Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Enigma Book with a money prize

There have been several similar books in the past, known as "armchair treasure hunts". However, these generally involve actual physical treasures that have been buried somewhere, and cracking the r...

posted 6y ago by F1Krazy‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:42:33Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41245
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:34:24Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41245
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T10:34:24Z (almost 5 years ago)
There have been several similar books in the past, known as "armchair treasure hunts". However, these generally involve actual physical treasures that have been buried somewhere, and cracking the riddles in the book leads you to their location. The principle is the same, though: the author of the puzzle has to confirm that your solution is correct before you can go off and dig up the prize. In your case, you'd confirm that the solution is correct and then simply hand over the cash.

I don't think there would be any legal issues - you certainly won't have to deal with treasure-seekers going around and digging up people's back gardens because they think that's where the prize is. The main issue is the possibility that nobody will ever actually crack the code and claim the prize - _[On The Trail of the Golden Owl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Trail_of_the_Golden_Owl)_, for example, hadn't been solved by the time the author died in 2004 and remains unsolved to this day.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-01-12T18:34:59Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 7