Ready for a fun engagement initiative? A simple, well-designed intranet scavenger hunt is the perfect, low-effort tool to transform routine browsing into a fun, curiosity-driven habit 🤩
The goal is not to find complex answers, but to encourage exploration. These hunts get your team clicking, navigating, and stumbling upon valuable resources they didn't know existed—proving that your intranet can be genuinely fun.
Follow these four steps to launch your next successful scavenger hunt!
Step 1: Plan your hunt
The initial planning phase defines what users will look for and why they are searching.
A. Choose a theme and item
A compelling theme keeps the experience fresh! The hidden item must be small but distinct. It should be easily placed using standard content (such as adding an image or editing text) and clearly distinguish itself from the surrounding content.
Align with Local Events: If your company is active in a specific community event (like a charity walk or food drive), tie the theme to that effort to amplify its visibility.
Use Custom Graphics: Create a tiny, unique graphic (e.g., a cartoon image) so users know exactly what they are looking for. Alternatively, use emojis but steer clear of common icons (like the gear for settings or a printer icon) to avoid confusing users.
Test Your Visuals: Before launch, test your theme icon in different intranet areas to ensure it's clearly visible but not disruptive.
Example themes:
| Theme | Concept | Hidden item(s) | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
|
🥚 Easter Egg Hunt |
A chicken was lost in the intranet over the weekend, and it laid eggs all over! But how many in total? The sky's the limit when it comes to seasonal themes like this. Here are some additional ideas: Halloween Ghosts 👻, St. Patrick's Day Shamrocks ☘️🍺, Oktoberfest beer 🍺, and more. |
An egg emoji 🥚 or a small image of an egg (or different images of eggs, because that makes it egg-citing!). |
Count the Eggs. Users count the total number of items found across the site and submit the final count. Tip: Have an actual chicken pick (pun intended) the winner. See how in the client community! 😉 |
|
🎨 Color Quest (Company Branding) |
This quest prioritizes visual exploration over reading. Users will look more at design than content. Use your own brand colors to add a professional touch. |
A small, simple geometric shape emoji 🔷 (like a circle or diamond) that appears in five different, distinct colors. | Find the Colors. Users list the URLs where they found every color. |
|
✍️ Letter Search (Company Values) |
A simple word puzzle that encourages closer reading of content. To make it easier, narrow down the search areas to, e.g., wiki articles only. |
A single, unique bolded letter (S, M, I, L, E) hidden in the body text. Make sure to format the text to be larger or use images of letters to increase visibility. | Find the Letters, Assemble the Word. Users collect the letters and submit the final word they spell out (e.g., "SMILE"). |
|
🦁 Missing Mascot |
Oh no! Your company mascot has wandered off, and everyone's on a mission to find it. It seems to keep moving around every day, making the search a little tricky. | An animal emoji 🦁 or image of a cartoon version of your company's mascot (or a made-up one), that you move to a new location every day. |
Find the Mascot. Users need to browse the intranet and submit the location daily. Tip: Tiered prizes depending on the number of days you participated. |
|
⏰ Images from the Past (Company Anniversary) |
Users are historians tasked with recovering memories to celebrate the company's past. The hunt focuses on showcasing legacy and history, giving long-time employees a fun moment of nostalgia and new employees a look at the company's roots. | Photos from past company events, old office spaces, or former company logos. Crucially, you need to know the year the image represents. |
Match the Year. Users need to find all the photos, guess the correct year for each one, and submit a list matching each photo to its corresponding year. Tip: Why not wrap things up with a delightful "Fun Facts Through Our History" quiz? It's a great way to share some interesting tidbits. |
|
🎁 Holiday Presents |
Because who doesn't like presents? A classic holiday search to spread some festive cheer. This theme is purely about fun and the spirit of giving/discovery, making it perfect for broad, lighthearted engagement. | A wrapped present emoji 🎁 or image. To make it slightly more challenging, each gift can be wrapped in a different color (e.g., red, green, silver, gold, blue). |
Count the Presents (or Colors). Users need to find all the gift boxes and submit the final count. If you're using the color version, they need to submit the final count of each color they found. |
B. Set the scope and goal
Set clear boundaries for the hunt so participants know what to expect. You want to maintain excitement without causing fatigue.
Keep It Short: Set a firm time limit, ideally 3 to 5 business days. Estimate how long it should take an active participant to find all items (aim for about 20-30 minutes of search time across the platform).
Scale to Complexity: Aim to hide between 5 to 8 items, depending on how complex the search is. If the items are quite tricky to find, it’s best to hide fewer, around 5 or 6. If they’re easier to spot, feel free to include a few more, like 7 or 8.
Decide Your Winner Strategy: Determine how many winners you will have, one or many. If you have many winners, it increases the likelihood of participation since employees know that there's a higher chance to win something.
Prepare Your Prizes: While the rewards should be attractive, they don't have to be expensive. Focus on appealing rewards like a catered lunch for the winner's team, a bonus hour for lunch, or a dedicated "Champion" mention in the next company newsletter.
Use an Intranet Form: Prepare a form for users to submit their response in. The final submission should be easy: "Find all 6 hidden items" or "What is the final word spelled by the hidden letters?" Set submission limit to 1.
Step 2: Find your hiding spots
Every hiding spot should have a purpose: to get users clicking into a part of the intranet they don't frequent.
Be Subtle, Not Invisible: The hidden item should be clearly discernible from the surrounding content but small enough that users have to actively look for it.
Plan the Placement Distribution: Ensure you have at least one item on a highly trafficked page (e.g., homepage) and at least one on a deep, low-traffic area (e.g., specific group site) to balance the difficulty.
Vary the Difficulty: Mix up easy-to-spot items (on the colleagues list) with harder items (in a file comment) to keep the hunt engaging for everyone.
Verify Permissions: Crucially, verify that all hiding spots are accessible to every employee participating. Private locations will kill the engagement.
Example hiding spots:
| Platform area | Hiding spot | How easy is it to find the item? |
|---|---|---|
| Colleagues List |
Use a global widget to easily add the hidden item to the sidebar on the colleagues' list. Why? Attracts users to view the list of colleagues. (Especially helpful if you also use the user profile hiding spot, see below.) |
Easy. No digging required; this item is easy to locate. |
| Launchpad |
Create a new launchpad link in a global category. Upload the hidden item as the icon and use a catchy title. The URL can lead to a funny video or another clue location. Why? Increases awareness of launchpad links as the user browses through them. |
Easy. No digging required; this item is easy to locate. |
| Events |
Create a new public event. Use the hidden item as the event image or in the description. Why? Draws people to the Events tab to browse through available events. |
Easy-Medium. Requires minimal digging; this item is easy to locate unless the event title is made less obvious. |
| User Profile |
Create a new local user, give it an appropriate name, and make the hidden item their profile image. Then, add clues in the profile fields that you use in your colleagues' list search, such as department and location. Example: Name: Egbert Cluckington, Department: Hatching, Location: Chicken Coop. Why? Requires users to use the people-search, filtering, or global search function. |
Medium-Hard. Requires digging; the more obscure your clues in the profile, the more challenging it becomes. |
| Document Preview |
Add the hidden item as a comment on a file. For example, a template file or a non-essential policy document. Since you might have hundreds of files, post a clue for this one to make it easier to find. E.g., "Find the place where we focus on Health & Wellbeing. The clue is hiding in the feedback." (answer: "Self-Care Day Policy" document) Why? Encourages users to open and explore documents, making it easier for them to find important information. |
Medium-Hard. Requires digging; if your clue is simple, it reduces the difficulty. |
| Comment Threads |
Hide the item by replying in a recent but low-traffic post thread or on a secluded team site post. Remember, all users who commented or wrote it will be notified of your new comment. Why? Highlights the interactive features of the platform. |
Medium-Hard. Requires digging; if your clue is simple, it reduces the difficulty. |
| Timeline Post |
Edit one of your recent important global timeline posts (up to 3 days old) and include the hidden item (if it's an emoji) in the text field. Why? Re-highlights a post for visibility. |
Easy-Medium. Requires minimal digging; if the post is recent enough, it should be easily discoverable on the timeline. |
| Wiki or Blog Articles |
Hide the item in a blog article text or teaser, or in a wiki article text. Opt for popular blogs or wiki articles. Provide clues for easier findability. Why? Encourages users to read blogs and wikis. |
Easy-Medium. Requires minimal digging; if the post is popular enough, it should be easily discoverable. |
| Community / Page |
Edit the title or avatar/cover image of a community or page that you want to draw attention to. Why? Shows the page or community to users in a welcoming way. |
Easy-Medium. Requires minimal digging; this item is easy to locate unless you have many pages and communities to scroll through. |
| Search Function |
Edit the language keys for the 'No Results' page in the search and add text or an emoji at the end of a translation. E.g., Why? Trains users on how to use the search functionality effectively. |
Easy-Medium. Requires minimal digging; the item's findability depends on your search effectiveness. |
An egg hidden in a chicken's user profile A present hidden in a comment in a document preview An "L" hidden in a widget on the Colleauges' list A ghost hidden in the "No results" search page A mascot hidden in a page cover image A present hidden as a launchpad link
Step 3: Communicate & launch
Generating buzz is absolutely critical! A strong, simple communication plan drives high participation.
A. The teaser
Get everyone excited and ready to click before the hunt even starts! Post on a teaser on the timeline a few days before the hunt starts.
Engage Leadership: Get a supportive leader (like the Head of Internal Communications or an executive) to endorse the hunt in a quick post or comment. People respond to excitement from the top!
Use Eye-Catching Imagery: Use the specific, custom image of your hidden item in all communications to brand the hunt instantly. Users need to know what they are looking for.
Link Directly to Rules: Instead of posting all rules in the teaser post, link directly to a dedicated "Official Rules" article on the intranet, if applicable.
B. The launch
Make sure every user knows where the starting line is the moment the hunt begins. Post a "The hunt is ON!" post to signal the start.
Highlight the Submission Form: Link directly to the form for users to submit their answers. This keeps the goal in reach.
Clarity is Key: State the total number of items users need to find in your launch communication! This keeps the goal clear.
Monitor Channel Chatter: Assign an admin to monitor the post comments. Answer procedural questions (e.g., "What are the rules?") but never give away clues!
Track Participation: Use your intranet analytics to monitor traffic spikes to the hunt hiding spots, if possible. Use these metrics later to prove the event's success.
Step 4: Wrap up & celebrate success
Finish strong! The winner's announcement is your chance to showcase the hunt's success and reward participation.
Close the Form: Deactivate your form app to close the form at the deadline. Go through the submissions and find your winner(s).
Draft the Announcement: Draft a winner's announcement with the winner's name(s) and photo(s) and share with the company. Have a leader congratulate the winners.
Share the Secret: In the announcement, reveal where all the hidden items were located. This validates the efforts of all participants and lets them see what they missed.
Share Success Metrics: Send a quick follow-up email to leaders and content owners sharing key metrics (e.g., "The HR Page saw a 400% traffic increase during the hunt!") to demonstrate the event's value and justify future efforts.