Pablo's ATH 2020 is now over - Monday 1 February 2021, 1:00pm
Apopheniacs Anonymous would like to say a huge “THANK YOU” to all teams who entered Pablo's ATH 2020.
The hunt for Captain Trumpscrubbe's lost treasure is now over and we are well underway marking your solutions. We hope to have a further update for you in the next week.
While you are waiting for the results to be published, we have released the full solution document for those who didn't manage to track down the treasure chest; we hope you find it interesting and enlightening.
With the Apopheniac crew now back on the high seas, Captain Trumpscrubbe's treasure will remain in its hiding place for some time, should you wish to make a socially distanced visit to Hunt's end.
Thanks once again for taking part.
Athwart, me hearties!!!
Apopheniacs Anonymous
Pablo's ATH 2020 Update - Tuesday 26 January 2021, 1:00pm
Following last week's revelation that Captain Horatio Trumpscrubbe's lost treasure had not been located after a full month of intensive hunting, and that additional evidence had come to light regarding its whereabouts, Apopheniacs Anonymous can now provide a further update.
Thank you to the many teams who have enthusiastically risen to the continuing challenge of locating the treasure and submitted a flurry of virtual find claims covering a wide range of interesting locations. We are pleased to report that, at the time of writing, three successful treasure finds have now been recorded, two of which were submitted as virtual find claims, with a third team able to dispatch a socially distanced team member fortuitously locked down near to the treasure site for a physical find.
Congratulations to all these teams.
With the Apopheniac ship confined to dock until the end of January, there is still time for teams to claim a coveted place on the Roll of Honour and, although no further clues have been identified, we encourage you to keep hunting until midnight on 31 January. Once the deadline has passed, we will release the full solution on 1 February.
As a reminder, we are realistically only expecting to receive virtual find claims at this point, with location information that can be reasonably determined from the clues in the Hunt and any online research. Online maps may be used by teams to help roughly follow any directions gleaned and thereby at least identify the approximate locale of the buried treasure. Complete instructions from a correctly identified start point will be considered sufficient. We do not require any further solution submissions.
Thank you once again for your dedication to the ongoing search for Captain Trumpscrubbe's treasure and we wish you good luck in your final six days of hunting.
Apopheniacs Anonymous
Pablo's ATH 2020 Update - Tuesday 19 January 2021, 1:00pm
Many thanks indeed to all teams who submitted a solution to Pablo's 2020 Armchair Treasure Hunt by yesterday's deadline. Times are very difficult for one and all, and we greatly appreciate all your efforts. You should have received an email confirmation by reply - if you didn't, please contact us to check that we did indeed receive your entry. We will now begin the process of marking the submissions, which may take a little time!
Following the midnight deadline, we have also assessed all claims that purported to have found Captain Trumpscrubbe's treasure. Alas, none of those helpful suggestions have enabled us to locate the old pirate's chest, which remains undiscovered. Although the Apopheniac crew were originally due to take to the high seas again shortly, the worsening Covid situation has seen our ship confined to dock until the end of January 2021, enabling us to extend our quest on these shores a little while longer.
We are therefore inviting any willing volunteers to continue their efforts to try and help us retrieve Trumpscrubbe's lost treasure. But we Apopheniacs somewhat sheepishly have a confession to make. We thought we had shared all the evidence collated by our erstwhile tester on his map of Apophenia Island, but last evening whilst sweeping up in his abruptly vacated cave, we discovered a few further old documents that appear to have become unpinned from the map and slipped down the back of his bookcase. We now share these documents with you in case they might help in any way.
The rewards for finding Trumpscrubbe's treasure remain as originally offered. We should stress that this plea for further help relates solely to locating the treasure. There is no need to submit an updated solution - entries will be marked as already submitted against the originally published Hunt. Any teams choosing not to continue will thus not be left at any disadvantage as regards the marks awarded for their submitted solution.
Unfortunately the significant national lockdown put in place across the UK at the beginning of January 2021 means it is highly unlikely that any physical visits to the treasure site will now be possible. As such we are realistically only expecting to receive virtual find claims at this point, with location information that can be reasonably determined virtually from the clues in the Hunt and any online research. Online maps may be used by teams to help roughly follow any directions gleaned and thereby at least identify the approximate locale of the buried treasure. Complete instructions from a correctly identified start point will be considered sufficient.
Any treasure claims or finds should be submitted by email to [email protected] in line with the original guidance. We will provide an update in one week's time on Tuesday 26 January 2021, and also will keep you updated as regards our progress in marking entries. We will of course publish the ATH2020 solution just as soon as Trumpscrubbe's treasure is located.
Apopheniacs Anonymous
Pablo's ATH 2020 Update - Friday 15 January, 6:00pm
A reminder that there are just three days until the deadline for providing precise details on the whereabouts of Captain Horatio Trumpscrubbe's pirate treasure.
Any finds (physical recovery of ticket, or virtual find claims) should be made no later than 23:59 on Monday 18th January. We appreciate physical site visits are still highly unlikely in this latest lockdown. Once the deadline has passed, we will assess all of the find information supplied and let you know if it has been sufficient to enable us to locate his lost treasure box.
This is also the deadline for submitting your solutions to this year's ATH. Your entries should contain answers and solutions to the various puzzles, along with explanations where appropriate. If you have not fully solved a puzzle, you will still earn marks for solving part(s) of the puzzle or maybe identifying the significance. Additional marks may be awarded for identifying key thematic links. Solutions should be submitted in either PDF format or as a MS readable document (Word or Excel). An individual or team entering Pablo's Armchair Treasure Hunt for the very first time should mark their entry "ATH Virgin" as they may be eligible for special acclaim.
Your entry should be sent by email to [email protected], arriving no later than 23:59 on Monday 18th January.
Apopheniacs Anonymous
We'd like to draw your attention to the ATH guidelines and advice on hunting during the pandemic (spoiler alert - there are no clues here). Please make sure you follow current Government guidance at all times and from an ATH point of view please note in particular the comments on virtual finds.
If you would like to be kept in touch with significant events during the hunting season please enter your details here and we'll add you to our mailing list. And do let us know if you're working by yourself and would like to be introduced to others in the same boat. We'd be glad to introduce you.
We will also occassionally provide updates via Facebook and Twitter. Please spread the word, although not your solutions and ideas, using #PablosATH2020. You can be assured however that all information will appear on this web site and there is no advantage to be gained from social media.
If any team would be kind enough to allow the setters to watch their progress by opening up their collaboration tools, please do get in touch through the email below. However ...
We ask all teams to please not share thoughts, questions and ideas about solutions to the hunt publicly online, on social media or elsewhere. It's so easy for others to find your work and the fun of the hunt is to discover it (slowly!) yourselves. Thank you.
