16 outdoor adventures and a water carnival on Lake Lanier. $1 & 18+ for your treasure hunting license.
When you find a treasure, go to that business. Click on the treasure and show your phone screen to the cashier.
A treasure is a great discount that only treasure hunters can find. For example with Juke N Jive ice cream. If you show your phone screen with the ice cream treasure on it to the cashier you get a scoop of ice cream in a cup for free!
Each time you save money or get something for free, your marine or army rank increases. There are three levels of play and if you hunt on the medium or hard levels your rank is important to win cash and prizes.
Open to everyone, the North Georgia Treasure Hunt is a hilarious pirate themed outdoor competition that saves you money at businesses in North Georgia. Just for fun, if you want to add to your social media, “B-roll” from your treasure hunt adventure could win cash and prizes and create “comedy bumpers” for a nonprofit TV series called “Special Heroes.”
16 very different types of fun are called “Treasure Hunts.” After a competition for treasure, the winners are called “Pirates” and losers are called “British.”
Easy – Solo. Donate to get points. Trade points for treasure at businesses all over North Georgia. Your rank in George Washington’s marines or as a Continental soldier increases each time you plunder booty.
Medium – Team play. Losers give points to the winners. Winners use points to get treasure that makes their booty bigger.
Hard – League of 30 teams. Empire building with real people, outdoor adventure and cash paid as a 1099 contractor if you win or earn over $2,000. If you win or earn less than $2,000, you are paid in cash once a year at the awards ceremony at the Cumming City Center. A bank transfer for people that did not attend as you do not have to be present to win.
Optional Details for the medium and hard levels.
There are 30 teams. You play odds VS evens or team against team. Check into any treasure map location, such as the Fire Museum to see who is playing. You see all the treasure hunters and know who to challenge and who is on your team.
Each team has one year to turn their “Special Hero” into a “Super Hero.” This is judged on National Ice Cream Day, the third Sunday in July at the Cumming City Center. 10 teams will be eliminated. 5 teams will be in the playoffs, 1 team is the Grand Prize Winner, and one person from that team will win “President For A Day.”
The nonprofit (FORSYTH AREA SPORTS TEAMS) that operates the group home also wrote this adventure 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.)
Most treasure hunts are very simple such as “Cornhole for 10 loony.” Some treasure hunts are quite hard and take weeks for a whole team to complete. Sometimes treasure hunts are combined such as this multisport golf tournament.
Besides having fun and adventure for a good cause, the hardest Treasure Hunt creates a video story about Special Heroes and what your team did all year long, to create quality of life solutions. We call this turning a “Special Hero into a Super Hero!” This is the plot of our fund raising TV series called “Special Heroes.” Each of the 30 teams, creates 1 episode per year. Take a peek to see how the production is organized into a competition where anyone can volunteer to be a part of a community wide, nonprofit 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.
Starting an adventure
Each treasure map location you check into lists the players by rank, seating location and a picture hint. Find the highest ranked person who has volunteered to be the Team Captain. Meet them in person. If somebody walks in with a higher rank, they immediately take over as Team Captain. Online players from other teams can try false flag moves to be the team Captain and plunder your booty, so you should meet any new team Captain in person.
The highest ranked person in a room can change rapidly, but they are the team Captain for as long as they are in the #1 spot. The team Captain decides 3 things. The treasure hunt, the banker and who will take the point. The Banker is called the “Bootymaster.” The Bootymaster is a nearly blind referee that can’t count and openly takes bribes. All bets are placed with the Bootymaster. Anyone can take a bribe to throw the game and rig the bets but they face the Bootymaster for judgement. They may get fines or have to walk the plank for their innocence, if they are caught being innocent of placing bets or bribes. You should delete your check in if your booty is exhausted and you have nothing left to surrender. If you keep playing the beatings will continue until the morale improves. Our morale will improve, not yours.
Some treasure hunts such as Pirate School, The Karaoke Challenge Game, the Water Carnval or Saturday Fun need advanced planning sometimes weeks before the hunt. Some hunts only need people to confirm on the same day. Some hunts like darts, pool or cornhole just need people to walk into the treasure map location. Online guest books for each treasure map location have three types of check-ins. They are “Advanced Planning,” “Confirmed,” and “Active.” This lets you meet your team in advance and plan online or start a hunt immediately when you arrive.
This next check in feature works the best at conventions, concerts or locations with 10’s of thousands of people like football, beaches or the city square. This optional “seating plan” lets people list the exact location of where they are. This is especially useful if you volunteer to be the team Captain and you need a place to meet your team. If you are at a baseball game or concert you can list the section, row and seat. If you are starting a raft up on Lake Lanier you can include a picture of your boat and where it is. If you are at your favorite sports bar and it is too noisy to talk, you can list a table using the restaurants seating plan or just describe your location. You can find your team or your opponents at any treasure map location if they want to be found.
The “Easy” level of play has no treasure hunts. You just donate and plunder booty. If you just want booty, and don’t care about rank booty, play on the medium level and learn how to use the “Parlay” widget to negotiate the wholesale price of booty.
You should mutiny against any leader, as they are the only people you can mutiny against! A mutiny is like having a substitute math teacher where the class gets rowdy. You have a lot of chances to 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. When the time comes for prizes, awards and punishing the British, the Team Captain can appoint anyone to be the stand up comic called the “Bootymaster.” Your improv awards ceremony is excitement at a campfire sing along, an HOA clubhouse, restaurant, or a back yard party where roasting the British is always lots of fun!
The official awards ceremony is once a year on a day Mayor Troy Brumbalow proclaimed as “North Georgia Treasure Hunt Day.” On that day the 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 plundered for Georgia.)
Any business or person can donate any type of product, service or adventure as a prize for the treasure chest!
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 conclusion
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. The biggest booty wins!
About volunteering
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 and where you should check in for the first time.
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. One treasure hunt is where your team produces their yearly contest entry. This 30 minute video becomes and episode of the TV series called “Special Heroes.” Follow the episode skeleton to document how your 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 as a 1099 contractor.
Think of the hard level as a pirate themed empire building game.
We are 100% volunteer! We pay out 10% of donations in referral fees to create 1099 contractors. This 10% creates your empire for the competition, with 90% creating an empire for the “Special Hero” of your team. Every year we turn 30 Special Heroes into 30 Super Heroes by hosting a “Treasure Hunting” competition to build quality of life solutions for Special Heroes!
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.
