TRUCK DRIVER OUTDUELS COMPUTER CODERS TO WIN $10,000 PRIZE IN "THE GREAT U.S. TREASURE HUNT"
Anthony and Margo Kneisser receive $10,000 check from Great U.S. Treasure Hunt president Jeff Kessler
Anthony Kneisser and sister Margo display the tiny wings worth $10,000
The Sanborn Family bench in Railyard Park, Santa Fe. The tiny angel wings charm was hidden in a crevasse at the end of the bench.
Philadelphia Truck Driver Solves Clues in E-Book, Finds Hidden Charm in Santa Fe, New Mexico Park Bench
AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITED STATES, January 23, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Anthony Kneisser, a Philadelphia truck driver, cracked one of four $10,000 codes in the e-book “The Great U.S. Treasure Hunt” to reveal the location of a tiny gold charm hidden in a public park in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Mr. Kneisser used a clue released by hunt organizers on Twitter to decode a message in chapter two, then quickly booked a flight to Santa Fe with his sister, Margo Kneisser, a New Jersey attorney, who was part of a family effort to find the solution.
Together on Wednesday afternoon, they found the charm in the form of angel wings, stuck in a crevasse of a bench made of old railroad ties in Railyard Park, a Santa Fe, New Mexico public park.
Anthony found out about the nationwide treasure hunt in December, when the first winner discovered a silver Z hidden under a park bench in Las Vegas, Nevada. Four member of the Kneisser family bought the e-book and have been trying to come up with a solution for about 30 days.
“The extra clue did the trick,” said Anthony, a New Jersey native with no special training in ciphers or codebreaking. “I saw the pattern in the clue, applied it to chapter two, and the message just spelled right out.” He started in the middle of the chapter using the method he discovered, but it was Margo, who started at the beginning of the chapter, who actually found the message.
It all came down to commas. In chapter two, titled “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner,” if a letter followed a comma, Margo wrote it down. That simple method gave the Kneissers the correct answer: “Tiny wings. Sanborn Bench. Railyard Pk. SF, NM.”
Because they were nearly 2,000 miles away from Santa Fe, Anthony knew they had to act fast to get to the Sanborn Bench before thousands of other potential searchers. He decided to book an early morning flight, suffered through a nail-biting four and a half hour layover in Dallas, landed in Santa Fe in the afternoon, took an Uber to the park, and was able to get his hands on the valuable little charm just an hour or so before sunset.
“The tiny wings were really well hidden,” Anthony reported. “Tucked into a crack at the end of the bench, near the Sanborn plaque, and a prickly plant next to it. Nobody would have seen it if they didn’t know exactly where to look.”
Anthony and Margo were also matching wits with thousands of others who have purchased the e-book, including some very talented computer coders, treasure hunt President Jeff Kessler said.
“We’re aware that there are coders and programmers that can decipher hidden messages by feeding in text, then having the computer analyze millions of possible combinations,” Kessler explained. “We had to figure a way to level the playing field, so that regular people had a chance to win. Our first two winners did it the good old-fashioned way, by reading the story, then coming up with an idea and using pen and paper to try their solutions.”
Because Anthony notified hunt organizers immediately after he solved the puzzle, both president Jeff Kessler and vice president David Steele were able to meet the brother-sister team with a $10,000 check in hand, at Railyard Park, next to the Sanborn bench.
Armchair treasure hunts have become popular in recent years because they allow treasure hunters to solve clues in their own homes, rather than having to actually go out and dig up treasure.
The Great U.S. Treasure Hunt is one such hunt, with four items hidden, not buried, in public. All the clues necessary to find the items are in the book. Once a message is correctly decoded, then the hunter can go to the exact spot and retrieve the item.
With Anthony's find, he becomes the second official winner, with a $10,000 check as his reward, to be split among family members.
The first winners, Beth Hovanec and Nancy Zitko, found a chrome Z under a picnic bench in Eldorado Park, North Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 20.
All items are hidden at least 450 miles apart, according to organizers.
Two items are still to be found, worth $10,000 each. “The Great U.S. Treasure Hunt” e-book is available exclusively at Amazon, currently $9.88.
TWITTER: @greatustreasure
WEB: www.thegreatustreasurehunt.com
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/greatustreasure
YOUTUBE: youtube.com/greatustreasurehunt
TIKTOK: @greatustreasurehunt
“The Great U.S. Treasure Hunt” e-book link: amazon.com/dp/B08KHQFFV6
=========================
MEDIA MAY USE ANY IMAGES FROM THE GREAT U.S. TREASURE HUNT SOCIAL MEDIA FOR PRINT, BROADCAST, WEB, OR OTHER NEWS SOURCING:
MEDIA MAY CONTACT:
Jeff Kessler
President, The Great U.S. Treasure Hunt, LLC.
jkagent@gmail.com
512-801-5666
David Steele
Vice President, The Great U.S. Treasure Hunt, LLC.
thegreatustreasurehunt@gmail.com
512-731-9882
WINNER’S CONTACT INFORMATION, WILLING TO ZOOM, SKYPE, PHONE INTERVIEW. NOT TO BE INCLUDED TO PUBLIC.
Anthony Kneisser 732-966-3140
David Steele
The Great U.S. Treasure Hunt LLC
+1 512-731-9882
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