I’ve always wanted to do one of those scavenger hunts that involve a picnic at the end so when I saw Amazing Co. offering to set up a Mystery Picnic Date for $90, I signed up. Now I had my picnic, but I still needed a date, so I asked my old friend from high school to join me, AJ. That was the best decision of the entire day because if I had invited a prospective romantic partner, the entire experience would have killed all the potential chemistry.

Amazing Co. is based in Australia, but they outsource their picnic planners to set up events at locations all around. There are about a hundred U.S. cities they operate in, and I picked “South Bay LA” which ended up being around Manhattan Beach.
My assumption was that the experience would consist of AJ and I walking around solving puzzles as we caught up on life. Instead, we were lost, very hungry, and very catty but in a way, you could only be with someone who you’ve spent most of your twenties carrying out budget road trips and shenanigans with.

The first issue was that the scavenger hunt directions had us park at a local mall, then sent us to the beach. I don’t know why we couldn’t just start at the beach because in the end, we had to drive back to get my car. Secondly, we essentially drove all day and spent most of the time trying to look for parking which was all but impossible on a sunny weekend by the beach.

The first few puzzles involved some brain work which delivered a sense of accomplishment as we celebrated with cheers and a happy dance. We started picking up items, getting more and more excited about our soon-to-be feast. About halfway through, we noticed there were several spelling errors on some of the puzzles. Also, the quality of the puzzles got increasingly rote. Rather than a challenging word problem, these were puzzles I would imagine I could find on the back of a cereal box. After a few clues failed to make sense due to the errors, we started correctly guessing the answers since they were so obvious.

The scavenger hunt stretched along a five-mile radius. I think it could have been bikeable but walking would have been too tedious while carrying all our picnic items which included large glass water bottles and a loaf of bread. It felt very European. We stored the items in the car as we checked out one of the suggested detour spots (I won’t say what it was to preserve the integrity of the experience). Even though I liked the place, that visit seemed a bit much for the packed itinerary. Every time, it took about twenty to twenty-five minutes to solve each puzzle, drive to the next spot, find parking, find the next location and pick up the food. Then we had to solve a new puzzle again. The detour took another thirty minutes, so we had been going for nearly four hours before we finally got to our final picnic spot with a view.

Here was another disappointment. The view was not great, it was a park that looked out over the ocean but there was no shade, no bench, just a grassy hill that faced a few streets lined with cars. We were actually a few blocks from the shoreside, so we had lots of car traffic and buildings interfering with the view. I also specifically asked if we could bring a dog I was pet sitting along and they said no. Yet I ate my picnic at what seemed to be a dog-friendly park, so I didn’t understand how they came to their conclusion.

As for the food, we had a salad each, a charcuterie board, a loaf of bread, water, and a dessert cookie each. We didn’t have much protein so while the food itself was good, it didn’t seem satisfying. It was more like a thing to do after you immediately ate, and the picnic was just a snacking break before your next real meal. Which is exactly what happened. AJ and I packed up after enjoying the view for thirty minutes, then headed to a brewery to get beers and BBQ.

I’m not sure if this mystery picnic date was just a location where the puzzles were poorly planned and executed, but after what I went through for $90, I would not do it again and would not want to try another location “just to see.” There is the option of paying an additional $35 to include a bottle of wine but I’m glad I skipped that option because, at this rate, that would have been disappointing too.