Scavenger Hunt App
for Events & Teams
Participants scan a QR code and play in the browser. No app. Build free, pay only when you go live. From $60.
Scavenger Hunt App for Events & Teams.
Participants scan a QR code and play in their phone's browser, with no app and no sign-up. You build and test for free, then pay a flat price only when you go live: from $60, with unlimited participants.
Free to build and test · Unlimited participants · No credit card required
In Short
What is Petanco?
Petanco is a browser-based tool for building digital scavenger hunts and stamp tours, the format also known as a digital passport or stamp trail. Participants scan a QR code and play in their phone's browser, with no app to download and no account to create. Organizers build and test everything for free, then pay a flat price only when they publish: $20 per live day plus $40 per spot (check-in location), starting at $60, with unlimited participants.
| What it is | A web app for building QR code and GPS check-in games: Stamp Tours, Point Challenges, and Collection Cards. |
|---|---|
| For participants | Runs in the phone browser. No app download. Play with No Login, or use Easy Login (email only, no password) to keep progress across devices. |
| Price | Free to build and test. To publish: $20 per day for days 1–30, $12 for days 31–90, $8 from day 91, plus $40 per spot for spots 1–10, $30 for 11–20, $20 from the 21st. From $60 (1 day + 1 spot). |
| Participants | Unlimited. The price is the same for 50 people or 50,000. |
| Subscription | None. No monthly plan, no annual contract. |
| Check-in methods | QR code, GPS, NFC tag, keyword, quiz, and puzzle, in 23 combinations. |
| Rewards | In-person exchange, application form, or download, with optional instant win and prize drawings. |
| Languages | English, Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese, with time zone support. |
| Analytics | Real-time dashboard for check-ins, reward claims, and survey results, with CSV export. |
| Payment | Credit card in USD, charged when you publish. No invoices or purchase orders, and payments are non-refundable. |
| Support | Self-service. Help pages in the dashboard plus email support for published campaigns. No setup or event-operation service. |
| Operator | GOWAS LLC, Japan. Founded in 2018. |
Use Cases
What organizers build with it
Each use case has a live demo you can play on your phone right now, without signing up. The prices are what it costs to publish that example.
Trade Shows & Conferences
Put a QR code at each booth so attendees walk the whole floor, and add a survey to collect feedback.
3 days, 15 booths: $610
Campus Events & Community Festivals
Spread the crowd across every booth and stage. Student volunteers can build and run it.
2 days, 10 booths: $440
One-Day Events & Park Fests
Publish for a single day and pay for a single day. Build it and go live the same day.
1 day, 5 spots: $220
Malls, Pop-Ups & Retail
Run a Point Challenge where shoppers earn points each time they check in at a store.
14 days, 5 stores: $480
Main Street & Local Tourism
Walk visitors past every merchant or landmark with QR and GPS check-ins. A digital passport without the app.
30 days, 8 spots: $920
Team Building & Quiz Hunts
Quiz and keyword spots for offsites, museums, and aquariums. Everyone plays on their own phone; there is no team scoring.
1 day, 8 spots: $340
How it works
Create a scavenger hunt in minutes
You build it yourself in the dashboard. There's no code to write, no demo call to book, and no contract to sign.
For Participants
- 1
Scan the QR code
The hunt opens in the phone browser. No app download, and with No Login there is nothing to sign up for.
- 2
Visit spots and check in
At each spot, scan a QR code, tap an NFC tag, get within GPS range, enter a keyword, or answer a quiz to collect a stamp.
- 3
Claim the reward
Reaching the stamp goal unlocks a reward screen to show staff, an entry form for a prize drawing, or a download.
For Organizers
- 1
Build and test for free
Add your spots, rewards, and design, then walk through it in Preview exactly as participants will. Every feature is available before you pay.
- 2
Publish and share
Pay by card for the days and spots you need, then print the QR codes or share the link. You can go live the same day.
- 3
Track it in real time
Watch check-ins and reward claims on the dashboard during the event, and export the data as CSV afterward.
Tour Types
Three formats, one price list
The format decides how stamps are counted. All three cost the same and use the same check-in methods.
Stamp Tours
Participants visit several spots and collect one stamp at each. This is the classic scavenger hunt, passport program, or stamp trail.
Best for: trade show booths, festivals, walking tours, downtown passports
Learn more
Point Challenges
Participants can check in at the same spot more than once, and every check-in adds points toward a reward.
Best for: repeat visits, malls, loyalty campaigns
Learn more
Collection Cards
You set how many stamps each spot can give, like a digital punch card that works across several locations.
Best for: shops, cafes, repeat-customer rewards
Learn more
Six ways to check in at a spot
Use one method per spot or combine them, for 23 combinations in total. Pairing a QR code with GPS, for example, stops people from checking in from a shared photo of the code.
| Method | What the participant does | Works well for |
|---|---|---|
| QR code | Scans a code on a poster or sign. | Booths, shops, indoor venues |
| GPS | Checks in when the phone is within the radius you set. | Parks, landmarks, city-wide trails |
| NFC tag | Taps the phone on a tag. | Signage and one-touch check-ins |
| Keyword | Types a word or phrase found at the spot. | Mystery hunts, museum trails |
| Quiz | Answers a multiple-choice question with up to 4 options. | Family events, learning trails |
| Puzzle | Completes a picture puzzle made from an image you upload. | Online events |
Pricing
Build free. Pay only when you go live.
There is no subscription and no per-participant fee. The price is the number of days your hunt is live plus the number of spots in it, so you know the total before the event starts.
From$60
1 day + 1 spot
$20
per day for 1–30 days
$40
per spot for 1–10 spots
Unlimited participants, no per-participant fees
What typical events cost
Days after the 30th and spots after the 10th are billed at lower rates, so longer and larger hunts cost less per day and per spot.
| Event | Live days | Spots | How it adds up | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One-day park fest or pop-up | 1 | 5 | $20 days + $200 spots | $220 |
| Weekend festival or campus event | 2 | 10 | $40 days + $400 spots | $440 |
| 3-day trade show or conference | 3 | 15 | $60 days + $550 spots | $610 |
| Month-long downtown passport | 30 | 20 | $600 days + $700 spots | $1,300 |
| Summer-long tourism trail | 90 | 30 | $1,320 days + $900 spots | $2,220 |
Prices in USD, charged by credit card when you publish. Surveys ($40 each) and categories ($60 each) are optional extras. The participant count never changes the price.
How It Differs
Published prices, no app, no sales call
Many scavenger hunt and digital passport tools ask participants to install an app, or ask organizers to request a quote before they see a price. Petanco does neither.
| Topic | Petanco | App-based hunt platforms | Quote-based passport platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| How people join | Scan a QR code and play in the browser | Often a dedicated app to install | Varies by provider |
| How you build it | Yourself, in the dashboard | Yourself, within the limits of your plan | Demo call, proposal, then contract |
| Time to launch | The same day | Varies by provider | Often weeks |
| Pricing | Published rates, from $60 per event | Often a subscription or per-event license | Usually a quote on request |
| Crowd size | Unlimited participants at the same price | Often priced by participant count | Quoted by expected size |
| Build and test | Free, with every feature | Varies; free tiers are often limited | After you sign |
The two right-hand columns describe common service models, not any specific product. Details vary by provider.
Is It Right for You?
Where Petanco fits, and where it doesn't
A good fit when
- You want to build it yourself and launch without a sales call or a quote.
- Your event is short. You pay for the days it is live, starting from a single day.
- You can't predict the turnout. The price doesn't change with the number of participants.
- People should be able to walk up, scan a poster, and start, with no app and no account.
- Your visitors speak different languages. Screens are available in English, Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese.
Not the right tool when
- You need photo or video challenges. Check-ins are QR code, GPS, NFC, keyword, quiz, and puzzle only.
- You need team-versus-team scoring or a live leaderboard. Participants play individually.
- You want someone to set up or run the event for you. Petanco is self-service.
- You need native app features such as push notifications or an ongoing membership program.
- You have to pay by invoice or purchase order. USD payments are by credit card only.
Track Record
More than 140 published case studies
Petanco comes from Japan, where stamp tours are a staple of tourism campaigns, shopping-district promotions, festivals, and school events. It is operated by GOWAS LLC, founded in 2018. The case studies cover real events run by tourism boards, merchant associations, schools, and companies, and all of them are available in English.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Creating an account, building your campaign, and testing it in Preview exactly as participants will see it, and sharing a view-only preview link (no login needed) are all free. So are keeping drafts for 30 days (extend with one click) and AI features (20 free uses per day).
There are no feature limits on the free tier — you can build and test with every feature.
You only pay when you publish — for the days it's live and the spots you add, plus any surveys or categories.
You pay for the days your hunt is live plus what you add: days ($20/day for 1–30 days, $12/day for 31–90, $8/day for 91+), spots ($40/spot for 1–10, $30/spot for 11–20, $20/spot for 21+), surveys ($40 each), and categories ($60 each).
Prices start at $60 (1 day + 1 spot).
No. Participants use their phone's browser — they just scan a QR code to start. No download or sign-up required.
Your campaign automatically returns to draft and is kept for 30 days. We'll email you reminders 7 days, 3 days, and 1 day before your publish period ends, and you can keep the draft for another 30 days with one click (free, as many times as you like). Participant data isn't covered by the draft extension: it's automatically deleted 30 days after the publish period ends (for campaigns created on or after October 1, 2026).
Petanco supports Japanese, English, Korean, and Traditional Chinese. The participant interface automatically adapts to the user's language, and the AI assistant can translate your content.
Stamp tours have participants visit multiple locations and collect one stamp at each spot. Point challenges let participants check in at the same spot more than once to build up points. Collection cards let you set how many stamps participants can collect at each spot.
Yes. The real-time dashboard shows check-in counts, prize redemptions, daily trends, hourly activity, spot rankings, funnel analysis, behavioral flow, participant demographics, and survey cross-tabulations. All data can be exported as CSV.
Both descriptions fit. Petanco builds check-in games where participants visit spots and collect a stamp or points at each one. Event organizers usually call that a scavenger hunt, tourism offices and downtown associations call it a digital passport or stamp trail, and in Japan, where Petanco started, it is called a stamp tour.
It is not a photo-and-video mission app. Participants check in by QR code, GPS, NFC tag, keyword, quiz, or puzzle.
A one-day event with 5 spots costs $220: $20 for the day plus $200 for the spots. With 10 spots it is $420. The lowest possible price is $60 for 1 day and 1 spot.
The number of participants does not affect the price.
No. There is no monthly or annual plan and no charge per participant. You pay once when you publish, for the days your hunt is live and the spots in it. Building and testing before that are free.
Yes, for hunts where everyone plays on their own phone, such as a quiz trail at an offsite or a QR hunt around the office. Petanco does not have team-versus-team scoring, leaderboards, or photo and video challenges, so it is not the right tool if those are the core of your activity.
Yes. Petanco works anywhere participants have a phone browser and a data connection. You pay in USD by credit card, set the campaign to your local time zone, and choose English, Japanese, Korean, or Traditional Chinese for the participant screens.
Creating an account takes about a minute. A simple QR code stamp tour can be built, tested in Preview, and published the same day. GPS and quiz spots take longer because each one needs coordinates or a question entered.
Petanco is self-service. Help pages in the dashboard cover preparation, event-day operation, and wrap-up, and you can email our staff about a campaign during its publish period. We do not offer setup, data entry, or on-site event operation.
Petanco is operated by GOWAS LLC, a company in Japan founded in 2018. More than 140 case studies from real events are published on this site in English.
Start building free
Build it free. When you publish, you pay for the days it's live and the spots you add.
Free to build and test · No credit card required
Build free. Pay only when you go live — from $60
No credit card required