Urban Adventure Quest’s Lower Central Park scavenger hunt adventure is both entertaining and educational.
The story of the Maine Monument in Central Park
Ordinarily, I’d probably not give the Maine Monument a second glance. It’s a shiny, gold, pompous thing on the entrance to New York City’s Central Park. But now I have to read the inscriptions on it to find my next destination.
In doing so, I have my first encounter with the story of the battleship Maine, which sank in Havana harbour, taking 260 American sailors with it.
Seeing Central Park on a treasure hunt
Tackling Central Park as a treasure hunt forces you to look at it differently, honing in on details that you might otherwise miss in order to move on to the next task and get the highest score possible. The game is a wheeze dreamed up by Urban Adventure Quest, which sells similar mobile phone-based treasure hunts in cities across the US.
It puts the clues and puzzles together using information that’s already in the park, which can be as simple as counting the number of baseball diamonds at the Heckscher Ballfields, or as tricksy as using Scrabble scores of particular words on plaques or finding exactly what angle a photograph was taken from.
It’s fun – especially for competitive types who hate losing five points when they mess up using a cipher to decode the name of a location – but it also shows off just how much has gone into making Central Park what it is.
The design of Manhattan’s Central Park
Established in 1857, the park was meticulously sculpted and deliberately designed almost to the level of each blade of grass by Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux. Every nook and cranny has a purpose, and over the years gaps have been filled by memorials, monuments, activity hubs and other quirky oddities. Most of them have a story behind them.
Clues on the Central Park carousel
The carousel, where I need to identify the four types of horses identified in a poem on a stone post next to it, is gloriously old-fashioned. But the kids gleefully riding on it have a more enjoyable time than the blind mule and horse on a treadmill that used to power it from an underground pit.
Learning something new at the Balto memorial
Similarly, the statue of a dog that children seem to love climbing on for photo opportunities turns out to be Balto. He was the lead dog of a sled team that travelled six hundred miles through Arctic blizzards and over rough ice to deliver medicine to a stranded Alaskan settlement struck down by a diptheria epidemic.
My eyes are opened to yet another previously unknown story while I’m trying to solve a word search using the four letter words on Balto’s memorial plaque.
The Bethesda Terrace Arcade and Hans Christian Andersen statue
The game successfully manages to change the mindset. Soon enough, I’m looking at smaller details even if they’re not required to solve a clue. I’m looking up at the gorgeous glazed tiles of the Bethesda Terrace Arcade, stumbling across a statue of Hans Christian Andersen while taking a wrong turn and scrambling up rocky outcrops. It’s not exactly a walk in the park – it’s far more fun than that.
Booking your Central Park scavenger hunt
The Urban Adventure Quest Central Park game costs $49 at the time of writing. You should buy online in advance.
How long does the Central Park scavenger hunt take, and what do you need?
The Central Park scavenger hunt typically takes 2-3 hours to complete depending on your pace, covering approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) of walking through the southern section of the park from Columbus Circle to Bethesda Fountain. You’ll need a fully charged smartphone with data connection to access the clues and puzzles through the Urban Adventure Quest app, plus comfortable walking shoes as the route includes stairs, hills, and uneven paths.
The scavenger hunt is self-guided and available daily from sunrise to sunset, meaning you can start whenever suits your schedule. Early morning (8-9am) offers cooler temperatures and fewer crowds, while late afternoon (3-4pm) provides better lighting for photos at landmarks like Bethesda Terrace and the Balto statue.
The activity works for ages 8 and up, making it ideal for families with older children, couples looking for an interactive date activity, or friend groups who enjoy puzzle-solving together. Unlike traditional Central Park walking tours that cost $30-60 per person, the $49 scavenger hunt fee covers your entire group (up to 5 people per team), making it excellent value at roughly $10 per person for a group of five.
The game remains accessible year-round, though spring (April-May) and fall (September-October) offer the most comfortable weather for extended outdoor exploration in Central Park.
More New York City travel
Other New York City travel stories on Planet Whitley include:
- Why Ellis Island deserves more time than the Statue of Liberty.
- Going beyond the musical on an Alexander Hamilton walking tour.
- Stories of Nolita on the Catacombs by Candlelight tour.
- Discovering NYC’s slavery secrets.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. Book something through them, and I earn a small commission.
