The Fringe shows that'll truly let you get involved

ONLY 58 days to go until the start of the 2008 Festival Fringe, or 55 if you're one of the acts that are so eager to show what they can do that they've opted to open three days early, on the July 31.

Officially the 62nd Fringe runs from August 3-25 and this year sees the usual mix of theatre, comedy, music and dance. However, as in years past, there are also some quirky little pieces worth checking out in this year's programme, which was announced yesterday.

So if you fancy escaping some of the more traditional Fringe fodder of stand-up, sketch shows and student drama, here are a couple of tips for August.

First up, Scavengers, a treasure hunt come art exhibition that will take place across the Capital and culminate in participants contributing to a unique exhibition while attempting to win a 2000 prize.

The concept goes something like this: In just nine hours, with the whole of Edinburgh as their hunting ground, 40 teams must pack their A-Zs and race to decipher the 100 clues which could win them the cash.

While solving the clues teams must beg, borrow or bluff their way into obtaining certain required objects – in other words they must scavenge them.

Each item will earn the team points. At the end of the day, all the items, which will relate to the Festival and the City, will become the focus of a week long exhibition at the City Arts Centre. The team with the most points wins.

The hunt takes place on August 16 and entry costs 50 per team, go to www.scavengers.co.uk for more details.

While the old treasure hunt format is ever popular, audience participation takes many forms, take murder mystery nights for example. Which is exactly what IMMI HQ, who appear at the Zoo Southside, have done. In Death By Chocolate: An Interactive Murder Mystery With Chocolate Tasting, audiences are issued with notepads and pens, mugshots of the suspects, and a briefing on the details of the crime: In the aftermath of a chocolate-themed singles night a murder has been discovered. But which of the 11 supposed strangers is guilty? Could it be the immaculate hostess, the recently wheelchair-bound horse rider and her nervous carer, the chauvinist, the quiet one... Behind the facades, detectives may uncover secrets ranging from criminal pasts to current controversies. But who had both motive and means to kill Mr AJ Oak? (Mmm?) Transformed into autonomous detectives, and allowed to move anywhere in the space and ask anything of the suspects, the would be Miss Marples and Hercule Poirots must solve the clues.

Death By Chocolate won the Age 2007 Melbourne Fringe Best Special Event Award and went on to sell-out there and in Adelaide, so get your tickets now for Edinburgh, full details can be found at www.immihq.com Of course, these are just two of the 2088 shows that make up the 2008 Fringe. For full details of the other 2086 productions in this year's programme check out www.edfringe.com, where tickets go on sale from Monday.