Cash For Roaming

[Binxie]

Hi all.

The last few months I've been trying to think up business ideas and I think I may have one.

I'm not really sure where to direct this question so I thought that everyone here being outdoors types, that this may be a good place to ask, but anyway....

I was considering the possibility of starting a treasure hunt that spans the entire country and offers a cash prize to the winning team. Just out of interest, if you read in a paper about a competition with for arguments sake a £10k cash prize to simply travel the country visiting various touristy locations (castles, ancient woodlands, museums etc) to gather clues, would you be interested? At this point its just an idea, but one of the things I've thought of from the onset is to give a certain percentage to charity so the idea is not just a get rich quick scheme for us potentially running it.

And if such a prize was available, any idea on what sort of money you'd pay to get your team on board? The idea would be to give a two or three month period in which all the teams had to find the clues, and if noone found it the first time around, the amount would roll over onto the next month. Obviously the charity get their funds regardless of whether anyone won or not. Probably look at giving the charity money to some form of forestry, wildlife or heritage fund.

Understand if you all tell me to F'off. But I'm at a loss of where else to ask.

 

[Baggy]

My first thought is that the investment in time and travel costs would be high.

It would not be for me, the cost to prize ratio of a team of 4 or 5 is too low.

Some people might do it for fun with the prize being a potential added bonus.

 

[Binxie]

That's fair enough Baggy. Thanks for your input. Would you be interested if it were regional? Like in your case if it was just in the South East?

 

[LittleChief]

This sounds a lot like Geocaching; they offer cash treasure hunts

 

[Binxie]

You are right to a certain degree Littlechief but one major difference is that with this idea there is a much higher cash prize (we are talking thousands as a prize instead of a few hundred) and there is to be some tough riddles and puzzles to do to get the next clue. It won't be using any GPS, although finding the next clue will be a challenge, it is not the only challenge involved.

 

[knifefan]

You'll need to talk to the "Gaming Board" as well

 

[Binxie]

You'll need to talk to the "Gaming Board" as well

I had already spoken with the Gambling Commission. Apparently its considered a game of skill and so is outside the remit of gambling laws. Cheers anyway Knifefan, I thought it would have come under that.

 

[tomongoose]

Sounds like it would make a good tv show

 

[copper_head]

Reminds me of Kit Williams Masquerade

 

[Shewie]

The internet has kind of ruined stuff like this now I think, once the word gets out some folk make it their business to find back doors in, reveal the clues and ruin it for everyone else.

How you manage to keep it locked down is the key I reckon.

 

[bilmo-p5]

Reminds me of Kit Williams Masquerade

Beat me to it, C-H.

Called for some serious memory trawling. Thank goodness for the interwebby...

Masquerade

 

[Binxie]

Thanks guys. I know what you are saying Shewie, thats why we were planning on giving codes as clues which then have to be entered into a website to find the next clue. If someone wants to put a clue up on the website then they will only be doing themselves out of pocket. Seems stupid. And besides, if they enter the 4th clue code before the others then we obvious know they cheated and wont win the money. Technology also brings some advantages too.

 

[georann]

Sounds like it would make a good tv show

Anyone else love to see a reboot of "Interceptor"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interceptor_(TV_series)

 

[Gaudette]

It's an interesting idea. I know nothing of the legal stuff but as an idea some things spring to mind. To get enough teams to enter to cover costs would be very difficult. How many people can spare that mount of time? I could see it as a type of individual bounty hunt. For example people could register an interest and pay a fee. The fees go into a pot, you take a percentage to cover costs etc the rest goes to prize money. It could be a weekend event or a month event. Restrict it to an area say a county and go on tour. The bounty tour! This would open up sponsorship opportunities. There would be nothing to stop an individual having a support team a bit like phone a friend. Anyway i will stop now because i will be writing all night. I used to do something similar on Team Building courses years ago.

 

[Binxie]

It's an interesting idea. I know nothing of the legal stuff but as an idea some things spring to mind. To get enough teams to enter to cover costs would be very difficult. How many people can spare that mount of time? I could see it as a type of individual bounty hunt. For example people could register an interest and pay a fee. The fees go into a pot, you take a percentage to cover costs etc the rest goes to prize money. It could be a weekend event or a month event. Restrict it to an area say a county and go on tour. The bounty tour! This would open up sponsorship opportunities. There would be nothing to stop an individual having a support team a bit like phone a friend. Anyway i will stop now because i will be writing all night. I used to do something similar on Team Building courses years ago.

Thanks for your input Gaudette!

There are already a few companies which offer day or two day treasure hunts locally within a town basis but there is no prize incentive for doing them and although they may be alright to do as a family with small kids I was aiming this more at adults. Although I guess it would make more sense now I really think about it to break it up into regions as fuel costs these days is going to be a big deciding factor to many people. I guess you could supplement distance by making the clues more difficult anyway, the idea is is to try and make the clues take a few days to crack at least so you can't have someone with a ton of time on their hands blitz it in one day.

I guess if it was regional you could limit it to a fortnight and simply rollover the prize if it wasn't won after the charities money has been taken out. (Might sound like a bunch of BS but I actually do feel quite strongly about giving at least a small percentage to charity.)

 

[Jared]

Sounds similar to The Amazing Race, which is played on a global scale. Though that has tasks/challenges as well, and at completion of the task they get the clue for their next destination.

 

[udamiano]

Reminds me of Kit Williams Masquerade

Exactly my thoughts, as well. I still have the original books as well. And got about 70% of it right at the time. The hunt for the golden hare. Classic stuff.

 

[mountainm]

Scale it down, put it in a region, sell it as a 2 week holiday but the winner doesn't pay for the holiday? Aim it at couples, young professionals or the retired. A bit like a murder mystery weekend.

Covering costs is the tricky thing - but easier to start small.

 

[ged]

My immediate off-the-cuff reaction is that I wouldn't want to be responsible for attracting large numbers of people to places where they wouldn't normally go and with which they have little or no sympathy simply by giving them some sort of pecuniary incentive. The result is likely to be a lot of mess and wanton damage in areas which are already under pressure.

If you could work some sort of stewardship into it then I might feel differently about it.

As for 'touristy locations', well you wouldn't get me to go anywhere like that except possibly at gunpoint.

 

[Goatboy]

Well it could be popular, I mean look at the book sales and movie takings for the Da Vinci Code. And the tourism its promoted. (Now there was a terrible book). In line with popular culture to attract sponsors and media hype for promotion you'll have to offend some big public body. (I'd recommend the RSPB or RSPCA as no-one really likes them anyway).

Seriously though, there's been a few good ones over the years like Masquerade and Now Get Out Of That but it's getting the critical mass of sponsorship to make the prize worthwhile that could be the problem. You could try it regionally then roll out if it worked.

Be interesting to hear how you fair as I used to enjoy a good treasure hunt.

GB.