History

Ravenchase was created in January 2001 by Joshua Czarda for his family. The company was founded in Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 and retains a corporate headquarters there.

Name

Ravenchase was named in tribute to Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

, who lived in Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 for a time and was an avid code and cipher

Cipher

In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...

 enthusiast, and also a formative influence on popularizing the idea of buried treasure

Buried treasure

A buried treasure is an important part of the popular beliefs surrounding pirates and Old West outlaws. According to popular conception, criminals and others often buried their stolen fortunes in remote places, intending to return for them later, often with the use of treasure maps.-Pirate...

, treasure hunting

Treasure hunting

Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure which has been a notable human activity for millennia. -In modern times:In recent times, the early stages of the development of archaeology included a significant aspect of treasure hunt; Heinrich Schliemann's excavations at Troy, and later at...

 and mystery. Ravenchase games are also reflective of the style of prose found in many of Poe's great works.

What is Ravenchase?

Ravenchase is a trademarked and registered term of art for a type of adventure game

Adventure game

An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...

 or alternative reality game. Ravenchase is also the name of a national event management

Event management

Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of festivals, events and conferences.Event management involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the...

 company. Ravenchase games differ from a classic treasure hunt

Treasure hunt

A treasure hunt is one of many different types of games which can have one or more players who try to find hidden articles, locations or places by using a series of clues. This is a fictional activity; treasure hunting can also be a real life activity. Treasure hunt games may be an indoor or...

 or scavenger hunt

Scavenger hunt

A scavenger hunt is a game in which the organizers prepare a list defining specific items, using which the participants — individuals or teams — seek to gather all items on the list — usually without purchasing them — or perform tasks or take photographs of the items, as specified...

. Basic games open to the public are similar in nature to a puzzlehunt

Puzzlehunt

A puzzlehunt is a puzzle game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles at a particular site, in multiple sites and/or via the internet. Groups of puzzles in a puzzle hunt are often connected by a metapuzzle, leading to answers which combine into a final set of solutions...

. Ravenchase games are conducted all over the world and last from two hours to as long as one month. The purpose of a Ravenchase game is to crack code

Code

A code is a rule for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....

s, cipher

Cipher

In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...

s and riddle

Riddle

A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...

s while trying to beat other teams to the secret end location or buried treasure. Games range from paper based basic maps and scrolls to GPS games and use of cell phones along with a range of gadgets which help to reveal locations or crack codes. Ravenchase games are commonly used by corporations for team building

Team building

Team building refers to a wide range of activities, presented to businesses, schools, sports teams, religious or nonprofit organizations designed for improving team performance...

 events and offered to public consumers in various cities throughout the United States. Ravenchase holds monthly games similar to west coast versions of the game in Virginia, Washington DC, Paris, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, California, Washington State, Oregon and Hawaii.

Ravenchase events

Ravenchase conducts several annual races that are longer than its typical public hunts. The Great Virginia Race, Quest for the Golden Gnome, is one of the first two day races conducted by Ravenchase and is now on its fourth year. Past races have taken players through Richmond, Lexington, Charlottesville, Williamsburg, Norfolk and to Harpers Ferry. Ravenchase also recently conducted The Great America Race which was an eight day event which spanned from Washington DC to New Orleans. The second annual Great America Race, August 7–14, 2010, is scheduled to span from Washington, D.C to New York City. Eight teams participated in the first event, and many kept online journals of this adventure. Ravenchase is hosting a similar three day long puzzle hunt in Philadelphia in January 2010 centered around historical figure David Rittenhouse. Ravenchase also holds an annual international event for private groups. These events have taken place in Gozo

Gozo

Gozo is a small island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Southern European country of Malta; after the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago...

 in the Maltese Islands, Mykonos

Mykonos

Mykonos is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island spans an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. There are 9,320 inhabitants most of whom live in the largest town, Mykonos, which lies on the west coast. The town is also...

, Santiago, Chile

Santiago, Chile

Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...

, and London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and ranged in theme from classic puzzle hunts to 007 theme adventures, to a simulated heist where players tried to break into a renovated bank, to a murder mystery and to an event based on the Illuminati. Typical public races are open to all players and generally take 2.5 through 4 hours to complete for a basic level event. Ravenchase recently completed a charitable fundraiser with the Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....

 entitled "Quest for the Ring" in which players competed for super bowl rings. The event raised $250,000 for local Indianapolis Charities. Ravenchase also sponsors a fund raiser adventure race and treasure hunt for the Hawaii Theatre each year called the Chinatown Chase Ravenchase recently sponsored a promotional game for "Come Out and Play" the urban gaming festival in Manhattan. Ravenchase recently launched several multi state and country urban gaming events including the Undead Invasion on Halloween and the Quest for Father Time, a New Year's Eve adventure race.