Author Spotlight
Peyton Moore
Completing missions like participating in a 100-meter footrace or adding a touch of pink to your hair is the perfect challenge for any family or friend group looking for a change of pace from days spent lying around the house. The GooseChase app is a free, customizable and virtual scavenger hunt that works perfectly for our socially distant world.
To test it out, my friends and I split into teams and set out on an adventure around KC, snapping pictures of our odd tasks to hopefully come out on top of the leaderboard.
Creating our own holiday themed scavenger hunt — “Turkey Chase” — was very simple. The site explains how to add missions made by other creators or you can even create your own. This feature allows you to add in the upcoming holiday missions such as finding a Santa look-alike or a tricky mission like family-specific trivia. When starting the chase, simply download the app and enter the game code. Both the site and app are so self-explanatory that even my not-so tech savvy grandma could participate in our virtual holiday celebration.
Missions have point values ranging from 200 to 1000, with things like smashing your face in a cake for a mere 300 points or playing human jenga for a whopping total of 1000 points, sure to set you higher on the leaderboard. The best part is that each mission requires no contact between teams, so no need for the awkward conversations between distant relatives.
The Mighty Mitchells, Chez’s Chicas and Peyt’s Mates competed against each other in the “Turkey Chase”, safely speeding around our Kansas City bubble to complete up to 40 missions in only 60 minutes. Here’s a look at how each team’s experience went.
While the app itself said the Mighty Mitchells ranked a sad second place, we were the real winners. Forcing my three older siblings — Will, Kate and Ellie — to tag along and complete missions all over Kansas City, we settled the usual sibling fighting and brought lots of memories as we sped from 95th Street all the way to the WWI Museum.
We started off at the gas station staging a picture “running over” Ellie, getting $0.11 of gas and drawing Sharpie abs on Will — securing 400 points. Eventually we made it to Hen House for a thumb war with a stranger and a tight squeeze into a tiny grocery cart before heading over to Loose Park for a family pyramid, all while the 60 minute time limit ticked down.
We ended with 6,200 points, even though the app shut down on me in the middle of Loose Park. Mighty Mitchells ended on top in my heart, as it brought a family bonding experience and added a little competition to our Thanksgiving break. Rather than watching “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” for the third time on the couch, the scavenger hunt forced us out of our comfort zones and gave us a chance to have some fun around KC. If you are up for something different and feeling bored of the chaos that is 2020, creating your own GooseChase hunt is totally for you.
In no other situation would I ask McDonald’s workers to smile for a picture or lounge in a shopping cart in the middle of a Price Chopper parking lot all in one day. Full of fun tasks to keep you busy for an hour, this scavenger hunt had Chez’s Chicas driving frantically around town to get the most points.
While we didn’t quite make the mark — placing third with 5,100 points — sophomores Greta Stechshulte, Morgan Turpin and I had a great time racing against the clock and doing embarrassing tasks in public places. I ended the chase with three chocolate chip cookies from different places — giving my team the perfect reward for all our hard work.
My experience with GooseChase can be described as fun, memorable and an unusual way to spend time with friends. If you’re bored of doing the same old activities and feel like mixing it up, I absolutely recommend kicking your comfort zone to the curb and going on an adventure with GooseChase.
While jumping fully clothed into the Meyer Circle fountain could’ve made us legends in our “Turkey Chase”, we decided our mugshots popping up on the activity feed might scare away our competition. So, instead we started by making a complete fool out of ourselves by playing leap frog at Loose Park and finished in the McDonald’s parking lot — landing us at the top of the podium.
With no rules set before the competition, me and my most idiotic friends placed first by doing less-than-desirable missions. Our competitors claimed that my team had an advantage as the game makers, but it was all about strategy. We constantly refreshed the app’s feed to see our competitors’ location and tactics.
By focusing on the food-oriented tasks, we not only shot up to the top of the scoreboard, but satisfied our growling stomachs. GooseChase gave us the opportunity to eat three cookies, three large sodas, a $0.50 meal from McDonald’s, a rainbow Quik Trip slushie, a hamburger and an energy drink — all of which had to be downed in less than 30 seconds.
The GooseChase app isn’t perfect, as it froze half way through the competition, but my team members were able to download the app and prevent a loss of time.
With minutes to spare, we found our shining light, freshman Blake Hanson, who pushed our score over the top by posing for the 400 point “freshie” mission and aiding in our win of the ultimate prize — bragging rights. With no competitive spoons or thought-provoking family trivia this holiday season, creating a GooseChase to finally beat your crazy great uncle is the perfect activity for our not-so-normal month of joy.
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