Page 11 of 36 Hours
‘Both,’ Bryant said.
‘Neither,’ Kim said as the kettle boiled.
‘Please, take a seat. I can barely contain my interest as to what this is about.’
Kim shot a glance at Bryant, who raised one eyebrow. For a man of his age, there seemed to be a childlike excitement about him.
‘So, Seekers is your company, Mr…sorry, Ryan?’
‘It is indeed,’ he said proudly, placing the mugs on the table.
‘Tell us about it,’ Kim said as he took a seat. She was hoping this would send the message that they would be asking the questions not answering them.
‘My dad used to take me letterboxing when I was a kid.’
Their blank stares prompted him to explain.
‘Letterboxing started in Dartmoor, Devon in 1854. It’s an outdoor hobby that combines orienteering, art, puzzle solving. Thousands of walkers gather for the box hunts and the twice-yearly meetup. There are letterboxes set around the site so it’s a bit like a treasure hunt, but other than that, attendees just compare which letterboxes they’ve found and talk about new ones that have been placed since the last meetup.’
‘Placed by who?’ Kim asked, trying to understand the fascination.
‘Anyone who wants to. There are newsletters that announce new letterboxes, an annual catalogue, websites and some are spread by word of mouth. All depends on the person leaving the box how they want to publicise it. This all started way before Randonautica, Munzee or even geocaching.’
He paused.
‘Ryan, it’s safe to assume we have very little experience of what you’re talking about. We’re gonna need you to give us a crash course.’
‘Okay, Munzee is a scavenger hunt game where QR codes have to be found in the real world. There are over twelve million codes to find in 240 countries and they have over half a million registered users. Randonautica is based on randomly generated?—’
‘Yeah, we know a bit more about that one,’ Kim interrupted. That wasn’t what they were dealing with. ‘What was the other one?’
‘Geocaching is where participants use a GPS receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers called caches. As of last year, there were over three million active caches worldwide.’
‘What exactly is a cache?’ Bryant asked.
‘A typical one is a small waterproof container with a logbook and a pen or pencil. When they find one, the geocacher signs the log and dates it to prove they found it. After signing the logbook, they put it back and record the co-ordinates.
‘The first documented cache was in Oregon in 2000 and contained software, videos, books, money, a can of beans and a catapult.’
‘Okay. So, where does your company come into it?’ Kim asked.
‘Okay, let me take you step by step. We’re a listing site. The biggest in the country to be exact. Let’s say you want to set a puzzle. You register with our site and list your puzzle on whichever board suits your trail.’
‘There are different boards?’ Kim asked.
‘Of course. Not everyone likes the same type of puzzle. Some people like single-box puzzles, others like multi-box trails, some like co-ordinates, some like clues.’
‘How would I start if I wanted to set a multi-box puzzle?’ Kim asked.
‘You would give your trail a title – the catchier the better – and either give the co-ordinates or a clue to finding the first box.’
‘So, who can upload a new trail?’ Kim asked.
‘Any member,’ Ryan answered.
‘It’s totally membership based?’ Kim asked, feeling a seed of hope. If their guy liked setting puzzles, there was every chance he’d be on the biggest site in the country.
‘Oh, yeah, totally. We have an annual subscription fee for all members and then optional extra costs for other content.’