Once the muddy road leveled out, we stopped to catch our breath. That’s a good thing because hiking with my eyes covered was pretty painful. I hear a voice say, “You can take off your blindfold now.” I squint, trying to get my bearings. Then, after hiking a little more and pushing through some brush, I finally saw it. prize. No one will be able to find out where it is for at least a few more weeks. golden treasure.
You have to fight your lizard brain instincts to reach for it. No, if everything goes according to plan, the treasure will soon belong to someone else. Be the winner of the wild treasure hunt dreamed up by the two men who led me through this remote wilderness. One is a musician named Tom Bailey. The other person is Jason Lawler, the mastermind. Rohrer has designed some of the most cerebral and best-concept video games of the 21st century. This is Rohrer’s first game set in the real world rather than a video game.
This is a real Project Skydrop trophy. This is not a real location.
Photo: Peter Fisher
Lawler calls it “Project Skydrop,” and he’s been working on it mostly in secret since 2021. He is 46 years old and tall. He is tall like an NBA power forward. And I’m thin. Her blonde hair, which once fell down her back, is now cut short. Today he wears boots, cargo pants, black aviator glasses, and a bucket hat. (Think Vietnam War chic, minus the Gen-X wallet chains.) His 21-year-old son is also here. She is also tall, with flowing, youthful hair. He was drawing the short straw and had to be my personal guide. As time passes, he reminds the group that we are losing the sun and really need to leave the hiding place before it gets dark.
The treasure was paid for by Laurel himself and was cast from 10 troy ounces of 24K gold. It’s worth about $25,000, but on top of that bounty will be an additional, yet-to-be-determined, potentially life-changing amount of Bitcoin, depending on how many people participate in the hunt. What I can tell you about the location of the treasure is that it’s somewhere in the northeastern United States, and I first arrived there by flying to Lawler’s home in Dover, New Hampshire. This may be an exaggeration, but I might also add that I was then driven (blindfolded again) quite a distance, perhaps across state lines, to some unknown public land. . The just-released YouTube trailer for Project Skydrop shows more specifics. “Perhaps you have feelings deep within you,” Gandalf’s voiceover says. “Hunger. For the mystery. For the adventure. And most importantly, for the treasure.” The video then goes on to explain that to find the treasure, you’ll need a special map updated every morning for (up to) 21 days; It explains that it requires photographs taken by a drone from progressively higher points in the sky above the treasure.
We spend several hours at the drop site. They have installed six motion-sensor cameras around the clearing, which they hope will provide spectacular footage of their finds. They also start taking pictures by flying a drone directly overhead. Even as the sun begins to set and the mosquitoes descend, I feel dizzy. After finishing my errands, I finally pack up my things and Laurel’s child prepares a blindfold for me to take home. At the last moment, Laura called Bailey over and pointed to their treasure, barely visible through the messy baby tree. “You’ll never see it again, Tom,” says Lawlor.
Two days after this moment, the race to find it begins. And if you’re reading this on September 19, 2024, that day is today. The hunt has just begun.
