PortQuest App Raises Awareness … And Money For a Good Cause

If you love Portsmouth, N.H., as much as we do here at the Cooperative Venture Workspace, then you’ll really enjoy a new app called PortQuest.

It’s equal parts education, entertainment, and good cause, and it was created by the folks at Graphic Details – like us, locatedin downtown Portsmouth — to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

“The idea was to put together a quest with some local history,” said Graphic Details owner Brenda Riddell.

PortQuest is available for smartphone download from both Apple and Google app store
. Part of the registration process is an option to make a donation to Cross Roads House, a transitional shelter on Lafayette Road in Portsmouth for homeless men, women, and children in the area.

PortQuest is an hour-long scavenger hunt, of sorts, that takes you to 10 locations throughout Portsmouth. Each location has a clue written in a whimsical, limerick form. Answer the clue correctly and you get directions to another location and another clue.

“It’s a way for people to visit the city and a fun way to have a jaunt around town,” said Riddell. “It follows a quest where you find a clue, get an answer, then in the answer get another clue.

The app builds on Pokemon Go, the location-based online game that shot to worldwide viral status in July. Whereas Pokemon Go was a virtual scavenger hunt in which players went from place to place to capture virtual creatures, PortQuest is more of a hunt for knowledge.

At each location, there is the option to “pause and learn” – it stops the timer and offers information. For example, at the first stop, if you pause and learn, you can learn about the Moran tugboats, those iconic red boats moored off Ceres Street.

It will be formally introduced at a kick-off event between 2 and 6 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2, at the Seacoast Repertory Theatre. Register at the theatre on that day, play PortQuest, and perhaps become one of the top finishers to qualify for prizes that will
be given at the end of the event. Registration is free with a suggested donation of a $10 donation to Cross Roads House. See a Facebook event listing here.

According to Riddell, PortQuest will be available for download for about a year. While there won’t be any prizes after the event Oct. 2, you can play against others and see how your completion time stacks up against theirs.

The app can be played alone or with a team. PortQuest could be a fun team-building exercise for a business.

Our experience with our members here at the Workspace is that collaboration builds innovation and innovation produces results that help the bottom line.

Graphic Details is located at 107 Market Street. If your professional quest is to find Class A flexible, comfortable space in which to work full or part-time, then a visit to our home at 36 Maplewood Avenue is a must.