Open to everyone, the North Georgia Treasure Hunt is a hilarious pirate themed outdoor competition that celebrates and thanks volunteers!
The games and adventures reward any volunteer in the community and support our vocational group home for special needs adults.
The nonprofit (FORSYTH AREA SPORTS TEAMS) that operates the group home also wrote the software. We are called “The Atlanta Volunteers,” and are 100% volunteer! We have grown to over 10,000 volunteers and in over 25 years have completed well over 1,000 volunteer events. (See Mayor Troy Brumbalow’s Proclamation.)
16 types of fun are called “Treasure Hunts.” After an “odds VS evens” competition for treasure, the winners are called “Pirates” and losers are called “British.”
Besides having fun for a good cause, one of the Treasure Hunts creates video stories about Special Heroes. This is part of a fund raising TV series called “Special Heroes.” Take a peek to see how the production is organized into a competition where anyone can volunteer to be a part of the production.
If you want to see a pencil and paper version of “Special Heroes” that you can use for campfire stories & tributes or you don’t want to register, look here to get this for free.
Your $1 annual registration number is odd or even from 1 to 30. Teams compete odd VS even in a league of 30 teams. Online guest books for each treasure map location have three types of check-ins. They are advance planning, same day confirmation, and when you arrive. This lets you meet your team online to plan winning strategies weeks ahead of time. If you missed the planning, you can join a treasure hunt in progress with the arrival check in. If one of your treasure hunts is on the hard level and involves Georgia’s parks or Lake Lanier, you play as a league.
Odd VS Even is for small locations like a sports bar. Inside there might only be 1 or 2 people on your team that have checked in. You would know where they are sitting and if you can say “Hi!” League play is designed for thousands of people at multiple locations. For example, if 10,000 people are at the Cumming City Center, you could see everyone who is on your team, and know what business or location they have checked into. Once you find your team or a team you can challenge, you have a variety of ways to organize, message, plan, schedule and then compete in a treasure hunt.
Similar to a squad of marines, the team leader changes for day, location and activity depending on who shows up. You see the rank of everyone so you know who is the leader and whether they want to be the leader or not. This creates lots of chances to mutiny when they don’t feel like leading and you then score points with false flag plays, spies, bribes and all the excuses your “Letter of Marque” gives you to plunder British Booty!
The winning team (Pirates) get “Booty” prizes, the losing team (British) get “Booby” prizes. The improv awards ceremony can add some fun at a campfire sing along, HOA clubhouse, restaurant, or a back yard party. Once a year on a day Mayor Troy Brumbalow proclaimed as “North Georgia Treasure Hunt Day” that years most successful Pirates will be honored. (Georgia honored Blackbeard by naming an island off the coast of Georgia after him. He was known for size of the British booty he won for Georgia.)
Any business or person can donate any type of product, service or adventure as a prize for the treasure chest!
Anyone can start or join a game to play odds vs evens or compete in the league. Any amount of people can be on any team. People online can help.
There are two exceptions, the city of Helen in North Georgia and during Oktoberfest. Helen is known for Oktoberfest, so here the winners will be called “Germans” the losers are called “British.” During Oktoberfest the Germans will win all the competitions and will finally be world champions!
In 1776 the British called our volunteer marines, who won at the Battle of Trenton, “Scurvy Dog Pirates.” We called the losers “British.” Treasure is called “booty.” Your score is measured in “Loony” (Dubloons). The British surrender the booty and walk the plank. (Loser surrenders loony to the winner.) The biggest booty wins!
Each treasure map location has an online treasure chest. You parlay the loony you plundered for booty. (Similar to trading little red tickets at the prize counter of an arcade.)
About the competion.
The Fire Department is what most people think of when you mention volunteers. In 1776 the marines were volunteers. There are many types of volunteers and they all have one thing in common. They all share the good cheer of the American Spirit and that is what real treasure is. The Fire Museum at the Cumming City Center is our symbolic rally point for volunteers.
In this competition, the American Spirit is the treasure you are hunting for. When you find it, you share good cheer to thank volunteers.
The league has 30 teams. Every person, whether a fan, vendor, administration or a player is put on one of the 30 teams when they get their registration number.
10 teams will be eliminated. 5 teams are in the playoffs. 1 team will be the World Champion and 1 person from that team will be “President For A Day.”
All teams have the same goal. They must turn their teams Special Hero, into a Super Hero by solving quality of life issues. Teams use any combination of treasure hunts to achieve their goal. Their Special Hero was born with a qualified disability such as Down syndrome. The treasure hunt that produces the TV series called “Special Heroes” documents how their Special Hero gained Super Hero status!
The treasure hunt goes on all year. The third Sunday in July is National Ice Cream Day. It is also a day called the “North Georgia Treasure Hunt.” This is the day where you recognize the good cheer and the American Spirit of volunteers by giving them ice cream and other awards. Juke N Jive Creamery at the Cumming City Center is a Major Sponsor and the Master of Ceremonies.
The North Georgia Treasure Hunt has treasure, adventure and surprises. The easy level is a simple donation for loony. You trade loony for promotional coupons not available to the general public. The medium level is where the loser of a treasure hunt pays loony to the winner. On the hard level you have to swear and spit to lead, follow, learn, do or teach. You gain rank then you lead your team to victory over the British and plunder their booty!
You plunder British booty with recreational sports, art, music and more. If you swear and spit to be a patriotic pirate of 1776, you can help to create an interactive TV series and introduce a new reality based genre called “Altruistic Comedy.”
You play to win the greatest treasure of all, the pursuit of happiness called the American Spirit!
Easy – Top of the treasure page. You get 1 loony for every 25 cents you donate. Medium – Bottom of the Treasure Page. The loser of a treasure hunt pays loonies to the winner. Hard – Pirates page. You are the president of a country and collect loony taxes, treasure and real cash. This is not a computer simulation, it is with real people.
With a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, once a year there is a special event on Lake Lanier called a “Water Carnival.” If you play on the Hard level, click on “1776.”
The American Spirit was created on Christmas Day 1776. Three groups of volunteer marines were to cross the Delaware River and battle the British. Colonel Cadwalader with his 1800 men and James Ewings with his 800 men turned back due to a ferocious Christmas storm. It took George Washington 11 hours to cross the 300 yards of the Delaware River with 2,400 patriotic volunteers using fishing boats, hunting weapons and farm tools to battle a well trained, well equipped British army dug into the city of Trenton.
As the patriots got closer to the British, instead of a surprise attack, front and center unarmed musicians marched into battle playing the fife and drum to call out the British to fight. All of George Washington’s men were singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and even dancing as they advanced into battle.
The British were shocked, surprised, demoralized and fought poorly. The patriots were energized, fought courageously and won. That is how the American Spirit was used as a weapon to defeat the British.
To this day, “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” is the number one song played in fife and drum competitions. The story of the American spirit spread to other patriots and we won our independence. It has continued to this day and USA soldiers are known for their American Fighting Spirit.
The Star Spangled Banner was written by John Frances Key in 1813. Before that “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” a song that mocked the British was our unofficial national anthem.
If you are on a volunteer mission called a “Treasure Hunt,” to prove you are not a British spy, you can be challenged with a few pirate coins called “Loony,” to sing the first line of Yankee Doodle Dandy. If you don’t sing and dance heartily, (Or sing more than the first line!) you are a British spy! You will surrender the booty and could be given a “Booby Prize,” keel hauled or walk the plank.
The place where Yankee Doodle Dandy was sung the most often and with the greatest cheer and spirit was at the Tun Tavern. This was at Water Street and Tun Alley across the street from “Washington’s Wharf” on the Delaware River. Washington’s Wharf at the Cumming City Center represents the “Tun Tavern.” There you can learn how to plunder British booty. (Washington’s Wharf is a fish and chips restaurant just like the Tun Tavern in 1776. Training for Atlanta Volunteers can be found there, just like volunteers for the marines could find training at the Tun Tavern in 1776.)
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Paul Jones and many other founding fathers were at Independence Hall during the day and at the Tun Tavern in the evenings. During the day they crafted the declaration of independence and the constitution. During the evenings they drank beer and recruited volunteer Marines at the Tun Tavern. Yankee Doodle Dandy, sung to mock the British, was the most popular song at the Tun Tavern. Everybody sang it loudly with all the Spirit they had. The Marines raised their flag for the first time at the Tun Tavern. The Marine Slogan is “Born in a bar.”
A place known by the British as the “Pirate Dive Bar.”
The marines were an innovative mix of volunteers. Why did they volunteer?
Click on the 3 dots top right. Click on “Add to home screen or bookmark.” You now have our screen launch icon easier than downloading and installing an app. No phone permissions, no email or phone verification, no advertising or AI bots at the Pirate Dive Bar! Your $1 registration filters out all the bogus accounts and ensures everyone is 18+ to sign liability waivers and win prizes.
