If you live in Lancaster and love history, you’ve probably heard of the Uncharted Lancaster Treasure Hunt. Maybe you participated in one of the multi-week adventures. Maybe you watched friends trying to crack codes on a Saturday morning. Or if, like me, you’ve been waiting for the right one to jump in, this is your chance.
In a few weeks, Adam is putting up $1,000 of his own money in cash prizes to celebrate the opening of the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy. I sat down with Adam Zurn, the man behind Uncharted Lancaster, to talk about his upcoming one-day treasure hunt on Saturday, May 2.
“People have been incredibly supportive of the books that I’ve written and tours that I give,” Zurn told me. “So it seemed like a great way to give back to the community.”
The Format
If you did one of the previous treasure hunts, this one will feel a bit different. The old format ran five weeks, with a big set of challenges dropping every Saturday, decoder bits and rings to collect, and a leaderboard tracking who finished fastest each week. It was a whole thing.
This time, it’s a sprint. It will run from noon to 5 p.m., has about eight stops around downtown Lancaster, and will involve roughly a mile and a half of walking. Teams can start whenever they want during that window, and you’re racing against the clock, not the other teams.
“You’re racing against the stopwatch, instead of your competition,” Zurn explained. “The faster you do it, the more points your team earns.”
But speed alone won’t win it. Zurn built in a new twist to keep people from just guessing their way through checkpoints, something he saw in past hunts.
“Some people would just sort of brute force the password. They would just try every combination they could think of,” he said. “So this year, you lose points for incorrect answers. You really want to take a moment, take a beat, and think about, is this the best answer?”
Hints are available too, but they’ll cost you points on the leaderboard. So there’s a nice strategy element baked into the treasure hunt.
Who Should Participate
I asked Zurn who this event is built for, and his answer was pretty simple: everyone.
“I get incredibly dedicated escape room people that love that kind of stuff, puzzles, and local history. But I also get a lot of families,” he said. “Anyone who’s physically mobile is going to be able to participate, and it should be a lot of fun.”
If you want a leg up, Zurn suggested brushing up on the history of downtown Lancaster before you go. “We’ve got a lot of great landmarks and historic sites right in that downtown area,” he said. “Studying up on what’s available and what’s there would not be a harmful thing.”
Part of an Exciting Launch
The treasure hunt is happening during the Stevens & Smith Center grand opening weekend and its Community Block Party for History. Vine Street between Duke and Queen will be closed down for the celebration, and that’s where you’ll find the Uncharted Lancaster booth to get started.
The opening of the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith Center is a landmark moment for Lancaster. The history preserved in the building matters to this city, and pairing a treasure hunt with that kind of celebration just feels right. It gives people a reason to spend the whole afternoon downtown, exploring the block party, visiting the new center, and soaking in a piece of Lancaster history that deserves attention.
Registration takes about 20 seconds at the booth. Pick a team name, designate a captain, drop an email or phone number, and snap a team photo (to prevent any shenanigans, as Zurn put it). From there, the leaderboard tracks your progress in real time.
The Prizes
The top five teams split $1,000 in cash: $400 for first, $250 for second, $175 for third, $100 for fourth, and $75 for fifth. Teams finishing sixth through tenth get an autographed copy of one of Zurn’s Uncharted Lancaster books. And everyone who completes the hunt walks away with an Uncharted Lancaster button.
Most teams should finish in 60 to 90 minutes, which leaves plenty of time to enjoy everything else happening that day.
“It should be a fun event,” Zurn said. “Hopefully, it only takes teams 60, maybe 90 minutes to complete, which should give them still plenty of time to enjoy the really cool festivities that Lancaster History is putting together.”
The Details
What: Uncharted Lancaster Treasure Hunt
When: Saturday, May 2, 2026, noon to 5 p.m.
Where: Starts at the Uncharted Lancaster booth, 13-15 East Vine Street, Lancaster
Cost: Free
How to sign up: Just show up at the booth. Look for the trademark fedora.
For more on Uncharted Lancaster, visit unchartedlancaster.com.