Ask Spike Online

As many of you are aware, I am involved in a REALLY cool scavenger hunt on Twitter, called Barkhunt.  After three AWESOME hunts, we brainstormed on how to make the experience even better.  We tweaked the format of it a little bit, creating many opportunities to earn points in a season format, making for a much more fun and engaging experience.  Those changes are described below.

While the actual hunt format will not be changed too much, we have decided to add some elements to make the hunts more engaging by starting a season format.

BarkHunting season officially opens on April 23rd at 9 PM EDT and runs every other Thursday, with the second hunt on May 7th, the third hunt on May 21st, and the final hunt of the season on June 4th.

In addition to winning prizes with each clue and answer, we are instituting a point system toward a GRAND PRIZE, second prize, and third prize to be award on June 18th. We are still in the process of building packages filled with goodies to be given, but what we have so far is AWESOME!

To earn points during the hunt:

• 1 point will be awarded for each correct answer submitted before the next clue is given.
• 3 points will be awarded for those are the first 5 correct responses (entrants whose answer is among the first 5 do not also qualify for 1 pt. above)
• 5 points will be awarded for the first correct answer (entrants whose answer is among the first 5 do not also qualify for 1 pt. or 3 pts. above)
• 1 point will be awarded for a photo of your participation (limit 1 per hunt) to post on barkhunt.com, submitted before the final clue of the hunt

To earn points outside of the hunt (this is where it gets fun):

• 1 point will be awarded for joining the Facebook page (that’s why we asked you to post your Twitter user name on the Wall)
• 1 point will be awarded for each recruited tweeter that wins a prize (no limit on how many you can recruit) Tell those you refer to DM @askspikeonline with your Twitter user name by 8:30 PM on the night of the hunt
• 2 points will be awarded for a photo of your dog (or yourself) enjoying the prize(s) won during the previous “season” hunt (limit 2 photos per hunt) to be posted on barkhunt.com
• 3 points will be awarded for a video of your dog (or yourself) enjoying the prize won during the previous “season” hunt (limit 1 video per hunt) to be posted on barkhunt.com
• 10 points will be awarded to each tweeter who submits an answer during a hunt that “trends” at #1 position on Twitter’s trending topics, 9 points will be awarded for #2 position, etc
• 2 points will be awarded for any article or blog posting in excess of 200 words that links to barkhunt.com about participating in BarkHunt (a link must be submitted via DM to @askspikeonline for credit)

As noted above, a BarkHunt season will last 4 hunts, finalizing points for BarkHunt awards nights on June 18th for the first season.

To help keep everyone updated with the latest Barkhunt news, we have created a Facebook page, as well as a “twibe.”