The Great Ganja Hunt
Custom designed and 3D printed a TRENDS LIC rolling tray, then broke it into nine collectible letter pieces - T, R, E, N, D, S, L, I, C - hidden across six local businesses in Long Island City. Over 200 participants solved puzzles, hunted down pieces, and raced back to TRENDS to assemble the completed tray and claim a $5,000 grand prize. Featured in TimeOut NYC and Secret NYC.
Founded by Rodney “Hurricane” and Brandon Carter. Strategy, fabrication, and creative direction by Jordany Iturbide.
The Challenge
TRENDS needed more than a standard dispensary promotion. As a community-first brand, they wanted an activation that would position them at the center of Long Island City's local business ecosystem - not just drive sales, but build genuine neighborhood engagement on the biggest day in cannabis culture.
The brief required something tactile, competitive, and collectible - an experience that moved people through physical space, introduced them to local businesses, and created a tangible reward worth chasing. The 3D-printed tray puzzle gave the hunt a physical artifact that tied the entire experience together.
The Tray
The centerpiece of the hunt was a custom-designed TRENDS LIC rolling tray, 3D modeled from scratch and printed in-house. The tray was engineered to split into nine individual letter pieces - each one a standalone collectible that fits flush back into the tray body.
Participants collected T, R, E, N, D, S, L, I, and C from hidden locations across LIC. Each letter was tucked inside a partner business, and finding it required solving a puzzle first. No addresses, no easy answers - just clues that led from one location to the next.
The first team to return to TRENDS with all nine pieces assembled in the tray claimed the $5,000 grand prize.
Process
Custom Tray Design & Fabrication
3D Modeling & FDM PrintingDesigned a custom TRENDS LIC rolling tray from scratch in CAD, then 3D printed the full piece in-house. The tray was engineered to break apart into nine individual letter segments - T, R, E, N, D, S, L, I, C - each one a standalone collectible that fits flush back into the tray body. Every letter was printed with tight tolerances so the completed puzzle snaps together cleanly, turning the final assembled tray into both a trophy and a functional product.
Puzzle & Clue Architecture
Game Design & Experience MappingBuilt the scavenger hunt framework around the tray mechanic. Each of the nine letter pieces was hidden at a different local business across Long Island City. Participants received clues and puzzles they had to solve to identify the next location - no addresses, no easy answers. Once at a location, participants had to take a photo and share it on social media to complete the stop - driving organic exposure for every partner business. The difficulty scaled as the hunt progressed, keeping participants engaged for hours as they moved through the neighborhood.
Community Partnership Network
Business Development & ActivationIdentified and onboarded six cannabis-friendly businesses across LIC as checkpoint locations, each one holding hidden letter pieces. Every partnership was structured to drive genuine foot traffic - introducing participants to shops they may not have visited otherwise. The hunt turned a single-store promotion into a neighborhood-wide activation, positioning TRENDS as the connective tissue of the local business ecosystem.
Live Event & Prize Fulfillment
Activation & OperationsLaunched on 4/20 2025 to over 200 registered participants. Teams and individuals fanned out across LIC solving puzzles, collecting letter pieces, and racing back to TRENDS to assemble their completed tray. The first to return with all nine pieces claimed a $5,000 goodie bag. The event earned coverage from TimeOut NYC and Secret NYC before it even launched.
Scaling Production
Registration numbers blew past projections, which meant more trays and letter tiles needed to be produced fast. Set up additional printers on-site at the shop to keep up with demand — running a Bambu Lab A1 Mini with AMS for dual-color printing on the letter tiles, pausing each print halfway to embed NFC tags inside the pieces.
Empty trays were running on a P1S in parallel. Trends brought in a Creality K2 Plus to help absorb the volume — three printers running simultaneously to hit the production target before event day.
Event Day
Strategic Impact
Community Activation
200+ participants moved through six local businesses over several hours - generating meaningful foot traffic and introductions that outlasted the event itself. Multiple partner businesses reported new repeat customers in the weeks following the activation.
Press Coverage
Featured by TimeOut NYC and Secret NYC ahead of the event - both outlets highlighted the $5K prize, the scavenger hunt format, and TRENDS' position as a community anchor. The press coverage served as organic marketing that drove sign-ups well beyond the local network.
Physical Collectibility
The 3D-printed tray and letter pieces gave participants something tangible to chase and keep. Every letter was a small trophy, and the completed tray was a functional product that extended the brand presence far beyond the event day. Physical touchpoints that digital activations can't replicate.
Press & Recognition
Featured in “The Best 4/20 Events In NYC This Year”
TRENDS Weed Scavenger Hunt
“TRENDS is one of NYC's best loved dispensaries, and the Long Island City institution is organizing a scavenger hunt that will take participants through six secret, weed-friendly local businesses. Whoever completes the hours-long 4/20 scavenger hunt will receive a goodie bag worth a whopping $5,000.”
By Ian Kumamoto, Culture EditorAbout TRENDS
TRENDS is the first Black-owned cannabis dispensary in Long Island City, Queens. Founded by Rodney “Hurricane” and Brandon Carter, TRENDS operates at the intersection of retail, culture, and community - hosting events, building local partnerships, and establishing themselves as a neighborhood institution that extends far beyond product sales.
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