So so awesome.
An anachronism is something that doesn’t belong in a certain time period, like discussing the theory of general relativity during the Dark Ages or exclaiming “w00t!” during the moon landing. They are fun to spot in books and movies, and I think with a little bit of imagination they’d make a pretty good scavenger hunt theme.
Here’s how you could do it:
- Start out easy. Create a list of objects that were commonplace at one time, but are relatively hard to find now. Examples include a quill pen with ink, Betamax cassettes, a giant carphone, and a Polaroid camera.
- Get a little more creative with your list. What about a business card from a travel agent (who uses them anymore?), a dvd of a movie with a plotline that simply wouldn’t work given today’s technology, or an actual pre-mp3 mix tape someone made you in middle school.
- Throw in some famous anachronisms. Da Vinci’s The Last Supper depicts oranges which were unknown at the time and place of the Last Supper; Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar features a bell tolling even though bell clocks weren’t yet invented in Caesar’s time; and the map depicting Indy’s travels in Raiders of the Lost Ark shows anachronistic geography. So add an orange, a clock that strikes the time, and a 1936 world map to the list.
- Remix Idea: Pick your favorite time travel movie and add some related stunts. For example, players must record as many strangers as possible yelling, “Run for it, Marty!” a la Back to the Future, get a picture of themselves at a phone booth in front of a Circle K just like Bill and Ted, or dress up like Sean Connery’s King Agamemnon in Time Bandits.
- Finally, award extra points for objects that haven’t yet been invented, such as a teleportation machine.
Everybody's Invited! 