What do you picture when you imagine a garden fair? A scene of looking at beautiful flowers and gardens, taking a picture, and slowly strolling before heading home. While certainly a good experience, the lack of reasons for visitors to actively participate has always been a regrettable aspect. Especially for family visitors, it's a reality that children quickly lose interest with just garden viewing, and if the stay duration is short, the linkage effect with surrounding commercial areas is also limited. So, what would happen if we added 'a reason to play' to the space of a garden expo? The answer that originated from this question is 'Garden Hunters'.
2026 Seoul International Garden Expo, Experience the Garden with a Treasure Hunt
Garden Hunters is a GPS-based smart treasure hunt program operating in the Seoul Forest area for 180 days, from May 6 to October 27, 2026.
As an official program of the Seoul International Garden Expo, it is structured for participants to naturally explore the garden by finding 'magic seeds' hidden throughout Seoul Forest with their smartphones.
The core is this:
Because treasures are hidden throughout the garden, participants must walk around the garden to find them. The moment visitors who came to simply look around transform into players completing missions, their stay time and immersion in the garden completely change. The transition from "seeing tourism" to "playing tourism" officially begins in the large-scale venue of the Garden Expo.
[Garden Hunters Detailed Information Link]
https://2026-garden-hunters.realworld.to/
Without hardware, just with content
The biggest feature of Garden Hunters is that no separate equipment is installed on-site.
When participants scan the on-site QR code, they are immediately connected to the mobile web, and follow a GPS-based map to search for treasure points. Upon arriving at each treasure, various missions such as 7 types of mini-games, quizzes, and AR photography are given, and upon clearing them, they acquire the treasure (Magic Seed).
No app installation, kiosks, or physical installations are required. This structure is also why the entire Seoul Forest, spanning 710,000 square meters, could be turned into a game map. Without changing existing spaces and facilities, the entire space becomes a stage for content.
Motivation to finish created by an achievement system
It's not simply about finding treasures.
The achievement rank increases based on the number of seeds collected, and physical rewards are given for each rank.
Collecting 10 seeds makes you a 'Brave Garden Hunter,' and finding all 15 makes you a 'Legendary Garden Hunter.'
This structure is important because it provides a "reason to see it through to the end."
It encourages participants to aim for all 15, not stopping at 10,
and in doing so, they will thoroughly explore the entire Seoul Forest.
Playable Content Expanding Through IP Collaboration
It's noteworthy that 'Garden Hunters' is not exclusively held at Seoul Forest. Separate quests are simultaneously operated on the same platform at 'PUBG Seongsu' as well. By applying achievement names inspired by the Battlegrounds worldview, such as 'Survivor' and 'Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!', it provides a completely different experience despite having the same treasure hunt structure. What this case demonstrates is that the combination of location × IP × playable content is infinitely expandable. At Seoul Forest, the character Hatchi and the garden context are combined, while at PUBG Seongsu, the Battlegrounds IP and the urban space context are combined, respectively. Although there is only one platform, completely different content is created depending on the space and IP.
Adding a 'reason to play' to a space,
Now, it's possible anywhere.
GPS-based playable content like Garden Hunters can be applied anywhere there is space.
Festivals/Exhibitions — Transforms viewing-based events into participatory ones, maximizing dwell time.
Tourist attractions/Local governments — Disperses foot traffic and links commercial districts with course-type content connecting local attractions.
Companies/Brands — Pop-up experiences combined with IP, customer data collection.
Educational/Cultural facilities — Transforms museum and park explorations into games.
Just as Gangneung Ojukheon Hanok Village transformed its night scenery with nighttime content,
just as the Teenieping IP created unique experiences for the MZ generation,
Garden Hunters is an experiment to transform the 180-day garden expo into an 'expo you play'.
And this experiment has already begun.
Though the space itself wasn't altered, its function has completely transformed.
From a garden for viewing, to a garden for playing.
Would you like to start this transformation in your own space?