City Editor Connor here. Have you ever seen a digital Lakeland scavenger hunt listed online and wondered if it’s real? I wanted to live out my “National Treasure” dreams, so I decided to pay for one myself and see if they’re a scam or worth the cost.
You can’t be too trusting when agreeing to visit GPS coordinates, so I went with the “Lucky Lakeland Treasure Hunt” from Let’s Roam, which seemed to have positive reviews. Beware, treasure hunters, there are spoilers ahead.
I took my husband for security an afternoon date, and we started at Munn Park, where I expected to find hidden symbols or crack codes. Instead, the Let’s Roam app had me answer easy trivia questions + take cheesy photos.
As we started toward the next stop at City Hall, it began to rain (I should have taken it as a sign). The next point — a Swansation statue shown in the app — didn’t exist anymore, so we were on a wild swan chase. I ended up logging a few hundred more steps than necessary.
The next stops included Lake Morton and the Jefferson Allsop Building in south downtown. South Florida Avenue at 5 p.m. is not the most pedestrian-friendly, so we ended early and headed back to Munn Park.
So, was it worth it? It wasn’t a scam, but in my opinion it was more of an AI-generated photo challenge than a scavenger hunt and not worth $14.99 per person. The trivia + challenges seemed suited to kids, but the walking distance involved may not work for all families.
The name also implied that there would be treasure — maybe it was the local history we learned along the way? In short, feel free to try it, but I would recommend reading our free local history stories and exploring downtown on your own time instead.
