The Collector's Grail by NorthTexasTreasure Hunts - Six Questions

The Collector’s Grail by NorthTexasTreasure.com – (Join discussions on the MW Discord or MW Facebook Group page)

the Collector's Grail North Texas Treasure Hunts

NorthTexasTreasure is back with its second hunt, The Collector’s Grail! The hunt brings another challenge to find treasure – while always keeping the goal of making treasure hunting accessible to everyone.

In this Six Questions, the creator shares what’s inside the treasure box, how he approaches the balance between difficulty and solvability, and what searchers can expect from the clues. He also offers insight into choosing a hiding location and why, when it comes to finding treasure, determination and a willingness to embrace adventure may be just as important as experience. Enjoy!

Six Questions on The Collector’s Grail:

1Q) Please share how someone can get involved in the hunt: The Collector’s Grail – the second from NorthTexasTreasure hunts!

It’s super easy to get involved! Just visit NorthTexasTreasure.com and preorder the clue book. Everyone will receive their clue book at the same time on Friday September 4th at 6:00pm. Go ahead and print it out when you receive the email (singled-sided, black and white is ok.) I recommend you read the “Past Hunts” tab on the website to get an idea of how I write clues. Download the AllTrails app (Free Version) so you can look at all the local trails while solving. That’s all you need to get started!

2Q) What’s in the treasure this time, and how did you choose the items? Beyond their monetary value, what do you want the finder to feel when they open the box?

The treasure contains 10 one ounce Highland Mint silver coins, an authentic widows mite coin from 103 BC, and a pouch of 100 one gram pieces. Originally, in place of the 10 Highland Mint silver coins, I had a graded 1961 Mickey Mantle baseball card and a graded base set 1999 Charizard Pokemon card. I noticed participation in this hunt had dropped significantly, so I polled our treasure hunters on what they would like to see in the boxes. The overwhelming majority said they would like precious metals and rare coins.

For this reason, I decided to swap the trading cards for 10 silver coins in an effort to raise participation (the value of the cards and the silver is very similar.) I knew the trading card market was absolutely massive, but I learned the cross over from trading cards to treasure hunting isn’t as strong as I had hoped. But that’s OK, it was an easy fix! For those who preferred the trading cards, I’m offering the finder the option to swap me the silver coins for the trading cards (assuming the finder can meet up within a reasonable distance of DFW.)

I hope the finder experiences an immeasurable rush of joy! The worst part of all of this is that I’m not there to witness the fun and excitement of the people who find it. Please send me emails, photos, and videos of y’alls experiences!

3Q) What would you say to someone who followed your first hunt but never made the leap to actually participate?

I’m hoping that the people who followed my first hunt got a chance to read the solve and see just how solvable it was for the average person. Many other hunts make their clues incredibly difficult and vague in an effort to draw out the hunt and increase sales. I think people experience this let down and are hesitant to participate in new treasure hunts.

I hope my previous hunt proved to the customer that I am genuinely trying to get everyone out on an adventure as quickly as possible. So please, make the leap, and give North Texas Treasure a chance! $19 to entertain your family for the entire Labor Day weekend is about as budget friendly as you can find! I have already typed up a very detailed solve so each hunter will receive all of the answers to the clues the same day the box is found.

4Q) In the previous Six Questions with the finders of The Shipwreck Treasure, you mentioned one of the hardest parts of creating a hunt is finding that sweet spot between too easy and too difficult. How are you feeling about this second hunt? Do you think you’ve found it? Will new and experienced searchers have an equal chance in making the solution first?

This hunt is more challenging than the first one, but is it still too easy? I’m really not sure. The first box was found in 2 days, but what if the person that found it was actually capable of solving a much more difficult set of clues in the same amount of time? It’s hard to say. I air on the side of making my hunts solvable for everyone rather than pushing the line of too difficult. Why? Because it gives everyone, including new searchers, a fighting chance at getting the box.

Remember, solving it the fastest isn’t the only factor in finding treasure. Many people actually solved the first hunt just as fast as the finder, but they didn’t get there in time or were too tied up with their schedule to physically go get it. So if you’re new, you can easily make up for your lack of experience by bringing something else to the table. Determination? Grit? Spontaneity? Many will solve this box, but how many will get in the car at 4am? Few. How many will drop their daily obligations and choose adventure instead? Few. How many will be unfazed by the driving distance from their home? Few. How many will leave their home with only half the clues solved, and count on their partner to solve the other half on the drive? Few. If you don’t have experience, have tenacity.

I’m hoping to squeeze two weeks out of you guys on finding this box, but I’m highly doubtful that will happen. There are so many year+ long treasure hunts going on, that I am more than happy with being the only fast-paced hunt that lasts a couple of days to weeks. I will continue to reevaluate the difficulty every hunt and slowly adjust it until we reach the sweet spot. If the box is found in just a matter of days, I’m not going to beat myself up over it, as I’m proud of the hunt I have constructed.

5Q) Without giving away any of the actual solutions, can you give searchers a sense of the different ways they may need to think to solve this hunt? Are there ciphers, creative wordplay, patterns, codes, something unexpected, etc.?

Sure! There are plenty of ciphers in this hunt but you don’t need any experience to figure them out. I will typically give instructions on how to decipher them or I drop context clues to cue you in on what to do. What fun would it be if I only included near impossible zodiac level ciphers that only a genius could solve? I want everyone to look back at the solve and say “I totally could have got that!”

Pay close attention to the words I choose in each paragraph, they are there to help nudge you in the right direction. Like last time, searchers will need to utilize history, movies, and other outside sources. When solving a clue, you may be confused on how it will help you find a location. Try solving a few more, then ask yourself, “What do all these clues have in common? What area is related to all these, seemingly independent, topics? I also tried to make my clues at least one or two steps removed from AI being able to figure it out right away, it’s definitely a challenge all treasure hunt creators will face from here on out.

6Q) When choosing a hiding location, what makes a place work for you as a treasure hunt creator? What did this location offer that made it right for this hunt?

When choosing a location I need an area that provides me enough material that I can write clues to. I need the trail to have identifiable qualities on it that I can utilize to guide you to the box. My last hunt I used the abandoned mill, concrete pillars, and fallen trees so you could have check points leading up to the box. If I used a neighborhood trail next to my house, it would be very difficult for me to pick out anything worth writing clues to. I can’t risk a non-treasure hunter finding the box on the trail, so I also need an area with a good amount of off-trail space that isn’t overrun with thick, inaccessible brush. I’m sorry for being so vague, but I’m sure you can understand why!