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Ravenchase was created in January 2001 by Joshua Czarda for his family. The company was founded in Richmond, Virginia and retains a corporate headquarters there.
Ravenchase was named in tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, who lived in Richmond, Virginia for a time and was an avid code and cipher enthusiast, and also a formative influence on popularizing the idea of buried treasure, treasure hunting and mystery. Ravenchase games are also reflective of the style of prose found in many of Poe's great works.
Ravenchase is a trademarked and registered term of art for a type of adventure game or alternative reality game. Ravenchase is also the name of a national event management company. Ravenchase games differ from a classic treasure hunt or scavenger hunt. Basic games open to the public are similar in nature to a puzzlehunt. Ravenchase games are conducted all over the world and last from two hours to as long as one month. The purpose of a Ravenchase game is to crack codes, ciphers and riddles while trying to beat other teams to the secret end location or buried treasure. Games range from paper based basic maps and scrolls to GPS games and use of cell phones along with a range of gadgets which help to reveal locations or crack codes. Ravenchase games are commonly used by corporations for team building events and offered to public consumers in various cities throughout the United States. Ravenchase holds monthly games similar to west coast versions of the game in Virginia, Washington DC, Paris, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, California, Washington State, Oregon and Hawaii.
Ravenchase conducts several annual races that are longer than its typical public hunts. The Great Virginia Race, Quest for the Golden Gnome, is one of the first two day races conducted by Ravenchase and is now on its fourth year. Past races have taken players through Richmond, Lexington, Charlottesville, Williamsburg, Norfolk and to Harpers Ferry. Ravenchase also recently conducted The Great America Race which was an eight day event which spanned from Washington DC to New Orleans. The second annual Great America Race, August 7–14, 2010, is scheduled to span from Washington, D.C to New York City. Eight teams participated in the first event, and many kept online journals of this adventure. Ravenchase is hosting a similar three day long puzzle hunt in Philadelphia in January 2010 centered around historical figure David Rittenhouse. Ravenchase also holds an annual international event for private groups. These events have taken place in Gozo in the Maltese Islands, Mykonos, Santiago, Chile, and London and ranged in theme from classic puzzle hunts to 007 theme adventures, to a simulated heist where players tried to break into a renovated bank, to a murder mystery and to an event based on the Illuminati. Typical public races are open to all players and generally take 2.5 through 4 hours to complete for a basic level event. Ravenchase recently completed a charitable fundraiser with the Indianapolis Colts entitled "Quest for the Ring" in which players competed for super bowl rings. The event raised $250,000 for local Indianapolis Charities. Ravenchase also sponsors a fund raiser adventure race and treasure hunt for the Hawaii Theatre each year called the Chinatown Chase Ravenchase recently sponsored a promotional game for "Come Out and Play" the urban gaming festival in Manhattan. Ravenchase recently launched several multi state and country urban gaming events including the Undead Invasion on Halloween and the Quest for Father Time, a New Year's Eve adventure race.