THE ADVENTURE COLLECTIVE® · Independent discovery and booking for outdoor travel
Turn downtown Des Moines into a one-hour tactical playground with a Zombie Scavengers app-led hunt. Use strategy, local landmarks, and quick thinking to find survival items and complete themed challenges while a remote host tracks your progress.
Turn downtown Des Moines into a one-hour tactical playground with a Zombie Scavengers app-led hunt. Use strategy, local landmarks, and quick thinking to find survival items and complete themed challenges while a remote host tracks your progress.
You step into downtown Des Moines with your phone humming and a checklist of improbable survival items — a scavenger hunt that turns the city into a tactical playground. The app nudges you toward a mural, the riverfront, or a café where a challenge waits; a remote host watches the scoreboard, ready to nudge your team back from a bad decision.
Verified experiences and guided adventures in the surrounding area.
Operated by Zombie Scavengers Hunts · Des Moines, Iowa
You step into downtown Des Moines with your phone humming and a checklist of improbable survival items — a scavenger hunt that turns the city into a tactical playground. The app nudges you toward a mural, the riverfront, or a café where a challenge waits; a remote host watches the scoreboard, ready to nudge your team back from a bad decision.
Des Moines wears its layers plainly: the river valley carved by glacial melt, brick commercial corridors from the late 19th century, and modern civic plazas. This is Midwestern city fabric — wide avenues that remember the streetcar era and neighborhoods with local breweries and public art. The scavenger format leans on that mix: historic façades are checkpoints, parks become ambush points, and the Des Moines River dares you to stretch your route toward scenic riverwalk views.
Culturally the game taps into Iowa’s friendly competitiveness; teams bring strategy as much as speed. The app experience is part escape room, part urban orienteering — social, fast, and accessible for almost any fitness level.
Practical notes: plan a one-hour window, start where parking or transit is easiest, and expect sidewalks, flat pavement, and occasional short detours into parks. Bring a fully charged phone (and a portable battery), comfortable walking shoes, and a plan for weather — summer heat or spring rain will change tactics.
This is a game of observation and improvisation: follow the clues, communicate with your crew, and the city becomes your course. Finish with a score, compare nationally, and you’ll see Des Moines in a new, deliberately playful light.
easy.
1 hour.
Suitable for most fitness levels — mainly urban walking and short bursts of movement
You’ll receive a message before the scheduled time with instructions and a link to begin; if you don’t get it, contact the operator at the provided phone number.
Yes — the activity is stroller-accessible and rated easy, but some challenges may require adult assistance and supervision.
This is a remote-hosted, app-driven scavenger hunt; a virtual host follows your progress via chat and can answer questions.
Full refunds are available if you cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled start time; within 24 hours bookings are non-refundable.
Des Moines grew as a riverfront hub with rail and streetcar lines in the late 19th century; many downtown buildings date from that era and serve as searchable landmarks.
Stick to sidewalks and marked parks; Des Moines encourages Leave No Trace in green spaces and supports riverbank restoration projects to protect urban habitat.
Zombie Scavengers Hunts operates guided outdoor trips and adventures with an emphasis on safety, stewardship, and memorable experiences.
You step into downtown Des Moines with your phone humming and a checklist of improbable survival items — a scavenger hunt that turns the city into a tactical playground. The app nudges you toward a mural, the riverfront, or a café where a challenge waits; a remote host watches the scoreboard, ready to nudge your team back from a bad decision.
You step into downtown Des Moines with your phone humming and a checklist of improbable survival items — a scavenger hunt that turns the city into a tactical playground. The app nudges you toward a mural, the riverfront, or a café where a challenge waits; a remote host watches the scoreboard, ready to nudge your team back from a bad decision.
Des Moines wears its layers plainly: the river valley carved by glacial melt, brick commercial corridors from the late 19th century, and modern civic plazas. This is Midwestern city fabric — wide avenues that remember the streetcar era and neighborhoods with local breweries and public art. The scavenger format leans on that mix: historic façades are checkpoints, parks become ambush points, and the Des Moines River dares you to stretch your route toward scenic riverwalk views.
Culturally the game taps into Iowa’s friendly competitiveness; teams bring strategy as much as speed. The app experience is part escape room, part urban orienteering — social, fast, and accessible for almost any fitness level.
Practical notes: plan a one-hour window, start where parking or transit is easiest, and expect sidewalks, flat pavement, and occasional short detours into parks. Bring a fully charged phone (and a portable battery), comfortable walking shoes, and a plan for weather — summer heat or spring rain will change tactics.
This is a game of observation and improvisation: follow the clues, communicate with your crew, and the city becomes your course. Finish with a score, compare nationally, and you’ll see Des Moines in a new, deliberately playful light.