For Family Weekend and Halloween, Eastern had an Adventure EI-Boo on Saturday evening for families and friends to explore Eastern’s campus to find certain items and locations.

Most teams were made up of four members, but groups who had fewer were still welcomed to join in the hunt. 

Upon registering in front of the Library Quad, participants were handed tiny lights to help them feel more immersed in the adventure and hunt experience. 

Alli Hausman, a freshman journalism major, brought her family with her to welcome the weekend. According to Hausman, her family has been participating in many of the events offered this weekend as a way to spend time with family. 

“[I’ve] been planning out the schedule of everything that we are gonna do,” Hausman said. 

Once most of the teams were checked in and accounted for, everyone received a paper containing a clue as to where their adventure started.

Nathan Wehr, the director of fraternity and sorority life, opened up the event by explaining how the game would work, and how individuals would get their clues.

“I’m about to give you your first clue,” Wehr said. “When you get to your next spot, you’ll tell [the helpers] what number you are because that will give you your next clue.”

The clues were designed to have rhymes surrounded with the Halloween theme.

These riddles would lead the teams to a certain location on campus. If members struggled with the clue, an image of a certain place on campus was offered to help teams navigate their search a bit easier. 

Tanya Willard, the director of new student and family programs, talked about the difference in theme for the adventure hunt this year compared to previous years.

“Because this is Halloween weekend, it might be fun to do a Halloween theme,” Willard said. “Somebody in our planning meeting kind of jokingly said, ‘what if we call it Adventure EI-Boo?’” 

WIllard also said how popular Adventure EIU had been last year. 

“Adventure EIU is something that we’ve been doing for a couple of years,” Willard said. “And we did it during family weekend for the first time last year, it was very much a hit. We had 26 teams lined up. It was so successful that we wanted to do it again.”

Although there are no set prizes, every answer to the clue provided groups with some candy to take with them on their journey. 

“People are picking up candy at every stop,” Willard said. “Everyone’s got some candy, so they’re kind of like treat-or-treating while they’re here.” 

Even though there may not have been any set prizes, a hot chocolate and apple cider bar was open to participants after completing campus-wide journey at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. 

Adriana Hernandez-Santana can be reached at 581-2812 or aihernandez@eiu.edu.