- 💡 One idea per mechanic — steal these for your next hunt.
- 🧭 Mix indoor and outdoor locks (a GPS leg changes the whole game).
- 🔗 Chain them for a full trail with a final reward.
The mechanic is the puzzle. Here are 14 ideas, one for each lock type, to drop straight into a treasure hunt.
Indoor & code locks
1. Numeric — the year on a coin taped under a chair. 2. Pattern — redraw a constellation from a poster. 3. Password — a word spelled by highlighted letters. 4. Login — a fake "staff portal" with a username on a badge. 5. Colours — the order of books by spine colour. 6. Musical — play the first notes of a song everyone knows.
Logic locks
7. Switches — flip the switches matching the lit bulbs in a picture. 8. Ordered switches — toggle them in the order of a recipe's steps. 9. Grid 4×4 — mark the squares that form a letter. 10. Grid 5×5 — recreate a small pixel-art heart.
Movement & outdoor locks
11. Direction — the moves of a chess knight. 12. Compass — point toward the church steeple. 13. Virtual geolocation — drop the pin on the fountain in the map. 14. Real GPS — physically stand at the old oak tree to unlock.
« Make the answer discoverable, never guessable — a hunt is a trail of clues, not a lottery. »
— The Reveela Team
New to building these? Start with how to build a digital escape game, then pick mechanics with the lock-type guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use GPS indoors?
Use virtual geolocation (drop a pin on a map) indoors, and real GPS for outdoor legs where players physically move.