Anyone successfully completed a map yet & are setting out for a silver eagle???
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Anyone successfully completed a map yet & are setting out for a silver eagle???
Meaner - Even if someone was, I think per the rules they cannot say as it could disqualify them.Quote:
Originally Posted by meaner simikkles
A better question would be can the map sequences be solved at this point?. Meaning are all of the clues needed to complete a map available NOW?. Can a map be solved with only the book, the companion book and the website?. I did a back of the envelope calculation and concluded that the author needs to sell a LOT of books to cover the costs of this hunt, ie: website, publications and prizes. It would make fiscal sense not to award any prizes until the costs are met. With that in mind has anyone received a definitive answer to any of the above from the author or his employees?. I held back on this until I completed all of the chapters but now I am as baffled as the next guy. I am considering putting away all concerned with this hunt and waiting until someone actually claims an Eagle before spending anymore time on it.
According to the "official" rules in the front of the book. The author can at any time decide that no one will solve the clues and claim a prize and can therefore decide to end the hunt, with no refund I might add. If the author has made the hunt impossible to solve it would be properly described as a SCAM. And some wonder why it's not a recommended hunt.
Hi, I just received an email(after I posted my comments) that my map submission for chapter one was incorrect. I thought as much as I submitted a random pick. The problem is that I submitted the picks in Feb. and the email gave a date of Mar. 13. Has anyone else received an email telling them their picks were incorrect?. I was under the impression that you would not be notified if your picks were incorrect. Are the rules changing as we go along or is it if you bitch you're rewarded with a response. The hunt is only viable and fun with a level, fair and honest playing field. Would'nt you agree.
My map for chapter one is now showing a solution, anyone else getting this.
To be fair.... each Silver Eage is $10K and the Gold Eagle is $1M. Would you expect it final part to be as easy as the Chapter questions?
Its less than 60 days after the book was launched. I think its a little early to be bashing the author because we are all scratching our heads on what to do after the Chapter questions.
Save the kicking and screaming on the floor for a little longer :)
LOL - You sure its not the key order you originally used and the site saved it? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by navfish
Mike, I was posting a few comments that I thought others might consider. I asked a few questions and was awaiting any responses to those questions. Please reread what I wrote and if you have any answers to the questions please feel free to share them.
Kit,Quote:
Originally Posted by navfish
You used phrases like "viable", "scam", "not fair", "putting away all concerned with this hunt", "not a recommended hunt", etc... To me it came off as alot more than "comments"
I didn't answer your questions because I don't think there are definitive answers to your questions - or at least none that I have :)
My comments are are just that, comments. Food for thought.
My questions are also just that, questions.
To separate, the questions are as follows:
1) Has anyone received a response that all of the clues necessary to place the keys in the proper order are publicly available at this time?
2) Has anyone besides me received an email response informing then that their key sequence was incorrect and if so how long was it between submission and response.
Almost all contests have either a similar statement or an end date. This is put in place so that the quest does not go on indefinitely. As long as there is still interest in the quest it should not end until all prizes are awarded. This simply allows the author to end the quest if, for example, 10 years from now no one is making any guesses, talk on the boards stops, no one is logging into the website anymore and a prize is still not won. It does not mean that the author will just end the hunt on a whim. IF it was impossible to solve and the intent was to sell books without a prize payout it would be a scam, however, there is NO indication that that is the case here. It is still VERY early to make any assumptions. The website estimates the hunt will take at least 8 month (going from memory, I may not be exact). We are not anywhere near that yet. I wouldn't panic. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by navfish
Quote:
Originally Posted by navfish
I have made several submissions. It took approximately 2 weeks to receive each response. It does say that your response will be verified within 14 days when you submit your guess. (As soon as you hit submit this comes up right next to the map.)
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Originally Posted by BoatDaddyLOL - You sure its not the key order you originally used and the site saved it? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by navfish
Every time you make a submission it saves it on the map. Your map will look the same until you submit a new sequence. :)
I have made about 20 submissions on chapter 1 and received only 2 replies.
Do you think that the clues to the ordering of the keys for each chapter is in each chapter or throughout the book. In other words clues for chapter 1's order are contained within chapter 1 only??
That would be a fair assumption, but remember what they say about assuming things!Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzy head
s
I asked this question to the moderators and got no response. Maybe someone here knows. If you submit a key order one day and then submit a different key order the next day, will they both qualify as guesses or will the second one override the first. I guess what I mean is, do we need to wait for a response before we place a new guess to make sure they all count?Quote:
Originally Posted by stvwzThat would be a fair assumption, but remember what they say about assuming things!Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzy head
s
Ace999
For those interested: I email the following question to Admin in the hope of putting the validity question to bed.
Are the clues necessary to solve any or all of the map key sequences currently available?
The response:
Dear Quester,Some of the clues are out and you may not have found them. More clues will be coming out as the treasure hunt continues.Good luck in your hunt.
The Admin Team
The World's Greatest Treasure Hunt
Clearly not an answer to the question so I emailed back asking for a yes or no. Will post response if I get one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzy head
Dear heavens, I'm about to pop.....
They're throughout the book.
And on the web site--just as the author tells you.
I've never been good about not helping out on these forums, and the strictures on public discourse are KILLING me.
I only completed chapter 8 three nights ago, and I really haven't started work on the questions on chapter 9, but I really REALLY want you to see how logical, elegant, and clever this treasure hunt is designed. It's a lot more than playing a game of '20 questions'.
I'm only quoting from the book here....
1. ...we would find a key that, when used with the other two would unlock a box containing a map
2. A different inscription was on each key
3. ...unless all three keys were used correctly the contents would be destroyed.
4. I anxiously lifted the lid of the box. But there was no map, merely a letter which told me where I would find the next piece of information needed.
No comments. Just quotes. Not against the rules, yes?
:)
Doc
--- On Mon, 3/22/10,wrote:
From:
Subject: Re: greathunt.ocm
To: greatesthunt@yahoo.com
Date: Monday, March 22, 2010, 4:35 PM
Hi, thanks for the response. Please answer the question. Are All of the clues necessary to solve a map currently available. Yes or no?
Dear Quester,Specific questions in regards to the clues of the treasure hunt cannot be addressed.
The Admin Team
The World's Greatest Treasure Hunt
An obvious bullshit answer, in bold no less, which can only mean NO to any reasonable person. It seems the wizard yells louder when feeling pressured. Please feel free to review all of the previous bogus hunts for a history lesson. And for those who feel a 0% chance at a lot of money is better than a 1% chance at a little, good luck with that logic. As for myself I've moved on to something with a much greater chance of success, the lottery. I will of course check back in a year or two to read Molnar's(the ignore past doomed to repeat guy) posts, after having done exactly that, complaining about how poorly the hunt turned out.
We have recieved a reply within the stated time limits for every submission we made(maps).
Don't know what to think of that, I'm not finished yet with the 240 questions, still 3 to go, but i hope to be done soon.Quote:
Originally Posted by navfish
After that there is still some work to do on some "strange" or "extra" things spread across the book ...
But will it be enough ?
I have the strange feeling that indeed , we don't have for the time being all necessary information to complete a sequence.
At first it was just a though, but the answer form the admin team let me perplex ...
What would be the cost of answering "Yes" if it was the case, people would be more motivated to continue, the lack of answer makes everyone things that it means "no" and there is a huge risk of people loosing their interest .. ?
Another question I'm asking myself :
The dynamic mode of this hunt with the website and all is very interesting, I like it a lot.
I just hope that the solving of one of the 12 sequences is not just end up being dependant of "obvious clue" spread around the partner's websites and just a question of "the one who see the clue on the website the first is the one that solve the sequence the first".
Of course all that is just random toughs, to have your feeling about how thinks could go, i guess we are all a bit paranoïd :p
Thank you for letting us all know that you will be moving on to other adventures. It is greatly appreciated ! :)
Greetings on a beautiful sunny afternoon in the Bayou State of Louisiana!
I'm trying to be helpful without violating the rules, and I wanted to pass along a couple of observations.
Bear in mind this is coming from someone who is just now starting Chapter 10, so you might take this with a grain of salt.
Apparently, there are several folks who have completed all 240 questions--and did so fairly fast--and have hit a brick wall when confronted with the map.
I see two reasons why this is happening:
1. The clues for both the golden eagle and the silver eagle are present. We are going to have to sift through them to figure out which clues belong to which puzzle.
2. If you managed to complete the 240 questions, you're really good with ciphers. The puzzles and clues for the silver eagle maps may require a different set of skills, and you may still be looking for similar puzzles.
I'm thinking about 'National Treasure' and the clue 'The secret lies with Charlotte'. Or, 'The Da Vinci Code' and something along the lines of 'a pope is buried here.'
No amount of counting letter frequencies or math analysis can help solve those sorts of clues. One had to realize that 'Charlotte' was the name of a ship and 'a pope' meant 'Alexander Pope'.
Completely different set of puzzles from ciphers. Not sure what to label them.
If that makes some degree of sense, then 'What Doesn't Belong' takes a different meaning.
In other words, if you see something like a deliberately misspelled STAYTS or Will Smith's father rather than Will TUrner's father, or planetary symbols that don't belong anywhere....
A big red flag should go up saying 'A clue lies here'.
Working on chapter 10 tonight,
Doc
I've finally joined the ranks of the 240.
Luckily, I've got about 7 hours of airport/airplane tomorrow, so that should be plenty of time to solve at least ONE silver eagle! :-D
Cheers,
Steve
I completely agree Doc. I've been working with items that just don't fit with anything else. I have actually come up with a method that justifies the few key order clues that we do have and gives me a different set of orders for each chapter. The only difficulty is it can be used slightly in more then one way, so I have to wait for each response to my try before I try the next one. No luck so far, but who knows. And if this doesn't work, I'll try something else.Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc
I think it's silly to believe that the final answer would be as easy as the questions (and yes I have solved them all.). I would be disappointed if the hunt was that easy. To give up on this so quickly would just defeat the entire purpose to why I do these in the first place and that is too challenge myself, allow myself to grow in my problem solving skills, and to feel the excitement when a breakthrough is actually made. The prize is just the icing on the cake!
Ace999
Congratulations Steve!!!!
Thanks Lauren!
Ace - Do you really need to wait for the response before the next submit? I thought people were submitting one per day and getting responses back on all of them after the 2 week incubation.
Steve
See I was never sure about that. I sent that question to the admins and got no answer back. I didn't want my answers to override the previous ones before I got a response. I'm going to send another one today and see if I get a response for both. That way I can go through my possibilities quicker.Quote:
Originally Posted by bass021
Ace999
Congratulations and welcome!Quote:
Originally Posted by bass021
Ha - that would be great if you did- although you couldn't tell us for 2 weeks! lol
s
Steve,
You can submit once per day for Each map.
Good luck!
Hi, Lauren.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lauren
Yes, the limit is one submission by day, but some of us still have doubts about if several submissions into a 2-weeks time frame override to each other, just remainding the last one before the notification message or if instead all the submissions will be evaluated.
No, the submissions do not override. They will tell you which chapter on which date was submitted and say it was not correct.
We've submitted maps daily and gottten a reply for each. Speaking of that- how many of us are confident in our key placement strategy? We like what we have, but have not found any hints other than in the book itself, though we keep looking.
I have not yet submitted a key order (other than at the very beginning as a test). I have a strong suspicion that once the right method for the key-order is found, you'll almost certainly know you are correct. Of course, at the moment I have no method to speak of, so feel free to ignore me :-)
Steve
It appears navfish hit the nail on the head.Quote:
Originally Posted by navfish
All signs are pointing to them getting near closing this hunt down:
- Awful book sales. No new posters here, only 600 people on facebook. There will never be a gold eagle awarded. There probably will never be a silver eagle awarded. Perhaps one if someone gets really lucky. Certainly not 2 or 12. Their sales are probably a few thousand bucks. You're nuts if you think they'll give out $100k or $1M in prizes.
- No enewsletters in months or new clues. Looks like they're done giving new clues. Looks like they want this hunt to go away so they can invoke "not enough interest" clause and shut it down so they never have to award a prize.
- Lots of unanswered questions on facebook.
- Errors not posted in a timely manner.
- Rule changes all the time. First the chapter 13 being visible only to some people now allowing multiple entries per person (to sell their remaining stock of books before they shut down?)
- Still no documented evidence that silver eagles even exist and what they're worth.
Looks like they made a hunt that had a flawed business plan and is way too difficult and are planning to shut it down before anyone ever wins a prize.
No wonder this hunt is not "recommended" on tweleve.
I rarely respond to comments like this, but for some reason I feel the need to today.
Quote:
Still no documented evidence that silver eagles even exist
Check out the link that is readily available on the greathunt website:
https://www.greathunt.com/images/Winnipeg%20Free%20Press.gif
Also, Ron brought a silver eagle to more than one public event.
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Rule changes all the time. First the chapter 13 being visible only to some people
This was never a rule change. There was an error with the site when the contest began. It let anyone who submitted an answer for any key to view any map. Anyone who logged in, obtained a key and then clicked on the map would have seen it. Anyone. As soon as the error was reported, the site went off-line and the problem was fixed. Yes, those who tried to look at 13 1/2 in the first few days of the contest would have seen it. Those who got their book later or who didn't try to look did not. Every hunt has mistakes or unintentional errors. The fact that the author made the fix (and made it quickly) tells me that he wants the hunt to continue and be a success.
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now allowing multiple entries per person (to sell their remaining stock
Well, yeah! This is a hunt for charity. Selling more books is basically the point. I'm sure that many people will be ordering another. Having 2 attempts means I don't have to wait another day when I have 2 theories at once. It also means they sell more books and raise more money. Seems reasonable to me.
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Awful book sales. No new posters here, only 600 people on facebook
Just because people are not talking does not mean that they are not participating. I for one have not posted on the boards recently (or read them much) and am not a facebook-friend. I am however, actively working on it on my own.
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Looks like they're done giving new clues.
There are plenty of clues out there. Those who have not found them are either looking in the wrong place or simply not looking hard enough. Each of the clues that have been publicly announced were available prior to their "release". This is a treasure hunt after all. The fun part is looking for the treasure. In a "real" treasure hunt the pirate is not going to draw the "X" on your map for you. I hope the author doesn't feel pressured into releasing clues faster. The best part of a hunt like this is the hunt itself.
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Errors not posted in a timely manner.
In a hunt like this it is not always easy to release corrections. When clues and red-herrings are throughout the book, the author has to ensure that releasing corrections will not give away answers. Also, the real question is if these corrections will have any effect on the solution. If not then they are simply irrelevant. Yes, they may have sent us in the wrong direction. Many of my own theories fell apart once the list was released. Although it can be frustrating, this too is part of treasure hunting. Look at Mel Fisher. Using incorrect information and/or interpreting things incorrectly, he looked in many "wrong" spots before finding his treasure. That is the exciting part. You never know when you may find the "right" clue.
I apologize for my rant. I have been involved with MANY hunts and won my fair share. There are always people posting that the hunt I'm in is not fair. There are always people posting that the contest I'm participating in is a scam (including ALL of the ones I have won). There are always some that say it is too hard, or too easy, or too... you name it. Most of the hunts/contests I have worked on were held by large companies. I usually keep my mouth shut because I really don't care if they sell one less cola or one less box of cereal. This time my hobby is raising money for something I believe in. This time it is not a big company trying to sell more product. If you don't want to participate then don't. If you don't want to buy a book, then don't. Your inability to solve something does not mean that there is not a solution. Your inability to see something does not mean that it is not there. Instead of complaining that the hunt is "way too difficult", maybe seek assistance in areas that you have weaknesses. Instead of crying failure on the part of the hunt, maybe try giving constructive criticism to the author. Tearing down those who are trying to do good is never productive. If you, or anyone else, has actual evidence that the hunt is collapsing or was designed unfairly then that would be a different story.
I'm frustrated because I would hate to see this particular hunt lose interest because some are frustrated with their own progress.
I'm sure that there are some who agree with me, and I'm equally sure that I will hear from those who do not. Best of luck to all who are still giving this hunt their efforts.
~Caf
Caffeine,
I agree 2,000% with your reply.
Good luck in your quest.
Jamyphx.