A new scavenger hunt app called Campus Pursuit has hit Manhattan College this semester that hides prized from Kelly to O’Malley, available to any student with the app downloaded on their iPhone or Android.
These five girls- Nicole Quivelli, Kara Hodapp, Jillian Calandra, Molly Fitzpatrick and Nikki Prestiano- are what the company calls ‘Brand Ambassadors’. They applied for the job after Quivelli’s friend told her about the app after working for them over the summer.
This sparked Quivelli’s interest and she told her teammates about it. Being ambassadors means they are able to hide the coveted prizes around the campus, which has been received well by those who have the app.
“We didn’t even know so many people [on campus] already have the app. Just the other day we had hid a prize and we turn around and a girl had already found it … A lot of people haven’t downloaded it still, but those who have are having fun,” said Fitzpatrick.
Campus Pursuit’s process is fairly easy, as Prestiano explains it. First, the girls receive products in the mail from the headquarters. Then a QR code is printed to be hidden along with the prize- when scanned, it is marked on the app that it has been found and no longer available. There are typically 1-2 prizes hidden per day throughout the week. They create clues to be posted on the app and once the prizes are hidden, a push notification goes out to all the users, typically announcing the number of prizes hidden along with a message of “Happy Hunting!”
These products range from snacks like “Pretzel No-Nos” and Neuro sports drinks or larger prizes like local eatery gift cards and raffles for NFL merchandise and flat screen TVs. Majority of the products offered come from other start-up companies. Raffles, however, are larger prizes for every single campus using the app, which has slowly grown to over thirty schools throughout the country. MC is just another campus catching onto the scavenger hunt craze.
“It’s fun … and the more people we get, it’ll turn into a campus-wide competition,” said Calandra.
Although MC doesn’t have the biggest campus, the clues have popped up everywhere. Recent clues have hinted at locations like “Decided it was a Tex Mex kind of night … Maybe I’ll see you in Locke’s!” or “Had to print something quick before class, you’ll catch me by the printer!” The possibilities are endless when it comes to finding the prizes. The five ambassadors try to have a wide spread of spots so it doesn’t get too predictable.
“When the person finds the prize, they will know where it is by reading the clue on their phone. Let’s say we hid it by Starbucks … someone finds it, scans the code and then the prize is theirs,” said Quivelli.
Campus Pursuit has proven successful so far, although the girls want to see more participation. The more people that sign up, the more prizes they will be able to hide. Download the app to join in on the campus-wide search to find some interesting products or chances to win big prizes.
“I think it’s a really good opportunity to get many students involved all over campus. It’s fun to do and there are some very fun prizes. It also applies business and marketing, along with running social media … it’s very interactive,” said Hodapp.