An advantage of this book is it would get Canadians to explore their own country. The territories are explicitly out. Too many problems.

The five regions include British Columbia, prairies, Ontario, Quebec, and maritimes. Well, not exactly. An alternative approach is to have a mountain region including B.C. and the mountainous part of Alberta. We might quietly move the goal posts.

We could have "duct tape hunts", particularly if the geographic requirements are not met. Someone in Ontario makes a puzzle, while Newfoundland John dumps a treasure chest under a tree in Lobster Bay.

Nova Scotia is where the mysterious Oak Island treasure is.

There is nothing wrong with having multiple treasures in the same zone.

It is assumed that treasure hunts won't be overt about the region, but there's no rule against this.
 
 
 
 

How big is the book? A coffee table book? I prefer smallish. I hope there's enough material to fill a book. I hope somebody writes a big story.

I have several ideas for book cover. The map plus treasure chest tells people what they need to know. It's the publisher's choice anyway.

It's not .. that. Not exactly. There are requirements for geography and language, and different types of treasure hunts are encouraged. Even the prizes are not exactly uniform. Do what you do, make it fun for someone. Diversity is good for a grab bag of reasons. For one thing I like it.

The all-Canadian thing is a selling point, a reason to get buzz.

An advantage of this book is it would push Canadians to get to know their own country - in multiple ways.

A treasure hunt should not be too easy because it would get solved right away, hunters would no longer have a challenge, and books would not be bought. A treasure hunt should not be too hard because players would be frustrated and put off, urban areas get redeveloped over time, and designers die. That's an advantage to having a variety of treasure hunts.

Mature people are preferred. But young people will have tastes appropriate for the latest generation, and could have fresh inspiration.

I would like to see a hunt that bends toward the Chinese Canadian community. That's the only ethnic group I would push for (shrugs shoulders). Some Chinese writing, a neat prize. Note that I picture more than one book.
 

Think of someone you know in your life. Judy. Would that person want to get a treasure hunt book? Interesting, but not quite for her. It's for .. those people, who will track down the treasure (I note that Judy has done an escape room). It doesn't help that the treasure will be hidden somewhere in this wide country, likely far from her.

But diversity changes things.

By population, there is almost certainly going to be a treasure in your province, and by province there will be one fairly close to you.

Jean Claude is happy because this "Canadian" book actually has some French, with a focus on Quebec. Quebec is a big part of Canada's population.

Little Sally in Edmonton thinks the story and especially the pictures that go with it are interesting. She could get in contact with people in a couple of other provinces.

Some people like ciphers. Some people do not. Some people really dislike poems in treasure hunts for some reason.

Hiker Hank would get to stroll around the trails and streams of New Brunswick.
 
 
 
 

There are two separate reasons for secrecy. One is the obvious: the integrity of the game must be maintained. The other reason is you don't want designers and their families to be harassed (probably more relevant for the big bucks hunts).

Treasure hunts would be evaluated by approved members of the team. This is about objective quality control, not relationships. I'm debating my role.

The difficulty of a hunt would not affect its approval. Same with the uniqueness of the hunt, or any other diversity. Publishing is a different matter.

On paper evaluation means a hunt is accepted or not. But in practise I think it will be messier, greyer, less complete than that. So there will be Level 1 and Level 2 evaluation. Level 1 means "you're in" (sort of, not published). Level 2 is a more thorough scrub with the goal of perfecting the hunt. But this is a collegial conversation among peers. It's useful to get another, objective set of eyes.

If your hunt gets rejected, you can have someone else look at it, slowly chip away at improvements, and remember there may be multiple books.
 
 
 
 

Where is the prize money, i.e. treasure, coming from? I might be naive about that. A bunch of money has to come from somewhere, or the project will fail.

How am I supposed to get the word out to potential designers?

I would have to assemble a group of designers from all five provincial regions. Preferably able and dependable. French has to find a place too. Not getting a treasure hunt in, say, British Columbia worries me more than anything else.

Getting a book published and sold is an obstacle course that will probably lead to failure. There is the whole process of getting a set of approved hunts. Then a publisher, in Canada, would have to agree to publish it, and also shuffle over prize money. Few book submissions are published. Normally only a few people will buy a published book.

Timing, dependencies and group effort worries me. Basically a step will not be done unless a previous step is done and a subsequent step will be done, so everything can easily seize up or otherwise fall apart.

A creator makes a treasure hunt, and publishes it. Fiction authors contribute to an anthology book. Business people work together on a project. But an anthology of treasure hunts from different creators is not like anything else.

Group communication for this might be an obstacle course. Schedules, secrecy, time zones, languages. And that's before we get to group dynamics and different perspectives.

I don't stay awake at night worrying about secrecy, but it's wise to take measures to keep things secret. Group communication means bits of information can spread. With the classic, classy Masquerade treasure hunt from 1979, the designer had a girlfriend. He split up with her, she told secrets to her new boyfriend, who then picked up the treasure, spoiling the whole hunt. Devices should be secure. People should be secure.

History shows that something or other could go wrong with a treasure hunt that's out there. Multiple people died looking for the Forest Fenn treasure. Maybe a treasure is never found.

Treasure placement is a hole in my game. Can someone take a treasure chest from a provincial park? Proxy treasure has been known to be washed out of its spot by weather. Someone could spot you messing around at the treasure location. Someone (with a dog? a metal detector?) can come across a treasure chest or something small without even knowing about the book. How will weather affect treasure? I don't know if we should establish standards (proper, neatly communicated) or not (options). For example treasure may or may not be buried.

Proxy treasures means rules, customer service and delivery.

I don't think designers should be expecting much money for their work, even if it is published.

The website, including e-mails, are something to work on.

Publicity, including social media, is something to work on.

On paper (so to speak) this is about physical things, not online, but that model might be tossed out the window given the realities of the situation.

One speed bump is I don't know if there are programs that can solve ciphers with brute force. Other puzzles too.
 
 
 
 

Where will the money for the treasure come from?