Uncovering U. history via text message

For those looking for a fun activity now that Fling has ended, cash prizes and texting have combined into an campus-wide scavenger hunt this week.

Organized by the student organization Interactive Media Group and new location-based services SCVNGR and Venmo, the Venmo Geo Hunt will focus on Penn’s history, drawing students to different locations and give facts about important events.

Participants get daily clues via text messages from SCVNGR leading them to different locations on campus, where they will be able to unlock money through Venmo, a text message-based payment system founded by Penn alumni.

Although the Geo Hunt began Tuesday and will run till Friday, it is still open to new participants. Students can sign up at www.interactivemediagroup.org/venmo.

Venmo is sponsoring prizes for the game. While the ultimate winner will receive $100, those who make the daily top scorers are also eligible to receive anywhere between $1 and $15. Each day’s clues become more valuable than the previous day’s, making it possible for a player to walk away with $200 at the end of the competition.

Players can also earn more points according to how many people they invite to use Venmo.

The first clue was about the Westboro Baptist Church protest outside Hillel, according to IMG Co-President Matt Newberg, a Wharton junior. In order to verify that they were physically in front of Hillel, participants were asked who the donor on the Hillel plaque was.

“As time progresses, the clues will get harder — it will make it harder to get points,” Newberg said.

According to IMG Co-President Robert Do, a Wharton senior, the hunt aims to make places students visit on a weekly basis exciting by building a game platform around them. He explained that the small daily prizes are intended to act as an incentive for participants.

“Today’s prizes are only 50 cents and $1, but people are already playing at 10 a.m.,” he said on Tuesday.

The Geo Hunt is part of IMG’s mission of letting people interact and engage with technology in different ways, according to IMG Executive Vice President Amin Lakhani, an Engineering junior.

“We’re really pushing the envelope in making that happen,” he said.

The scavenger hunt falls in the category of an alternate reality game, according to Newberg, since it takes an actual map and adds a very interactive, technology-heavy layer. He said he hopes the game will bring 100 to 200 new users to Venmo. The service has 10,000 total users nationally, according to Engineering senior Harish Venkatesan, who is involved with Product and Marketing for Venmo.

He said he thinks the game is a good way to close out the year getting people excited about the service. “We want to get people using it — get more buzz around the product,” Venkatesan said.

This article has been edited from its print version to reflect that IMG's mission is to foster engagement with technology.

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