating missions and team-based challenges, the platform allows organizers to turn traditional campus activities into interactive experiences.
These features allow universities to organize structured scavenger hunts for orientation programs, campus tours, and student engagement events.
Eventzee is a customizable scavenger hunt platform often used for university events such as orientations, homecoming activities, campus tours, and student club recruitment. The platform focuses on creating interactive experiences through different challenge formats and campus navigation features, allowing organizers to design activities that encourage students to explore their university environment.
Many universities use Eventzee to combine fun challenges with practical campus discovery, helping students learn about landmarks, departments, and traditions while participating in team-based games.
These features make Eventzee suitable for interactive campus hunts, orientation games, and team-building activities, especially when organizers want to create varied challenge types that encourage exploration across campus.
While Eventzee offers strong customization and challenge variety, some organizers note that advanced features such as AI-powered mission generation or deeper analytics may be limited compared with some other platforms. Additionally, although free trials are available, full functionality typically requires a paid plan for larger events.
Actionbound is a multimedia scavenger hunt platform commonly used for educational tours and self-paced campus explorations at universities and colleges. The app allows organizers to create interactive “Bounds” that guide participants through locations while completing quizzes, challenges, and informational tasks.
Because activities can be completed independently and at a flexible pace, Actionbound is often used for library tours, campus discovery games, and orientation activities where the goal is learning rather than competition.
These features make Actionbound suitable for guided campus tours, academic activities, and structured orientation programs, particularly when universities want to combine exploration with educational content.
Compared with some other scavenger hunt platforms, Actionbound focuses more on self-paced educational experiences rather than live competitive gameplay. Features such as real-time leaderboards or team chat are more limited, and larger group events may require upgraded plans for additional functionality.
Scavify is a scavenger hunt platform designed for interactive campus experiences, commonly used for university orientations, student engagement activities, and college events. The app enables organizers to create gamified challenges that encourage participants to explore campus locations while completing missions.
Many universities use Scavify to turn campus maps and landmarks into interactive scavenger hunts, helping new students become familiar with their surroundings while participating in team-based activities.
These features make Scavify suitable for campus orientation games, open house events, and student engagement programs, particularly when organizers want a mobile-first experience with built-in social interaction.
These features make Scavify suitable for campus orientation games, open house events, and student engagement programs, particularly when organizers want a mobile-first experience with built-in social interaction.
While Scavify offers a range of challenge types and engagement features, some organizers note that advanced AI-driven customization and deeper analytics are more limited compared with some platforms. Pricing is typically structured per event or per participant, which may increase costs for frequent events. Some users have also reported occasional app performance issues during very large events.
TurfHunt is a GPS-based scavenger hunt platform developed by Locatify, designed for educational and exploratory games that turn campuses or cities into interactive learning environments. It is often used by universities for orientation activities, field trips, and outdoor campus exploration games. The platform focuses on location-based gameplay, where participants navigate to specific locations and complete challenges along the way.
These features make TurfHunt suitable for educational scavenger hunts, outdoor campus exploration games, and field-based learning activities where location-based discovery is an important part of the experience.
TurfHunt places more emphasis on educational exploration and GPS navigation than on social engagement features. Tools such as in-app chat or photostream interactions are more limited compared with some other scavenger hunt platforms. In addition, participants typically need to download the app, and organizers may need some familiarity with the CMS when creating more complex games.
Universities use scavenger hunt apps for many different purposes, such as orientation programs, campus tours, open houses, and student engagement events. The table below compares the platforms in this guide based on common university use cases.
Choosing the right scavenger hunt app depends on the event size, type of experience, and features needed.
1. Event size and onboarding - Large events like orientations or open houses benefit from apps that allow quick access, such as QR-code entry or browser-based participation.
2. Type of experience - Competitive events may need leaderboards and team scoring, while educational tours may require quizzes and guided content. Outdoor hunts often rely on GPS-based tasks.
3. Customization and branding - Some platforms offer flexible task types, white-label branding, and customizable scoring.
4. Engagement features - Tools like leaderboards, notifications, and photo submissions help make events more interactive.
5. Scalability and management - For large events, organizers may also look for analytics, moderation tools, and the ability to manage multiple activities.
The best platform ultimately depends on the goals of the event and the experience universities want to create for participants.
Universities use scavenger hunt apps to make events more interactive and engaging. They help students explore campus locations, learn about departments, and collaborate with peers while completing challenges.
Several apps are used for university orientation programs, including PlayTours, Goosechase, Scavify, Eventzee, Actionbound, and TurfHunt. The best choice often depends on the event size, required features, and how quickly participants need to join the activity.
Some scavenger hunt platforms require participants to download a mobile app, while others allow browser-based access through QR codes. Browser-based participation can make onboarding easier for large events with many participants.
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