When you tell someone about a treasure hunt, the first thing they will do is ask what the treasure is. I am certainly excited about treasures, but from a different angle. I care about how interesting the contents are and how it can all be part of a cohesive package/theme. But for now there is only one word we need to know, and that is "hypothetical". Nobody knows. For the sake of having a number to work with, we'll say the average treasure is $5,000 per hunt.
 
 
 
 

The ideal treasure is a treasure chest with many coins, and likely some other things. This is left for someone to track down and gather. Treasures could take different forms, maybe a gold coin.

We think of "buried treasure", but modern armchair treasure hunts are often not buried, probably for good reason. Treasures could be out in the bush, or in an urban place.

Proxy prizes are not as good, in my opinion, but they have their advantages. The proxy prize is some object to find, and you contact the treasure hunt people to get the real prize. I like this because you know when it is found, and you can find out how real the find was. Event tickets and charity can be sorted out, and consumables can be done. There are the physical advantages. Do you want to be the website customer service person, perhaps for years?
 
 
 
 

The advantage of a prize that's worth a lot is it will lead to buzz, excitement going through Canadian society.

John Collins Black has five treasures hidden in different parts of his country. One of them is "The Lion's Share".

We could have a set of treasures each worth a thousand pazoozas. While nobody is going to complain about getting a thousand pazoozas, people may not get excited about driving across the country to possibly find this prize. But if one of the treasures is worth one million pazoozas, that would be electrifying, like the possibility of getting the winning lottery ticket. Something to consider.

While prize amounts depend on different factors, it makes sense to have the biggest prize attached to the most difficult hunt. This hunt will last the longest.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Holy Grail unless I can think of a better term. I note that the arctic has diamonds. A giga pearl exists, with an interesting presentation. Cryptocurrency, in the form of a physical coin. Rare, valuable cards from collectable card games are sometimes used as treasure. Bear in mind that people don't necessarilly want to keep these prizes, and selling them is a hassle.
 
 
 
 

This is about the size of the palm of your hand. Worth CAD $30,000. Kraft plunked this in a random (heavy?) box of macaroni and cheese, known as Kraft Dinner, in Canada. This is a mix of attractive and silly. It is plain. The marketing people had social media people take temporary possession of this. One person took it on a helicopter ride. I would like this as a prize, partly because there would be corporate sponsorship.