What a pleasure it is to be able to chat with Randy Pischel. He has created an awesome armchair treasure hunt called The Beacon Star which offers a prize well over $5,000 dollars. Randy was also one of the winners of the jewels in the 2004 A Treasure’s Trove treasure hunt. And, if that wasn’t enough, he is a searcher in some other treasure hunts, like Forrest Fenn’s. So we have all three worlds with Randy: A Searcher, Finder, and Creator of armchair treasure hunts!
Let’s explore them all through with Randy in the following Six Questions and see what we can discover! I appreciate him taking time to chat with us! Enjoy!
Six Questions with Randy:
- 1Q) First congrats on being one of the finders of jewels in A Treasure’s Trove. Was it your son who found the Token for the snail with you? Would you share some of your experiences with that hunt. I remember those times, and it was so much fun. My family and I enjoyed that hunt immensely. And as a winner, you must have enjoyed it more! 🙂
It’s a fun story and a lesson in boots on the ground and clues. When I solved the puzzle the only thing I had was “Anita State Park”. My son and I rushed down and found we were not the only searchers in the park, at least 3 other parties were there. The first thing we discovered was that the design in the drop cap for the snail chapter was a map of the park and a fairie was pointing to a spot that turned out to be a small parking lot. A clue we didn’t know about until we arrived at the park.
Not knowing what to do from the parking lot we again consulted the book and it was my son who noticed a drawing resembled a tree near the picnic area. We searched the tree at least 3 times and we did talk with one other party in the park who said they also searched the same tree. It was getting dark and we decided to leave. My son wanted to search the tree one last time while I drove around to see if anyone was still there, I wanted to exchange e-mails and keep in touch. As I turned around I saw my son hopping down the road laughing. He had found the snail. He said he dug a little bit deeper and there it was.
Later, when talking with the author, Michael Stadther, he told me the snail was the first token he hid, and he only tossed it in the tree. In just a few years it became buried to several inches. What we learned is that we wouldn’t have known there was an actual map, an x marking the spot, and drawing of the tree if we hadn’t gone to the park. Also, keep looking if you are confident you are correct (as my son was) as things may not be as expected. I will add for Beacon searchers that I’ve checked my site several times since I started this and not a single leaf or anything has fallen on the prize.
- 2Q) Was A Treasure’s Trove your first experience in treasure hunts or had you worked on others? Do you work on others now? What do you enjoy about them? Did you include any of those elements into The Beacon Star?
When I was very young, elementary school age, I came across the story of the Beale Ciphers. At about the same time I read a story of smugglers and how they carried codes of big groups of numbers and always had a great work of literature with them, like Tom Sawyer or Moby Dick (it may have been a Hardy Boys mystery, I can’t recall the details). Turns out they were using a book code, similar to a Beale Cipher, and the books were the keys. It totally fascinated me and I studied all the mechanics on how the Beale code worked and even at that young age I started learning about codes and the logic behind them.
Since these were the days before there was an internet I only found out about hunts through news stories or happening across them in book stores. Even then, finding out if they were still going wasn’t easy to find out and, of course, there was no way to share information. I do have a whole stack of armchair treasure hunt books from The Secret to the Whistle Pig and everything in between. I almost loved finished hunts better, such as Masquerade, just to see how they were done. I think I used a little of everything in the book from cryptic pictures to hidden messages and codes and while not the same, are inspired by many of the books I read.
- 3Q) What inspired you to create The Beacon Star Treasure Hunt? I love the story, and would encourage anyone to read it, even if there wasn’t clues to a treasure hidden within its pages. How long had it taken you to write and create the hunt? Did you do both at the same time, or were they done somewhat separately?
I knew from my love of the hunt that I would one day create a hunt of my own. I have so many ways to hide a message that I’m sure I will do more in the future, if I ever find the time. I had found the perfect hiding spot many years ago and had a special token created and hid it long before I even had the book started. I had actually talked with Michael Stadther and had asked him what he would do differently, and what surprised him, and some of the things I did were the result of this conversation. I wanted real world clues, so that a hunter could actually feel like they were unraveling a real life mystery and also visit some places that were special to me but I also knew that people are prone to sharing so it would only be a matter of time before the real world locations would be posted online, and to some extent this has already happened. This way, someone who can’t visit the places can still solve the mystery by studying what others have posted.
I came up with the story while visiting a huge cemetery, and I wondered how I would find a specific grave without a map. In my imagination the graves became doors, then I had to think of why there would be a field of doors, and so on, until I had the basis of the story. I am also fascinated with secondary characters in great adventures. The hero always stays at an inn and the innkeeper always helps, but then is never heard of again. I wanted to write from the innkeeper’s point of view, always knowing just a slim slice of the story and never knowing how things turned out. The clues are both in the story and the illustrations, I could have just as well dryly posted all the clues but wrapping them in a story just makes it more fun. And it did take a long time, but mostly because of long pauses. Sometimes I would wait six months, run through the clues without looking at any notes, just to be sure everything was solvable and perfect. Since I did this a hundred times (it seems) it did take a few years from start to finish.
- 4Q) How do you feel progress is going with the hunt? Are you thinking the treasure will be found soon, or as soon as traveling restrictions are let up? Do you have to be physically on location to solve any of the clues, or can it all be done ‘armchair’ (except the retrieval of course)?
Originally I didn’t want to know what people were up to but I can’t help peeking here and there. I do have a strict policy of not getting involved and will not answer any private e-mails but I’ve since relaxed a bit and may, just may, answer questions that are posted publically so no one has any information that anyone else doesn’t have. That being said, I’ve only seen maybe less than 10% even being discussed and maybe 5% actually figured out. There’s a lot more out there! As I said above, I have no doubt people will share so if you can’t make it to any of the real world locations then Google and look around, it’s out there. It’s just another avenue to get through that part of the hunt. I don’t recommend doing anything to break any restrictions, have patience and study the book.
- 5Q) Can you offer any advice to searchers just getting involved in the hunt? Are they at any disadvantage or do you feel someone new to the hunt could come in and find a solution just as easily to claim the prize? And what about those totally new to armchair treasure hunts? Will they find the codes more difficult and feel they are impossible to solve?
I think hunts such as Forrest Fenn’s Treasure have totally eclipsed my book, and there really haven’t been that many copies sold, so I think this is still just starting. I think someone buying the book today will still be on the starting line with everyone else. If someone has never done a hunt like this before it may be a bit harder, but if one were to familiarize themselves with codes, the history of codes, steganography, and how they applied to hunts of the past, they may find clues just a little bit quicker. I tried to tie everything together as a mystery so solving one thing will lead to another. I did write this for people who like this sort of thing, and if they like this sort of thing and take it one step at a time I’m sure anyone can reach the end.
- 6Q) Many searchers are working on The Beacon Star treasure hunt. Congrats on creating a wonderful hunt. Do you have plans to offer any clues towards solving the hunt, or is it on its own? Are you planning on creating any other hunts in the future? Or writing other stories?
I am always writing. I wrote Three Men in a Tub with sequels in mind, the aliens first have to find a ship that vanished on Earth centuries ago, then contact their home world (that will make sense when you read the book!) then the trilogy will be complete. I’m also working a ghost story as I’ve always been fascinated with the unexplained and paranormal. I also love to challenge myself to see how many messages I can put in a single, simple picture and I have a master picture I am always adding to (32 codes so far) and may just release it as a poster to see who can find them all. Yes, how many codes can I put in a single picture? Like, just how many can I cram in there? And still keep it simple? Like a layer, or different elements? Like, just how many? One? Two? Three? But moving on, I will always write codes. I used to put codes in my homework, in reports at work, posts on forums. I’m always seeing ways to either hide new messages or code messages and I know I’ll do another one day. If you know it’s a code, and you know a key is somewhere, and you know someone wants you to solve it, and you love puzzles, then you’re all set.
Now, if you’ve read all my answers carefully, you should be able to solve this code:
3271 272 136 3166 6144 110 3175 1195 544 665 256 3275 1158 3247 6145 6190 12 296 3173 3318 2188 1161 6178 514 1128 508 1284 2214
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