How to play

Hide & Sleuth is a live scavenger hunt for a busy place — a mall, a fair, a campus. The suspects — anyone who volunteers to hide — put on a disguise and hide in plain sight while teams of sleuths roam looking for them. A find is proved with a selfie together and the suspect’s secret pass phrase. Scores update live, and when time is up everyone gathers for the reveal of the selfies.

For sleuths

1. Join. Get the hunt code from your organizer or the screen at the door, open the site or the app, type the code and your first name, then start a team or join one.
2. Study the board. The Suspects tab shows who you’re looking for — undisguised. They will not look like that out there. The boundary map shows where the hunt is played.
3. Spot, then ask. Think you’ve found one? Walk up and ask for the pass phrase, and take a selfie together. That’s your proof.
4. Unmask. Open that suspect’s card, add the selfie and type the phrase. Spelling counts; spacing and punctuation don’t. Five wrong guesses on one suspect locks that suspect for two minutes.
5. Score. Each suspect is worth their points once per team. Your team’s selfies stay private until the reveal, so nobody’s disguise is spoiled. When time’s up, head back for the gallery.

• Lost your phone or your session? Type the hunt code again, pick your own name, and confirm the rejoin — it moves your name to the phone in your hand.
• Tied teams share a rank.

For suspects

1. Join. Get the suspect code from your organizer, open the site or the app, and enter your name, the secret phrase you want sleuths to say to you, and an unmasked photo.
2. See your case file. Your phrase, the countdown, and every team that has unmasked you, live. Fix your name, phrase or photo any time before the hunt starts.
3. Get into disguise. Once the hunt starts your record is locked. Hide in plain sight, give the phrase when a team catches you, and keep going — every other team can still find you.

In disguise

You’re the one in disguise. The game is hiding in plain sight — not behind a locked door, not in a bush. Blend in and let the sleuths walk straight past you.

• Dress as someone who belongs there: a shopper with bags, someone on a bench with a coffee, a parent with a stroller, a person on a phone call who is clearly not part of any game.
• Change your silhouette, not just your face — a hat, glasses, a coat, a different walk.
• Keep moving, or sit somewhere visible and stay put. Both work; a back corridor doesn’t.
• Know your pass phrase cold. Nothing written on your phone screen.
• When a sleuth asks, you’re caught: give the phrase and pose for the selfie. No refusing once you’re spotted.
• After an unmask, keep playing — every other team can still find you.

Play it however you like — these are only suggestions. In our experience a disguise in a mall, where you have to blend in with the crowd, is the most fun version of the game.

For organizers

1. Sign in at /organizer (a code is emailed to you — there are no passwords).
2. Create the hunt: a name, how long it runs, and optionally a boundary map and notes.
3. Add the suspects — or hand them the suspect code from the Suspects tab and let them add themselves: photo, phrase and name from their own phone. You can still edit, retire or remove anyone.
4. Teams either come pre-made with rosters (print the join slips — each has a QR code) or form at the door: sleuths type the hunt code and pick a team.
5. Open the lobby and put the lobby board on a screen — it shows the code and the teams as they form.
6. Start. The Live tab shows finds as they land, wrong guesses, and lets you post a bulletin or adjust a score.
7. End when time is up (or let the timer do it), gather everyone, then Reveal — the gallery opens for all, with a slideshow for the big screen.
8. Export the ZIP within 30 days; selfies are deleted after that.

The Hunt tab shows your hunt’s size limits and how to raise them.

Stuck? See Support.