The Abridged version:
- About 1,000 handmade ceramic worms are about to wriggle their way into hiding spots across Sacramento as Wormie World enlists the city in its third annual, whimsical scavenger hunt on Saturday.
- Anyone can participate for free and keep the wormies they find. Each wormie is handmade by local artists and volunteers, with a truly one-of-a-kind design.
- Check out Wormie World’s Instagram for hints on wormie whereabouts and pick up a Wormie World passport at any of the 21 participating businesses, including the Sacramento Zoo, Front Street Animal Shelter and Wild Sisters Book Co.
In a world full of mass-produced trinkets, Wormie World invites Sacramento to embrace something a little more unique: handmade ceramic worms.
The free annual scavenger hunt for the squiggly creatures returns for its third year this Saturday, encouraging participants to explore the city in search of hundreds of small creations hidden throughout Sacramento.
From 190 to 1,000 wormies
What began as a small idea in 2024 has grown into a free citywide scavenger hunt involving hundreds of volunteers and more than 1,000 handmade creations.
Brittany Clark created Wormie World to combine her love for ceramics, scavenger hunts and earthworms. Inspired by Game of Shrooms, an international ceramic mushroom hunt, Clark decided worms were worth hunting for, too.
“They’re like the underdog of creatures and we’re showcasing ‘don’t overlook these little guys’,” Clark said. “I feel like a lot of people can relate to that.”
She single-handedly organized the event its first year, crafting 190 worms to drop off at 90 locations. In 2025, the number of wormies grew to 500 and locations to 200. This year, nearly 1,000 wormies will be spread across 300 locations in the city. Each wormie is handmade, with its own colors, details and personality.
Local artist Karen Chen joined the first hunt as a participant. She found the event so captivating that she later teamed up with Clark as a collaborator. Chen sculpted nearly every wormie this year, while Clark painted and glazed most of them with the help of volunteers. Together, they catalog each wormie, number them and plan their hiding spots.
More than 200 volunteers signed up to help this year, filming worms in their hiding spots ahead of time and distributing them along designated routes the day of the event. Local residents also contributed about 200 handmade crafts to hide as part of Wormie World, including crocheted worms and worm bookmarks.
Wormie World will post visual hints of wormie locations on its Instagram, starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. A QR code on each worm’s tag lets finders share a photo and identify which creation they discovered.
Wormie World rules and where to look
The rules: no trespassing, digging or climbing, and a maximum of three wormies per person. Clark said participants can continue hunting for wormies, but asked that anyone who finds another to trade it for one of the worms they’ve already collected.
“The worms are always hidden in relatively easy-to-spot locations, so you never have to dig or rummage,” she explained. “They’re always in a visible location.”
Wormie hunters can download and print a Wormie World passport themselves or pick one up at any of the 21 local businesses participating in the event across Sacramento. Event sponsors will hide wormies at their businesses, and some restaurants will also give out wormies with purchases.
The Sacramento Zoo is participating in Wormie World for the first time this year as one of its main sponsors, with more than 25 handmade ceramic worms hidden in publicly accessible areas of the zoo on Saturday.
Spokesperson Sydney Amestoy said she’s looking forward to watching zoo visitors hunt for the hidden worms. To give everyone an equal chance at finding one, the zoo plans to hide a few worms every hour over the course of the day.
“The zoo is really excited to be a partner with something like this that engages with the Sacramento community,” Amestoy said. “It’s going to be a fun time.”
Visitors can pick up their Wormie World passports and stickers at a booth outside the zoo’s entrance and receive $5 off admission by mentioning their participation in the scavenger hunt. The zoo will also host an educational booth where visitors can learn about real worms and their importance to the ecosystem, adding a learning element to the hunt.
The Sacramento History Museum is another stop on the scavenger hunt, with wormies hidden in its gift shop. The museum will give away a limited number of free prints, made on its vintage printing press, featuring one of Clark’s wormie designs.
Wormie World is also offering an accessibility-friendly event at the Strapping gift store in Oak Park on Sunday from 9-10 a.m. Clark said about 25 worms will be hidden throughout the store in a wheelchair-accessible and quiet atmosphere.
“It’s quiet, it’s before the store opens and we hide typically 25 worms in all accessible locations,” she said.
A little whimsy goes a long way
“We’ve learned you can put anything on a worm,” Clark laughed.
Banana worms, tempura shrimp worms, butter worms, knight worms and a “biblically accurate angel worm” are among the imaginative creations participants might discover. For Clark and Chen, the possibilities are nearly endless.
“I feel like it’s part of the whimsy that we want to create with the event,” Chen said.
The duo hopes Saturday’s hunt offers more than a chance to take home a tiny ceramic collectible. By sending people all over Sacramento, they want participants to discover local businesses, public art and neighborhoods they might otherwise overlook.
“Almost all the places that work with us are small businesses and places we would like to showcase in Sacramento,” Clark said. “We hope that people will find new places they didn’t know were here, different murals they’ve never seen, different sculptures.”
Eilleen Le, marketing manager at Buddha Bowls and Rolls on 14th Street, described the hunt as a quirky, community-focused event that gives local businesses a chance to connect with new customers.
“I think it’s a really fun event that’s good for the city,” Le said. “Anything positive and fun and kind of experiential throughout the area is always a popular kind of thing.”
The restaurant will have five wormies to distribute, hiding some and giving the rest away randomly with food orders. For hungry hunters, Le recommends the chicken katsu rice bowl with Korean cucumber salad, one of her current favorites.
“Come on in and get some good food and look for some wormies,” Le said.
What started as a small, whimsical idea has grown into something much bigger than Clark imagined, thanks to a community willing to embrace the weird and whimsical.
“The fact that the community has embraced it so wholeheartedly, it’s just such an honor,” Clark said.
Chen has a different kind of appreciation for Wormie World, having been a participant in year one, a helping hand to craft a portion of wormies in year two, and now, one of the main creators in year three.
“I think it makes you want to give back when something so fun has happened,” Chen said. “We’re truly honored people like our art and they’re down to be silly with us.”
Art comes in all shapes and sizes. At Wormie World, it happens to be small, wriggly and inspired by one of nature’s most overlooked creatures.
