Treasure of the Silver Dragon
paul-michael agapow
>In about '75 a game came out from MicroGames called Treasure of the
>Silver Dragon, which utilized the game systems presented in Melee
>and in Wizard. As part of the game, clues were offered that would
>lead you to find a silver statue of a dragon, worth $10k. I spent
>a weekend pouring over the game and maps of the Southwestern US
>(including topo maps trying to match terrain features.) trying to
>figure out where this puppy was hidden.
As i recall, "Space Gamer" (when it was run by Steve Jackson) ran an
article on this contest. Seems that this was shortly before the company
in question ran into finacial problems. Several persons reported that
they had found where the treasure was supposed to be (according to the
clues - there was agreement about the solution) but alas no treasure.
The company directors were unavailable for comment.
Didn't here anything more after this point. Mind this was _years_ ago.
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paul-michael agapow (aga...@latcs1.oz.au); AI Lab, LaTrobe University
"Face the world with a child on a stick" - Michael Leunig
paul-michael agapow
>In article <1991Apr29.2...@morrow.stanford.edu> GC....@forsythe.stanford.edu (Sullivan) writes:
>>In about '75 a game came out from MicroGames called Treasure of the
>>Silver Dragon, which utilized the game systems presented in Melee
>>and in Wizard. As part of the game, clues were offered that would
>>lead you to find a silver statue of a dragon, worth $10k. I spent
>
>article on this contest. Seems that this was shortly before the company
Alas, my memory now informs that this story was about the sequel to this
game. Can't report on the original.
p-m
Sullivan
Silver Dragon, which utilized the game systems presented in Melee
and in Wizard. As part of the game, clues were offered that would
lead you to find a silver statue of a dragon, worth $10k. I spent
(including topo maps trying to match terrain features.) trying to
figure out where this puppy was hidden.
I wish I could say I figured it out, but I didn't. I thought that
the thing was either hidden somewhere near Austin Texas, or for
some forgotten reason, near the campus of Arizona State. The thing
was found, I guess, near a solar facility in New Mexico. I didn't
fire up my VW bus for the hunt as I just wasn't sure enough of my
guesses, and I couldn't afford a wild dragon chase, money was tight.
Did anyone else on the net get into this?
Did you guess, or guess near where this thing was hidden?
How? do you remember what clues gave it away?
I dimly recall the folk that found it were from Austin, Texas,
which happens to be the home of MicroGames at the time, but that
could just be my 'sour grapes' memory playing tricks on me.
It was pretty funny as my roomate's girlfriend used to give me a
pretty hard time about my gaming hobby way back then. She was
'the worlds foremost authority' on everything. She noticed I had
pulled two straight all-nighters with all these books out-something
I never did for my college courses. She asked me what the hell I
was doing this time? I was pretty tired and discouraged at the
time, but not so tired that I couldn't bait her a little. I
explained the contest to her, told her what I'd been trying to do
so far, then baited: 'the problem is that I just don't know enough
Mayan history to really interpret these names properly.'
swallowed: 'What do you need to know?' she replied, picking up the
little booklet. She read a little. 'Mayan history is pretty badly
interpreted by most of the texts, but if you like, I could figure
some of this out for you.'
'Oh thank you, thank you, Suzie. I had no idea that on top of all
your other talents, that you were a Mayan scholar too.' drip drip.
Was that stuff even Mayan mumbo jumbo? I have no idea, but that
exchange somehow seemed worth the wasted effort, even now.
Mike
Bruce Sterling Woodcock
prize. I'm not really sure the nature of the politics involved (I was young at
the time) but anyway... the sequal, Secret of the Unicorn Gold also had a
similar prize... my brother (who is sure to post on this) searched for it and
is almost sure he narrowed it down to the general area... but alas, Metagaming
went under, and as far as we know the treasure was never recovered...
Only Howard Thompson knows where it is, probably. Questions is: What happened
to him??? Howard, where are you?!?
Br
Steven Markus Woodcock
>>In about '75 a game came out from MicroGames called Treasure of the
>>Silver Dragon, which utilized the game systems presented in Melee
>>and in Wizard. As part of the game, clues were offered that would
>>lead you to find a silver statue of a dragon, worth $10k. I spent
>>a weekend pouring over the game and maps of the Southwestern US
>>(including topo maps trying to match terrain features.) trying to
>>figure out where this puppy was hidden.
>
>As i recall, "Space Gamer" (when it was run by Steve Jackson) ran an
>article on this contest. Seems that this was shortly before the company
>in question ran into finacial problems. Several persons reported that
>they had found where the treasure was supposed to be (according to the
>clues - there was agreement about the solution) but alas no treasure.
>The company directors were unavailable for comment.
>
>Didn't here anything more after this point. Mind this was _years_ ago.
>
Okay:
I've taken the liberty of quoting the entire contents of the above messages
in the interests of clarity. I happen to know a fair amount about the
game company and the treasure hunt mentioned, and I thought I'd tell the
whole story.
"Treasure of the Silver Dragon" was a treasure-hunt & adventure module
for Metagaming's "Fantasy Trip" role playing game. As mentioned above, the
company actually hid a silver dragon figurine somewhere in America, and clues
as to its location were in the adventure module. Whoever found it got
$10,000.
The content itself finished nearly as quickly as it began. Tom Davidson
tracked the dragon to Sunspot, Arizona, and won the prize (which WAS paid).
Unfortunately for Metagaming, they really hadn't planned on anybody fiding
it so quickly--they lost literally MONTHS of ad campaigns!
So, about a year later, they ran another contest, "Treasure of Unicorn
Gold". Similar to the earlier game, clues to the location of a gold
unicorn horn were concealed within the game. If nobody located the treasure
by September, 1984, it would be retrieved and a drawing held to award it
(the game had a card to send in for the drawing).
As it so happened, I eventually made contact with Davidson, who was
working on the new treasure hunt, and we pooled our resources. We had
(independently) tracked it down to Harrison Bay State Park, located just
north of Chattanooga, TN. I made two trips down there looking for it; I
know Tom made at least one. The park rangers knew about the supposed
treasure and did NOT like the idea of people wandering around looking for
it, but there wasn't much they could do. Nobody ever found it, although
I did locate some people who remembered a man fitting Howard Thompson's
description (he was the president of Metagaming) in the area several
months before. I >>>did<<< find one VERY disturbing thing, however--
a forest fire had burned down a LARGE section of the park over the winter!
I STRONGLY suspect that the unicorn was in that area, and was very probably
destroyed; in any event, it couldn't be located anymore.
Towards the end of 1982 or 1983, Metagaming folded (which was a real
pity, as my friends and I really like Fantasy Trip). In the fall of 1984,
Steve Jackson and THE SPACE GAMER contacted Thompson about the content
(er, contest)--the $10,000 was supposedly in a sealed account--but he
wouldn't comment. The entire issue eventually faded into gaming history.
To this day I am CERTAIN that the unicorn was (is) in Harrison Bay
State Park, but I don't think it will ever be found. By now it's likely
melted and buried beneath burned out, dead trees; no doubt the Forest
Service ran a bulldozer through the area and buried it.
I apologize for this being so long, but as you can see I had a story
to tell. :)
Steven W.
One of the Good Guys
--
"...Men will awake presently and be Men again, and colour and laughter and
splendid living will return to a grey civilization. But that will only come
true because a few Men will believe in it, and fight for it, and fight in its
name against everything that sneers and snarls at that ideal..."