I promised to write an article about how stupid we were and how we made an "unnecessary" trip to the market during the Treasure Hunt, which was brought to life by @pinmapple / @martibis and @livinguktaiwan.
I heard the Treasure Hunt presentation but didn't realize that you didn't have to leave the location at the church to solve the Treasure Hunt. That was the small problem of our several hours lasting Treasure Hunt at the market. In the entrance area of the location were at the "front desk" 2 clues deposited. Ok, better said there were already 3 clues. 2 notes with once a GEO coordinate to a store on a long street market and a word puzzle, which had the word "FRONTDESK" in it. A QR code was stuck on the front desk, which in conjunction with the GEO coordinates was the first big clue for us as to where the treasure chest with 1000 HIVE could be hiding.
Dear @alexvan was so kind and had made his way towards the market before, but had to stop his journey at the metro station because he had no cell phone battery left.... Alex came back to the event location where @rivalzzz, @therealwolf and I @louis88 were and were already pondering what the next clue could be. Then dear @alexvan came to us and asked us if we didn't want to go on the Treasure Hunt together with him and go to the market. Shortly after, we were on our way to the market. We took the metro for a few stops and walked the rest of the way full of anticipation to be the first.
At that moment, we were still full of anticipation and were eager to see what the next clue at the market would be.
So we walked on - I think about 15 minutes from the metro. Oh, not to forget, I actually was going to bring my backpack with my heavy camera equipment back to the hotel... but since we didn't have time, I had to drag my heavy backpack the whole time.
However... After about 20 minutes we finally found the entrance of the market and went in the direction of the GEO coordinates. There was a lot going on at the market. The dear @livinguktaiwan had published some time ago a post on the Pinmapple map, which we had of course also counter-checked and had already seen a hint there - so in the description of the pinned post. So on we go, towards the store. The post can be found here: https://peakd.com/hive-196308/@livinguktaiwan/the-biggest-market-in-europe-albert-cuyp-amsterdam
Arrived at the Shop or GEO Location
Arriving at the store, we first looked from the outside to see if there was another clue to the Hunt hidden somewhere in the area. But when we found nothing, we went inside the store and asked the manager for help and explained our situation to him. I tried to explain to him that we were on a treasure hunt - showed him @livinguktaiwan's post and our Hive logo and asked him if he could help us with the two pieces of information. The dear man in the store was quite confused and could do little to nothing to help us. We continued to look around the store - because he could have been instructed by @martibis not to give anyone a hint and not to mention the Treasure Hunt at all, in case someone came in and asked about it.
Wait! That's a Hint!
A Box with contents in the store - There must be a further clue in it!
In the store @therealwolf found an old box. In the box were buttons - yes, a lot of buttons. I think for at least 5 minutes we rummaged through the buttons looking for more clues that would bring us closer to the Reward. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in searching the box and had to abandon the search in the depths of the button box and look elsewhere for more clues.
1 Hour walking Up & Down the Market! Where are the Dreamcatchers?
In the post of @livinguktaiwan was hidden, of course for us a very good, hint. She photographed a market stall that sells dreamcatchers but also accepts cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin as a means of payment. She wrote in her blog if he would not also soon accept HIVE as payment. That must be a very good hint! Because if not the seller of the Dreamcatcher should have another clue or even the target, who else? We made our way out of the retail store and looked for the dreamcatcher booth. We walked the whole market 2x but unfortunately could not find a single stand that sold the dreamcatchers.
We have found the market stall with the watches but could not find far and wide the market stall with the dream catchers anywhere. I asked me now and then at other market stalls through, where the guy with the dream catchers is... The one have given me a hint but they have all been insufficient... Because as far as I know, the dreamcatcher guy was not present at the market that day.
Ok, Let's move back to the GEO Location! Once again!
After we had no success with the market stall, we went back to the store to look for more clues. We bugged the store owner again and asked him all sorts of questions but couldn't get a cool further clue.
Wait.. Next Hint! There are Pineapple's!
Next to the retail store was a store with plants. So we went in there and looked at the "front desk" to see if there was another clue hidden somewhere. But there was nothing there either... We were pretty desperate by that point and were about to give up. But then we found some pineapple plants in the plant store, which we thought might be the next good clue.
So we went to the pineapple plants and turned each one over to see if there was a clue to the 1000 HIVE under the plant pot. This sounds a bit exaggerated but at that moment this was the best attempt we had.
But here too, unfortunately, we had no success :(
Next Hint! A lock with the 1000 hive?
Desperate are now gone out of the store with the plants and have looked around again in the area. And that's when the idea came to me! In front of the store with the GEO location was a lock where keys could be deposited. So all we had to do was figure out the 4 digit correct combination of numbers and then we would have solved the puzzle! A last great ray of hope that gave us some hope to finish this "difficult" treasure hunt.
I think I tried 5 to 8 different number combinations to open the lock.... All without success. Then the owner of the store came by and I asked him how long this lock was hanging there. He replied that it had been there for over 15 years. And then I realized that this can not be the solution to the riddle.
The call and the painful naked truth
Ok Ok... I was very desperate! My best and last idea was to call the dear @lizanomadsoul and ask if she has a tip for me. She answered the phone and couldn't help me directly. I asked her if @martibis was around and could give him the phone. A short time later I now had @martibis on the phone and told him what we have tried so far and we are extremely desperate and not getting anywhere. I asked him if he had a tip for us.... He had one and it was very enlightening: He said: "U didnt hear my Presentation? U dont need to leave the Location so why u Guys are at the Market?"
WAAAAAH... Oh No!!!! Whyyyy.... OMG. We packed up our things and left the market directly. Frustrated, we walked to the Volkshotel (yes, I still had my heavy backpack on!) to look for further solutions and put our stuff away. On the way back to the hotel we had already found a great approach how to decrypt at least the private key - but when we arrived at the hotel, we were still missing the username to the key. So we were very close - then after about 20 minutes of research and decryption of keys the message arrived in the Telegram chat. The team around @jeffjagoe and @coldbeetrootsoup had found the solution and had already collected and distributed the prize money.
Congratulations Guys!!!
The team with the most effort?
I don't know if any other team went to the market but this treasure hunt, now looking back, was already a lot of fun and exciting! Although we have not won's, we have had all the more fun on the road and could bring our thoughts really deep into the treasure hunt and interpret everything possible in a possible clue. But one thing we learned from the whole thing! Next time we go on a treasure hunt, we'll listen carefully and double check whether we need to leave the location or not.
I hope you enjoyed this recap of our unique treasure hunt during HiveFest 7 in Amsterdam. The hunt for the prize money was exciting and when I told our story to other Hive users at Hive Fest, they could hardly contain their laughter. As they say in Germany: Whoever has the damage doesn't have to take care of the mockery anymore.
In this sense - I wish you a nice remaining Sunday. I hope we could conjure up a little smile and smirk for you with this true story.
Thank you! Peace!
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