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. Not especially me. Trusted people could evaluate hunts. Trusted foreigners, including France, are an option. Anonymous? This is about objective quality control, not relationships.

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

Treasure hunts could be evaluated in two ways
A) Is it good, does it work, is it more or less complete, appealing?
B) A more granular, critical evaluation. Like going through the code in a computer program to look for bugs.

So your treasure hunt has been assessed as a failure, not approved. However,

• You can be evaluated again by someone else.
• This will give you the opportunity to slowly make the little touches to improve your hunt.
• This might be a series of books rather than one.

Individuals, part of a team of equals, could take responsibility for special topics. Information security. We are currently clean on OPSEC. Getting the lay of the land with publishers. I wonder if modern programs can assist with cracking the classic ciphers and anagrams. Chasing down artists. The website. Standards and suggestions for placement of treasure.

And we should make a list of things that could go wrong, things to watch for, and come up with solutions to those.