Norwich locals will know that for one day a year, the River Wensum is populated with giant, wildly decorated rubber ducks.
The Grand Norwich Duck Race helps raise money for young people’s charity, Break. This year, the race is on Sunday 28 August, and Thyngs are getting involved.
To help support our friends at Break, we’ve organised an interactive duck hunt on the same day, close to the course of the duck race. Starting by St George's Bridge, avid duck seekers must use their smartphones to find eleven little duck-shaped signs hiding by the river. Each one is a thyng — when you tap it, or scan its QR code, it will reveal a clue on your smartphone of where to find the next duck.
The treasure hunt is fairly quick - it should take less than half an hour. Of course, it wouldn’t be a treasure hunt without a prize. Everyone who successfully interacts with all eleven ducks will be entered into a prize draw to win a giant duck to decorate and race in next year’s competition (normally, it costs £100 to sponsor a big duck).
How you interact with the ducks depends on the sort of smartphone you have. Android users can tap the Thyngs logo on the duck to reveal the clue on their smartphone through NFC technology.
Apple iPhones don’t support NFC technology at the moment (we’re hoping this will change soon). Don’t panic, though: iPhones users can use the Thyngs app to interact with the ducks’ QR codes.
Click here to download the Thyngs app for free.
Each duck will include instructions of how to interact with it, and there’ll be Thyngs volunteers on hand help out if you need it.
As well as all this, there’ll also be music, stalls, face painting, cakes, a BBQ, and even a parade of the decorated giant ducks!
It looks like it’s going to be a really great day out, with the opportunity to support an important and hardworking Norfolk charity. See you there!
PS… Keep your eyes peeled for the Thyngs team’s interactive duck, Theo….