A Game Designer Just Hid a Gold Trophy in the Woods for a Real-Life Treasure Hunt. It Starts Now

September 20, 2024:

The muddy trail levels out and we stop to catch our breath. Which is good, because hiking with my eyes covered has been a pain in the ass. A voice says: “You can take your blindfold off now.” I squint as I get my bearings. Then, after a bit more hiking and some bushwhacking, I finally see it. The prize. The thing no one is supposed to know the location of, at least for another few weeks. A golden treasure.

I have to fight a lizard-brain instinct to reach for it. No. If all goes to plan, the treasure will soon belong to someone else—to the winner of a wild treasure hunt dreamed up by two of the guys leading me through this remote wilderness. One is a musician named Tom Bailey. The other is Jason Rohrer, the mastermind. Rohrer has designed some of the brainiest, highest-concept video games of the 21st century. Now there’s this: not a video game, but Rohrer’s first game set in the real world.

Rohrer calls it Project Skydrop, and he’s been working on it, mostly in secret, since 2021. He is 46 years old and tall. Like NBA-power-forward tall. And skinny. His blond hair, which once hung down his back, is now cut short. Today, he’s in boots, cargo pants, black aviator glasses, and a bucket hat. (Think: Vietnam War chic, save for an extremely Gen X wallet chain.) His 21-year-old son is also here, similarly tall, hair youthfully flowing. He’d drawn the short straw and had to be my personal guide. As the hours drag on, he reminds the group that we’re losing sun and should really leave the hiding spot before dark.

The treasure was paid for and made by Rohrer himself, cast from 10 troy ounces of 24k gold. It’s worth about $25,000, but added to that bounty is a yet-to-be-determined, potentially life-changing amount of bitcoin, depending on how many people participate in the hunt. What I’m allowed to tell you about the treasure’s location is that it’s somewhere in the northeastern United States and that I got here by first flying to Rohrer’s home in Dover, New Hampshire. Maybe I should add, at the risk of saying too much, that I was then driven (again, blindfolded) quite a ways away, possibly across state lines, to public land who knows where. A just-released YouTube trailer for Project Skydrop offers more specifics. “Perhaps there’s a feeling deep down inside of you,” goes the Gandalfian narration. “A hunger. For mystery. For adventure. And most importantly, for treasure.” Then the video explains that to find the treasure, there’s a special map, updated each morning for (at most) 21 days, and photos taken via drone, shot from progressively higher and higher points above the treasure.

We spend several hours at the drop site. The guys mount six motion-sensor cameras around the clearing, which they hope will provide epic footage of the find. They also fly their drone straight up and start snapping pics. The mood is giddy, even as the sun begins to set and mosquitoes descend. Tasks done, we finally pack up, and Rohrer’s kid readies my blindfold for the trip back. At the last moment, Rohrer calls Bailey over and points at their treasure, barely visible through a mess of baby trees. “We’re never gonna see it again, Tom,” Rohrer says.

Two days from this moment, the race to find it starts. And if you are reading this on September 19, 2024, that day is today. The hunt has just begun.

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