Enjoying a Watson Adventures’ Scavenger Hunt at The Getty
I’ve been a big fan of puzzles and trivia for as long as I can remember. I love a good jigsaw puzzle, I’m crazy about trivia games and I’m always up for a good crossword. And don’t get me started on scavenger hunts. My competitive nature combined with my love of challenges makes me downright giddy when I’m partaking in one. So when Watson Adventures invited me to join one of their local hunts I practically jumped at the chance.
Watson Adventures has been offering scavenger hunts in cities across American since 1999. In the early 90’s founder Bret Watson began creating informal hunts for his friends in New York. After he started receiving requests from companies for private hunts Watson Adventures was born and now both private and public hunts are available in Boston, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
In LA public hunts are held all over the region from Culver City to Downtown to Hollywood to Santa Monica and various places in between. After being invited to join I had a hard time deciding just which one I wanted to try – they all sounded so fun! I ultimately chose The Escape the Getty Scavenger Hunt as I relish any opportunity to head to the famed museum on the hill.
On the day of the hunt my good friend, Annie, and I headed to the Getty to meet up with the Watson Adventures coordinator, Joshua, and our competitors. Earlier, I had received a dossier with all necessary information and it was easy to locate Joshua who presented our case. We’d all been poisoned! In order to find the antidote we had to solve a series of puzzles revolving around various pieces in the museum. We had 2 hours to complete our tasks and save ourselves!
After a short debriefing where we learned the specifics of the hunt we were off! For the next couple of hours Annie and I raced around the Getty galleries locating specific works of art and solving puzzles that revolved around them. I must admit, at first we were a bit clueless about what we were doing but we soon got the hang of it. By the time we met up with everyone for the game’s finale we had solved every puzzle and ended up tying for first place! We did ultimately lose in the tie breaker but we were so stoked that we did so well.
The Escape the Getty Scavenger Hunt was a ton of fun but there are a couple of things to consider if you should chose a Watson Adventure at the museum. First, it’s a lot of physical exercise. The Getty is huge and the clues are relatively spread out. Too restless to wait for elevators we climbed a lot of stairs in the 2 hours (12 flights in all!). I actually loved this aspect of the hunt as it was a fun way to get good exercise but it is something to consider if you have mobility issues. Second, if you haven’t ever been to the Getty it’s not a good way to introduce yourself to the museum as you’ll be searching for specific items and rushing past a lot of art in the process. If it is your first visit, arrive early and use the opportunity the explore before the game starts.
Watson Adventures is celebrating their 20th Anniversary this year and, after experience Escape the Getty, I fully understand why. The puzzles was challenging but not overwhelmingly so, our host, Joshua, was welcoming and encouraging and the mystery presented was fun and entertaining. After one hunt I’m hooked and can’t wait to try another one soon.