'Quest' Is a Treasure Hunt Through the Guts of Ukraine
Photos: Pete Kiehart

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'Quest' Is a Treasure Hunt Through the Guts of Ukraine

Teams advance by entering codes they find (or answers to puzzles they solve) into a web app that then feeds instructions on where and what to do next.

It's 4 AM, and I'm standing in a partially-demolished abandoned building 40 kilometers outside of Kyiv, Ukraine. Broken glass, splintered wood, and rotting pieces of insulation are everywhere. Fifty feet above the rubble-strewn floor, a man free climbs a metal girder, flashlight clenched in his teeth.

The place is swarming with teams of Ukrainian men and women, ranging in age from 18 to 50, armed with walkie-talkies, headlamps, and utility belts, and all looking for something. A two-inch code or phrase that's been stenciled somewhere. A set of numbers that can only be read under a blacklight. Or a seemingly disconnected phone that, once picked up, transmits instructions to the listener.

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This is Quest, one version of a popular set of games invented in Eastern Europe and referred to varyingly as "Encounters," "Quests," or "Night Races," depending on the format and who is organizing them. The games tend to defy comparison to Western games, but one legend implies that the founder was inspired by David Fincher's 1997 classic The Game. While each of the myriad formats are unique in their own way, they all share the same basic framework: Teams of players on site (typically with access to a car) work with additional players online to find hidden codes, solve puzzles, and progress through the game.

Teams advance by entering the codes they find (or the answers to the puzzles they solve) into a web app that then returns instructions on where and what to do next. Upon completion of a level, the app may prompt them with the coordinates of the next location. Or give them another task to complete. Or even give them another riddle to solve.

While easier Quest games may last just a few hours, the more complex permutations can last entire days and span hundreds of kilometers. Organizers utilise disused factories, decommissioned military installations, and abandoned buildings, of which there is no shortage in the former Soviet Union, to host their games, which often include over a hundred players.

Above, a player searches an abandoned missile silo for hidden codes during the final stage of a game titled "10 Years of Cereberal Coitus" (10 лет церебрального коитуса) in the early morning hours of September 6, 2015, in Zhitomyr Oblast, Ukraine. The partially-flooded silo contained R-12 (SS-4) ballistic missiles during the Cold War. The game was organized to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the organizing team, Peugeot Pride.

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In designing the game, "You are only limited by your mind," said Myroslav Kryzh of Peugeot Pride. Miro is a civil engineer who lives in Kyiv and has been playing the games for 10 years. Peugeot Pride is one of the top-ranked teams in Ukraine.

Photo: Pete Kiehart

Lusya and Max, two game organizers with a group called City Quest, check on teams' progress shortly after midnight on July 26, 2015 in Vorzel, Ukraine. This game, "Hard City Quest 7: Emerald City," was the most difficult game produced by City Quest during this season, and had a narrative loosely based on The Wizard of Oz.

Photo: Pete Kiehart

Members of different teams scour an abandoned plant during the tenth and final level of Hard City 7, looking for small written codes as the sun rises on July 26, 2015, in the suburbs of Kyiv. To complete this level and finish the game, teams needed to locate 35 out of 50 hidden codes using markers written in green to guide them. At left, a clue can be seen indicating that there are three codes within five meters of the clue.

Photo: Pete Kiehart

A player ziplines from a roof into a window of an adjacent building in an abandoned plant on September 5, 2015, near Ivankiv, Ukraine. Ivankiv is about 50km south of Chernobyl.

Photo: Pete Kiehart

Having shed most of their clothes, players wade out to a flooded WWII-era pillbox in the "Kiev Sea," a large reservoir on the Dnieper River, on September 5, 2015, north of Kyiv. Submerged inside the structure was a code constructed out of LED lights.

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Photo: Pete Kiehart

A player scales an arch of the unfinished Podilsko-Voskresensky Bridge on September 5, 2015, in Kyiv. Organizers of this game gained access to the site by bribing a guard with a liter of beer. The player in this photo failed to notice the "stop" sign spraypainted below him—organizers try to help players avoid unnecessary risks by marking some areas off limits.

Photo: Pete Kiehart

A player named Dio uses a directional antenna to search for transmitters hidden in a forest on September 5, 2015, in a rural area of Zhyrtomyr Oblast, Ukraine. This skill is part of a sport called "fox hunting," and this segment of the game was explained to players by the coach of Ukraine's National Team.

Photo: Pete Kiehart

Players search an abandoned Soviet-era concrete plant for codes on July 25, 2015, near Irpin, Ukraine. The Russian next to the hammer and sickle reads "Glory to Labor."

Photo: Pete Kiehart

Players search an abandoned missile silo for hidden codes during the final stage of a 19-hour game in the early morning hours of September 6, 2015, in Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine. The partially flooded silo contained R-12 (SS-4) ballistic missiles during the Cold War.

Photo: Pete Kiehart

"Regis," a member of WDG, the winning team, receives a trophy following a 19-hour game in the early morning hours of September 6, 2015, in Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine. Players and organizers met at a small restaurant near the last level to award prizes, swap stories and eat food following the conclusion of the game.