Visit Tacoma-Pierce County is launching Art of the Game, a glass art scavenger hunt running June 1 through July 13, 2026, timed to coincide with summer soccer activity in the Seattle metro area. The initiative asks participants to follow weekly clues and locate handcrafted glass medallions and floats hidden at public places, festivals, scenic viewpoints, and other locations across Pierce County and the Mount Rainier region.
For operators in the area, the event represents a concrete foot-traffic opportunity. Scavenger hunts of this format historically encourage multi-stop itineraries, meaning participants are likely to eat, drink, and overnight locally as they chase weekly clues across a wide geographic footprint. Restaurants, craft beverage producers, and hotels situated near featured locations stand to benefit from visitors who are already primed to explore — and spend — throughout the region.
The hunt is rooted in Tacoma's established identity as a glass art destination, leaning on that cultural equity to attract both out-of-town guests and locals who may not have fully explored Pierce County's hospitality corridor. Operators looking to capitalize should consider cross-promotional opportunities — think thematic cocktail menus, glass art-inspired desserts, or partnerships with participating venues — to extend the event's dwell time into their own seats. Our restaurant marketing and events coverage has documented how destination-driven tourism activations translate directly into covers and check averages when operators plan proactively.
The six-week window aligns with one of the Pacific Northwest's busiest tourism periods, and the soccer angle adds an international draw that could broaden the demographic beyond typical arts-and-culture visitors. Hospitality businesses tracking experiential tourism trends — a topic covered extensively in beverage industry analysis and across the F&B sector — will recognize this as the kind of community-anchored activation that outperforms traditional advertising in driving genuine visitation. Food & Beverage Magazine has noted that regional destination events with recurring engagement mechanics, such as weekly clue releases, tend to sustain visitor interest far longer than single-day festivals.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
