Owls united since 1993!
31 years… It has been 31 years since the owl community was formed. Created in 1993 by Régis Hauser and Michel Becker, the game consisted of solving several puzzles aimed at discovering the location of a replica of a golden owl, the original being offered to the winner of the game. The puzzles were published in a book in the early 1990s and, in thirty years, hundreds of thousands of followers have tried their luck.
With the changes in the internet, they ended up gathering from forum to forum, even communicating via a dedicated discord server. On October 3, 2024, in a dramatic twist, Michel Becker announced that “a potentially winning solution is being verified” on the server.
The creator of the game confirmed the news two hours later: The Golden Owl is indeed finished! At this time, we do not know the winner. And we probably won’t know more as time goes on. The only information we have is the value of the trophy, which went from 150,000 euros when the game was created to 235,000 euros according to estimates (this development is explained by a repercussion of the price of gold, and, one can imagine, the popularity of the game)!
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After so many years of searching, of giving your time to this treasure hunt, it’s like a piece of everyday life that is taken away from thousands of followers. Because, far beyond the simple excitement of research and solving puzzles, it is one of the oldest communities on the internet that finds itself orphaned.
This term community is not chosen at random, because some of them have become true friends and have built relational links between them. In an interview for the newspaper The World, one of the players confided that the end of this adventure was “like a bereavement (…) I didn’t think I would cry… The human side is phenomenal. It’s a community that we won’t find again“.
A community that we will never find? Maybe so, in the end…
Go in search of the Golden Naga!
Inspired by the hunt for the Golden Owl, the new treasure hunt “Naga d’or” proposes to embark on a brand new investigation. Launched on September 10, 2024 thanks to a partnership between Voyage Gallimard editions, the national museum of Asian arts Guimet and the Marco Vasco agency, the game benefits from free advertising with the closing of its legendary predecessor.
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In this treasure hunt, France is over, we’re flying to Cambodia! The trophy is estimated at 50,000 euros. It is a sculpture by Anne-Laure de Chillaz, made in bronze and patinated with gold, including a ruby. If by chance you manage to locate the Golden Naga, the Marco Vasco agency will offer you luggage and plane tickets to visit Cambodia and collect your dues!
Treasure hunt and role-playing game intertwine here, because you are allowed to take on the role of Henri Mouhot, the one who allowed the West to discover the famous temple of Angkor, the jewel of Khmer civilization. In the game’s scenario, the explorer would have found a golden Naga, which he would have hidden in a secret location in Laos. To find it, players will have to solve eight puzzles set up by the company Unsolved Enigma, a French company also behind the other treasure hunt inspired by The Golden Owl, The Golden Elixir.
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To participate, all you have to do is buy the game published for the occasion by Gallimard Editions for the sum of 24 euros. Just like Elixir d’or, the hunt for the Naga d’or is solidarity-based: all profits will be donated to the NGO Enfants du Mekong, working since the end of the 1950s to enable the poorest children in South Asia -Is to be educated. So, will you try this solidarity challenge?
