I have a bespoke event planning business called Constructed Adventures! When there isn’t a global pandemic going on, I travel the world building personalized immersive Adventures for clients. I also have a Youtube Channel where I post tutorials and ideas! Feel free to check it out. Or not. I’m not your boss.
Every year, I sign up for the Secret Santa holiday exchange and fly out to their location and send my giftee on an adventure. Here are the previous adventures:
2020 - The Tavern Restored
2019 - The Queen of the norse
2018 - The Archer Princess and the Cactus pin
2017 - The Wolf and the Owl go Bird Hunting
2016 - The Great Sock Adventure
2015 - The Royal Scotsman
Proof that it’s me.
Now that the world is opening back up, you have the perfect opportunity to build an Adventure for a loved one. And I’d love to help! Go ahead and give me your parameters. Say you’ve always wanted to create a twisting turning day for someone, hit me with some information and I’ll try to help you build an outline and throw in a few gambits to help give you somewhere to start. Give me the basic location (city), the occasion, and maybe a level of difficulty and I’ll try to find a few spots and give you a few gambits so you feel comfortable building the adventure yourself! Think of this like a free drive by consultation.
To make things more interesting, I’ve invited the wonderful creative folks from The r/ConstructedAdventures subreddit and Discord Channel. You’re welcome to join us in those spaces!
That being said, you can ask me anything about business, travel, how much 2020 sucked for me or how it feels to get deported from Canada (it's not as exciting as you'd think).
Seeing as this is the 4th AMA I’ve done, I made a Bingo card
EDIT: I forgot to add! I made a semi-comprehensive step by step guide if you want to build an Adventure of your own but don't want to chat here!
EDIT2: I'm always looking to hire people when I run adv
... keep reading on reddit ➡So the summer after 2nd year where harry is living in leaky cauldron after running away from private drive after the marge incident, he founds a niffler while roaming around diagon ally and since no one came to claim the niffler after asking around the alleyway anyway, he decided to just take care of it, because harry is a softy.
So after finding that nifflers are obsessed with shiny things and gold, harry makes a deal with Noah the niffler that as long as he only steals shiny things (buttons & pins) and not expensive he can do it.
Obviously harry doesn't succeed much since the niffler has pretty big pouch to hide his treasure but atleast the mayhem and chaos caused by a niffler is contained, somewhat. Because now noah has to do it in secret otherwise harry wouldn't be able to keep him anymore. Besides harry also likes it and laugh himself silly when his niffler shows his treasures like a proud collector. And harry also makes elaborated and exaggerated tales about how noah the niffler would have gotten a particluar item and has a good laugh.
Now hedwig gets jealous, because the newbie is bringing things her human likes, has the pouch to bring multiply things at ones, while she can only bring a dead mouse in her beak and such and harry doesn't like it. So deciding to get even hedwig goes to find something her human will like and ends up finding pretty stones and feathers ( which her harry can use as quills, she thought snidely) instead of useless things like buttons, shiny mind you, but buttons. Seeing this harry asked around and got hedwig a mokeskin pouch to carry around to be even with the niffler.
Harry gets one mokeskin pouch for himself too, to keep his valuables.
So the competition between Hedwig the owl and Noah the niffler continues and eventually Harry's standard trunk is full of shiny useless objects, sometimes gold coins and jewel or feathers or unicorn hairs or moonstone and such beacuse now they are already in hogwarts and both of them have access to the forbidden forest, And when both of their pouch get full they dump it in harry's trunk
but harry doesn't want to tell anyone because of secondhand stealing and guilt so he secretly mail ordered 2 bottomless mini trunks (after consulting with Hedwig and Noah both of course) so they don't crowd his trunk. And then he puts it out of his mind to not feel guilty anymore.
And then with sirius black fiasco, then triwizard and such he only discovers the treasure again after he is already i
... keep reading on reddit ➡For proper formatting, please use Old Reddit
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| Questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been aware of your AMAs in the past. Can you describe the IDEAL timeline you need and what sort of expectations for different budget ranges? I’ve got a 10th anniversary coming up and this seems like a super cool way to make it memorable. | So glad you found me! Yeah Reddit is a big place. I never assume that anyone has any idea who I am! Ideal timeline is a few months out. At this current Juncture, I'm completely booked out through July 2021 with a few bookings later in the year. |
| Most budgets sit between 6k and 10k (depending on size, scope, and travel) but there isn't a huge difference in the amount of work. | |
| Easy example is this: The difference between the player driving themselves vs a black car vs a limo vs a helicopter is $0-thousands of dollars. But it really doesnt add that much more to my plate! | |
| Don't hesitate to reach out! Worst case scenario I can at least point you in the right direction! | |
| ^(the below is a reply to the above) | |
| I’ll definitely be reaching out. | Looking forward to it! |
| From my wife: What a wonderful thing to do! I live in Lancaster UK and have a degree in Travel & Tourism, part of which includes Destination Management (creating tours and holidays for people in the city you live in but they don't). I am currently planning a treasure hunt for my best friend in Oregon (where I am from), so I'd love to have a chat with you. On a related note (and I am entirely serious here), would you ever consider bringing on associates in other countries? This is more or less a dream job for me. | Tell your wife to reach out to me! I have quite a few Protégés in different parts of the world! Our universe is a lot bigger than you think! I'd be happy to assist with her starting something herself. I get a lot of people that reach out inquiring about an adventure and I'm unavailable. I'd be more than happy to help you both start an adventure business in the UK. |
| The world needs more Adventure! | |
| Just send me a message! | |
| ^(the below is a reply to the above) |
As someone who lives in Canada, but is financially not very well off, is there a way that I might be able to start something like this myself? I love the idea, and doing the research sounds fun, but being
... keep reading on reddit ➡Good day, My name is James Morrow and I am a resident of Nova Scotia, Canada home of the world's oldest treasure hunt on "Oak Island".
I have some unique discoveries concerning a decades old book contest "The Secret, A Treasure Hunt" that was showcased on the television show Expedition Unknown. There has been a long-standing belief that one of the twelve treasures is in a Milwaukee park and I believe I have located it in the middle of the football/rugby field found inside King Park. I have contacted a few local groups from Milwaukee City and King Park Community hoping someone will be able to complete this decades old contest. Its a simple solution and I think it will prove out correct, the immediate park area appears unchanged since 1980 with the "X" marks still identifiable.
I provided openly with hopes someone working with King Park Community Centre and/or local agencies could get it checked with some care, they don't deserve to have their sports field dug up.
Milwaukee, King Park Puzzle using Painting #10 and Verse #2
Painting Clues
- Juggler has 7 items, 4 make up the month indicators and 3 items are puzzle for city name.
- Prior discovery puzzle is city name: Millstone(MIL) + Walking stick/cane(WAU) + Key(KEE).
- Prior discovery of Milwaukee City Hall outline in painting.
- Painting portrays city hall like a CASTLE on mountain top to help make connection to “King Park”.
- Juggler would be part of a kings court also clue to “King Park”.
Verse #2 Clues
There is no treasure path where explicit location is defined on the third line and path start and end are same spot, exact middle/center of the football field.
At the place where jewels abound (Location Clue)
Fifteen rows down to the ground (Location Clue)
- “place where jewels abound” is clue to King Park, time period Kings were the ones who had the treasure rooms full of jewels/gold/etc.
- “15 rows” is clue to the pair of unique round towers (now demolished) across street (west) very visible from middle of football field.
In the middle of twenty-one (Final Treasure Site)
From end to end (Location Clue)
Only three stand watch (Location Clue)
- “middle of twenty-one” is the middle of US football field, 21 lines make up field.
- “From end to end” is another simple clue to football field end zones.
- “three stand watch” is another football clue where youth leagues/middle school would typically only use 3 officials to “watch”/officiate the game.
As the sound of friends
... keep reading on reddit ➡Some of you might remember the tribute treasure hunt I posted back in March:
https://www.reddit.com/r/12keys/comments/fqserp/a_tribute_treasure_hunt_you_can_solve_from_home/
It took some time and some serious smarts, but now we have a winner! Congratulations to /u/IslandofRhodes for solving the riddle with help from /u/mgcole23, /u/MerullaC, and /u/stakog!
You can read their solution here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1THjQaTfa3UmMoybfIDZLbmfYT3mH1dwAvQoNoElCDzA/edit
In addition, I have prepared a master solution in which I describe the riddle's design in detail and give a few thoughts about the treasure hunt and lessons learned:
https://www.relegatia.com/the_tower_solution.pdf
If you want to have a crack at the riddle yourself, perhaps to train for a real casque, you can still do so. The master solution document contains all you need to get started as well as a hint section that helps you if you get stuck but doesn't give everything away.
Thanks to everyone who participated, it's been wonderful! If you have any questions, just ask them below. Now I'm free to talk.
What about The Secret?
With 9 of the 12 casques still in the ground, I only had a partial blueprint for creating a tribute. Besides the known solutions, prevailing theories on the other casques were an inspiration as well.
Of course my tools (and perhaps way of thinking) may be totally different from Byron Preiss’s. In addition, I didn’t put in as much time and effort as he did.
Considering the avenues Byron Preiss had for information gathering (travel guides, visiting the cities, libraries, experts) and what he assumed his audience had access to, I think we can rule out many more obscure theories as false positives. From a logistics, cost and time standpoint, he must have had at least a rough idea before arriving at the city in question, gathered from publicly available materials. Visiting the city would then have allowed to refine and create the riddle (and burying the casque). We know he gave JJP polaroids as references for the paintings.
Without stepping on anyone’s toes or belittling anyone’s efforts, I now believe it very unlikely that there aren’t any clues that Byron Preiss would regret in any of the
... keep reading on reddit ➡
Update Below
The Secret is a book written to give clues about 12 buried casks containing keys that will earn the finder a jewel. The value of all 12 jewels was estimated to be $10K.
It's probably better if I just let the wiki explain it:
>To set up the puzzle, Preiss traveled to different locations in North America to secretly bury a dozen ceramic vases, or, as he called them, "casques." Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding each casque was to match one of the paintings in the book to one of the verses in the book, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the twelve casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1983 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues.
Why have only 2 of the casques ever been found and will any of the remaining 10 ever be found? It's surmised that many of them are now destroyed due to construction and other concerns, but there could still be others safely buried under the earth where Priess left them, just waiting for someone to unravel the clues.
The puzzles are hard, they rely on the searcher knowing how the area existed in 1982.
For more information, including suggested solutions, visit the wiki or the sub r/12keys.
##Update: The Boston Casque was found about 6 months ago.
The Boston casque was found last fall. The major construction at this site got the attention of a few Bostonian treasure hunters including that of Secret Seeker Jason Krupat.
The casque was broken during construction, but you can see a small shard of it in this clip from the Expedition Unknown episode with Josh Gates on Discovery
Josh and his family studied the verse that corresponded to this part of the puzzle:
> If Thucydides is/North of Xenophon/Take five steps/In the area of his direction/A green tower of lights/In the middle
... keep reading on reddit ➡Hey There! I have a business called Constructed Adventures! I travel around the US (and occasionally other countries) building wildly elaborate custom treasure/scavenger hunts for people. Every year, I sign up for the Secret Santa holiday exchange and send my giftee on an adventure.
Here are the previous adventures
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |2019
Last year, I made it a point to teach others how to build Adventures for their loved ones! I do a lot of consultation and I’m currently writing a book!
Right now, I would love the opportunity to spill my secrets and steer you in the right direction so you can create a fun, puzzle filled day for a loved one. So I’m trying something out (That I might regret later but oh well)
Go ahead and give me your parameters. Say you’ve always wanted to create a twisting turning day for someone, hit me with some information and I’ll try to help you build an outline and throw in a few gambits to help give you somewhere to start. Give me the basic location (city), the occasion, and maybe a level of difficulty and I’ll try to find a few spots and give you a few gambits so you feel comfortable building the adventure yourself! EDIT: I'm starting to get a lot of these. I want to be able to give good answers to everyone so You might have to be patient! i'll probably put a little placeholder to let you know I read it and then Fill them out as I can! I'll get through every one of these I promise.
That being said, you can ask me anything about Business, travel, or how it feels to get deported from Canada (it's not as exciting as you'd think).
The only thing I’m really plugging (other than shamelessly begging for publicity) is for you to join me over at r/constructedadventures. It’s a promotion free subreddit created to try to help people build adventures for their loved ones. Myself and a few of my proteges are active there! Come ask questions or contribute ideas!
Finally, I brought back the Bingo Card I made for Last year
EDIT: heh.
While I'm here, I want to share a bunch of templates and resources that
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| Questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| ^(the below has been split into four) | |
| I always love seeing your giftee’s adventures from you (& each year a bit bummed I did not get you). Thank you for doing what you do. | Hey there! I'm bummed that you're not my giftee (although last year's was pretty emotional) |
| Why were you deported from Canada? | Happened a few years ago because I'm a moron. I completely overlooked work visa laws (pretty strict in Canada) and the moment I arrived, i got stuck in the customs machine. All in all i didn't do a very good job explaining what I do (I compared myself to a wedding planner.) When it comes to work in other countries, if you are going into a country to potentially take a job from a citizen, you'd better be able to prove that only you can do the job. |
| What’s the best place you’ve ever traveled? | For an adventure: Barcelona, Kauai, Hawaii |
| For funsies: Lucerne, Switzerland and Costa Rica, Tijuana and Rosarito Mexico | |
| Honorable mention: i love doing adventures in San Francisco. There's just so much to use! | |
| EDIT: Dishonorable mention: I'm not a fan of Houston, Texas. | |
| What’s the least costly one of these treasure hunts can be done for? | Yeah, I charge a flat rate that starts at $2,500 (but increases depending on size, scope, and how busy I am) |
| If The players come to me (San diego) I can do it for not too much more than that. Maaaaaaaybe 3K (but that would be tough). However, if I have to travel to you, it's much more. Things are expensive! | |
| EDIT: Since this one has caught hold, I should note that most budgets are between $6k-$10k but it really hinges on so many things. That being said, you don't need me! I STRONGLY encourage you to build an adventure yourself! I think you'd be surprised what you can put together! | |
| Edit 2: Added more locations I love and formatted a few things | |
| ^(the below is a reply to the above) | |
| What made the Barcelona adventure so memorable? I'm going there around new years for the first time. | So barcelona was for a marriage proposal for two gentleman. A week before the Adventure, I discovered that the other gentleman was ALSO going to propose on the trip. Thanks to an extremely stressed out friend, I managed to run the adventure and then Go set up their Air B&B for the second proposal! |
| If you go to Barcelona, you MUST MUST MUST visit two speakeasies. They're the best two |
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| Questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| How does one become a part of this secret santa? | Just sign up at www.redditgifts.com |
| They have a bunch of them year round! I just participate in the big one in december | |
| ^(the below is a reply to the above) | |
| If your recipient is international, would you do it? If so it might be the push I needed to do it this year. I was unaware of this despite being aware of Reddit SS for a few years. This really appeals to me. For my boyfriends birthday a few years back, I tried setting a Lost themed dinner at my apartment. He was blindfolded and i had fake tickets as placeholders. Dinner was airline themed food and got my friend to get some extra airline cutlery (surprisingly tough, apparently). Music was songs from the show. I printed airline logos for the water and Dharma logos for the wine. After dinner, I waited till he went to the bathroom and when I heard the sink I locked him in, and played the hatch countdown music outside. Once the countdown finished I turned off the lights and had used glow in the dark paint to draw a map on a neutral bathroom surface (mirror was too noticeable). The map used stations from the show to correspond to parts of the house (The Flame was the kitchen, The Looking Glass was the living room as it had a bay window etc). The map had an X which led to his unrelated and kinda underwhelming gift. It doesn't sound like much if you don't know the show, but he loved the experience. You may have inspired me to take on more :-) | Oh man PLEASE do a recap post of your LOST themed Adventure on r/Constructedadventures. It's BRILLIANT!!! Right now I opt to stay within the continental US for secret santa (You have the option when signing up to have your giftee be in your country) However, it's a HUGE goal of mine to eventually get a giftee in another country. I'll probably have to be in contact with the RedditGifts team because I would need to plan travel long before matching day (Usually the Monday after Thanksgiving) But fingers crossed!!! |
| ^(the below is a reply to the above) | |
| Thanks for the response - that makes total sense. Great AMA - I have joined the subreddit and will add a post to it. Kudos on the LOST capitalisation :-) | Thanks a bunch! I had a blast! |
Probably a bit late to this party but I’ll ask anyway.
... keep reading on reddit ➡Saw a post here just now asking about The Secret and I thought it was on the book by Byron Priess and I got excited until I saw what it was.
The Secret is a book written to give clues about 12 buried casks containing keys that will earn the finder a jewel. The value of all 12 jewels was estimated to be $10K.
It's probably better if I just let the wiki explain it:
>To set up the puzzle, Preiss traveled to different locations in North America to secretly bury a dozen ceramic vases, or, as he called them, "casques." Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding each casque was to match one of the paintings in the book to one of the verses in the book, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the twelve casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1983 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues.
Why have only 2 of the casques ever been found and will any of the remaining 10 ever be found? It's surmised that many of them are now destroyed due to construction and other concerns, but there could still be others safely buried under the earth where Priess left them, just waiting for someone to unravel the clues.
The puzzles are hard, they rely on the searcher knowing how the area existed in 1982.
For more information, including suggested solutions, visit the wiki or the sub r/12keys.
You need a map and shovel to find them.
)
