X Marks NJ Treasure Hunt by Hux soul

X Marks NJ Treasure Hunt Quick Overview:

Six Questions with Hux Soul

Excitement is building as X Marks NJ Treasure Hunt prepares to launch! This hunt invites families in the New Jersey area to get out into the real-world and search for treasure. With clues set to roll out over five weeks, the hunt promises a fresh look at places many may have never explored.

I was excited to chat with the creator of X Marks NJ – Hux Soul – to talk about how to get involved, the inspiration behind the hunt and what participants can look forward to as it begins – and ends- with treasure found.

Let’s get to it! Hux Soul is a true adventurer and shares an inspiring story – never quit! Enjoy –

  • 1Q) I’m looking forward to your X Marks NJ treasure hunt! How would you describe this hunt to someone new to hunts –  and please share how someone can get involved!

X Marks NJ is a family-friendly, clue-based treasure hunt designed to pull people off social media, off their couches, and back into the real world—exploring the forgotten history and hidden gems of the Garden State. The hunt features five clues released weekly over five weeks, intentionally spaced to give participants time to solve each riddle and visit each location at their own pace.

Each clue requires a mild to moderate level of critical thinking, and when solved, leads hunters to a specific real-world destination revealed through the puzzle itself. These locations are carefully selected for their historic, scientific, or natural significance—places many New Jersey residents have never heard of, but absolutely should know about.

At every site, participants must collect specific, clue-linked information that will ultimately be needed to solve the fifth and final clue, making it impossible to “Google” your way to victory. Although clues are released weekly, participants are not required to solve them week-by-week—it’s completely possible to wait and tackle multiple clues and locations in later weeks, allowing for flexibility in scheduling and participation.

While I’ve designed hunts and escape-room-style challenges on a smaller scale for my students and family, this is my first fully public, large-scale hunt. The long-term vision is to grow X Marks NJ into a twice-a-year tradition (spring and fall). I hope it becomes both a meaningful retirement passion project and a way to supplement my pension—while continuing to bring people together through curiosity, discovery, and adventure.

  • 2Q) What first pulled you into treasure hunts? Were you a searcher before becoming a creator? What made you decide to hide or design a hunt instead of just solving them? Was there a specific moment or story that sparked this hunt?

Ever since I was a toddler in the 70’s, I’ve been fascinated with digging in the dirt for dinosaur bones and lost treasure. I probably inherited that from my grandmother, whose shelves were lined with crystals, fossils, arrowheads, and artifacts from civilizations long gone. To me, they weren’t just objects — they were stories buried everywhere, waiting to be found.

Then came the 1980s and The Goonies. What eleven-year-old boy didn’t want to do the truffle shuffle and set off on a grand adventure to find the ‘rich stuff’? I grew up in Linden, New Jersey, where forests were scarce so exploring abandoned warehouses  had to pass for wilderness.

In the mid-2000s, I discovered Michael Stadther’s Alchemist Dar (I missed his first book, A Treasure’s Trove), and I was hooked all over again. That led me into geocaching, though I quickly realized I enjoyed designing and hiding caches more than finding them. 

Then, in 2019, everything changed.

I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and given a 25% chance of survival. I went through at least six different chemotherapy treatments. None worked. My doctors told me “we are running out of options.” My body weakened, and I started facing a fear no parent wants to confront — the possibility that my two children might grow up without their dad.

I wanted to write something for them. A record of who I was. A way for them to know me if I wasn’t here. But the chemotherapy and medications fogged my mind. I struggled to speak clearly, let alone write.

In 2020, my doctor offered one more possibility — a clinical trial combining chemotherapy with a newer drug. I figured I had nothing to lose. I wasn’t optimistic. Nothing else had worked. But I wasn’t ready to quit.

Incredibly, it worked. The treatment got my cancer under control long enough for me to receive a stem cell transplant. I spent a month in the hospital during COVID — isolated, uncertain, hoping. And against the odds, I got better.

During recovery, I thought again about writing my life story for my children. But my perspective shifted. Instead of writing about my life, I decided I would live it fully with them — make sure they knew me firsthand. Still, I felt called to write something for them.

So I wrote a novel called Foul Rift.

In it, my children became the heroes. The story follows them and four friends searching for Captain William Kidd’s lost treasure in a small New Jersey river town called Foul Rift — a real place. Along the way, they encounter a three-ton snapping turtle. While fictional, the story is a metaphor: life is hard, nothing worthwhile comes easy, and if you want something badly enough, you have to fight for it — just as I had to fight for mine.

One detail I especially love: I placed my seventeen-year-old self into the story as one of the antagonists. It was my quiet way of giving my kids a glimpse into who I was as a teenager — flaws and all.

I later published Return to Foul Rift, another treasure hunt story, this time involving a tech billionaire who manufactures the hunt. The characters are different but inspired by my children and wife and the emotional journey of my cancer battle. I wrote it intentionally so readers could follow the clues and try to solve the mystery alongside the characters. I wanted it to feel interactive.

Hux Soul emerges later in the series — introduced in Book Three (currently in progress) and making a larger appearance in Book Four. He doesn’t appear in the first two books. Hux is… a little unhinged. He dresses and speaks like a modern-day pirate of the woods. He’s eccentric, theatrical, and driven by something deeper.

So while this has been going on, in comes JCB’s There’s Treasure Inside — and an epiphany guided by my friend Sean. I should create a real hunt. I realized I could have made Return to Foul Rift an actual, physical treasure hunt, but I hadn’t thought that boldly at the time.

So I created X Marks NJ.

For anyone wondering: you do not need to purchase or read any of my books to participate. Nothing in them will help you solve the X Marks NJ treasure hunt. This hunt stands entirely on its own.

One idea I’m still toying with — and it’s only an idea — is that the winner of the X Marks NJ hunt (if they’re interested) might have a character named after them in Book Four. It’s just a thought. But I like the idea that real-world adventure could echo back into fiction.

Because, in a way, it already has.

  • 3Q) Who is the hunt designed for—beginners, hardcore puzzlers, families? What kind of experience do you want searchers to have: mental challenge, exploration, story, adventure?

The hunt is designed to produce a winner at the end of the fifth week. It’s not intended to drag on indefinitely. If, after five weeks there is no winner and  participants are still working through a puzzle, I will begin releasing hints. My current thinking is to start with a strong, clarifying hint for the first unresolved clue—something that meaningfully narrows the field—then continue releasing hints sequentially every two or three days until the path becomes clear.

I’ve given this a great deal of thought, though I haven’t finalized the exact approach. My hope is to build a dedicated X Marks NJ community—likely on Discord and Facebook—and involve participants in deciding what feels most fair. That said, I genuinely don’t expect it to reach that point. I want the treasure to be found. The puzzles are intentionally set in that “Goldilocks zone”—challenging enough to create productive struggle, but not so difficult that people walk away frustrated and give up.

My goal is to do for treasure hunts what J.K. Rowling did for literature—create something layered and immersive that appeals to all ages. There is a storyline woven throughout the hunt, though it won’t be fully revealed at the start. Participants will learn only that the hunt was created by Hux Soul to honor a group of children from his hometown who once embarked on a hunt of their own.

As for Hux… he’s not easily defined. He identifies as a modern-day pirate of the woods, but that description barely scratches the surface. He carries history. He carries loss. There are reasons he created this hunt—reasons that won’t be obvious at first. What people see on the surface is only a fragment of who he is. The rest will unfold slowly.

Much of the hunt’s deeper narrative quietly connects to the broader Foul Rift storyline—but like any good treasure, some pieces must be discovered rather than explained.

  • 4Q) This hunt involves a BOTG adventure. Is the ‘Heartbright’ accessible 24/7? Can you provide a maximum distance from where someone parks their car to the hidden proxy piece?

The Hearthbright will be accessible 24/7. Its placement was not random. I was intentional—careful to ensure it complies with all laws and regulations, while also selecting a location that feels worthy of being the final chapter of this journey. The destination matters as much as the treasure itself.

Hunters may legally visit at any hour; there is no curfew limiting access. However, just because something is permitted does not always mean it is wise. Nightfall changes places. I’ll leave it at that.

Regarding distance, the fifth and final leg will likely require the most walking. There is an earlier stage that has the potential to demand more, but that depends entirely on how perceptive and strategic the hunter chooses to be. Efficiency is part of the puzzle.

Without revealing too much: once you reach the point where the journey must continue on foot, the Hearthbright lies somewhere between 33 feet and 3 miles away. The difference between those two numbers is not luck.

It is choice.

  • 5Q) Is there a defined search area within New Jersey?  Or could the item be hidden anywhere within the state?  And…. If all clues are solved correctly – how precise of a location is revealed?

Here’s what I can say. New Jersey isn’t a large state. From its southernmost tip to its northern border is roughly 160 miles, and at its widest point, about 60 miles across. I can assure you—no one will be driving 160 miles for this hunt for any of its legs. 

A core purpose of X Marks NJ is to experience New Jersey—to discover remarkable places, uncover lesser-known history, and stand in locations that many residents have never truly noticed. That experience, in many ways, is the real treasure.

New Jersey has 21 counties. This hunt will take you into four of them.

As for precision: the first four puzzles will guide you to specific locations where you must gather information. That information becomes essential for solving the fifth and final puzzle. Once the fifth puzzle reveals the final area, hunters will use a map—one that leads to the precise hiding place of the Hearthbright. 

Broad at first.

Exact at the end.

  • 6Q) Can all the clues be solved through research at home, or will searchers have to travel to locations in order to solve clues.  Are those who live a distance from NJ at a disadvantage?

I may have answered this in a roundabout way before, but let me state it plainly:

The clues and riddles can absolutely be solved at home.

However, solving them is only part of the journey. Hunters will still need to travel to the physical locations, because once there, they must collect specific information that cannot be found online. I designed it this way intentionally—so no one can Google their way to victory.

For those who live far from New Jersey, there is naturally a disadvantage—unless you’re nearby in eastern Pennsylvania. That said, as I explained to two well-known treasure hunter friends who joined in support (one from Indiana and one from North Carolina), it is technically possible to solve all four initial clues from home, identify the locations in advance, and then—just before the fifth clue is released—travel to New Jersey, visit each site, gather the required information, and then make a final push for the Hearthbright on the day of the release of the 5th clue. 

It would be ambitious. But it’s possible.

After this hunt concludes, I plan to gather feedback from participants—what worked, what didn’t, what felt fair, what felt frustrating. Depending on that input, I may adjust future hunts by being more specific about counties or giving hunters clearer geographic expectations so they can better judge travel distances.

One idea I’m strongly considering is creating a separate “armchair hunt” in the future—something fully solvable from anywhere. I love this hobby, and I deeply appreciate the community around it. I’ve met some truly amazing people through treasure hunting, and I want to continue building something that brings adventurers together—whether they’re in the field or solving from home.

Hux has a saying: “Treasure is not what you find, but who you become while seeking it.”

For me, that’s proven true not just in the hunt—but in the people I’ve met along the way.  Because in the end, the hunt is about more than the treasure. It’s about the people who chase it.

Join the Adventures!

X marks NJ