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Post by GeneticBlend on Aug 12, 2022 17:39:04 GMT -5
My group is looking for some local Austin people to be at the ready to go botg tomorrow (Saturday) for the Great US Treasure Hunt.
We will try our best to solve the puzzle(s), then send you to the site to retreive the token. If you find the token, the $500 botg finder's prize is yours to keep. If not found, or someone beats you to it, you get nothing. That's the chance you take. We will not reimburse for any travel expenses.
The token can be within a 50 mile radius of the capitol building.
Please post here if you are willing to go botg and we will be in touch if we need to mobilize you.
Thanks for reading!
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Post by GeneticBlend on Aug 2, 2022 11:28:05 GMT -5
So what's the answer to the question of why he was given the Council title of Leveret instead of Hare? The word, "leveret" means "young hare". In several places in the story, the character, Leveret, seems confused as to how people already know his name. It was just a bit of humor added to the story. Since all the Council Members are given their creature names to represent them, such as, Ant, Butterfly, Crab etc... when Leveret is named to the Council, he too is given his creature name, which is Leveret (a young hare).
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Post by GeneticBlend on Aug 2, 2022 11:14:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the solution pdf! It's very thorough. I have a couple of things to add: Golden Beetle: This might have been unintentional, but the concentric circle in one of the troll footprints of the picture matches the circles in the correct area of the map which is another way to get to CU. Also the troll toes look like: 3 regular toes 2 white toes/1 regular toe I took this to mean: 3 (C using A1 Z26) 21 (U) which just happens to be the correct section of the map. Ant The solution is missing a mention of the colored bars at the bottom of the picture. Maybe that was added as an afterthought. If you match those colors with the poly6 you get: A is - E is . Anything that happened with the troll toes was purely coincidental. I just tried to make the troll footprints on site, in asphalt, look like they were in snow. The Ant solution should give A is - E is .
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Post by GeneticBlend on Aug 2, 2022 11:10:22 GMT -5
Thanks for the detailed solutions document. It was great fun to read through all the details we missed. It is all so obvious in hindsight having read the full solutions! In analyzing the artwork in the book for clues, we found many letters that we tried very hard to make meaningful, obviously too hard. Since I don't see reference to any of them in the solutions document, it appears we were hallucinating meaning where there was none. But just in case, could you confirm whether any of the following were intentional: 1) Green Beetle has the letters ZX (or 2X or maybe a couple pigpen characters) on the stone wall 2) Verdee has letters in her hair, RP and maybe some others 3) Frog has black letters in the green ferns on the ground, maybe H, F, and E? 4) Snail has a whole sequence of roman numerals encoded in the branches, X, I, and V abound, surely GPS coordinates to somewhere meaningful 5) The Master Key page has the word "Master" written in Beetle cursive (and we at various times thought we could read other words in the evines) The only thing intentional was the word, "Master" in the vines. Sometimes a brushstroke may look like a letter or some shape that is not intended. Also, I tried to paint these as close to the exact same size as they would appear in the printed book because once the printing occurs, there is often some minor distortion that occurs. And if people try to zoom in on the image, all kinds of mysterious things will appear, regardless of what the original image looks like. Any clues in the art should have been obvious.
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 28, 2022 11:30:49 GMT -5
How do you get to Austin TX without reusing the capitals on the map solve? There was a hint in the story that the city started with a vowel. Also that it was a musical city, 13th floor elevator, 6th street, warehouse, all pointed to Austin. These last two bonus hunts weren't meant to follow all methods in the previous hunts. They were purposely made to be slightly different so that people who didn't solve for a previous token could figure these out without relying on what was already done.
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 23, 2022 15:57:15 GMT -5
These 2 bonus puzzles are not meant to follow the structure of the previous puzzles. The hardest part will probably be finding someone to go botg.
Beth
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 22, 2022 11:13:08 GMT -5
The Epilogue is available. Be sure to check your email.
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 22, 2022 9:05:46 GMT -5
I left an Easter Egg in the Ocarina. Anyone figure it out?
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 22, 2022 9:00:17 GMT -5
Did I miss the Bentley snowflake connection? I was sure you used the well known snowflakes on purpose to hint towards Snowflake Bentley but never found a connection. I spent tons of time trying to track down those particular snowflakes in the catalog. I tried hard to make the creatures appear as they would....no comic book creatures here. And when it came time for the snowflakes, I wanted real ones. So I found this photographer, Bentley, who took pictures of snowflakes. I told Bill about them and gave him a link to them. Bill used them on the border for Snail. There was no connection other than they are photos of REAL snowflakes, which I think is neat.
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 22, 2022 8:44:59 GMT -5
Butterfly threw us a little bit because it was the only picture that had a keyhole other than the feys and the spiral. Was there any significance to that? Butterfly was holding a box as a clue to a BOX CANYON. The art is a subtle reference to another treasure hunt, "The Secret" where on the cover of that book, the woman is opening a box and light emerges. The light was a clue that the puzzle was about the properties of the colors of light. The keyhole really had no significance other than they were searching for keys. I gave nods to other treasure hunts in the book that were barely recognizable, such as using the word "beacon" for "Beacon Star". Of course there are undeniable resremblances to ATT with the forest creatures, feys and creature gems as prizes. And you always need a hare or rabbit in a good hunt!
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 21, 2022 8:35:38 GMT -5
It went from $20,000 per all 50 states to a handful of cities at $1,000 each, and from a network with sponsors to a YouTube show.
But that's okay. At least they were thinking big and tried. It will still be fun.
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 16, 2022 18:12:54 GMT -5
I want the chance to be the one to go BOTG now. I like solving hunts too! I am taking a break from being a hunt creator.
😎 Watch out! You might have some competition on the next hunt you take on.
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 16, 2022 17:10:50 GMT -5
I am traveling today, so I haven't been able to pitch in and answer the "Ask Me Anything" questions. But I have a few minutes now, so I will try to answer a couple of questions.
The PLGB tokens were purchased by me as an inexpensive way to be able to hide a proxy item that could withstand bad weather conditions. The letters and numbers would satisfy the need for a searcher to identify the proxy.
As the hunt evolved, Bill and I decided to add additional messages to the backs of tokens. It was easier, and much less costly, to just hammer in the messages by hand.
I originally tried to make the title fit the PLGB, but it was just too forced.
----
As for the geography, it was my idea to try to follow the guidelines set by "The Great US Treasure Hunt". The authors of that hunt used the Mississippi River to divide East and West, and the 40th Parallel to divide North from South.
I know this wasn't perfect. But no matter what division we would have decided on, there would be some people who would not be happy with it. But it was a fictional story, so did it really matter?
However, in the real world, we are two people, trying to make a quality treasure hunt, funded with our own money. We had to travel to hide the tokens, and we both live in the East. So, unfortunately, the majority of tokens ended up on our end of the US.
I too wish we could have spread out the tokens more. But when we get sponsors, or if people want to start paying $100 for a book, I know I can't afford to do travel all over the US. 😉
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 15, 2022 22:05:43 GMT -5
Since the token had a partial message/code inscribed on it, the finder immediately had an advantage gaining that knowledge. If the finder could get the other tokens in that same set (North, South,East or West, then later the Keys of the four Feys), they could complete the code and move on to the next level.
The 28 days allowed them to have that code exclusive to them. In that time frame, they could try to solve, then find another token in that set, or barter with another team who might have the token they needed.
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Post by GeneticBlend on Jul 15, 2022 21:19:21 GMT -5
When writing the "Epilogue", Bill said to me to leave an opening for the sequel. I said there will be no sequel. This book was done so well, I am afraid that we could never top it.
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