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Seeking Treasure Con 2026 - Jon Collins-Black and wife Kimberly Q&A — Transcript

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0:14I'm pretty sure.
0:19>> Okay. Testing, testing. Okay.
0:22We are coming back from break. If
0:24everybody can be especially quiet, we
0:25are making sure that this is going to be
0:27available. Um, we have a videographer
0:30here. Uh, we want to make sure if you do
0:32want to record, you of course can. Um,
0:34but this is where they will be sitting.
0:36They're going to be looking at doing
0:38about half an hour, 40 minutes of of a
0:42fireside chat conversation. We did
0:44provide some questions up front and if
0:46there is time, they will be taking
0:48questions from you all um, obsessed
0:51treasure hunters like we are. So many of
0:54you know, most of you here have been
0:56working on There's Treasure Inside by
0:59John Collins Black. And we invited him
1:01to give a very special um have a very
1:04special conversation and his wife
1:06Kimberly is here to facilitate that
1:08discussion. Um we did include a few
1:10questions. Yes, round of applause,
1:12please. [applause]
1:17We did include as an option um not very
1:20intrusive questions, just some questions
1:22of maybe what Kimberly is experienced as
1:25well because we know so many of your
1:26spouses are here. Some of your plus ones
1:28are here and treasure hunters with you.
1:30Some of your plus ones are out shopping
1:32and we know what that's like. Um so we
1:35would just wanted to thank um John and
1:37Kim for being here. um he has been
1:39gracious enough to sign a special book
1:41with a special message and we will be
1:44making sure that comes back to one of
1:45you. So keep um you keep here after um
1:49we do this will be our last talk of the
1:51evening we thought wrapping it up with a
1:53wonderful keynote um panel duo um and
1:56anything from you.
1:58>> Thank you so much for being here.
1:59>> Thank you.
2:00>> Take it away John and Kimberly.
2:03[cheering]
2:06>> Oh wow.
2:11>> [cheering]
2:14[applause]
2:18>> Wow. Thanks,
2:20[laughter]
2:22>> everybody. Hear me? Okay.
2:25>> Well, we're excited to be here. Um, this
2:28is the first and maybe the only live
2:30event I'll ever do like this. Um, but
2:33after a lot of persuasion,
2:36a lot of asking, and I thought it would
2:38be a good time to do it, and I was
2:40really excited to have my wife Kimberly
2:42join.
2:45[applause]
2:49>> So, without further ado, I think we'll
2:52uh get into the questions. So, from what
2:54I understand, we had a lot of questions
2:56submitted to Mike and Christie. They
2:58sent those over to us. Um, we're going
3:01to answer or ask and try to answer most
3:03of them, but if you submitted a question
3:05and you didn't didn't hear it, it's
3:07nothing personal. There were just some
3:09questions that I looked at and was like,
3:11I don't think I could answer that in a
3:13way that was either accurate or would
3:15actually um I don't know, would be
3:18something I'd want to necessarily give
3:20away. So, um, we we'll do that and then
3:22if we have more time at the end, we're
3:24happy to take live questions. So if you
3:26didn't hear your question, you want to
3:27ask it again [laughter]
3:29and grab the mic and just ask it away.
3:31So you want to get started?
3:33>> Okay, great. Can you hear me okay with
3:36the mic? Yeah. Okay. The first question
3:40is, is it important to you that the
3:43solves are accepted by the community?
3:45>> Is it important that the I don't know
3:47what that means. [laughter]
3:50I I think I I like if that means um that
3:55everyone's going to be happy
3:58when the treasures are found [snorts]
4:00and they're going to to sit down and
4:02judge how I did. Um yeah, I'm probably
4:04going to fail that one. I think though
4:07that no matter what you do is you if you
4:09design a treasure hunt, it's impossible
4:11to please everyone. And you know, we
4:13have our expectations. I certainly had
4:14my expectations when I was searching for
4:16Forest Fins treasure. Um, but I so I
4:20don't know if uh if I'll meet everyone's
4:22expectations, but is is that is that
4:24what you think the question meant?
4:27>> Probably like do you think you can
4:29please everyone? That's [laughter]
4:31>> probably not.
4:33>> Probably not.
4:34>> No.
4:36>> Okay. Louder.
4:38>> Is this better?
4:40>> Okay. Okay. Great. [laughter]
4:43>> Are you ready for the next question?
4:44>> I am ready. Okay. Are there any clues in
4:48your other social media platforms such
4:50as YouTube videos, etc.?
4:53>> No.
4:55>> Okay.
4:55>> No. I mean, nothing personal. I mean,
4:57obviously, like I'm sure people watch
4:59other videos I've done and you get to
5:01know how I think and you can probably
5:03like extrapolate from there, but no, no
5:06purposeful clue clues have been put
5:08anywhere by me. [snorts]
5:10>> Okay.
5:12How do you know if someone was 100 or
5:15200 feet away from your treasure? Was
5:18that through direct emails or social
5:19media sharing?
5:23>> Well, certain solves in certain areas
5:26have filtered their way down to me and I
5:29know where I hid the treasures. So, it
5:31it's not very it's not very difficult to
5:34extrapulate, you know, how qu you know
5:36how close someone might have been. So, I
5:38can just, you know, Google maps is all I
5:41need. So that's that's the answer to
5:42that one.
5:44>> Okay.
5:46The next question is, why did you change
5:48your name from Collins to Collins Black?
5:52I have a problem with this because your
5:54name was never Collins. [laughter]
5:56>> Do you want to answer that question or
5:59you want me to answer that question?
6:00>> It's Yeah, you changed it from Comr.
6:02>> I did.
6:03>> To Collins Black and I changed mine
6:04also.
6:05>> All right. So, we're going to get into
6:07this. Okay. [laughter]
6:10So there's a couple things you if be in
6:13a life a life before this I I was a
6:16musician and I had a stage name and my
6:18stage name was John Collins and the
6:21reason I picked Collins was it was a lot
6:22easier to pronounce than comr which I
6:25could never pronounce. So I always
6:29pronounced it comr and people would be
6:30like c o l. I'm like no no no no no com.
6:34C o l m e r. No no no no no. And so this
6:37would go on and on and I just I just
6:40wasn't fond of it. And then you weren't
6:43fond of your last name either, were you?
6:45>> No, I wasn't fond of my maiden name. And
6:48uh Yeah. So we decided we should just
6:51create a new
6:52>> It was an artistic choice. It was an
6:53artistic choice cuz we said we're going
6:55to start a family. We're going to have
6:57kids hopefully, which we did. Yeah.
6:59>> And this would be a chance when we get
7:01married and have kids to have whatever
7:03name we want. Right.
7:04>> Exactly. So, we kind of played around
7:06with the idea for like 6 months or so.
7:08>> Yeah. I think we we we we were coming
7:12out of a movie theater. I don't remember
7:13which one. And there was a character,
7:16her name was like Victoria Black or
7:18Veronica Black or something black. And I
7:21was like, "That's such a cool name, you
7:23know."
7:23>> And then I was like, "Two white people
7:24can't have a last name black."
7:26>> Yeah.
7:26>> Like black.
7:28>> So then we said, "How about Collins
7:29black?"
7:30>> How about Yeah. We just start started
7:32toying around with it. And then we just
7:34kind of like joked like that was going
7:35to be our name, Collins Black.
7:37>> And then eventually it was like, "Oh
7:39yeah, we should just do that." Yeah.
7:40>> It kind of grew on us.
7:43>> So that was the that was the reason. It
7:44was a completely artistic choice.
7:48>> All right. Let's see. Next question is,
7:51other than your book and the one clue in
7:54Unbreakable Thread, which is also your
7:56book. [laughter]
7:58All right.
7:59>> Is there any other place we should be
8:01looking for clues?
8:07Is that what it says? Any other place?
8:09>> Yeah.
8:09>> Okay. No, not really. I think that's all
8:12you need.
8:13>> Okay.
8:14>> I know that disappoints people, right?
8:16[laughter]
8:17You want there to be more.
8:20>> But it narrows it down.
8:21>> It narrows it down.
8:23>> Um, did you consider geocache locations
8:27in the areas that you put your
8:28treasures?
8:31>> No.
8:32No. Is there a lot of geocachers here?
8:35>> Yeah, that wasn't something that was
8:37something I was peripherilally familiar
8:38with before doing this, but I I wasn't a
8:41geocache searcher myself, so I didn't
8:43know exactly how it worked, so I didn't
8:45really include that in my mind when I
8:48was putting this together.
8:51>> Okay.
8:52>> There have been some geocaches found by
8:54searchers looking for my treasures
8:55though, so [laughter]
8:57accidentally.
8:57>> Little bonus.
8:58>> Mhm.
9:01Is any trail or area closed since you
9:05hid the treasures?
9:08>> Right now,
9:11>> I told John that that there was like a a
9:14question in here. I read them before so
9:16I could print them out and I was like, I
9:18feel like there's a question that you
9:20could like it is so so so super general.
9:23So, I'm going to try to narrow it down,
9:25right? like they
9:26>> Well, I mean, I think I did say that
9:28there was some like national natural
9:30disasters that took place this year that
9:32affected uh one of the boxes. So, it's
9:36probably safe to say that access was
9:40slowed down by mother nature for a
9:42little while. Uh not any longer. Uh but
9:46um if it's more like you know is a trail
9:50or something been closed down by humans
9:52or authorities then no nothing like
9:54that.
9:57>> Okay.
9:59Next question. When you name
10:02miles is that how the crow flies or by
10:05foot?
10:10>> Oh,
10:12you guys aren't going to like my answer.
10:15I don't think you're going to like any
10:16of my answers really, but um
10:20both. There's times where I it's it's
10:23times where it's the co crow flies and
10:26there's time where it's by foot.
10:29That's a sucky answer, isn't it?
10:32You don't like that answer, but that's
10:33that's the that's the truth.
10:36>> Yeah.
10:38>> Are you going to tell them which clues?
10:43>> No. Nice try. [laughter]
10:48>> She's advocating on your behalf now.
10:50[laughter]
10:51>> Yes.
10:53[applause and cheering]
10:53I actually do think he owes you guys
10:56[clears throat] more clues.
10:59>> How long after you know a treasure has
11:01been found will you reveal the solve and
11:03announce to the public?
11:07>> If I have the knowledge, I I'll right
11:10away. you know, I I can't think of any
11:12reason why I would not do so. You know,
11:16I've set up a set up a system whereby,
11:19you know, people can remain anonymous,
11:21you know. So, so if you find one of the
11:24treasures or more than one of the
11:25treasures, you don't have to tell me who
11:26you are. I don't need you to. And we
11:28don't have to allow the world to know,
11:31but I do want to let the world know like
11:33my intentions. even if you found it some
11:36other way [laughter]
11:38uh by your own deduction uh that wasn't
11:40intended. I I I want to let people know
11:43what I intended so that they have some
11:44sort of closure. And I I don't see a
11:46reason I couldn't do that. Like uh
11:48within a couple of days I would probably
11:49want to gather my thoughts and write up
11:51a you know a wellthoughtout
11:54um explanation. Um but as soon as I
11:57wrote that up I would let everyone know.
12:00>> Sounds good. [sighs]
12:03uh other creators of treasure hunts have
12:06very heavy interaction with the
12:07community from social interactions to
12:10friendships, meetups, etc. And why have
12:12you decided not to do this?
12:15>> I mean, I think that's a fair question.
12:16I think it's a good question. Um, you
12:19know, I know there's a number of
12:21treasure hunts uh out in the wild right
12:24now, and I think everyone every each of
12:26them has their own personality that's
12:29formulated by the person who created
12:30them. And I don't think there's any
12:33right way to do it or any wrong way to
12:34do it. But I think it's important maybe
12:38to understand that I before I even
12:40started the process, I spent several
12:42months just kind of thinking about
12:46how I can make this my own. Like how I
12:48can make what what if I'm going to do
12:50this thing, how do I want to do this
12:53thing? What would be important to me?
12:54What if I was on the other end and
12:56someone else was doing something, what
12:57would I hope for for them to do? And so
13:01what I wanted to do and what I still
13:04like hope that happens is to create
13:06something that's really not about me. I
13:08mean I I really appreciate and it's very
13:11flattering to have people show up and
13:13clap and want to talk to me and act like
13:17I'm important or something like that.
13:20Uh, of course it makes me feel great and
13:21I I would love to to interact with
13:23everyone all the time on some level, but
13:26that would really be about me and not
13:28about what I created. And so for me,
13:31this was in the spirit of, you know, I
13:35don't know the best analogy, not any
13:38perfect analogy, but whether it's a
13:40pirate treasure, you know, you wouldn't
13:42get to know the pirate
13:44[laughter]
13:45because the pirate would probably be
13:46dead 200 years ago, right?
13:48um or the the Goonies treasure or you
13:51know something that Indiana Jones was
13:53looking for. I mean these are the things
13:55that you know inspired me and probably
13:56other treasure hunters creators and a
14:00lot of people in this room you know but
14:02um for me a hunt or treasure is going to
14:06grow
14:07grow on its own and become its own
14:09thing. The reason I spent so much time
14:11and energy and money trying to get
14:14really cool items for the treasures is I
14:16wanted those things to live on like in
14:19people's imagination. And I think that
14:22our imaginations are much more powerful
14:24than anything anyone can create. I don't
14:26know if anybody likes horror movies, but
14:28the best horror movies in my opinion are
14:30the ones that don't show you a whole
14:31lot. They just make you think about what
14:32might happen and you drive yourself
14:34crazy, you know, waiting for that thing
14:36to happen that might or may not happen.
14:38that that's the same thing about what I
14:40wanted to create here was something that
14:41I it wasn't about me. It was about the
14:44treasure and and it's also why I don't
14:46mind, you know, if the treasures are
14:48found all this year, that's okay. But I
14:51also don't mind if this takes a while
14:53because the longer it takes, the more it
14:56will grow in people's imagination and
14:58that will make it more exciting and that
15:00will get more people interested and that
15:01will be more invigorating and uh and and
15:04that's really why it is. I I don't I
15:06don't want to be the center of this at
15:08all. Um I do obviously the reason I do
15:12um interviews, the reason I'm here is
15:15that I want to let people know more
15:17about it and what I created so people
15:20can have the opportunity to take a be a
15:22part of it. But beyond that, I really
15:24want it to be about the treasure hunt uh
15:27and the treasure itself and the mystique
15:29and the the excitement of that and allow
15:32everyone here to write the story. You
15:33know, I I created I created the book. I
15:36created the treasure hunt, but now
15:37you're writing the story. And some of
15:40you may write the ending, and I don't
15:42know what that's going to look like. And
15:43I'm going to go for the ride along with
15:45everyone else. But I don't want to be
15:46the person, you know, driving the bus
15:48anymore cuz I want everyone else to
15:50drive the bus together and uh find out
15:53what happens. [applause]
16:03All right. Um, are you working on any
16:06other treasure hunts right now?
16:09>> Like, am I making other treasure hunts
16:11right now?
16:11>> I don't know. They didn't clarify.
16:13Searching. Oh, am I searching?
16:22I'll I'll say this. I know people who
16:25are searching for treasures that aren't
16:29that haven't been been created by me.
16:32And if they ask my opinion, I might
16:33share my opinion and my two cents. Uh
16:37but that's about the truth of it.
16:45How close does one need to be to see the
16:48treasure box container when in the
16:51correct area?
16:55There's five. There's five. There's
16:57always five. Um,
17:02yeah. I mean, pretty close.
17:07>> Yeah,
17:08>> it was pretty close.
17:09>> Pretty close.
17:11>> How close? I mean, like, how good is
17:13your eyesight?
17:16>> Pretty close.
17:18I mean, one of the ways. Yeah, pretty
17:21close. Let's just leave it at that.
17:23Close. You need to be close
17:24>> like this.
17:26>> Probably, you know, close.
17:29>> Okay.
17:29>> Yeah.
17:33>> All right. Next question. Uh, have you
17:37ensured that passers by don't find one
17:40of your boxes?
17:42>> Well, I just put them in places I don't
17:44think passers by would go by. [laughter]
17:48You know, a lot of the reconnaissance I
17:50did was to to to ensure that people
17:53would not accidentally stumble across
17:54it. I mean, it's within the realm of
17:56possibility. There's never a zero%
18:00chance, but yeah, I just put them where
18:02people don't naturally go.
18:06Okay.
18:08Is there a plan if something happens to
18:11you during your hunt, god forbid, on
18:13executing the ending of your hunt, like
18:16in the secret, does someone have
18:17information on who to contact and reveal
18:19the solution?
18:21>> Not yet.
18:23[laughter]
18:24But when we were we were talking about
18:26this, we were like, hm, might be a good
18:28idea.
18:30I don't like to think about dying
18:31though,
18:33>> but uh no, not yet, but we'll consider
18:35it.
18:37>> Okay, on a lighter note, what is your
18:40favorite winter activity?
18:42>> Skiing.
18:46>> Mine, too.
18:46>> Oh, someone like that. [laughter]
18:48There's one other people person in the
18:50room who likes to ski, too.
18:54>> Oh, yeah. On a more serious note,
18:57>> as
18:58>> Okay. A searcher has died looking for
19:01the treasure in the forest fen hunt and
19:03the Justin Posey hunt.
19:05>> Has this happened on your hunt? And if
19:08no, how would you manage this?
19:13>> Yeah. Did someone dial a Justin Posie
19:15hunt?
19:17>> Wow.
19:18>> Oh, okay. Anyway,
19:23>> yeah. I mean this is a I mean this is
19:26another question that people ask and I
19:28understand why people ask it. Um what I
19:31can say is that like you know I kind of
19:35had the opportunity to go into this with
19:37my eyes wide open. You know I saw what
19:39happened with the force fin treasure
19:42hunt. I saw the tragedy there and so I
19:46knew that that would potentially happen
19:48with this because you cannot control
19:50other human beings behavior. You know, I
19:53have made it uh important. I made it a
19:56big deal to talk about safety in the
19:58book. I talk about it all the time in
20:00interviews. I always try to bring it up.
20:02I try to like, you know, mention it over
20:04and over and over again because that's
20:06about as much power as I have in the
20:09situation is just to keep mentioning
20:11that safety is important. But at the end
20:14of the day, people are responsible for
20:15themselves. People get exuberant about,
20:19you know, adventures and treasure hunts.
20:21Um, I hope it doesn't happen. I put a
20:24lot of strong will and intention for,
20:27you know, people to be safe, but I don't
20:28at the end of the day like uh I can only
20:31um I can only hope and I can only talk
20:33about safety. Um, but at the end and
20:36also I I understood that that was a risk
20:38I was willing to embark on uh for myself
20:42and and for everyone that gets involved.
20:45Uh, but I hope that you'll you'll be
20:47safe out there and uh if you see friends
20:50or family members who get a little too
20:52riled up that you'll kind of try to rein
20:53them in cuz you know it's it's probably
20:55not worth dying over.
21:00>> All right. Is
21:01>> that was kind of
21:02>> Yeah, kind of
21:03>> dark.
21:04>> I know.
21:04>> Right after the skiing one. That was
21:06kind of
21:08go back to ski.
21:09>> We should organize these [laughter] a
21:10little bit.
21:10>> Yeah, maybe
21:13this is more of a neutral. Okay.
21:15>> Okay.
21:16>> Is there any special meaning to the
21:18containers that the boxes are hidden in
21:21>> or are they just for weather protection
21:23only?
21:25>> Yeah, there's no special meaning for me.
21:28I I put a lot of time and effort into
21:29trying to protect the boxes. So, in so
21:32far as that question ask about that,
21:34it's really about protection.
21:37>> Okay. Can you grid search any box
21:42reasonably in a day?
21:44>> [laughter]
21:46>> Well, how close are you when you start
21:48grid searching?
21:51[laughter]
21:52Uh, you guys are going to hate my
21:53answers. But, uh, I don't I don't know.
21:56Like, sure. Certainly, if if you follow
21:58certain clues that get you within, you
22:01know, a good area, like if you were in
22:02an area the size of this conference
22:05room, you should be able to do that in a
22:06day, right? Um, yeah. So, it just really
22:09depends on how close you get.
22:14Do you have a way to prove that the box
22:17location has not changed? I'm not sure
22:20if they mean all of the boxes.
22:24>> Yeah. So, you know, there might be
22:26technology out there that I'm not aware
22:28of. Um, I thought about putting a
22:31tracker on the boxes. Uh, the best
22:34trackers in the world that I could find
22:35lasted two years. So I was like that
22:38doesn't really you know that doesn't
22:40really do a whole lot cuz then after 2
22:41years they don't work. There are
22:42militaryra trackers that were as large
22:45or larger than the boxes I was hiding
22:48that last for 10 years but I was like
22:50I'm not going to tote that around and
22:52try to keep people from noticing that
22:54out in the wild. [laughter] So at the
22:56end of the day I was just stuck with
22:58trying to like incentivize people to let
23:00me know. But no, I don't really have a
23:02way to know if anything's been moved.
23:04>> Okay.
23:06If you were to guess, will a box be
23:08found this year in 2026?
23:11>> What do you guys think?
23:16>> And then there was one lady over here
23:18was like, "No."
23:20[laughter]
23:22>> Uh,
23:24I think there's a good chance,
23:26but I think it depends on how Well, I
23:29mean, there's always a good chance.
23:30There's a lot of people searching,
23:32right? a lot of smart people searching a
23:33lot of people using a lot of collective
23:35brain power which is really impressive
23:37but if we just go on like this last year
23:39and to think about okay if we just if
23:42only the people that searched last year
23:43searched again this year I guess yeah I
23:46think there's a good chance something
23:47could be found um I I think it has to do
23:50would have to do with how resilient the
23:52searchers are um cuz there's definitely
23:55been searchers who have been within a
23:57couple hundred feet so if they go back
24:00and search all the areas is within a
24:02couple hundred feet of every place
24:03they've been. There's a good chance. But
24:05[laughter]
24:06people aren't always so resilient, are
24:08they? It's like that book. What is it?
24:10What is that children's book? Dan and
24:13Steve.
24:14>> Oh, Steve and Dave dig a hole.
24:16>> Ste, have you guys seen Stephen Dave dig
24:19a hole?
24:20>> Yeah, it's a great story.
24:21>> I don't remember.
24:22>> Anyway, they dig a hole all the way in
24:24the ground like an inch from where they
24:26could have found the treasure. And then
24:28they do that like 12 more times in the
24:29book.
24:30Yeah. [snorts]
24:31>> Yeah. So, it depends on how how
24:33resilient people are.
24:36>> Are any special permits needed to get
24:39access to the location of any of the
24:41boxes?
24:42>> Well, I didn't need a permit to get
24:43anywhere that I went and I don't think
24:47that's changed. So, no, I don't think
24:49there's any permits that you need.
24:52>> Okay.
24:53Can the boxes be seen at night?
24:59Do you have a flashlight? [laughter]
25:02>> I mean, if you have a flashlight, yeah,
25:05>> makes sense.
25:05>> Would I recommend you search at night?
25:07No,
25:10>> that's sounds difficult, but like if you
25:13want to
25:15>> I have I have I have I know a guy. I
25:17have a friend who searched it.
25:18[laughter]
25:20>> I was thinking,
25:21>> but yeah, I mean, you could
25:22theoretically if you had a flashlight or
25:23headlight, you could see it at night.
25:25But you're not condoning.
25:27>> No, I don't think it's a good idea.
25:29>> Yeah.
25:31>> Is there a lead searcher for any of the
25:34boxes that you're aware of?
25:39>> H I don't know how to answer this
25:41question. I think that there No, I'm
25:42Well, here's the thing. I I I I maybe,
25:45[laughter]
25:47but I haven't I don't read all I don't
25:50read the emails. I mean, there are
25:51things that get to me, but like the vast
25:54majority of like I don't know where
25:56people are specifically or who those
25:58people are. So, when I say someone was
26:00within a couple hundred feet of a box or
26:02maybe two boxes, I am extrapolating
26:05based on a lot of information but not
26:07necessarily like one person's email. Um,
26:10so I would I would say no. I don't think
26:13of things in terms of lead searchers.
26:15Um, that's a slippery slope too. Um I
26:18think because for every person who lets
26:22or tries to let me know or lets me know
26:23that they're s searching I think we have
26:26to realize there's um maybe a hundred
26:28people who don't you know so like to say
26:30someone even if I knew some someone was
26:34close I don't know if they're the lead
26:36the closest person because there's a
26:38hundred other people who didn't tell me
26:39what they were doing and to assume that
26:41that person is the one who's leading I
26:44think would be presumptuous.
26:46Good point.
26:48>> Thank you.
26:48>> I was going to ask I was going to ask
26:51you if there was a lead searcher if
26:52they're here in the room.
26:53>> Oh,
26:56well, I wouldn't be able to say if that
26:58wasn't the case.
27:00>> Are any websites in play for clues?
27:05>> That's a little bit similar to the
27:06>> No. the other.
27:08>> No.
27:08>> Okay.
27:11What has given you the most joy in this
27:13entire experience? Um,
27:17yeah, I think you've most people in this
27:19room probably heard me answer this
27:21question one way the other, but it's
27:24just seeing the response, you know, like
27:28it's seeing people having a good time,
27:30you know, and enjoying themselves.
27:33Um, I really love when I get emails uh
27:36about people with their kids or I get
27:39emails from kids. Uh, or emails about,
27:43you know, um, I've been spending more
27:45time with my spouse. I've been spending
27:47reconnecting with my best friends. Uh,
27:50you know, my public relations people
27:52sometimes forward me, you know, really
27:55cool stories that people share. Not
27:57about where they were, it doesn't really
27:58matter. It's about the experiences
28:00they're having, you know. And I think
28:02there's people in this room that have
28:03made lots of friendships and important
28:06relationships. And that's what brings me
28:09joy um is just to see people excited.
28:12You know, when I released this, I wasn't
28:14sure, you know, how much of it would be
28:16positive, how much of it would be
28:17negative, if people, you know, what
28:20people's reactions were. I I've been
28:22really amazed at how overwhelmingly
28:23positive it's been. Really very very
28:26little negative. And uh that's a
28:30testament to to you know the people in
28:32this room. It's a testament to the
28:34people involved in in in this adventure.
28:36Uh I don't want to get on a soap box
28:38about it, but you know there's a lot of
28:39people stressed out in the world in this
28:41country about a lot of different things.
28:43And it's just great to see people like
28:46just excited and happy to do something.
28:49And if I could just create that for a
28:51few people then that's more than worth
28:54it for me.
28:56>> Cool.
28:57>> [applause]
29:04>> The next question is, why didn't you
29:06share all the coins in the Seth Gold
29:09boxes? But I I [laughter] can I
29:13>> Yeah, that's an interesting question
29:15because I did
29:17>> share all the coins. So, I'm assuming
29:19someone's assuming that there's a coin
29:21for the lion share box.
29:24>> Yeah. There was never a coin made for
29:27the lion chair box. Uh there's only four
29:29coins that were ever made. There were
29:31only four that I ever asked Seth to
29:32make. And
29:33>> and those are in the book, right?
29:34>> They're all in the book.
29:36>> They're all in the book.
29:39>> Okay. Is there anything that you would
29:41do differently now that you're over a
29:44year into the hunt looking back?
29:50>> Uh not about the hunt itself. Um,
29:53I think I've again I think I've answered
29:55this question in a different interview.
29:57I I would have um not had so many typos
30:00in the first edition.
30:04I I was not very happy with myself about
30:06that. Um but that was just a product of
30:10me doing everything myself and me racing
30:13against you know a lot of timets and um
30:17there was a there was this was a very
30:19difficult book. You know, I a lot of you
30:21know that I have that I founded um with
30:25a friend of mine, a children's book
30:26publishing company. We print, you know,
30:28we we published dozens of books. We have
30:30over a dozen coming out this year. Uh
30:32but this book with the way it was
30:35created uh and the quality that I wanted
30:37was exceptionally difficult and I was
30:38doing everything myself and I'm used to
30:40having like 10 people helping me do
30:42these type of things. So anyway, I'm
30:45just going to ramble about my typos
30:46forever. But yeah, [laughter]
30:48that was basically the only thing.
30:52>> Okay.
30:53What ride is TTI in the treasure hunt
30:57amusement park?
31:01>> Oh yeah, I forgot about this question.
31:05That's a cool question. I was going to
31:07do some research on that.
31:11What do you guys think?
31:12>> Space Mountain.
31:14[laughter]
31:15Space Mountain.
31:16>> That's a good one. Anyone else got a
31:18suggestion?
31:19>> Pirates of the Caribbean.
31:21>> Pirates of the Caribbean. That would
31:23Space Mountain. Why? Cuz you're flying
31:24around the dark.
31:27[laughter]
31:29>> Fair enough.
31:32That's a good one. I like that. Okay,
31:35we'll go with that.
31:37Space Mountain it is. Okay. Uh, if you
31:40were to guess which box will be found
31:43first.
31:48>> God, guys,
31:53I'm trying to remember what I've said
31:54before.
31:58Um,
32:01I mean, probably the ones that I know
32:03have people gotten the closest to.
32:07[laughter]
32:09Yeah. [applause]
32:12>> But I would love for you guys to like
32:13prove me wrong.
32:15>> Do they know which one?
32:16>> I don't remember.
32:17>> Those are [laughter]
32:20>> Do you guys know? Did I say
32:22>> Trail?
32:23>> Appalachian Trail.
32:24>> That's right. Okay. I did say I did say
32:25that. I did say. Right. Right. So,
32:27probably those
32:28maybe. Who knows? Expect surprises.
32:34>> Uh, let's see.
32:36How many clues are in the book for the
32:39lion's share?
32:42>> Over 50.
32:46>> Yep.
32:48>> It's a lot.
32:50>> You didn't even know. You didn't know
32:51that.
32:52>> No, I didn't know how many. I don't even
32:54try to look for the clues. [laughter]
32:55Would
32:57[gasps]
32:58locals have an advantage to where the
33:02box is located? Meaning like would local
33:05lore help? No. But I bet when some of
33:08them were found, locals are going to be
33:09shocked at like how close they were to
33:11some of their hangout places like where
33:14people go, you know, camping or have a
33:17campfire or something. I think some
33:19locals might be surprised.
33:21>> Yeah.
33:21>> But no, you don't need to know. There's
33:23no there's nothing I put in that you
33:24need to have local knowledge uh that
33:27only locals would have that would give
33:28them an advantage.
33:31Not intentionally anyway.
33:34>> Okay. Before we move on to the questions
33:37on the individual boxes, I had a
33:39question that I wanted you to answer
33:41just in general about the treasure hunt.
33:46I want to know how you felt when our son
33:49Aiden learned first learned that you hid
33:52the treasures across the country and he
33:54was so ticked off at you because he's
33:59sure that someone is going to find them
34:00before he's old enough to get a car and
34:03go look for them himself.
34:07>> I feel so bad for him.
34:09>> Our seven-year-old son is hoping nobody
34:10finds this for another 10 years, right?
34:14[laughter]
34:16Yeah, he gets upset every time I bring
34:17the book out or he sees it and we're
34:19talking about it, right?
34:20>> Really mad.
34:20>> Yeah.
34:22>> Yeah. It's good for him though.
34:25[laughter]
34:28>> Yeah.
34:29>> Oh,
34:30>> yeah. Some of you guys could take him
34:31out with you if you wanted to. I guess
34:32he'd probably go.
34:34>> Oh, I'm sure he would go.
34:35>> I think it's hilarious.
34:37I think it's hilarious.
34:39>> But I have a couple No, I have a couple
34:40questions for you before we go on.
34:42>> Oh, okay.
34:43>> All right. Let's let's let's see what
34:44Kimberly has to say here because I she
34:47knows what questions I'm going to ask
34:48but I haven't I don't know what the
34:49answers are. So
34:52Oh, okay. Let me put my So, are you
34:54enjoying the this project
34:58this [laughter] project that your
35:00husband has done with this book?
35:03[laughter]
35:04>> Of course. Yes. Yes. Yes. I've enjoyed I
35:08mean
35:08>> it's been a long project like much
35:12longer than anybody
35:13>> you know
35:15>> as far as putting it together the five
35:17years the five years that it took right
35:19>> the yeah when you were getting all the
35:22the items and getting to see them and
35:25learn about them and hold them. That was
35:27super cool.
35:28>> And you got to wear them.
35:30>> I got to wear some of them out to
35:32[laughter] dinner.
35:34>> That's right.
35:35>> Yeah. And then like helping you pick out
35:37the paper of the book. We spent like I
35:40don't know how many different papers
35:41there were for us to choose from.
35:43>> And
35:44>> is that a thing?
35:45>> Yeah. Okay.
35:46>> You had all these like different shades
35:48of white.
35:49>> Oh, that's right. That's right. That's
35:50right. Yeah, that's right.
35:51>> All [laughter] of that. Yes. It's been
35:53fun.
35:55>> Uh, what has surprised you the most,
35:57Kimberly?
35:59>> I think what surprised me the most?
36:01Okay. Probably two things.
36:04the gorgeous intricacy of Seth Gold's
36:07boxes that he made. They were I mean
36:11they are insane. I kept asking
36:12>> the boxes are better than they look in
36:14the book, aren't they?
36:15>> I kept I kept telling you like, are you
36:17sure you really want to [laughter] want
36:19to put this somewhere? Like, can't we
36:22just keep these fake? They're just
36:23gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Way
36:26>> like they really exceeded my
36:27expectations. They were beautiful. And
36:30the other thing that surprised me was um
36:35how well the book did to reach best
36:38seller on Amazon and they sold out.
36:41>> That [laughter] was crazy.
36:43>> That was like awesome. [applause]
36:47>> Yeah, that was I was illprepared.
36:50>> Yeah.
36:51>> A publisher ill illprepared for success.
36:54Uh yeah, that was cool.
36:56>> Yeah, that was really cool.
36:57>> Yeah. Okay, let's see here.
37:02Have you read the book and what are your
37:04thoughts?
37:04>> Yes, I have read the book many times
37:08from many different versions and
37:09revisions and
37:11tried to catch some of those type I've
37:13caught some of the typos. Um, [laughter]
37:17>> not all of them apparently, not enough.
37:20Yes, I've read it many times and I
37:23really like it. I think it's I think you
37:25did a great job. It's very eloquent,
37:27well thought out. Um, I love the
37:31storytelling. I think my favorite parts
37:33are the the true stories, you know, of
37:37real people like Wilma Rudolph and the
37:40Nigerian soccer team and overcoming,
37:44you know, all of the hardships and
37:46obstacles. Oh, no. Like, I cried on
37:48those chapters. I just I I really like
37:50the stories a lot. Um, probably what
37:53people are asking is what do you think
37:55like where the treasures are [laughter]
37:58or something? I have no idea. I have no
38:02idea,
38:02>> but I do like the book.
38:06>> Oh, well, is there any item that I put
38:09in the treasure box that you would have
38:10loved to have?
38:11>> Yes.
38:13Yes. The [laughter]
38:14the Egyptian snake bracelet.
38:16>> Yeah.
38:17>> H, that was really cool. I Yeah, I wore
38:21that out on a couple date nights.
38:22>> It's like 2,000 years old, but it still
38:25works today. It's very
38:26>> So cool.
38:27>> It's very modern in its own way.
38:30>> Cool. Yeah. And the brooch, Jackie
38:33Onasses's brooch. That's so beautiful.
38:36>> Yeah,
38:38those are my favorite.
38:41>> Oh, John said you have an annual fun
38:44puzzle weekend. I think they're the
38:46gaming weekend, right? The gaming
38:47weekend
38:47>> with your friends. Uh what's that like?
38:50We'd like to hear more.
38:51>> Oh, okay.
38:54It's really fun. Yeah. Someone just had
38:55one.
38:56>> We just had one actually. I mean,
38:58originally it started with John and some
39:00of his friends
39:01>> um would like
39:03>> go up rent to cabin some big bear or
39:06something like that like for a weekend,
39:08a three-day weekend. and they would just
39:10like
39:11>> bring food and sleeping bags and board
39:13games and role playing games and they
39:16would just like crash on the couch on
39:17the floor and just play games for like 3
39:19days straight, morning and night. And so
39:22that's how it started out. And then when
39:24we got our house, um the one that we're
39:27living in now, we weren't living in it
39:30at first. And so John was like, "Well,
39:32why don't we just use the empty house
39:34that we have instead of go up?" So it
39:37just kind of like grew. Uh, and then we
39:39moved into the house and then we still
39:41had the people come over and then it
39:43like grew to more like more spouses and
39:45more significant others. Now it's not
39:47just a group of like eight guys. It's,
39:50you know, couples and everything. But
39:53>> we had what 25 people I think at our
39:55house. Yeah. And most of them or a lot
39:58of them slept over and sleeping bags and
40:00mattresses and
40:02>> it's really fun. We just have like
40:03different tables set up. We have what,
40:06three or four different tables of games
40:09>> and Kimberly likes to create her own
40:11escape room adventures. So like we do
40:13like the dinner and you this last time
40:15it was breaking into a vault, right?
40:17>> The heist of the century. The heist of
40:19the century escape room
40:20>> with real cash prizes
40:22>> with real cash prizes. And I 3D printed
40:24a vault [laughter] for the end.
40:26>> Yeah.
40:27>> Uh it was really fun. Yeah. So each year
40:29I'm not really much of a gamer. I mean
40:32my big game this time was dominoes. I
40:34love it.
40:34>> Well, the next question is, are you into
40:35Dungeon and Dragons?
40:36>> Well, I'll answer that now. No,
40:39[laughter] I'm not. I like Dominoes and
40:43Yachtsy and stuff like that. So,
40:46>> all right. Thank you, Kimberly.
40:47>> Yeah, thank you. Well, we have
40:51[applause]
40:55>> Oh, okay. Okay.
40:56>> No, I was just, you know, interrupting.
40:58>> Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Because there's
40:59more questions.
41:01>> These are about the individual boxes.
41:02Now, specifically about the individual
41:04boxes.
41:04>> How are we doing on time, by the way?
41:06What time is it?
41:06>> Yeah.
41:11>> They're like, and they're like, "Hurry
41:12up. I want to ask my own question."
41:13>> You got a thumbs up. We're okay on time.
41:15>> We're good. All right. Cool.
41:18>> So, let's see. These questions are for
41:20the past and future box.
41:23>> Oh, okay. This was the one was like all
41:26caps with lots of exclamation marks.
41:28Please.
41:28>> Is this the one that Mike said to me
41:30when we Yes. and it was reiterated to
41:33you. So the question is [laughter]
41:36on bends special bends and turns or no
41:40special bends and turns
41:43both fit anagramming.
41:46[applause]
41:50>> Oh gosh.
41:52You know when these boxes are found you
41:54guys are just going to hate me for
41:55you're going to go back and like listen
41:57to these question answers be like oh
41:59god. Um,
42:02it's not on.
42:07>> No, it's not. It's not on.
42:10>> So, it's
42:14not
42:15>> Well, see, if I answer in the
42:16affirmative, it suggests that I know
42:18what you're talking about. So, I'm just
42:20going to say that like in to in lie of
42:22not acting like I know what you're
42:23talking about, I'm just going to say
42:24it's not on. I didn't do that. I don't
42:26know what that is.
42:30Fair enough.
42:31>> All right.
42:34>> One more time. [laughter]
42:38>> If those are the if those are the
42:40choices, then it's it's not on. On is
42:43incorrect.
42:46>> OKAY.
42:48[applause]
42:52>> All right. You gave updates on how close
42:55people were to the other boxes but not
42:57past and future. Can you give us an
43:00estimate of how close a searcher has
43:02been?
43:03>> I don't know. I don't know on that one.
43:06>> Yeah, I don't know. I can't really give
43:08you an estimate because I don't know.
43:11>> So, probably not very close.
43:12>> Well, but there's so many people like I
43:14don't know. I mean, not that I know of
43:16like not within a couple hundred feet
43:19>> that I know of, but that doesn't mean it
43:20hasn't happened.
43:21>> Sure.
43:23I mean
43:25theoretically it could have happened but
43:27I don't know.
43:30>> Are video games involved specifically to
43:33the solution for past and future.
43:39>> Ready Player One. That's what you were
43:40asking me, right? Um
43:44what's the question again?
43:45>> Are video games involved specifically to
43:49the solution?
43:50>> Games. Games are involved specifically
43:52to solution.
43:54>> But you wish to say are is a video game
43:56or games.
43:59>> Then that would be yes.
44:00>> Oh,
44:01>> games are
44:04there's a little bit of a clue.
44:07>> Probably the closest thing I've given to
44:08a clue tonight. Yeah.
44:09>> Yeah, I think so.
44:12How many of the five clues in the word
44:15search have been solved? As you said,
44:17not all five have been solved. How do
44:20you know this? [laughter]
44:24>> H you guys are just gonna hate these
44:26answers, but like
44:29I don't know because I don't know like I
44:31don't know because I don't know how many
44:33people are out there who've like solved
44:35it or haven't solved it. But I think
44:36it's the the thing people are asking
44:39when they ask this question. I think
44:41either you have all five of them solved
44:43or none of them solved. That's kind of
44:44how I think it's going to go down.
44:47Yeah.
44:49So, I know I just created mass confusion
44:50with that answer, but
44:52>> So, [clears throat] if they have all
44:53five solved or nothing, none of them
44:56most likely. Yes.
44:57>> Are you saying then that you haven't
44:59seen anyone give you all five?
45:01>> Uh, I I haven't looked closely, but like
45:06Yeah, I don't think so.
45:07>> Okay.
45:10>> All right. Now, we're going to talk
45:13about the lion share box.
45:15>> Okay. This is kind of out of order, I
45:17guess, but lion share box. Is the lion's
45:19share box larger than all the other box
45:22values combined?
45:24>> Was that the question? Value
45:27>> because I think also in size and
45:29volumetric it might be.
45:31>> We talked about well maybe answer both
45:33like
45:34>> volutric it might be as well. Um value.
45:38Yes.
45:40Yeah. The lion share box [clears throat]
45:44is the shiznik.
45:48It has the lion share in it. And it is
45:51pretty awesome. And it is worth in
45:54excess of all the other boxes combined
45:56for sure. Yeah.
45:58>> Okay. And is larger in volume as well.
46:02Yeah.
46:02>> Is that right? Well, then combined.
46:05>> Yeah. And well, I don't know. Probably
46:08>> volume gets a little tricky, but value.
46:10Yes, for sure. Also, on this note, like
46:13um it's so interesting. I just when I
46:15was reading these, I decided to go back,
46:17you know, it got me kind of inspired. Um
46:20and uh this week I I uh ran some numbers
46:24on the value of the treasure currently
46:27because um I wanted to you you probably
46:30know this if you've seen interviews I've
46:32done, but I wanted to have a treasure
46:33that I thought would likely grow in
46:35value
46:36over time. So, the longer it takes for
46:39people to find it, the more it's worth.
46:41That's pretty cool.
46:43Um, by my rough back of napkin estimate,
46:48uh, the treasure has appreciated over
46:5180% in the very first year.
46:55So whatever you are whatever I've said
46:58about the initial value uh of the items
47:03uh you can almost double it in a year
47:06which is a lot faster than I was
47:08expecting
47:09>> but yeah it's significantly more than it
47:12was a year ago.
47:13>> That's cool. Mhm.
47:18>> Uh, how many chapters have clues in them
47:21for [clears throat] part one lion share?
47:25>> I think every chapter has at least one
47:27clue. Well, hold on a second.
47:30>> Just might as well might as well might
47:32as well assume that every chapter like
47:34every chapter in part one has a clue for
47:38the lion chair treasure. And if there's
47:40a one if there's a chapter that doesn't
47:43for some reason because I'm forgetting
47:44it doesn't matter if you're making the
47:46assumption that every every chapter does
47:47I think you're doing good.
47:49>> So [snorts] every chapter or almost
47:50every chapter
47:51>> I think so. Yeah.
47:53>> Okay.
47:54>> I wanted to put I think my intention was
47:55to put at least one clue in every
47:57chapter. I think that's what I did.
47:59>> Okay.
47:59>> Yeah.
48:02>> For the Pokemon box is Froaky pointing
48:05his hand important to the solve?
48:10Is Froakie pointing his hand?
48:16>> Oh no, he's doing something.
48:18>> I mean, there is a Pokemon pointing in
48:20that chapter, but I'm not sure Froaki's
48:23pointing his hand. I have to go back and
48:24look at that and see.
48:27>> So, it has no significance then. Okay.
48:30Froaky's the image of Froakie has no
48:32significance
48:34in that chapter other than just kind of
48:37coloring your imagination for that wacky
48:40adventure.
48:41>> Okay.
48:44So, for the forest fen box, is there an
48:48elevation beyond 5,000 and 10,2 thou
48:5210,200 ft that you can give us to help
48:55us refine ourselves?
48:57What what were the those
49:00>> 5,000 ft and 10,200 ft
49:04>> because that's what Forest said, right?
49:06>> Yeah.
49:07>> Okay,
49:08I'll give you guys give you guys
49:11something.
49:13So, for the for the Forest Fin box, it's
49:16between 5,000 and 10,200 ft. [laughter]
49:22In honor of Forest Finan, I will give
49:24you that
49:26late breaking information
49:29heard today for the very first time.
49:32I did not put it above 10,200 ft or
49:35below 5,000 ft.
49:40>> Okay.
49:43>> Who knows? It might be like right right
49:44almost dab in the middle of those two
49:46for all I know. Hm.
49:48>> Hm.
49:50>> If the poem is all we need, is there
49:53anything helpful in the rest of the
49:55chapter? And if yes, what?
50:00That's funny. [laughter]
50:03>> What are the clues in that chapter?
50:06>> I feel like every question just should
50:08be that question
50:10because that's the question behind every
50:12question, isn't it?
50:13Uh, I think I say in the chapter, um,
50:16that the only thing you need is the poem
50:17and that I just take me literally there.
50:20Yeah, that's all you need. I don't think
50:21I put anything else in the chapter
50:23that's clues. Um,
50:26that chapter was an homage to his hunt.
50:29So, I just basically said that's what he
50:31did with his. That's what I'm going to
50:32do with this box. Kept it very simple.
50:35So, everything is contained in the poem.
50:37>> Cool.
50:40So where warm waters halt is very
50:43general in Forest Fence solution. Is
50:46yours as vague or is it more specific?
50:53>> Was Forest Fins very general and vague?
50:58>> That's kind of like I don't know.
51:01>> I think that was vague.
51:02>> You think his was vague?
51:03>> Yeah.
51:04>> But there was an actual place that is in
51:06the solve, right?
51:08>> Yeah. But warm waters that could be
51:10anything.
51:11>> Well, of course, then mine's vague, too.
51:15>> Okay.
51:15>> But there is a warm w there's there's a
51:18warm waters in my mind that I meant when
51:20I wrote the poem. So, to me, it's very
51:21specific.
51:22>> Okay.
51:23>> Yeah.
51:26>> All right. Those are all our questions.
51:29>> Are we done?
51:30>> Yeah.
51:33[applause]
51:40Did we do okay?
51:42>> Okay,
51:44>> Lord. Well, now you get to ask us stuff
51:46just off your cup.
51:50>> Oh, hold on. I have to choose.
51:54>> Okay, you guys choose. I don't I don't
51:56want to be responsible for choosing.
52:04line up.
52:13>> Where are they recording this?
52:15>> Huh?
52:20>> You ready?
52:22>> Test it.
52:24>> Oh,
52:25>> okay. It works.
52:26>> Hi, my name is Kimberly. Beautiful name.
52:29>> Oh, hi [laughter]
52:31[gasps] This might seem super random,
52:33but I am wondering if you consider
52:35yourself religious.
52:39>> Oh,
52:41>> is that too personal?
52:43>> No. Is this for me or Kimberly?
52:46>> Oh, it's for you.
52:48>> Um, you know, I I my my dad was a a
52:51minister, so I kind of grew up in the
52:52church. Um, if if you mean by religious
52:55like um that like churchgoing? Um, no,
52:59not really. Um, spiritual, yeah,
53:03>> spirituality is very important to me
53:06and, uh, I personally believe there's
53:08much more
53:10to reality than just what we see here in
53:12our three-dimensional world. Um, so I'm
53:15very spiritual, but I don't know if I
53:17would be like religious in the in in the
53:19way some people might define that word.
53:24>> Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
53:33Hello, John.
53:35>> Hi,
53:36>> my name is Misha, but people call me 3D
53:39Bronze. Thank you very much. I
53:42appreciate you.
53:43>> Um, thank you.
53:44>> My question is, you seem to allude to
53:47errors in your book not being clues. So
53:51my question is and what everyone is
53:53wondering is page 90 missing a clue or
53:58an unintentional error.
54:02That was not an unintentional error.
54:05>> Thank you.
54:13>> Hi, my name is Cascade. Thanks so much
54:15for taking our questions. My question is
54:18if you were to estimate how many hours
54:20did it take you to make the word search
54:22in the past and future chapter
54:27>> that long time
54:29>> what
54:30>> a long time
54:30>> did it
54:34>> 10 minutes a long time I don't know I
54:36don't know I don't know I didn't keep
54:38track of those things but many many many
54:39hours there were many many renditions
54:42and many many many many hours that was a
54:44that was a challenging thing to
54:46see your your name and your question.
54:48>> Okay.
54:49>> Hi guys. Uh my name is Larry and uh
54:52thank you for being here first of all. I
54:54we really appreciate it. Um I'm curious.
54:57There's a wonderful picture of the two
54:59of you hiking in the wilderness in the
55:01book. Uh any chance you'd share that
55:03location? [laughter]
55:07No.
55:10>> No.
55:10>> I thought I'd try.
55:12>> No. It was somewhere between uh 5,000
55:15and 10,200 ft [laughter]
55:21>> in the Rockies north of Santa Fe
55:23[laughter]
55:24and below Canada. So yeah,
55:27>> um first of all, thank you. I think
55:30everybody here shares that sentiment.
55:32But um my question is specifically for
55:35the lion share. Um there are a lot of
55:37you know images and illustrations in
55:39there. And my question is, if you were
55:42to take all of the images out and just a
55:44text book, do you think somebody could
55:46find the treasure with just the text
55:48alone?
55:55>> I don't know.
55:58Um,
56:02hold on a second. Let me think. Let me
56:05think. Let me think. Let me think.
56:12Oh,
56:14>> it would be harder for sure. It'd be
56:17much more It would be difficult, but
56:19maybe not impossible.
56:21I I just hesitate because I'm I I wish I
56:23had I'd have to go and study the whole
56:26clue list.
56:28>> But yeah, it'd be harder.
56:30>> Hi, John.
56:31>> Hi.
56:32>> Hi, Kimberly.
56:33>> Hi. Um, did you know the exact hiding
56:36spot before you received the boxes from
56:39Seth?
56:43Well, I received the boxes over a period
56:47of it took him a year and a half to
56:50complete everything. So, I received the
56:51boxes over a 6 to 8month period if I
56:55remember correctly. Um,
56:58in that time I was also trying to figure
57:00out where I was going to potentially
57:03or narrow down places that I thought
57:04that I would want to potentially hide
57:07the boxes. So, I don't remember exactly,
57:08but it was a fluid process. Probably for
57:10some of them, yes, probably for others,
57:12no. But nothing none of the boxes was I
57:15knew the exact place it would be until I
57:17actually went and did, you know,
57:19reconnaissance. Um,
57:22except for maybe one of one of them. I
57:25knew exactly where it was going to be.
57:26But for the other ones, I had to do a
57:28lot of reconnaissance, so it was a fluid
57:30situation.
57:31>> Okay. Thank you.
57:32>> Yep.
57:38>> Oh, wow.
57:39>> Just bringing them closer to you so you
57:40see them.
57:43>> Oh, that's nice. Now I can see them. See
57:45people better.
57:47>> Hello, John and Kimberly. I am USA China
57:51One or SAM. Um in Joyce Serenade, this
57:55is about the lion share. Uh it says use
57:58will straight edge as a turning square
58:00or any arc may align at a proper point.
58:04It it's kind of apparent as the poem
58:05goes on that
58:08um we can choose our own path and X
58:10leads the way or follow the shimmering
58:12circles of gold. Are there any other
58:14arcs that would get us where we need to
58:16be?
58:19Oh,
58:21you're kind of going deep.
58:24Um, I mean, I don't want to say,
58:29not right off the top of my head.
58:32>> Okay.
58:32>> Yeah, not off top.
58:33>> All right. Thank you very much, too, for
58:34coming.
58:37>> We want both of you to be able to see.
58:39>> Yes, you can see. That's good. Thanks. I
58:40appreciate that.
58:41>> Um, hey, John. It's a pleasure to meet
58:43you. My name is Art. I am
58:45>> Hi.
58:45>> the face from Foggy's Dungeons and
58:47Dragons campaign. Oh, nice.
58:48>> And I would first love to cordially
58:50invite you to play with us sometime. Uh,
58:52but secondly, I have a really hard
58:55pressing question for this community.
58:58In a hot dog eating contest [laughter]
59:02between competitors like Chad Bird,
59:06Jam, and Froggy, who do you think the
59:10winner of this competition might be?
59:13[laughter]
59:16>> Do you like hot dogs? Hold on, Jim. Chad
59:18Bird, I need you to stand up. I need
59:20John to be able to size you up.
59:27>> Well, he I mean, Chad looks really
59:29motivated, so I'll I'll go with Chad.
59:31>> Yeah, Chad.
59:32Kaka. Well, thank you so much for your
59:35time. I really appreciated meeting both
59:36of you.
59:37>> Thank you.
59:39>> Thank you. Hi, John. My name is Chris.
59:42I'm from San Diego. First of all, I'd
59:44like to thank you very much for your
59:45beautiful book. Greatly appreciate it.
59:48Thank you, Kimberly, for supporting him
59:50in his project. It's been very
59:51meaningful to many of us. My question
59:54is, as this idea to hide five boxes
59:58reverberated between your ears, uh you
1:00:02had to establish priorities because
1:00:04there's trade-offs. Should I select a
1:00:06beautiful place? Should I select a
1:00:07meaningful place?
1:00:09>> Should I select a historically
1:00:10significant place? Mhm.
1:00:12>> Should I find a place that fits the
1:00:13clues just the way I want them to fit
1:00:16>> and is also safe? What was your top
1:00:18priority
1:00:20>> for those five boxes?
1:00:25Um I I would say a mixture of um
1:00:30when I could areas that like had some
1:00:32sort of significant meaning to myself
1:00:35and then the beauty once I was on the
1:00:38ground, you know, like and and really
1:00:40making final decisions. Um of course you
1:00:44also have to make decisions about where
1:00:45people go and how they move on that area
1:00:48and what's logistically possible. Um,
1:00:50but you know, with none none of that
1:00:53consideration, I was like things that
1:00:55meant something to me. Um, and like kind
1:00:59of some sort of like
1:01:02like overarching kind of like
1:01:05relationship between, you know, where
1:01:06the boxes are hidden. So, a great
1:01:09question though
1:01:10>> and thank you for your answer.
1:01:11>> Yeah. [applause]
1:01:16>> Hi, my name is Maddie. Uh, this whole
1:01:18notebook is dedicated to just solving
1:01:20the past and future box.
1:01:21>> Oh, cool.
1:01:22>> Hundreds of pages. Um, my question for
1:01:25you is, um, are there more substitution
1:01:29ciphers to solve than just the
1:01:32cryptogram?
1:01:36>> Are there more substitution? What's a
1:01:38substitution cipher?
1:01:40>> Well, like, you know, G equals H or, you
1:01:43know, a Caesar cipher where you shift
1:01:46one over or Even like a equals 1, b
1:01:49equals 2.
1:01:50>> Yeah.
1:01:52>> Yeah. I don't I don't think that I did
1:01:54that.
1:01:56>> Yeah. No, I don't think I think that I
1:01:58had a word search. So, you need to
1:02:00search for words
1:02:02and I had a cryptogram that you need to
1:02:06uncode or decode and that was it.
1:02:10>> Juicy. I love it. Thank you. [laughter]
1:02:17Hi, John. I'm Pinocchio.
1:02:19>> Hi, Pinocchio.
1:02:20>> From Michigan. I've got a question from
1:02:22my son and one from myself. Can I ask
1:02:25two?
1:02:25>> Sure.
1:02:26>> My son would like to know, "What are
1:02:28your top three favorite Pokemon?"
1:02:32>> I should have my son here actually
1:02:34answering this question because my son
1:02:36knows more about Pokemon than I do,
1:02:38honestly. Uh, well, I have to go with
1:02:40the Charizard
1:02:42and then uh the um
1:02:47[sighs]
1:02:48I don't know,
1:02:50Mewtwo.
1:02:54And then I guess I have an affinity for
1:02:56Froaky since I used that in the book.
1:02:58[laughter]
1:02:59>> What was your question? My question is,
1:03:02if someone was traveling from out of
1:03:03state, what's the minimum amount of time
1:03:06that they should budget? Assuming they
1:03:08can figure out your clues, what's the
1:03:10minimum amount of time that you think
1:03:12somebody could possibly speedrun a solve
1:03:15to one of your boxes?
1:03:18>> Speedrun. I mean, I guess I mean, I
1:03:20guess I don't know. I mean,
1:03:24if you were on target, you could, you
1:03:27know, find a box in a couple hours, but
1:03:30I don't, when you say going from a
1:03:31different I mean, I'm assuming that
1:03:32you're starting where, you know,
1:03:33>> starting from instate. Yeah, you're in
1:03:35the right place.
1:03:35>> Starting from wherever you parked,
1:03:36right? You know, you probably wouldn't
1:03:38need more than a couple hours.
1:03:40>> Great. Thank you.
1:03:41>> I guess you could speedrun it faster
1:03:42than that if you knew exactly where
1:03:43you're going.
1:03:45>> Thank you.
1:03:48>> Thank you, Pinocchio. Hey, John. Hey,
1:03:50Kimberly. Nice to meet you. Appreciate
1:03:51you coming out. Thank you, Kazarus, for
1:03:52putting everything together. I'm looking
1:03:54forward to the book signing, too.
1:03:55That'll be awesome. Uh, kind of one and
1:03:57two questions. You mentioned that
1:03:58there's red herrings in the book before
1:03:59in video interviews, and you've
1:04:01mentioned that in the AT box, for
1:04:03example, past and future, Forest Finn.
1:04:05You just need those solves. So, for AT,
1:04:07it's the map. For past and future, it's
1:04:09a cipher, right? So, you get the idea.
1:04:11So, my question is, are the red herrings
1:04:13like, you know, buffalo cough in the
1:04:15Pokemon box? And uh do you just need the
1:04:18fictitious tale when you go off with
1:04:19Froaky or is the first half where you
1:04:21talk about you know New Orleans and
1:04:22Pokémon Go relevant?
1:04:24>> There's no red herrings in the Pokemon
1:04:26chapter.
1:04:28>> Okay.
1:04:29>> In the first half of it kind of like
1:04:31>> on the on the Pokemon chapter there's no
1:04:33red herrings.
1:04:34>> Okay.
1:04:35>> If I said red herring I think that was
1:04:36in the very first interview I ever did
1:04:39and I think there's one thing in the
1:04:41book but it's not that important. But
1:04:44anyway, there's nothing in there for
1:04:45like the Pokemon.
1:04:46>> And then the is the first half relevant?
1:04:48Like you said, you only need the map for
1:04:49the AT box, the poem for force fin. Is
1:04:51it kind of the same thing with the
1:04:53Pokemon box?
1:04:54>> No, the whole the whole chapter.
1:04:55>> Okay, perfect. Thank you.
1:04:56>> Yeah.
1:05:02>> Hi, John. Uh, you know, there's several
1:05:05mistakes in the first edition and
1:05:07they've been corrected in the other
1:05:08ones. My question is, how many actual
1:05:11editions are out there? I know there's
1:05:12at least three cuz I've got one and
1:05:14three. Are there more additions?
1:05:16>> I Yeah, there are. I I uh it's either
1:05:20four or five. What happened was the
1:05:21reason there's so many additions is like
1:05:24um every time you do a new printing,
1:05:26it's a new addition or if there's a
1:05:28change, right? And it was really chaotic
1:05:29in the beginning uh cuz I had uh 50,000
1:05:34copies uh printed and then they sold out
1:05:36in in 3 weeks. And so I had to have
1:05:39three printers, two in Canada and one in
1:05:41China, all working on this. So that they
1:05:43were all three different editions
1:05:45happening at the exact same time. And
1:05:47then I had to have some additional ones
1:05:49because I didn't want everyone to run
1:05:50out again. Uh so there were four or five
1:05:52total editions.
1:05:54>> Okay. Thank you.
1:05:54>> Mhm.
1:05:59>> Hello. Due to circumstances beyond my
1:06:03control, I am less boots on the ground
1:06:05and more tush at the computer.
1:06:09>> I am not computer savvy and have had to
1:06:12learn all of these new strategies, chat,
1:06:15GBT, and things like that.
1:06:17>> Do you think it's possible that some of
1:06:20your searchers have been hijacked
1:06:23by things online?
1:06:26>> What do you mean by hijacked? getting
1:06:28strange messages
1:06:32>> from whom?
1:06:33>> I don't know.
1:06:34>> Oh, I have no idea what other people's
1:06:36experiences are online.
1:06:37>> I just wanted to make sure that it was a
1:06:40totally book thing and not an online
1:06:42thing.
1:06:43>> Totally.
1:06:44>> Okay.
1:06:44>> Yeah.
1:06:46>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1:06:52>> So, first, thank you for to you and your
1:06:54wife for doing this. Uh we appreciate it
1:06:56and thank you uh for the wonderful book.
1:06:59Um my question is around public places
1:07:01and and you said that the treasure was
1:07:03left in a p public space. Now a lot of
1:07:06treasure hunters may or may not know
1:07:08that these public spaces may actually be
1:07:10privately owned if you dig deep enough.
1:07:13the easement that you talked about, is
1:07:16that an easement that allows a private
1:07:19property uh to be lent out to the public
1:07:22or is that you have to cross something
1:07:24as a easement? I I think I would just
1:07:27try to make it a very specific
1:07:32distinction is like there's some public
1:07:34trails where like if you do like a vast
1:07:37amount of research, you'll find out that
1:07:38maybe like a 100 yards of it is on
1:07:41private land, but there has been an
1:07:43agreement set up that that's just public
1:07:46access.
1:07:48That's a rare thing. Uh but it is a
1:07:51thing and I know some people do a deep
1:07:53dive and I didn't want people to get all
1:07:54worked up about that. So that's why I
1:07:56said that, but otherwise it's you don't
1:07:58have to go on any type of private
1:08:00property for any real reason at all.
1:08:02>> Thank you very much.
1:08:03>> Yeah.
1:08:08>> Hi, John. Nice to meet you. I'm Mar Le
1:08:10Burge. Um and uh glad we get a chance to
1:08:12ask you a question. So hopefully an easy
1:08:14one that you can answer. You you'll be
1:08:16the judge. Um so all the boxes um you
1:08:20know, you've mentioned from a safety
1:08:21perspective when there's snow on the
1:08:23ground, don't go hunting. Are there any
1:08:25boxes hidden where under normal weather
1:08:28circumstances they wouldn't have snow?
1:08:32>> Okay, ask me that one more time.
1:08:34>> Yeah. Are are any of the boxes hidden
1:08:36where under normal weather
1:08:37circumstances, not crazy weather, that
1:08:39they wouldn't ever get snowed on?
1:08:45>> Probably.
1:08:48>> Fair. But what did we just had some
1:08:51crazy weather patterns, right? We're
1:08:52like three of the country where like
1:08:56>> the non crazy weather pattern like
1:08:58ignore the crazy weather pattern like
1:09:00that you you wouldn't expect the box to
1:09:02be snowed on.
1:09:03>> Yeah.
1:09:04>> Okay. Awesome. Thank you.
1:09:05>> Yeah.
1:09:12>> Hi. Thank you both for uh being here. I
1:09:15have a very specific question.
1:09:18Does one of the clues have relevance to
1:09:22a gun scope like reticle sight like a
1:09:26like a sighting scope or its thread like
1:09:29crosshairs?
1:09:31>> That's a very specific question.
1:09:34>> Um that does not sound familiar to me.
1:09:39Yeah.
1:09:47Hey, John.
1:09:48>> Hi.
1:09:48>> So, thank you so much. Um, after the
1:09:51forest fin treasure was ended, you know,
1:09:54my heart was broken and then you came
1:09:56out and you gave us something else to
1:09:59do. And so, uh, so thank you so much for
1:10:02that. My family and I, we were really
1:10:04digging in. We're really diving in. We
1:10:05really love it. We're really involved.
1:10:07Um, so my question for you is pertaining
1:10:09to the Forest Fen box. And you know,
1:10:12Forest Fen left us a map. I call it the
1:10:14Fen Zone. It's got four states on it.
1:10:16And my question is, are there any other
1:10:19treasure chests other than the Fen box
1:10:21hidden in that Fen zone? Oh
1:10:27well, I can't answer that question, but
1:10:29like I mean I think we should just
1:10:31extrapolate in our minds that like if
1:10:34you have,
1:10:36you know, five boxes spread out, I mean
1:10:40I mean that's a pretty big area, the
1:10:41Rocky Mountains, right? Yeah, I can't
1:10:45answer that question, but the I can just
1:10:47reiterate that there's five boxes spread
1:10:50out different parts of the country. So,
1:10:53you know, I think that like um the cool
1:10:56thing potentially is that when a box is
1:10:59found or another box is found, you know,
1:11:01it's going to kind of start to eliminate
1:11:03general areas and it's going to narrow
1:11:05things down more. So, those those will
1:11:07be revealed, but you know, the Rockies
1:11:10were kind of Forest Finn's thing, you
1:11:11know.
1:11:13>> Okay. If you don't mind, I have a
1:11:15question for my mother. She's not here.
1:11:16She couldn't join me. Quick question.
1:11:20the olive jar when we do reveal when the
1:11:23>> the pickle jar or the olive jar.
1:11:24>> The the olive jar or you called it the
1:11:27pickle jar once. So when uh when the
1:11:30when it's finally revealed and we all
1:11:32finally figure out what's in there, is
1:11:34it going to make us happy or is it going
1:11:36to make us sad?
1:11:39>> I wish I knew. [laughter]
1:11:43>> Is it going to make you
1:11:44>> How did it make you feel?
1:11:46I think I was less emotionally attached
1:11:49than some people are. So, I don't think
1:11:51that I think my feeling was more of
1:11:53like, oh, this is going to be really
1:11:54cool. [laughter]
1:11:56Um, but uh I don't know. I don't know if
1:11:59it's going to make you happy or sad. I I
1:12:02don't know. I'm sorry. I can't really
1:12:03answer the question.
1:12:04>> Okay. Thank you, John. Thank you for
1:12:05your time.
1:12:06>> Thank you.
1:12:09>> Hi, John. Thank you very much. I'm Josh
1:12:12from Orlando. uh wanted to give you a
1:12:14softball.
1:12:16>> Okay. With your background as a musician
1:12:19>> and I know that you've got the chapter
1:12:20make your own special music.
1:12:22>> Yeah.
1:12:22>> I was just curious what you would say if
1:12:25you had to pick one song [laughter] to
1:12:28best represent or sum up what this hunt
1:12:30is.
1:12:30>> Oh, this is a hard one.
1:12:32>> What would that song be?
1:12:34>> I
1:12:37see. Hey, now if you put that on a list,
1:12:39[laughter]
1:12:40I could had some time to think about it,
1:12:42but I don't know. Do you have a What do
1:12:43you think?
1:12:46>> I don't know.
1:12:48>> Song to sum it up. I don't know if one
1:12:50song would sum it up, you know. But let
1:12:53me get back on that. Maybe I can I can
1:12:56like answer that question. They can they
1:12:58can provide it later for me on a podcast
1:12:59or something.
1:13:00>> Sounds good. Thank you. [laughter]
1:13:04>> Yeah.
1:13:06Hello. Um, you've stated that the photo
1:13:09in the Pokemon chapter is a location you
1:13:11visited hiding the box. Is this a single
1:13:14photo or are there other images, items,
1:13:16or locations added in making it a
1:13:18collage with multiple things you can
1:13:21find not all in the exact same spot,
1:13:24location depicted by the picture?
1:13:28>> Okay. I'm not exactly sure everything
1:13:30you asked. Go ahead. Wait,
1:13:32>> I think she's saying was it just like a
1:13:34single scene? Yeah.
1:13:36>> Right. Or are there like a whole bunch
1:13:38of scenes overlaid on top of each other?
1:13:40>> Oh, it was one single picture.
1:13:41>> Okay.
1:13:42>> Taken by my camera
1:13:45and then obviously, you know, I did some
1:13:47things to it, but it was one single
1:13:49picture. There aren't like multiple
1:13:50pictures layer on top for my camera.
1:13:52>> Okay. So, but you didn't add any items
1:13:55into the picture.
1:13:56>> Oh, I'm not saying that.
1:13:58>> Okay. Okay.
1:14:00I'm not saying that,
1:14:02>> but it was a picture on my camera.
1:14:04>> Okay.
1:14:05>> Or my phone.
1:14:06>> All right. Thank you.
1:14:10>> Yeah.
1:14:14>> Uh my question actually has a
1:14:17preliminary question. Uh at risk of
1:14:20making myself look like an idiot here,
1:14:23you have said that nobody's discovered
1:14:26the five clues for the past and future
1:14:28box.
1:14:29If I were to make a guess at the five
1:14:32clues in a public setting and at least
1:14:36four or five of them were correct, would
1:14:38you confirm that a large number of them
1:14:40are correct?
1:14:44>> No, no, no. I don't I don't I don't I
1:14:47don't confirm anything. Um, unless it's
1:14:50the treasure's been found. I mean, you
1:14:53>> I think this this whole like this whole
1:14:55five clues about about the uh the word
1:14:58search is is is throwing people for a
1:15:00loop and I can understand why.
1:15:02>> I think I know why too,
1:15:04>> but uh
1:15:06you know,
1:15:08yeah, let's see what you say.
1:15:11>> Are you sure you're
1:15:12>> I believe the five clues are
1:15:15>> okay. the hidden message, the no special
1:15:19bends and turns.
1:15:21All of the forward words as one group as
1:15:24a clue. All of the backwards words as a
1:15:27group as a clue. All of the diagonal
1:15:30words as a group as a clue.
1:15:34Meaning that all four of the directions
1:15:36of words are one clue each. And then the
1:15:38message.
1:15:41>> And you want me to confirm or deny
1:15:43>> it. It'll be out there for everybody.
1:15:45>> Oh, okay. Okay. Well, I can't I can't
1:15:48comment on that, but
1:15:49>> Okay.
1:15:49>> Thank you for sharing.
1:15:50>> All right.
1:15:54[applause]
1:15:56>> Hi, John. Thank you for taking question.
1:16:00Can you eliminate a state that borders
1:16:03one of the boxes that the box resides?
1:16:07>> So, you mean when when when something's
1:16:09found?
1:16:10>> No. Eliminate a state right now. Oh, no.
1:16:14No.
1:16:15>> Come on. Eliminate one thing for all of
1:16:19us right now.
1:16:21>> No.
1:16:25>> There's nothing in Puerto Rico.
1:16:37>> Hi, John. Thanks again for being here.
1:16:39Uh my question also past and future box.
1:16:42I know we just had a thing about five
1:16:44clues, but those five clues, could you
1:16:48find the box without knowing all five
1:16:50clues, or is it something that like
1:16:53needs to be done almost sequentially in
1:16:55order to get there?
1:16:57Oh man, you could find the box without
1:16:59knowing all five clues.
1:17:02Um, and those all five clues that you
1:17:06guys keep talking about is
1:17:10yeah,
1:17:12you know, there is a world where there's
1:17:14more than five clues, but like what does
1:17:16that mean that you know, I mean, there's
1:17:19a lot of stuff in that word search. So,
1:17:21yeah. Okay.
1:17:22>> I'm sorry. I can't really say anymore.
1:17:24>> No, I appreciate it. Thank you.
1:17:31Hello. Hi, John. My name is Laura. Um,
1:17:35I want to say uh thank you um for coming
1:17:39and answering all our questions. Um I'm
1:17:41also looking for the past and future
1:17:43box, but I'm not going to ask a question
1:17:46um about it. Uh as treasure hunters,
1:17:49we're sometimes asked by hikers what
1:17:51we're doing and often give a harmless
1:17:53cover explanation. When you were hiding
1:17:56your treasure treasures or when you were
1:17:58searching for forest fence treasure, did
1:18:00you ever experience this? If so, what
1:18:02did you tell them?
1:18:05>> What was the first part of the question
1:18:06again?
1:18:08>> Um, as searchers uh sometimes we're
1:18:12asked by hikers um like what we're
1:18:14doing. Like one time someone saw me. I
1:18:16was wearing a frog shirt and it had just
1:18:20rained and there were a bunch of frogs
1:18:22and they were like, "What? What are you
1:18:24doing? I'm coming off the trail." And
1:18:25they're like, "What are you doing?" And
1:18:26I was like, "Oh, I'm getting frogs and
1:18:28putting them back in the river."
1:18:30[laughter]
1:18:33>> I
1:18:38mean,
1:18:38>> I don't know why I said it. [laughter]
1:18:42>> That's great. That's hilarious. I I
1:18:45never had that happen. I never had
1:18:46someone like ask me what I was doing. Um
1:18:48I don't know what to say. Like I Yeah.
1:18:52You don't want to tell them the truth.
1:18:53>> No. I didn't want them to know because
1:18:55I'm pretty sure I think I know where it
1:18:57is.
1:18:57>> Oh, I say you don't want to get
1:18:59>> hurt my feelings that you said I wasn't
1:19:00close.
1:19:01>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't know. I
1:19:03You know, I can't really say, but that's
1:19:05a hilarious story.
1:19:06>> Yeah. Thank you.
1:19:09>> Just so you know, we have about 15
1:19:11minutes. We'll be stopping the live
1:19:12questions. So,
1:19:13>> Okay. Just enough.
1:19:14>> Wow. Oh, we did pretty good on time.
1:19:17>> Hi, John. My name is Cynthia. This is
1:19:20regarding the past and future box.
1:19:22>> So, I'm really sick and tired of working
1:19:24on the word search.
1:19:28[cheering]
1:19:30You know that it's interesting like my
1:19:32sister uh texted me I think about two
1:19:36weeks after the book came out and she
1:19:37was like I was on a 5h hour Zoom call
1:19:41with 500 people talking about your word
1:19:43search and that was like two weeks in. I
1:19:46was like what? [laughter]
1:19:49>> Yeah. So I can understand your
1:19:50frustration. So, so my question is, can
1:19:54the treasure can the PNF box be found
1:19:57using just the story in that chapter and
1:20:00the cryptogram without solving the five
1:20:02clues in the word search?
1:20:04>> That'd be a lot harder. That word search
1:20:06is pretty important.
1:20:09>> Yeah.
1:20:09>> Okay.
1:20:10>> Sorry.
1:20:11>> Okay. That's that's cool. Thank you.
1:20:12>> Yeah.
1:20:18>> Yes. Hi. How are you doing?
1:20:20>> Good. Um, the resolution of the the map
1:20:24for the AT footpath box is significantly
1:20:27better in the eDF than it is in the
1:20:29printed version.
1:20:31>> Does the increased level of detail
1:20:33create any competitive advantage?
1:20:35>> No, I don't think so. I was really uh I
1:20:38really spent a lot of time having the um
1:20:40the printer send me actual physical
1:20:43copies of what that was going to look
1:20:44like. And I went over it with a
1:20:46magnifying glass from each printer that
1:20:48I had do it. And uh I think everything's
1:20:51and I'm losing my eyesight anyway. So
1:20:54like uh I I think we're okay with the
1:20:56printed version.
1:20:57>> Excellent. Thank you.
1:20:58>> Yeah.
1:21:00[applause]
1:21:02>> Hi John. Thank you. Um you talked about
1:21:05how you explicitly ruled out Yellowstone
1:21:08when you were hunting for Forest Fox.
1:21:10>> Yeah. Yeah.
1:21:10>> How did that affect the way you built
1:21:12this hunt and specifically how you wrote
1:21:15chapter nine
1:21:17on confirmation bias?
1:21:20>> Oh, well, yeah. I mean,
1:21:24I don't know how it shaped it other than
1:21:26I just like it's just funny because I
1:21:30spent a lot of time searching for that
1:21:31box, but yet I made an assumption that
1:21:33would never have let me ever find it in
1:21:35a million years, you know? And uh I
1:21:37can't tell you exactly why I made the
1:21:39assumption other than I heard him
1:21:40talking about it and I was like, "Oh, it
1:21:41really sounds like, you know, he was
1:21:43wouldn't put it someplace there because
1:21:45he was concerned about the legalities of
1:21:47it." And I just, you know, and I wanted
1:21:49to kind of narrow things down. And so I
1:21:51just made like a real kind of rookie
1:21:53error, just eliminating something for no
1:21:56exact reason. And uh and so that was a
1:22:00huge confirmation bias because it like
1:22:03led me to never consider that. And um I
1:22:08also was like and this is interesting
1:22:09like one of the big things was you know
1:22:12I know there's some debate about 9 mile
1:22:14hole but let's just go with it. Um I I I
1:22:18saw heard about Forest's hunt in early
1:22:212016. You know I think he hit the box in
1:22:242009 2010 or whatever. Uh, and I just
1:22:27assumed
1:22:29uh that there's just no way the box
1:22:32could be in the most obvious place
1:22:35because thousands of people had already
1:22:37searched there and I'm sure they would
1:22:39have found it. And so I think that was
1:22:41the big takeaway, right? And it's
1:22:43interesting. I go back to that
1:22:44resilience thing or like Dave and Sam
1:22:47dig a hole like people, you know, just
1:22:49because you know people can go to a
1:22:52place and search doesn't mean it's not
1:22:54there. And so yeah, I just it was an
1:22:59interesting thing and and I guess there
1:23:01was some confusion about Yellowstone
1:23:03when I when I brought it up, but I just
1:23:06thought the fair thing was just to let
1:23:07people know my experience, which you
1:23:09know, I hid the Forest Fin box somewhere
1:23:13where I was searching for his box and I
1:23:16did not search for his box in
1:23:18Yellowstone and that's why I let people
1:23:19know that.
1:23:25Hello. Is there more than one Pokemon
1:23:28that's hidden?
1:23:33>> More than one Pokemon that's hidden in
1:23:36the purple image at the end of the
1:23:38Pokemon box.
1:23:44I I can't answer that question. I mean,
1:23:47I can't I can't answer the question not
1:23:50because the question is yes. It's just
1:23:52because it feels like it's a little bit
1:23:53of a slippery slope if I start asking
1:23:55them answering specific questions.
1:24:00[applause]
1:24:03>> Nice try. You got the crowd behind you
1:24:06though. You took one for the team.
1:24:10>> Hi John and Kimberly. Thanks for coming
1:24:12today. Okay, I'm Stacy and my you just
1:24:14clarified that Puerto Rico again or
1:24:18reiterated that, but my question is um
1:24:21is Alaska and Hawaii still in play in
1:24:23this?
1:24:24>> Yeah, they're part of the United States.
1:24:25Yeah, for sure.
1:24:26>> Thank you.
1:24:31[applause]
1:24:34>> Hi, I'll just keep it quick. Um, given
1:24:37that some of the treasure items could be
1:24:39susceptible to high humidity, like the
1:24:41Michael Jordan card or the Pokemon
1:24:43cards,
1:24:44>> are all of the items actually in the
1:24:46boxes or are there some proxies inside?
1:24:54>> There were um a couple items that were
1:24:58too big to fit in any reasonable size
1:25:00box.
1:25:02So, there's that. But, uh, everything
1:25:06that could be in a box. Um, you know,
1:25:08when you talk about humidity, that was
1:25:10another thing I did a lot of research
1:25:11on. So, I think they're protected.
1:25:18[applause]
1:25:21>> Uh, hello. Um in the uh past and future
1:25:25uh chapter on the word search, the word
1:25:28line is uh found and also needed to
1:25:32complete the hidden phrase, line them
1:25:34up. Uh and it sort of breaks a rule that
1:25:38you established during the decoding of
1:25:40the secret message. Was this intentional
1:25:43or not?
1:25:45>> I mean, I think that you're on the right
1:25:47path.
1:25:50>> I'll take that. Yeah. Thank you.
1:25:52[applause]
1:25:56>> Hey, John. Uh, my name is Bruno. Uh,
1:25:59thank you so much for taking this. Uh,
1:26:01my question is, do all letters in the
1:26:04word search have to be used in a
1:26:06meaningful way?
1:26:10No.
1:26:12No.
1:26:12>> Thank you.
1:26:14[applause]
1:26:17>> This is not about the word search.
1:26:19>> Oh, yes.
1:26:22Sorry. I wanted to thank you for all the
1:26:24joy of the puzzles, but especially I
1:26:26enjoyed like your humor through it. Like
1:26:27for instance, the jar of flies and um
1:26:31maybe also like the clapping of the
1:26:33Pokemons.
1:26:34>> I It really puts you in this spot. So,
1:26:36imagine I've been in those spots. I've
1:26:38gotten all the way to where the Pokemon
1:26:40is standing there pointing. How many
1:26:42boulders do I have to turn over or trees
1:26:45knock down before I'll find it? Like if
1:26:47I'm literally on the spot where the
1:26:48Pokemon is, am I looking at 10 yards or
1:26:5250 yards?
1:26:55>> Yeah. Yeah. Because some guys tore up a
1:26:58boulder for like 50 days.
1:26:59>> I mean, it feels like if if if you're
1:27:02standing where the Pokemon is and and
1:27:06and you're go like 10 yards in the
1:27:09direction he's pointing, you'll just be
1:27:11in in the river.
1:27:13[laughter]
1:27:14So, you're probably not that close.
1:27:18You know, you probably need to go a
1:27:20little further.
1:27:22>> Perfect.
1:27:24[applause]
1:27:27>> We'll have uh five more questions.
1:27:28Thanks.
1:27:29>> Okay.
1:27:30>> Hi, John. Thank you. My name is Max. Um,
1:27:33when I first started on this search, uh,
1:27:37with fresh eyes, I kind of one of the
1:27:40boxes I was leaning towards an more
1:27:43urban setting for the solve. I just
1:27:46wanted to ask you though, um, obviously
1:27:48now with more time, it it seems um, and
1:27:52there's no red herrings, right? So,
1:27:54everything seems to be more in a nature
1:27:56setting, but would you say that there's
1:27:58any that is close to an urban jungle?
1:28:00Thank you. Yeah. I mean, I really talk
1:28:03about mother nature a lot for a reason.
1:28:05I think that like, you know,
1:28:09stick with that.
1:28:14So, there has to be varying degrees of
1:28:16difficulty in your clues. Would you
1:28:17agree with that?
1:28:19>> Yes.
1:28:20>> So, as a favor to me, Kazars, and KPro,
1:28:23and all of us at Seeking Treasure Con,
1:28:25could you tell us what's the most basic,
1:28:27easiest clue in the book?
1:28:29>> Oh, no.
1:28:30>> [laughter]
1:28:33>> I don't know. But that's objective.
1:28:34That's subjective. No, I mean that's
1:28:36nice. Try, Mike.
1:28:37>> All right. I had to try. [laughter]
1:28:42>> That's the easiest.
1:28:43>> Mike. [laughter]
1:28:45>> Hi, John. My name is Trish and I have a
1:28:47just a quick question. Do you pronounce
1:28:51the trail Appalachian
1:28:54footpath or Appalachin footpath? And do
1:28:58you think it's important?
1:29:00>> Appalachin is how I said it growing up.
1:29:04Yeah.
1:29:09[applause]
1:29:10>> Hello, my name is Chris. Um, I wanted to
1:29:12know which box are we closest to in
1:29:15Vegas or uh which about how far is the
1:29:19or or about how far is the closest box?
1:29:24I'm not sure.
1:29:26>> No comment.
1:29:28>> Uh for neither.
1:29:29>> No.
1:29:30>> A
1:29:31>> sorry.
1:29:34>> But there's always one nearby.
1:29:36>> Hi.
1:29:37>> You should answer these questions.
1:29:38You're better.
1:29:39>> Sorry.
1:29:40>> That's okay. Okay. So my question is now
1:29:42that the search has been going on for a
1:29:44little while now, are you um do you feel
1:29:47like you've given sufficient clues
1:29:49amount of clues for each box? Or do you
1:29:52feel like any of the boxes you're like,
1:29:54hm, maybe I should have given one or two
1:29:57more? And if so, which one? And do you
1:30:00feel like your searchers are like off on
1:30:02a wild goose chase and you're like, huh,
1:30:04you know, I I need to reel them in at
1:30:06all like we
1:30:07>> Well, there's a lot of people searching.
1:30:09I mean, some people are on a bigger
1:30:10goose chase than others.
1:30:14Some aren't on a goose chase very much
1:30:15at all. Um,
1:30:19it's a question I ask myself, you know,
1:30:21like, you know, will there be a time
1:30:24where I need to give more public clues
1:30:26or not? I don't know. Let's see how this
1:30:28year plays out. I'll reevaluate. But I
1:30:31don't know the answer because uh again,
1:30:33I don't want to jump to to too much
1:30:35conclusion. It's just been a year, you
1:30:36know. So,
1:30:37>> so you haven't seen any particular box
1:30:38where you're like, gosh, they're way
1:30:40off. All my searchers are way off on
1:30:41that one.
1:30:43>> There are a lot of people searching. So,
1:30:44I think that's probably true for every
1:30:46box
1:30:47>> to a certain degree, [laughter] but then
1:30:49there it only takes like it only takes
1:30:51what one person to find each one. So,
1:30:53>> all right. Well, thank you so much.
1:30:55>> I mean, there are people I mean that
1:30:58there are things that are generally
1:31:00correct by a lot of people, you know.
1:31:03So, it's not that everyone's wrong about
1:31:06everything. That's not true.
1:31:10>> I know we're coming up on time, so I'm
1:31:11going to try to keep this brief, but I
1:31:13just want to say an extended thank you
1:31:16to you, John. Um, I was just talking
1:31:20with my buddy Matt and I know that like
1:31:24we've got a lot going on in our personal
1:31:25lives, but I really am grateful for what
1:31:29you have put out into the world and the
1:31:33way that it has been kind of a beacon
1:31:35for all of us to, you know, focus on,
1:31:39to, you know, dream about, to be get
1:31:42excited about, even in the midst of our,
1:31:45you know, shitty lives and jobs, you
1:31:48know, jobs being lost and family members
1:31:50sick and whatnot. So, like that is it's
1:31:53it's really amazing to have something
1:31:55to, you know, get excited about uh in
1:31:58this world.
1:32:00>> So,
1:32:00>> thank [applause] you.
1:32:04>> I'm actually, you know, this is not
1:32:06actually about the hunt itself, but I'm
1:32:08curious to know, you know, let's say I
1:32:11find the box, right? You've given
1:32:14instructions
1:32:15for how to open it. You've left it open
1:32:18as far as whether I reach out to you,
1:32:22right? What was your thought process as
1:32:25far as you know, you could have made it
1:32:28so that oh, you can't open it unless you
1:32:30contact me first,
1:32:32>> right? Um, so I I'm just curious to know
1:32:35like what your thought process was as
1:32:37far as, you know, putting it out into
1:32:40the world, each of the treasures, and,
1:32:43you know, what happens after that. Well,
1:32:46I didn't want anyone destroying a box to
1:32:48try to get inside of it. So, that was a
1:32:50big deal. Um, but other than that, I
1:32:52just wanted to create an incentive, you
1:32:54know, for people to contact my contact
1:32:56me so we could have some closure. Um,
1:33:00and then that that was pretty much the
1:33:01extent of my my thought process.
1:33:05Thank you. Yeah.
1:33:08[applause]
1:33:11>> Hi, John. Good to see you guys.
1:33:14>> When you guys were Forest Fin searchers,
1:33:16were you watching YouTube shows and all
1:33:18those things?
1:33:18>> No, no, no, not really.
1:33:20>> You were just focused on the book and
1:33:22going for it.
1:33:23>> Yeah. Well, there was a lot less. Well,
1:33:24I don't know. It seemed like there was a
1:33:25lot less back then. And I think there
1:33:27were a couple online forums.
1:33:29>> Yeah. And so I' got I'd try to go back
1:33:32and read the history of that. I probably
1:33:34watched a video. I mean, I'm sure I
1:33:35watched Christy and Mike's videos or
1:33:38something like that at some point. Yeah.
1:33:42>> Hey, John and Kimberly. Um, I'll try to
1:33:45make it quick. I know we're on time. Um,
1:33:47regarding the Pokemon box, as you can
1:33:48imagine, interview after interview,
1:33:51there's still great debate about the
1:33:53phrase past the Ozarks. Um, this has
1:33:56people looking all the way up as far as
1:33:58the Great Lakes. Wish I was joking. I'm
1:34:00not.
1:34:00>> Wow.
1:34:00>> Um, I've driven from Statesville all the
1:34:02way to Houston and back. Is it safe to
1:34:05say you never went further north than
1:34:08Interstate 40?
1:34:11>> As a kid
1:34:12>> for the Pokemon box hiding.
1:34:15As a kid
1:34:18on that trip,
1:34:20I think we went north of I40.
1:34:23But let's I mean like
1:34:26the the Pokemon box location was
1:34:28inspired by
1:34:30the the the experience as a child. So,
1:34:33but I can't say whether the box is north
1:34:36of I40 or not. [laughter]
1:34:38>> Thanks for
1:34:41>> All right, [applause]
1:34:43let's hear it for John and Kimberly,
1:34:45everybody.
1:34:47[cheering and applause]
1:34:51So, I just want to remind everyone
1:34:54[applause]
1:34:55>> I want to remind everyone that the
1:34:57unedited video of the Q&A today will be
1:35:01uploaded to the Kazar's YouTube channel.
1:35:03Unedited. Several people have already
1:35:04asked me will it be edited. It will not.
1:35:07The full Q&A will be uploaded. And thank
1:35:10you both for coming to Seeking Treasure
1:35:11Co.
1:35:13>> Thank you to John. Thank you to
1:35:14Kimberly. I'm not sure about you, but I
1:35:17think we have about 6 months of shows,
1:35:19analysis, and some phenomenal content
1:35:21that's going to come. Um, we will
1:35:23analyze every laugh, every turn.
1:35:27>> And make sure you get to Barnes & Noble
1:35:29tomorrow. John is not able to sign
1:35:31because if he signs for one, he's going
1:35:33to sign for 300 and he will be in here
1:35:35until midnight. So, I will try to offer
1:35:39if you don't have someone, I might be
1:35:41able to grab an extra book and help you
1:35:43out, but come and see me after because I
1:35:45know a few of you are flying out. Um,
1:35:47but we just wanted to say thank you so
1:35:49much. Um, this is beyond anything I
1:35:52could have imagined. So, um, gracious,
1:35:54wonderful. We are going to, um, walk
1:35:56them out, but we have the raffle. We
1:35:59have over $50,000 in prizes donated by
1:36:02all of you. It's pretty crazy. um gold
1:36:05and silver etc. We will do that after we
1:36:08get our gracious keynote speaker um
1:36:10escorted out. So um we will be back in
1:36:13three minutes. Don't go anywhere. You
1:36:15don't want to miss next step. Get your
1:36:16raffle tickets

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