We’ve all been there, struggling through the countless artifacts at a museum feigning interest in the hope of impressing your friends. What has been sadly missing is a captivating method of engaging the cultural visitors that flock to the many museums in our capital. Thankfully, we have the launch of THATMuse in the UK. ThatMuse stands for Treasure Hunt at the Museum and was founded by Daisy de Plume, who has a degree in art history and launched her concept back in 2012 at the Louvre in Paris.
Photo courtesy of Katy Thompson
The British Museum has over 8 million pieces of history and every time you visit the magnificent surroundings, you do discover fascinating new facts. The object of the game is you go off in teams of 2 to 4 and photo yourselves in front of as many treasures as possible within a given theme as well as answering bonus questions to earn even more points. You have between 90 minutes to 2 hours to complete the tasks and without clear planning and strategising, it is almost impossible to complete all the tasks. The idea being, you are encouraged to revisit the museum after the hunt is completed. It is a great concept for those with a competitive edge as you will be racing against time to compete against other teams. It is also a great team-building exercise, as you need to work out each other’s strength and weaknesses.
On the version that we went on, it was an exercise in skull-hunting and finding out about skulls in many different cultures across the ages. It varied from the lindow man from 2 BC – 119 AD to 20th-century artwork of bones from the Northern Territory in Australia. It involved visiting hugely popular and historic galleries like the Parthenon gallery and posing like certain scenes from the Elgin marbles such as a centaur fighting a Lapith. Yes, you are expected to go down on your knees to pose like a centaur.
There are also incredibly difficult challenges such as posing for a photo in front of the Rosetta stone with no tourist in the photo. A task that certainly deserved more than the 10 points that were awarded. There are also humorous tasks like serenading either a Mozart or Whitney Houston classic to restaurant guests in the museum and the videos are shared around once you reach the marking stage.
Rarely do you find an activity that is hugely entertaining and educational at the same time. THATmuse manages this and much more. Grab your friends, grab your family and make a booking today.
baldwin@townfish.com