This treasure is silver and gold Get in touch with your inner pirate and see if you have what it takes to find $100K in hidden treasure By: Nadya Pankiw Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/07/2019 (1975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you’ve ever fantasized about being a pirate who finds a treasure chest filled with silver and gold, you’ll soon have the chance to turn that dream into reality when Gold Hunt hits town at the end of the month.

Edmonton-based Gold Hunt is a sort of mash up of scavenger hunt, escape room, geocaching and murder mystery where you solve riddles and puzzles in order to reveal clues to the $100,000 hidden treasure.

Chris Cromwell, a spokesman for Gold Hunt, said the company was inspired by the story of American art collector Forrest Fenn, who claims to have hidden a US$3 million treasure somewhere in the American Rocky Mountains. Several people have died trying to find Fenn’s treasure.

“This idea came across our circle and it was obviously very exciting and very inspirational and we thought ‘is this something that we could create in Alberta or in Canada’ and we thought it was worth a shot. So far, it looks like we’ve been able to do it,” said Cromwell, who has already hidden $1.3 million in treasure to date.

The hunt begins online with a purchase of a map for around $50 that includes all of the clues needed to hunt for the grand prize.

After Winnipeg treasure hunters receive their map on Aug. 31, they can embark on a hunt for a treasure chest filled with $100,000 worth of gold and silver and can even find additional “loot” along the way, including tablets, televisions and even vehicles.

But the hunt isn’t as simple as following the “X” that marks the spot.

Cromwell said puzzles have changed since the first hunt debuted in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver on June 1.

“So, we listened to our community — we have made the puzzles much more intricate, and we’ve done a lot more research to make sure that riddles can’t be solved from home using tools like Google,” Cromwell said.

The change came after treasures from all three cities were found too quickly: in Edmonton’s case it was a matter of about 18 hours, while it took a week to locate the treasure in Vancouver.

Clues for the second round of the Gold Hunt will instead be structured similar to a pyramid: the answers from the first 16 riddles will create eight more riddles that evolve into four spaces that create the final clue to locate the treasure. (Organizers said the treasure is not buried and trespassing on private property is not advised.)

In order to develop riddles for Winnipeg, Cromwell said he had to visit the city.

“We really have to look for not only historical significance, but cultural significance to that city to make sure that people who live in the city have a fair chance at actually finding it,” he said, adding at no time will treasure hunters be put in any dangerous situations.

Searches for the hidden chests began on July 27 in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver and will commence in Winnipeg, Halifax and Hamilton on Aug. 31. Gold Hunt is also going international, marking Sept. 14 as the date to solve clues and answer riddles in four Texas cities: Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

Who exactly is spending their time searching for treasure? Cromwell said “pirates” can range anywhere from families with small children to geocaching enthusiasts.

Gold Hunt has already surpassed its website’s goal of hiding $1 million across 10 North American cities, which was projected to take approximately three years.

Cromwell said the venture has remained privately funded by an initial group of investors, and revenue from map sales has allowed Gold Hunt to continue.

“Map sales were, I think, 7,800 maps were sold on round one, which, you know, ultimately put us in a very good position to be able to continue and to be able to continue expanding across Canada,” Cromwell said.

Despite an attempted cyber attack on Gold Hunt’s website prior to the launch of Round 2, the site has altered the way answers to the riddles are verified to ensure pirates can continue hunting.

nadya.pankiw@freepress.mb.ca