Earlier today Paul Stapelton from  Galway Simon conducted a test run of a QR code based Pirate Treasure Hunt. The treasure hunt will be taking place every day of the Volvo Ocean Racewhich runs for nine days from the 30th June to the 8th July. Paul and the fund raising team in Galway Simon have created an innovative event which has already caught the imagination of the Volvo Ocean Race organizers and should be a popular activity for families and groups of friends to complete.

With the help of Brian Wall and Christian von der Weth from DERI (Digital Enterprise Research Institute) in NUIG, Galway Simon, have created a completely paperless treasure hunt which utilises smart phones and QR codes. Paul Stapelton describes how the treasure hunt will work.

Galway Simon volunteers undertook a trial run of part of the treasure hunt and as Paul described above this was useful in order to test the App and the QR codes but also to familiarize the volunteers with the workings of the proposed treasure hunts. A series of nine QR codes were positioned around the town for the trial and having scanned the code at each location the volunteer teams had to answer a question and were then given directions to the next location. The treasure hunts will bring families and friends around Galway’s medieval streets and lead them to some of its most famous historic sites.

There will be three options available; a pirate treasure hunt specifically suitable for families, a pirate history hunt and a gourmet pirate treasure hunt. In order to participate all you need is a fully charged smartphone which has a QR Scanner app installed. There are links to various versions of these for both Android and iPhone on the Galway Simon website.

Tickets are available in advance from the website and they will also be on sale at their stall in the Volvo Ocean Race Global Village located in south park where all three treasure hunts start. Volunteers will be on hand to help out and get teams up and running. There will be a daily raffle for every participating team. At the end of the week the team with most points will also win a prize. The prizes have been generously supported by the Galway business community.

Photos from the test run are available on Flickr