A pair of video game designers created a real-life, real-time treasure hunt in the Northeast with a hefty reward for the lucky individual who finds the unique treasure.
The game is called Project Skydrop, and players compete against one another to locate a 24-karat gold sculpture valued at $26,000.
"This treasure hunt is a prototype, just experimenting to see if people like it, if people like the format," Project Skydrop co-creator Jason Rohrer told Boston 25 News.
The game started Sept. 19 and will end on Oct. 10.
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The golden treasure has been hidden within a 500-mile radius, and, for $20, players receive a daily hint of the location of the prize, located deep in the woods of public land on the forest floor. Each day, the clues start to reveal more and more about where the treasure is hidden. As the days go on, the circle gets smaller.
"We’re trying to figure out if the treasure hunt itself is a sort of self-contained, self-sustaining, financial thing, where these people are paying entry fees to join and that this bounty payment growing over time makes it more and more interesting. Can that snowball and take off? That’s the question," Rohrer said.
The object resembles a "cyclone" on a base with dots and symbols etched onto the sides of the rings. It was made of 10 troy ounces of 24-karat pure gold.
Along with the $25,000 value of the treasure, the winner will also receive a portion of an ever-growing prize bounty pool.
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There's also a Discord social media server with over 6,300 members signed up to share their thoughts and theories during the treasure hunt.
According to the Project Skydrop website, the grand prize is under 24/7 surveillance.
The designers surrounded the prize with tree-mounted cameras that are both motion-sensitive and night-vision capable.
