Pearland is launching a ten-day, virtual scavenger hunt with prizes to help families find a safe way to enjoy time being at home and challenges that will take them around the city while maintaining social distancing.

The hunt will begin at 8 a.m. Friday May 15, where teams of around five people will earn points by taking pictures and videos doing any number of things on the provided list of challenges. The scavenger hunt will end at 10 p.m. Monday May 25.

The city is using the GooseChase app to host “Pearland’s Adventure Hunt” for people in quarantine and families at home with children who do not have in-person classes.

“The Adventure Hunt is comprised of daily missions/challenges that need to be completed, each mission/challenge that is completed earns points for each team. Some of those missions involve a team visiting local businesses and taking a picture of themselves at the location.” Youth Development Coordinator Mary Kate Ward said. “The Pearland Adventure Teams gives teams a fun social distancing activity, while businesses receive increased exposure and traffic.”

Recreation Program Manager Robert Basford hopes that the challenge will also provide local businesses a boost. “We wanted to provide fun challenges and opportunities for our residents to complete while also opening it up to the community to allow local businesses to get involved. We hope that this will increase local economic activity as well as help increase exposure for our local businesses in the Pearland community.

In addition to the scavenger hunt, the city of Pearland is hosting a number of other virtual activities to help residents maintain some sense of normalcy during this unfamiliar time. Fitness Fridays featuring workout videos recorded by local instructors are posted every Friday, crafting and cooking tutorials are shared every Thursday, and the Nature Center staff are providing live animal streams weekly educating residents and the community on native wildlife.

The GooseChase app is free and available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. Once the app has been downloaded, players can join the hunt by entering code “X3J8RW” and register a team. Teams need a minimum of one person to qualify. A Facebook event serves as the information hub of the competition, housing all details related to the scavenger hunt. Registration begins on the event page Monday May 11, Facebook.com. Teams can still join after the competition starts on May 15, but the earlier you start the more of a chance you have at winning the overall competition!

For more information on Pearland’s Adventure Hunt please contact Mary Kate Ward at [email protected].