Madison here, I am one of the co-owners and creators of Cross Roads Escape Games. I love puzzles, and I recently started up a new hobby that I thought many of our fans might also enjoy, Treasure Hunting. Yes, REAL TREASURE is just sitting out there, waiting to be found.
It was about this time last year that I came across a book called ‘There’s Treasure Inside’ by Jon Collins-Black (aka JCB). JCB is a multi-millionaire who collected treasures. His collection included everything from jewels, gold, bitcoin, rare Pokémon cards, a moon rock, and much, much more. He hid his treasures in 5 boxes scattered across the US and left all the clues to find them in his book. Each box is slightly different in value, but they all range from 1 to 3 million dollars each.
JCB was inspired by a previous treasure hunt that started in 2010, by a man named Forrest Fenn. Fenn wrote an autobiography called ‘The Thrill of The Chase,’ but he was worried no one would read it, so he included a poem in the back of the book with clues that led to a treasure box (worth millions of dollars in gold), which he hid somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Fenn’s treasure was found 10 years later, in 2020, paving the way for many more Treasure Hunts to come. If you want to learn more about Forrest Fenn’s treasure, there is a great documentary on Netflix called ‘Gold and Greed,’ which also features another new multimillion-dollar treasure hunt, ‘Beyond the Map’s Edge’, by Justin Posey.
JCB’s hunt was released in November 2024, so it’s only been a little over a year, and nothing has been found yet. I’ve been BOTG (boots on the ground) once, for the Past and Future Box, and found myself unprepared for how hard it was going to be! Most of the year was spent behind a computer, researching, plotting, and what most people called “armchair” treasure hunting. Once I came up with a pretty good solve, I bought my plane tickets and traveled to the other side of the country. Once BOTG, I realized that the world is a big place! What seemed like a small area on a map was actually a football field-sized search area in a dense forest full of great potential hiding spots. This was also after I had just hiked 5 miles up a mountain to my solve spot, completely exhausted, knowing I had another 5-mile hike back down before it got dark, just to do it all again the next 3 days in a row. Needless to say, it was a long hike down the mountain empty-handed. But I haven’t given up! I knew I needed to go back to the drawing board and come up with a more solid solution before I hastily bought plane tickets again.
Searching for some new inspiration, I recently attended Seeking Treasure Con in Las Vegas this last weekend, and I learned about so many other treasure hunts happening right now! There are a lot of “armchair” hunts that happen online, worth hundreds to thousands of dollars, and a few hunts that involve physical boxes that you must find and retrieve. You can learn all about the active hunts at Treasure Hunt Database: https://treasurehuntdb.com. Some are as old as 1982, and others came out just a few days ago!
Treasure Hunting is hard, and it should be; there is an amazing prize for all your hard work! But it is also very different from normal puzzle-solving. As a puzzle designer myself, the first puzzle I put out is always the hardest version it will ever be. The information I provide the solver is minimal because I want to see where their mind goes. Often, people make logical connections I never considered because the answer was always obvious to me. After seeing many people struggle with the puzzle in its current form, I will make a small change and resume testing. In each iteration, I add a small piece of information until the puzzle is clear and solvable with the least amount of information given to the solver. This process can take months and involve over 50 playtests before it is finished.
For many treasure hunts, the solution is such a secret that only the creator knows the answer. This means that, unlike an escape room, their puzzles are not play-tested. They don’t have feedback to know if the steps they are taking are the same logical approach someone else would take; all they know is that it makes sense to them.
When you are trying to solve these puzzles, it’s easy to get lost down a rabbit hole, making connections where there are none. Confirmation bias is the biggest challenge you will face, and it’s important not to get hung up on assumptions that you think are “facts.” My advice: get to know the creator, understand how their mind works, solve the puzzle as if you were in their shoes, not yours.
Treasure hunting can be a secretive hobby. I get it. The more people you tell, the more potential competitors you have. But in my eyes, the chances of being the person who finds the treasure are pretty slim. I think the excitement and joy come from sharing your discoveries, making friends, solving puzzles, traveling together, and making memories. My favorite part of Cross Roads Escape Games is watching people jump for joy when they open a lock or high-five their friends when they escape. I hope you will join me in spreading the word about the amazing opportunities these treasure hunt creators have created for us.
I hope you will join me in the hunt!
-Madison
