Thread: CHAPTER 4 - discussion and clues

Originally Posted by Rx Jeff

I see interest in this hunt waining quickly. Hope I am wrong but I doubt many books are being sold.

Less competition for us then.

More seriously though, I think distribution is a big part of the issue. I havent seen the book in any of the large book stores down here. Also, getting the message out about the book's existence to people predisposed to being interested in it is a big problem for projects like this.

Im not sure if it would be possible, but in a perfect world, getting some major partnership with a puzzle/adventure show like Survivor or Amazing Race would be huge... you would get exposure to an audience perfect for this sort of thing.

I think the bigger issue here isn't as much of distribution as a marketing failure. In my opinion, marketing of this would be so much greater if they were to continue to attempt to spread the word. It doesn't seem like there is much of a continued push for that sort of thing. For each of the first 3 awards, there should have been news crews from at least the local media covering the event of the awarding of the silvers. There should also have been media coverage from all 3 of the hometowns of the winners. What a great story of a local person winning one right? I don't even know if any of them were even contacted.

In addition, in my opinion he would have been better served to allow the first 3 or 4 eagles to be won in rapid succession. Having easier clues that reveal more quickly. It would have created more of a buzz and people would have been impulsively signing up to join the hunt. Even if they didn't follow through, just the hype of the possibility of winning one (and look we just gave away 3 of them, you could be next!) would have been enough to get people to at least buy the book. Look at the Arizona treasure hunt for a million. National publicity and people were scrambling to buy into it. This should be a much easier market considering there is a possibility of a "minor" payout of a $20K silver along the way. Nobody wants to have to "work" for a solution and a get rich quick idea is what drives the entire country. Maybe not as important in other parts of the world, but here in the US it drives our economy immensely. Look at how much people get involved when the powerball jackpot gets up high. People are easily willing to spend the $35 on something like that, and the odds of winning this are incredibly much greater.

Cancer groups should be contacted. The Susan G. Kolmen foundation should be contacted. Getting renewed media publication through Good Morning America or any of the other morning shows should be of the utmost importance. Even if they were initially contacted and media covered these in the past, it should be followed up on again, especially since there have now been 3 awards given out.

Anyway, just my $.02 worth. I just hope that this doesn't eventually get cancelled. We all (those who are remaining) have already put in a tremendous amount of time figuring this out and to have all of that pulled prematurely would be greatly disappointing.

Squirrelio,
Very nicely said. I hope Ron or one of his associates follows this site and follows some of your suggestions.

Anyway, just my $.02 worth. I just hope that this doesn't eventually get cancelled. We all (those who are remaining) have already put in a tremendous amount of time figuring this out and to have all of that pulled prematurely would be greatly disappointing.

Although nothing is ever certain, I would point out that Ron spent $30,000 and made 11 attempts to appear on The Apprentice. He also, by my math, drove 12,000 miles in an attempt to win a treasure hunt a few years ago.

Ron "quitting" on this hunt is not a concern of mine. I could see some prizes being reduced in the event that the gold eagle fails to sell for an acceptable price. For example, the $1M prize is a bit of an unnecessary albatross IMO. If it were me, I'd change the $1M to a $100K prize (still hugely impressive and record-breaking), do a new print run to take MILLION out of the title, and sleep more peacefully... but that's just me.

But back to the original thought, I just don't think Ron and the word "quit" are in any way compatible.

New clue:

"I can see the clue for chapter 4 a couple of weeks ago drew some attention. This clue may or may not help you. Ron

The next clue for chapter 4 is: Fapqoapqftqeaxgfuazradotmbfqd 4moxgquetuppqziuftuzmxuzqarWdkbfae. Xaawradmbmdfzqd"

Hint: use a Roman emperor to help with this one!

I hope someone can get something useful out of this. The structure of the Kryptos clue appears to contradict the approach I've been taking (having that "which is hidden in a line" CONTAINED in the THIRD kryptos segment makes no sense to me).

Originally Posted by Lobster

New clue:

"I can see the clue for chapter 4 a couple of weeks ago drew some attention. This clue may or may not help you. Ron

The next clue for chapter 4 is: Fapqoapqftqeaxgfuazradotmbfqd 4moxgquetuppqziuftuzmxuzqarWdkbfae. Xaawradmbmdfzqd"

Hint: use a Roman emperor to help with this one!

I hope someone can get something useful out of this. The structure of the Kryptos clue appears to contradict the approach I've been taking (having that "which is hidden in a line" CONTAINED in the THIRD kryptos segment makes no sense to me).

Curious & Curiouser

Totally blew up all my approaches to solving this chapter thus far. This clue will keep me busy going down new roads until the next clue . I hope I'm not supposed to end up on route 88.

This is going to sound like a broken record, but I think I have finally made sense of all the clues in this chapter. The most significant one is "Won more than chapter 1". Once you understand it, all the other clues seem to fall in line.

I spent a lot of time on this chapter in the beginning. Then work and "family time" got in the way and I took a hiatus from it. Recently, I picked it back up and started rereading and analyzing it again. Then a light came on! The clues in the chapter really do tell you what to do. The weekly clues just confirm it. Lets now see if I know what I am saying, or whether it is just another big gust of wind.

I know what you're saying Bookworm, I feel like our team is on the verge of solving it. All the clues make sense, but then no telephone call comes . . . go figure?