treasureto

TreasureTO is an open‑source software framework designed to assist hobbyists, educators, and event organizers in creating, managing, and distributing digital treasure hunts and scavenger hunt experiences. The project was initiated in 2018 by a small team of game designers and programmers who sought to provide a flexible and reusable toolset for non‑technical users. TreasureTO is written primarily in JavaScript, with a Node.js server component and a browser‑based user interface that runs on modern web browsers. The core of TreasureTO revolves around a JSON‑based configuration format that specifies locations, clues, timed tasks, and reward logic. Users can import geographic data from services like OpenStreetMap or Google Maps and attach multimedia assets such as images, audio, or QR codes to individual game nodes.

One of the main features of TreasureTO is its modular architecture, allowing developers to plug in custom scoring models, authentication mechanisms, and analytics dashboards. The framework supports both single‑player and multiplayer modes; in the latter, it includes real‑time leaderboards and optional geofencing using the HTML5 Geolocation API. TreasureTO is distributed under the MIT license, making it compatible with commercial and non‑commercial projects. The community around TreasureTO actively contributes to the codebase, publishes tutorials, and maintains a repository of example game templates. As of early 2026, the platform has been adopted by several educational institutions to facilitate outdoor learning and by event planners for corporate team‑building activities.