Kellian Adams and Phillippa Pitts writing clues for the SCVNGR hunt in the Getty Center’s North Pavilion

Kellian Adams and Phillippa Pitts writing clues for the SCVNGR hunt in the Getty Center’s North Pavilion

The American Association of Museums annual conference is in Los Angeles this week. In between sessions and schmoozing, AAM is hoping that conference attendees will have some fun playing games!

To that end, AAM invited Kellian Adams, museum maven from SCVNGR, the location-based mobile game app, to create some challenges and treks around the conference center and in local museums.
On the Friday and Saturday before the conference, Kellian, Phillippa Pitts from the Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston, and I toured the city’s museums to create clues. This was no easy feat in a city so spread out as L.A. We spent more time in traffic than in museums!

We did manage to create some great challenges in museums across the city, from the Getty Center in west L.A. to the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park, and MOCA downtown—and exploring everything from lines to giant fish to air. (Why air? See the clue below.) You can join the SCVNGR from any phone. When you load SCVNGR on your iPhone or Android, the AAM adventure will appear. From a non-smart phone, just text AAM2010 to 728647 to play.

The treks will stay up after AAM. So anyone playing SCVNGR in Los Angeles will be able to get in on the fun, too.

Want to get a head start? Next time you’re at the Getty Center, see if you can solve this puzzler (the picture above is your clue):

4 sides, 4 seasons, 4 elements, 4 corners, and something airy. What do you find blowing behind closed doors? Where to START? How about the 2nd left?