What was the answer to Treasure Quest, the 1996 computer game from Sirius Publishing that offered a $1...

[ Editor: the text of an article from the Arizona Republic's Web site
(azcentral.com), converted from HTML; the site's navigation and
advertising are omitted. ]

Treasure Quest - or scam?
Game's phantom winner leaves players skeptical

By Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
June 21, 1998

[ Editor: photo caption: ] Sirius President Richard Gnant insists that
the winner is a real person, the prize money will be paid, and that
game rules were followed "impeccably."

The death of Professor Jonathon William Faulkner was accompanied by a
curious inheritance left to his students: $1 million for the one who
could solve a mystery hidden in his 10-room mansion.

With that fictional premise, a Scottsdale company lured thousands of
computer sleuths into buying a $50 game -- and competing in an arduous
contest that promised $1 million to the real-life winner.

But, two years later, Sirius Publishing Inc. has transformed its
software conundrum into a mystery by refusing to fully identify the
winner.

The twist has sent angry players of the Treasure Quest software game on
a new mission -- trying to find out whether the award-winning games is
as bogus as Professor Faulkner's will.

"My gut feeling is that it's a scam," said Paul Wigowsky, an Oregon
schoolteacher who this week filed a consumer fraud complaint with the
Arizona Attorney General's Office.  "Unless we see the winner with our
own eyes, we won't believe it's over."

Karie Dozer, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Grant Woods, declined
to comment.

But Sirius President Richard Gnant insisted that the Treasure Quest
winner is a real person, the prize money will be paid as advertised and
that game rules were followed "impeccably."

[ Editor: a box of links: "A review of the game"
(http://www.iinet.net.au/~quandary/issue7/tquest.html); "Another
review" (http://www.islandnet.com/~bigblue/aug96nl/trquest.htm); past
stories "No $1 million winner yet in computer-software game
(12/16/96)", "$1 million giveaways (4/22/96)", "Scottsdale software
chief bets a million on game (4/10/96)". ]

"They're miffed because they didn't win," Gnant said.

"We've maintained the integrity of this game."

Treasure Quest began April 10, 1996, with a flurry of fanfare as the
world's first million-dollar software contest and, Gnant said, sold
225,000 copies.

The game is based on the mystery left behind by Professor Faulkner, as
revealed in a series of computer screens.  Players face a labyrinth of
about 1,200 clues involving word and number riddles tapping everything
from ancient Hebrew letters to Morse code to literary quotations.

In addition to solving the puzzle, winners were required to submit an
essay of at least 1,000 words explaining their answer.

Wigowsky and others said they spent thousands of hours deciphering
codes, doing library research and trading ideas.

Yet, when the winner was announced May 17, there was no press release,
photo session or celebration -- just a note on the Treasure Quest Web
site identifying the $1 million answer as "The Tree of Life."

That revelation came with a cryptic identification of the winner: "P.
Dreizen of San Francisco, California."

Telephone operators list only one Dreizen in San Francisco -- Pamela.
She did not respond to a phone message, and computer searches under
that name lead nowhere.

Gnant said P. Dreizen asked not to be identified further.  He added
that game rules don't require the winner to go public, and he is
morally bound to respect Dreizen's request.

Yet Treasure Quest rules specifically waive a player's right to
privacy: "Entry constitutes permission (except where prohibitted) to
use winner's name, likeness, hometown, biographical information and any
comments about the contest for publicity purposes without
compensation."

Gnant said he didn't release the winning essay because Dreizen asked
him not to, and because it contains personal information.  He said the
essay was required only as a tie-breaker, in case two winning entries
were submitted the same day.

Web site closed

Shortly after the winner was announced, Gnant closed the Treasure Quest
Web site.

"There was so much untruth in there," he said, referring to postings
from disgruntled players.  "I watched these people trash my family."

Still, Gnant refused to answer basic questions such as: How many people
were on the winning team?  Is Dreizen male or female?  When was the
winning entry submitted?

That date is critical to players who say they came up with the mystery
answer more than a year ago.

This week, Gnant acknowledged that Wigowsky solved the riddle before
Dreizen, but was disqualified because he did not place a contest
registration number in the appropriate place.

"The guy didn't follow the rules, so he didn't win Treasure Quest.  I'm
sorry," Gnant added.  "Maybe I should have told him."

Gnant, the brother of state Rep. Randall Gnant, R-Scottsdale, blamed
the controversy on "extremists" and said most contestants loved the
game.  He stressed that judging was verified by a renowned New York
company that has overseen contests by Coca Cola and other major
companies.  A letter from the firm, Ventura Associates Inc., confirms
the selection of Dreizen as winner.

Gnant said he sympathizes with losers, adding, "These people poured
their hearts and souls into this contest for two years.  It was an
addicting game.  I spent two weeks playing it and almost went crazy."

He said there was no celebration of the final results because his
company has switched from computer games to CD-ROM movies, and he
didn't want to spend money on a victory bash.

Skeptics unsatisfied

But those answers don't satisfy the sleuthing skeptics, who even
discovered that P. Dreizen can be reconstructed into a provocative
anagram: "End Prize."

Bill Boucher, a Colchester, Vt., postal supervisor who spent vacations
working the puzzle, said Treasure Quest is so complex that no one could
solve it alone, yet the winner's name never surfaced during two years
of chat room exchanges.

"For people to take this on blind faith is just stupid," Boucher added.
"I'm not a sore loser.  If I lost, I lost.  But until these questions
are answered, I'm not going to accept the fact that this P. Dreizen
won."

In fact, he is one of several players who shifted their attention from
the game mystery to Sirius business.

Among their discoveries, confirmed by Gnant: The publishing company has
cut its staff from 80 employees to 25, closed its headquarters and
moved operations into a warehouse.  Gnant said those moves reflect
Sirius' new direction, not financial problems.

James Beckett, a 62-year-old retiree from Corning, N.Y., found a 1991
commercial bankruptcy involving another Gnant business, Express
Technologies Inc., and lawsuits against Sirius alleging unpaid debts.
Gnant said the complaints arose from disputes with suppliers over
unsatisfactory products.

Other suspicions

Suspicion about the winner also stems from a dispute over key literary
quotes used in solving the riddle.  Wigowsky and others say the phrases
contain errors.  Gnant denies there are mistakes and complains that
every bit of information he gives out gets twisted and posted on the
Internet.

"I can't say the grass is green and the sky is blue without someone
saying there's an ulterior motive," he complained.

Disgruntled players plastered Web sites and discussion rooms with
questions, conspiracy theories and a mock game called Treasure Quash.
At least one man logged a complaint with Internet Fraud Watch.

Beckett said he assumed the game was legitimate because of the accolades
and media hoopla.  But problems soon emerged when the Treasure Quest
mastermind, Cerise Casper of Washington, sued Sirius Publishing over a
contract dispute.  Before that case was settled for an undisclosed sum,
Casper reportedly made computer contact with Treasure Quest
participants.

"No sooner do we get into this than Cerise pops up in the chat rooms,
warning us to contact the attorney general," Beckett said.  "I lent a
lot of legitimacy to this in the beginning.  But the way they've
conducted . . . I think it was set up."

Gnant would not say whether the prize money -- to be paid in increments
of $50,000 a year -- has been set aside in a trust, but said the funds
are "secure."

As for whether Sirius profited from selling the software and related
items, he said, "I think financially it was about a push.  It might
have made a couple hundred thousand dollars."

***

-- Dennis Wagner, The Arizona Republic (Copyright 1998)

[ Editor: so the published answer was "The Tree of Life", and the
announced winner "P. Dreizen of San Francisco, California". ]