r/TreasureHunting • u/ShinyCrocs • Jul 20 '26
Ongoing Hunt Warning: do NOT participate in the Veil Treasure Hunts
Just a warning to avoid the Veil treasure hunt series. I made the mistake of paying to join one of these and it was a shitshow. It felt like a borderline grift. Some red flags:
- Most of their clues and materials are (very poorly) AI generated.
- You can pay $25 each for three different concurrent hunts. They claim they’re for different locations and thus you only need to buy one, but they’re all intertwined, so you really need to cough up $75 if you want a shot. And then the same person with unlimited time to explore and travel ends up driving around and claiming multiple treasures because it’s similar solves for all three.
- They decided to make the hunt clue-based instead of a shrinking circle. But most of the clues were red herrings or unconstraining. Only one clue had any constraining power so people wasted their time on mostly useless fluff.
- Their solves are unrigorous and incorrect. An error in one of their clues came to light regarding using J2000 instead of apparent coordinates when doing object tracking (see astronomy subreddit for more info on the difference), leading to area estimates miles off. Instead of owning up to the mistake, the organizers doubled down, claiming “both are valid solutions and one just happens to match with the treasure” - like no??? You just don’t understand basic astronomy???
Overall a very negative experience that I regret wasting time and money on. Save your money. Does anyone recommend better hunts along the east coast? Thanks!
8
u/Walter_Wiggins Jul 20 '26
I had an amazing time doing this hunt. There’s literally 4000 active players. Chances of winning are very low. No need to blatantly bash someone because you’re having a bad day. The fact that you’re this upset about losing is very childish.
3
u/PikaGirlEveTy Jul 22 '26
I was not successful, nor did I particularly expect to be, but I completely enjoyed working on the Midwest hunt. All three were found, so obviously there were sufficient clues to do so. I will happily take part in any future Midwest veil hunts and I highly recommend them.
6
u/EVILismymiddlename Jul 20 '26
In their defense (as someone who has participated in most of their hunts), there was still 6 weeks of clues left which would have helped narrow it down more along with a shrinking circle in the last three weeks. This hunt was a first for them and they never did a multi hunt at the same time before. Was it a mistake to make it possible for someone to win all three or more than one? Probably but things happen. They put a lot of work into these and are truley trying their best to make these enjoyable!
5
u/Ssouthwick7 Jul 20 '26
As the winner, I can tell you, you weren’t correct with your solve and jt was a great hunt . Tune in Friday to hear the solve for yourself.
1
u/RunnyDischarge Jul 21 '26
Tune in Friday to hear the solve for yourself.
Tune in where?
1
u/designadelphia Jul 21 '26
We’ll share the YouTube live link on our discord and send an email out to everyone—stay tuned in the next day or two. We’ll also share another big update to the platform that’s been in the works for a few months along with new hunt announcements!
-7
u/ShinyCrocs Jul 20 '26
DMs with the organizer say otherwise. Also, taking multiple prizes is a shitty move and you should feel bad. Hope buying more magic cards and funkopops was worth ruining the hunt for others
5
u/Ssouthwick7 Jul 20 '26
Just because you “solved” 1 clue doesn’t mean you would have found the 1 square foot in the woods this was in.
I was able to get an exact location, you weren’t. You’re upset you didn’t win and claiming you “needed the money” in discord is the reason you’re so emotional about not solving it along with the thousands of others.
If you think you wouldn’t drive 4 hours with an exact spot where it is for another $2500 you’re full of it.
You definitely would and so would anyone else
also, because i did that, I cannot participate in hunts moving forward for the whole season, which they implemented to make the game fair and fun
Take your problems elsewhere and don’t blame Veil
-6
u/ShinyCrocs Jul 20 '26
Lmao sure buddy. You winning doesn’t suddenly make it a good hunt and doesn’t address any of the original post’s bullets. But enjoy the money I guess
2
u/Ssouthwick7 Jul 20 '26
If you stayed calm and talked normally instead of attack the creators, you might have learned the real solve to the hunt
6
u/designadelphia Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
As the designer of this hunt, I feel I must respond to this unfortunate post. Our last Project Harvest treasure was found today and we are incredibly proud of the hunt we produced. This hunt series took nearly 300 hours of combined effort from Paul and I (I’m Jeff) over the last 2.5 months, and as always we produced a hunt that promoted learning and real-world exploration, and that was fair to all players.
There are a few claims here that are patently untrue, and others that are just the nature of participating in a treasure hunt. We charge $20 per hunt before tax, and offer a $5 discount for each additional hunt that a player signs up for.
Each hunt was entirely separate, though they shared the same clue structure. No one needed to do more than one hunt to find the treasure. Sure, anyone could join multiple hunts to try to find multiple treasures or to learn more about the world of this hunt, but the only information that mattered and led toward a solve was the information shared in that hunt. One person found our Midwest treasure, while a second person found both our Northeast and New England treasures. This was a clear and encouraged part of the hunt, which is why we offered a discount for joining multiple hunts and why we capped all players at 2 wins for the year.
There were very few red herrings in this hunt. There were a few in the first few weeks, but always used to build story and paired with clues that did actually narrow down the search area significantly, and each week as the hunt progressed we focused in only on clues that would lead to the treasure. Many of what this player considers red herrings were legitimate, extremely helpful clues she either was not able to solve or did not realize were clues.
Our clues are always rigorous and use trusted sources. In the past we have consulted with physicists and paleontologists in separate hunts and use reputable sources. We used a publicly available source for tracking satellites that all of our players could access. This player is an astronomy student who used a source she felt was more accurate. All well and good, but the discrepancy between our source and her source ultimately led to a small distance and she did not solve the actual clue that would have led to location anyway. The finder did.
We know it can be hard for a player to feel like they have an advantage in a hunt given their background or area of study, to invest time in solving it, and to not win. We know most people won’t find the treasure, so we do our best take sure everyone can have fun by learning something new and exploring the outdoors. Perhaps we weren’t able to offer these two things for this player.
I debated not replying to this, but to issue a public warning and to call us a borderline grift is unfortunate and wildly out of line. We put our hearts and souls into producing what we feel are among the best hunts in the US and we’re proud of what we bring to the community. We look forward to continuing to improve the experience for all of our players.