Treasure Quest
Encyclopedia
Treasure Quest was a puzzle game created by Soggy in Seattle Productions and sold to Sirius Entertainment. It was released April 10, 1996.
In the CD-ROM scavenger hunt game Treasure Quest, the player moves from room to room in the mansion of Professor Jonathon William Faulkner, who has bequeathed $1 million dollars to any student who can solve the puzzles he has laid out. To move from one room to the next, players must find a famous quote from visual clues, words and anagram
s, and then derive an ultimate solution to the game.
Throughout the game, the player is guided by the professor's long-dead love, played by Terry Farrell
, who was brought in to the project by Star Trek
/Star Wars
author Daryl F. Mallett
, who worked at the company at the time.
Much of the game's popularity stemmed from the developer's openness about, and players' willingness to share clues and room quotes, so long as the final solution was kept confidential.
The soundtrack featured 11 songs by Jody Marie Gnant
(daughter of Sirius Publishing's CEO, Richard A. Gnanthttp://www.thecomputershow.com/computershow/reviews/treasurequest.htmhttp://www.multimedia.cx/mmentry-2003-02-16.html) some of which supposedly contained clues.
, her work with the government and various unnamed agencies led her to a life of solitude. She risked her life to be with the professor, and ultimately lost it. She was found dead on the side of the road, poison
ed by a mysterious serum.
and Proverbs
3:18, "She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her." The rooms and corridors in the game were connected together like those in the Kabbalah's diagram.
Paul Wigowsky of Woodburn, Oregon submitted the "Tree of Life" solution with the 10 room quotes on May 31, 1996. Wigowsky was a schoolteacher and a student of esoteric teachings. He immediately recognized that the design of the 10-room mansion with the 22 connections between the rooms was the same identical design that he had seen in books on the Hebrew Kabbalah
with the 10 Sephira and 22 paths (also 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet
). It was afterwards admitted by the producer of the game that this quester was indeed the first to submit the correct solution; however, the player was disqualified on the technicality that he did not put the required registration number in the upper right hand corner of the submission (as required by the rules of the game). http://wigowsky.com/tmp/TQ/tq.htm
Shortly afterwards, Sirius Publishing released a statement that the $1 million prize was won. They posted the solution to the game on their website. A person by the name of P. Dreizen of San Francisco, California, won the game and the cash prize in May 1998. It was speculated that the person "P. Dreizen" is actually an anagram
of "End Prize." Many of the people that collaborated online wonder why the person never showed up to discussions or participated in the chat room
s. They believed a game of such complexity couldn't be solved alone.http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/treasure-quest/trivia
Others questioned the validity of the final solution, stating that the amount of typos, missing words and misquotes in the game made it impossible to beat. In July of 1999, the case was settled for an undisclosed amount.
In the CD-ROM scavenger hunt game Treasure Quest, the player moves from room to room in the mansion of Professor Jonathon William Faulkner, who has bequeathed $1 million dollars to any student who can solve the puzzles he has laid out. To move from one room to the next, players must find a famous quote from visual clues, words and anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
s, and then derive an ultimate solution to the game.
Throughout the game, the player is guided by the professor's long-dead love, played by Terry Farrell
Terry Farrell (actress)
Theresa Lee "Terry" Farrell is an American actress and former fashion model. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Becker.-Early life:...
, who was brought in to the project by Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
/Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
author Daryl F. Mallett
Daryl F. Mallett
Daryl Furumi Mallett, , is a freelance writer, editor and publisher; as well as an actor, director, producer and screenwriter.-Writing:...
, who worked at the company at the time.
Much of the game's popularity stemmed from the developer's openness about, and players' willingness to share clues and room quotes, so long as the final solution was kept confidential.
Jody Marie Gnant
Jody Marie Gnant is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Born April 16, 1978 in Hartland, Wisconsin, she grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona...
(daughter of Sirius Publishing's CEO, Richard A. Gnanthttp://www.thecomputershow.com/computershow/reviews/treasurequest.htmhttp://www.multimedia.cx/mmentry-2003-02-16.html) some of which supposedly contained clues.
The professor's lost love
A beautiful woman and a brilliant cryptographerCryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
, her work with the government and various unnamed agencies led her to a life of solitude. She risked her life to be with the professor, and ultimately lost it. She was found dead on the side of the road, poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ed by a mysterious serum.
Room quotes
- Den: Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
- Bedroom: Beauty is truth, truth Beauty—that is all ye Know on Earth and all ye need to know.
- Library: Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers.
- Attic: I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.
- Dining Room: A man gazing on the stars is proverbially at the mercy of the puddles in the road.
- Kitchen: I demand that my books be judged with utmost severity, by knowledgeable people who know the rules of grammar and logic, and who will seek beneath the footsteps of my commas, the lice of my thought in the head of my style.
- Cellar: If you built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
- Game Room: One more such victory and we are lost.
- Garden: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.
- Living Room: Language is the mark, the sign, not of his fall, but of his original innocence. Through the Word we may regain the lost kingdom and recover powers we possessed in the far-distant past.
Million dollar prize
In a unique marketing ploy, Sirius Publishing, Inc. offered a $1,000,000 prize to the first eligible player who could solve the mystery of Treasure Quest and submit an explanation of the solution to the complete satisfaction of a panel of judges. The contest would end on 12/31/99 if no winner was determined.Ultimate solution
The ultimate solution, as given by the developer Cerise Casper (now Cerise Vablais) to Sirius Publishing, was "The Tree of Life", referring to both wisdom and the love of the professor's lost fiancee Rose. It references both the KabbalahKabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
and Proverbs
Book of Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
3:18, "She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her." The rooms and corridors in the game were connected together like those in the Kabbalah's diagram.
Controversy
The "outcome" of this game is steeped in controversy.Paul Wigowsky of Woodburn, Oregon submitted the "Tree of Life" solution with the 10 room quotes on May 31, 1996. Wigowsky was a schoolteacher and a student of esoteric teachings. He immediately recognized that the design of the 10-room mansion with the 22 connections between the rooms was the same identical design that he had seen in books on the Hebrew Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
with the 10 Sephira and 22 paths (also 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
). It was afterwards admitted by the producer of the game that this quester was indeed the first to submit the correct solution; however, the player was disqualified on the technicality that he did not put the required registration number in the upper right hand corner of the submission (as required by the rules of the game). http://wigowsky.com/tmp/TQ/tq.htm
Shortly afterwards, Sirius Publishing released a statement that the $1 million prize was won. They posted the solution to the game on their website. A person by the name of P. Dreizen of San Francisco, California, won the game and the cash prize in May 1998. It was speculated that the person "P. Dreizen" is actually an anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
of "End Prize." Many of the people that collaborated online wonder why the person never showed up to discussions or participated in the chat room
Chat room
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing...
s. They believed a game of such complexity couldn't be solved alone.http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/treasure-quest/trivia
Others questioned the validity of the final solution, stating that the amount of typos, missing words and misquotes in the game made it impossible to beat. In July of 1999, the case was settled for an undisclosed amount.