The Blackbeard Treasure with $10 million cash

[tootingjo]

This new hunt says there's a million prize prize hidden in each of 10 states and the hunt is linked to a reality TV show. It's a $49.99 entry fee and I don't know if I trust it to be real. Any thoughts? theblackbeardtreasure.com/

[goldhunter]

Really interesting. Thanks.

[retro]

Thanks for sharing tootingjo

There is no start date so I emailed them.  the reality show page says November 2020.

Also the tagline "Welcome to The Blackbeard Treasure, the world's only and largest treasure hunt!". Feels strange to say "only".

[retro]

"Address not found
Your message wasn't delivered to [e-mail] because the address couldn't be found, or is unable to receive mail."

[goldhunter]

Aug 8, 2020 17:38:21 GMT -5 retro said:

Thanks for sharing tootingjo

There is no start date so I emailed them.  the reality show page says November 2020.

Also the tagline "Welcome to The Blackbeard Treasure, the world's only and largest treasure hunt!". Feels strange to say "only".

I felt that as being weird wording, too.

[goldhunter]

Speculation alert!!! If you paid your money, received a map, and then no more clues were given- I think that would be great. But...I could see where a reality show could control the flow of clues and information so that multiple groups converge on the same spots at the same time in order to induce chaos, friction, etc.

A couple of lines from the rules...

* Along with the map, you will also be given clues, and riddles, all of which lead to the treasures.

* If nobody finds the treasures by a certain date, more clues will be emailed and texted to you. A new clue will be revealed every two weeks until the treasures are found.

Fair enough, I guess, but I personally wouldn't like that.

But, again, speculation on my part.

[Jenny]

The Red Flags are waving on the Blackbeard Treasure: www.distractify.com/p/blackbeard-treasure-hunt-real

[riddlerja]

Aug 8, 2020 20:59:01 GMT -5 goldhunter said:

I could see where a reality show could control the flow of clues and information so that multiple groups converge on the same spots at the same time in order to induce chaos, friction, etc.

Here’s the bad news as far as the reality show angle goes. To maximize viewership, their best plan is to make sure that neither the initial clues nor the first several hints are enough to lead you to the treasure. They want to follow some hunters as a show; if someone finds it too fast, there’s no show. So the early clues and hints will be general enough that while they could point to them at the end and say, “see this all fits,” those clues would not exclude enough places to lead to an earlier solve. They might throw in something super-obscure that they could say limits it to the real spot, but so far out that we have no realistic chance of deciphering it in advance.


Once they decide they’ve milked the show long enough, they release something useful. They can even play favorites, choosing their later clues in a way that their “preferred” searcher(s) are more likely to understand. They could also wait until such preferred searchers are closer to the treasure than other people so that they have a geographic head start.


I can think of a lot of ways to rig the system given you’re designing it in advance. Unlike Fenn’s chest, this one comes with both strings attached and with financial payback to the hider. Fenn maintained a mostly-level playing field since he didn’t care who won, nor when. The Blackbeard people could make this fair, but the rules, fee and overall scheme all lend themselves to abuse.

[goldhunter]

Aug 20, 2020 13:29:01 GMT -5 riddlerja said:

Aug 8, 2020 20:59:01 GMT -5 goldhunter said:

I could see where a reality show could control the flow of clues and information so that multiple groups converge on the same spots at the same time in order to induce chaos, friction, etc.

Here’s the bad news as far as the reality show angle goes. To maximize viewership, their best plan is to make sure that neither the initial clues nor the first several hints are enough to lead you to the treasure. They want to follow some hunters as a show; if someone finds it too fast, there’s no show. So the early clues and hints will be general enough that while they could point to them at the end and say, “see this all fits,” those clues would not exclude enough places to lead to an earlier solve. They might throw in something super-obscure that they could say limits it to the real spot, but so far out that we have no realistic chance of deciphering it in advance.


Once they decide they’ve milked the show long enough, they release something useful. They can even play favorites, choosing their later clues in a way that their “preferred” searcher(s) are more likely to understand. They could also wait until such preferred searchers are closer to the treasure than other people so that they have a geographic head start.


I can think of a lot of ways to rig the system given you’re designing it in advance. Unlike Fenn’s chest, this one comes with both strings attached and with financial payback to the hider. Fenn maintained a mostly-level playing field since he didn’t care who won, nor when. The Blackbeard people could make this fair, but the rules, fee and overall scheme all lend themselves to abuse.

I'm with you on that.

If you like hunting and crave attention, it might be perfect for someone. I would be happy for someone to invest in the map or maps...make me a partner...I try to figure it out...send them into the drama.

[goldhunter]

Nov 29, 2020 19:13:02 GMT -5 kaitlyn said:

Aug 8, 2020 13:09:19 GMT -5 tootingjo said:

This new hunt says there's a million prize prize hidden in each of 10 states and the hunt is linked to a reality TV show. It's a $49.99 entry fee and I don't know if I trust it to be real. Any thoughts? theblackbeardtreasure.com/

We purchased a map months ago but still haven’t received anything at all. Plus, no reply from customer support. The treasure hunt started yesterday and the map was promised to be viewable at that time. What type of degenerate pitches a fun, family outing on a holiday weekend as a scam’s marketing tactic? Will post any updates if received. However, as of now, it appears to be a scam.

I'm hoping some sort of glitch has happened that can't be addressed until the workweek starts.

I got an email from them about a week ago with lots of details about how covid was going to affect the reality show part of the hunt.

[goldhunter]

Looks like Facebook is the place to look for information...

www.facebook.com/TheBlackbeardTreasure

[riddlerja]

The interview said go to the website, but when I tried, I got this:

Website certificate revoked
The certificate used by this server has been marked as untrustworthy and the connection is not safe.

[goldhunter]

I just visited the website so it is up and running.

[hatofgold]

I’ve been following since day 1!
I’m new to this site... Been hunting pretty much alone on this one! Would love to have some people to bounce clues off of... Hopefully 🙏someone here will start a thread. Maybe ye did, and like the treasure... I can’t find that either!
( No worries... no competition here!)

[hatofgold]

We are on about clue 6 right now... Hunt got a very late start... Started around December 5th I think...