ATH Production
- Production methods for the Armchair Treasure Hunt over the years reflect developments in publishing methods and the evolution of Logica's corporate infrastructure. The early treasure hunts were hand-produced using traditional "cut-and-paste" (i.e. scissors-and-glue) techniques. Consequently most of the electronic copies you see on this site have been scanned in from paper originals.
- The first hunt to be produced using modern desktop publishing methods was the 1994 Cranford puzzle, which used Microsoft Publisher and CorelDraw. Since then various techniques have been used, including PowerPoint, Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat. The latter (using PDF files) is now the preferred format as a free viewer is universally available.
- To date, the puzzle has standardised on a format suitable for printing on A4 paper. The advent of the World Wide Web opens up the possibility for more dynamic formats - for example, multimedia (video clips and sound) could become features of future puzzles. Whilst this is an attractive proposition for the puzzle compiler, there was inintially a fine line to be trodden between embracing the capabilities of emerging technology and alienating traditional entrants.
- The first Hunt (Christmas 1985) was photocopied and distributed within the company by the setters and other members of the Logica Sports and Social Club committee. For several of the subsequent years it was distributed as part of Logica's periodical staff newsletter or magazine - NoticeBoard until 1996 and DiaLogica from 1998 to 2001. Some vintage publicity from the Noticeboard era has been preserved for posterity on this website.
- The 1997 puzzle was the first to appear on this site. It was designed as a web-based puzzle and had a dynamic element, and so was not suitable for publication in the Logica magazine (ChronoLogica UK at the time), although a few paper copies were produced and distributed.
- DiaLogica is no more, so in 2002 the puzzle was again only available on-line or on request from the setter - and this is likely to continue to be the case.
- With the advent of Logica's merger with CMG, an all-staff electronic periodical, Connect was introduced. This contains a regular Sports and Social Club section, and was used to advertise the Hunt from 2003 onwards.
- The 2005 and 2007 Hunts were conceived and published as purely web based Hunts by Pablo. This development facilitated such innovations as the use of sound, encrypted passwords for gaining access to subsequent stages of the Hunt, and hidden hotspot links to other secret areas of the Hunt. It seems certain that this new medium will see the Hunt develop in all kinds of ways in future years.