Misha Collins on Crafting GISH’s Play-at-Home Scavenger Hunt

We’re in trying times. The world is in turmoil. Things are crazy. That’s just a few phrases I’ve seen (and written) in emails this week. So many of us are at a loss about what to do and how we can do any kind of good while following shelter in place guidelines. Well, how about you do good and have fun at the same time? It’s possible with GISH’s upcoming Play-at-Home Scavenger Hunt hosted by Misha Collins (a.k.a. Castiel on Supernatural).

GISH, the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt, is known for its everything on the table annual event combining staggering creativity and collaboration with a side of antics. Those who participate in GISH go all in. And while the 2020 annual event is still on the table, Collins figured why not do something now with everyone at home looking for activity?

Collins shared his inspiration with Nerdist. “I’d like to say it was inspired by a high-minded purpose like ‘uniting the global community to provide a panacea for isolation and a respite from the stress of serious sociopolitical and economic concerns.’ But the real answer is that I was feeling bored, trapped and powerless, and I saw a lot of other people going through the same thing. So I figured we could refocus our energy and mobilize to connect, do something fun, and maybe do a little bit of good in the process and at the very least, it’d keep my kids busy for a day.”

GISH

I know the trapped and powerless feeling well. I have an itch to do something, anything I can to put some positivity into the world. If you’re feeling the same, the GISH Play-at-Home Scavenger Hunt will help you do so while playing and being creative. This is the kind of activity that will make you feel energized and hopeful. It’s all but guaranteed you’ll have to do silly things, and smiling right now? It’s pretty great.

But it can’t be easy to come up with an epic list of activities that can be done strictly from home, right? It wasn’t. “It’s been an enormous challenge,” Collins shared. “I don’t want to expose myself as a neophyte, but I have to admit that this is the first 100% at-home, global, virtual scavenger hunt I’ve ever written during a global pandemic and there are a lot of new considerations to address—for example, all the items need to be stay-at-home friendly and I have to wash my hands for 20 seconds after I write each item so I don’t cross-contaminate them.”

GISH’s Play-at-Home Scavenger Hunt is open now through 11:59pm PT on Monday, April 20. The event itself will kick off on Saturday, April 25 at 12:00pm PT and run for 24 hours. Registration is $15 per player, and every registration supports charities working hard on COVID-19 front lines. You’ll provide ten meals for kids in need through non-profit organizations No Kid Hungry and Save the Children. Kids who would have been receiving free meals if it weren’t for schools being closed right now. And anyone can join! All ages! Your whole family! You can team up with people from around the world! How many more exclamation points do I need to express how lovely this is?!

I couldn’t get any real spoilers about what the list of challenges will include, but I had to ask about how many items will involve the bathroom. “I don’t want to spoil anything, but I can definitively say that there MIGHT be a bathroom-related item or two… but I can promise that there will be no need to hoard toilet paper for this Hunt,” Collins said.

Whew. Your toilet paper is safe. Now that you’re assured of that, register for the Play-at-Home Scavenger Hunt and have some laughs.

Featured Image: The CW

Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.