The muddy path ranges out and we cease to catch our breath. Which is sweet, as a result of mountaineering with my eyes lined has been a ache within the ass. A voice says: “You possibly can take your blindfold off now.” I squint as I get my bearings. Then, after a bit extra mountaineering and a few bushwhacking, I lastly see it. The prize. The factor nobody is meant to know the situation of, at the least for one more few weeks. A golden treasure.
I’ve to battle a lizard-brain intuition to achieve for it. No. If all goes to plan, the treasure will quickly belong to another person—to the winner of a wild treasure hunt dreamed up by two of the blokes main me via this distant wilderness. One is a musician named Tom Bailey. The opposite is Jason Rohrer, the mastermind. Rohrer has designed among the brainiest, highest-concept video games of the twenty first century. Now there’s this: not a online game, however Rohrer’s first recreation set in the true world.
Rohrer calls it Project Skydrop, and he’s been engaged on it, principally in secret, since 2021. He’s 46 years outdated and tall. Like NBA-power-forward tall. And thin. His blond hair, which as soon as hung down his again, is now reduce quick. At this time, he’s in boots, cargo pants, black aviator glasses, and a bucket hat. (Assume: Vietnam Battle stylish, save for an especially Gen X pockets chain.) His 21-year-old son can also be right here, equally tall, hair youthfully flowing. He’d drawn the quick straw and needed to be my private information. Because the hours drag on, he reminds the group that we’re dropping solar and will actually go away the hiding spot earlier than darkish.
The treasure was paid for and made by Rohrer himself, solid from 10 troy ounces of 24k gold. It’s price about $25,000, however added to that bounty is a yet-to-be-determined, probably life-changing quantity of bitcoin, relying on how many individuals take part within the hunt. What I’m allowed to inform you in regards to the treasure’s location is that it’s someplace within the northeastern United States and that I acquired right here by first flying to Rohrer’s dwelling in Dover, New Hampshire. Possibly I ought to add, on the danger of claiming an excessive amount of, that I used to be then pushed (once more, blindfolded) fairly a methods away, probably throughout state traces, to public land who is aware of the place. A just-released YouTube trailer for Venture Skydrop affords extra specifics. “Maybe there’s a sense deep down within you,” goes the Gandalfian narration. “A starvation. For thriller. For journey. And most significantly, for treasure.” Then the video explains that to search out the treasure, there’s a particular map, up to date every morning for (at most) 21 days, and pictures taken by way of drone, shot from progressively increased and better factors above the treasure.
We spend a number of hours on the drop web site. The fellows mount six motion-sensor cameras across the clearing, which they hope will present epic footage of the discover. Additionally they fly their drone straight up and begin snapping pics. The temper is giddy, even because the solar begins to set and mosquitoes descend. Duties finished, we lastly pack up, and Rohrer’s child readies my blindfold for the journey again. On the final second, Rohrer calls Bailey over and factors at their treasure, barely seen via a large number of child bushes. “We’re by no means gonna see it once more, Tom,” Rohrer says.
Two days from this second, the race to search out it begins. And in case you are studying this on September 19, 2024, that day is as we speak. The hunt has simply begun.
