Haha, glad you figured it out, and sorry for the confusion! You are totally right: currently, that built-in timer field is specifically designed to auto-select a default option when a Choice menu times out (like in quick-time events). I'll definitely update the UI hints to make that crystal clear in 2.0!
As for your timed scavenger hunt idea—that sounds absolutely awesome!
While there isn't a "global gameplay timer" button yet, you can actually create a customized timed scavenger hunt right now using CapsuleScript or variables. You can set a variable (like {timeLeft} = 60), and use a parallel event or a quick conditional loop that ticks down every second while the player searches the screen for hotspots. If {timeLeft} hits 0, you trigger a jump to the 'Game Over' scene.
That being said, I absolutely love the idea of a dedicated, visual, and 100% no-code global timer widget for puzzles and exploration scenes. I'm adding a "Global Scene Timer" component to my todo list for future updates so you can make these kinds of mini-games with zero hassle.
Thanks for the honest feedback, and good luck with the ninja stealth/scavenger hunt!