How to play

There is a real box

This is the part that surprises people. Stashd is not a game that happens on your phone. Somewhere near you — behind a wall, under a log, tucked into a hollow tree — somebody has hidden an actual container. It is there right now. They put it there on purpose, and they want it found.

The app is not the game. The app is the map. The game is outside.

Three words

That is the entire vocabulary. Everything else is walking.

• Stash — the hidden box itself.
• Hunt — going out to find one.
• Drop — hiding one of your own.

Going on a hunt

A hunt needs nothing but the phone already in your pocket.

Pick a stash and read the clue

Stashes show on the map as symbols. Tap one for its name, how hard it is from one to five stars, and how many people have found it — then open it for the clue. The clue is the owner's own words and is often the whole puzzle: a one-star stash might tell you exactly where to look, a five-star might be a riddle.

The logbook stays shut. What previous finders wrote, and the photos they left, only unlock once you have found the stash yourself and entered its code — so nobody can read their way to the answer.

Walk there

Tap Start Hunt and an arrow points the way while the distance counts down.

Then actually search

This is the bit newcomers do not expect, and it is the best bit. GPS can only put you within a few metres. The box is still hidden — under something, behind something, inside something. Look at eye level and below. Look for the thing that does not quite belong. Stay put while you search; the Found It button unlocks once you have been close for a short while, and a wobble in the signal will not reset it.

Log it, and put it back properly

Open the box, take a photo, and enter the code written inside. That logs your find and opens the logbook, where you can leave a photo and a message for whoever comes next — there and then, from the app.

Then return the stash exactly where you found it: same spot, same cover, lid closed. The next person deserves the hunt you just had, and a box left visible gets taken by somebody who is not playing.

Why every stash has a code

Anyone can stand in a field and say they found something. So every stash has a code written inside it, and you type that in to log your find. It is the one part that cannot be faked, and it is why a find on Stashd means something.

Which leads to the only rule that really matters: never write the code in your logbook comment. It ruins the hunt for everyone behind you, and the app will stop you if it spots one.

What you can take

Everything in a stash is fair game. Take whatever catches your eye — just put something back for the next hunter. That one habit is the whole etiquette of the game, and it is what keeps the boxes worth opening.

Drifters are the exception. A Drifter is a tagged keepsake on a journey: somebody released it into a stash, and every finder carries it a little further. Anyone can follow its whole route on the map — every leg, who moved it, how far — not just the person who sent it off. If you are carrying one, other players can see that on your pin.

Taking one properly needs its code. Pocketing a Drifter without that takes somebody else's keepsake out of play, and the map simply loses sight of it.

Hiding one of your own

A drop works anywhere. You do not need anybody to have been there first, which makes it the natural place to start if nothing is hidden near you yet.

Choose a spot worth the walk

Somewhere legal, reachable without climbing anything, and interesting enough to justify the trip. Not on private land, and not somewhere a stranger poking about would look alarming. Stashes have to be at least fifteen metres apart, and the app will stop you if you are too close to one that already exists.

Write a fair clue and rate it honestly

Difficulty is a promise. One star should be findable by a family in five minutes. Five should defeat most people once. Over-rating your own hide is the quickest way to annoy people.

Write the code inside and go live

The app gives you a code once you create the stash, standing at the spot. Write it clearly inside the lid, photograph the hiding place, and tap Go Live. No signal? It queues and uploads itself when you are back in range.

Then look after it

Check on it now and then. If somebody reports it missing or soaked, go and sort it out. Well-kept stashes are what make the map worth trusting.

What to take with you

A hunt needs nothing but your phone. A drop needs three things:

• A box — waterproof, and genuinely so. A screw-top food container is ideal. It will sit outside through months of weather, so a sandwich bag will not do.
• A few small things — trinkets, keyrings, badges, stickers. Nothing valuable, nothing edible, and nothing that would upset a child who opens it.
• A permanent marker — for writing the code inside the lid.

Take the marker with you. Your code only appears once you create the stash, standing at the spot, so you write it in there — not before you set off.

Nothing near you?

Quite possibly, and it is not a fault. Stashd is new, and the map only fills up as people hide things. If yours looks empty, you are not too late — you are early. Drop the first one and give somebody else the surprise.