New Internet Scavenger hunt! Come try it out.

[J0schm03]

Hey everyone,

My name is Joe, and I'm a cofounder of ThePrizePursuit.com. If you haven't seen my other thread about this I'll give a quick explanation.

We have started a new internet scavenger hunt site. Basically players compete for free prizes, such as Nintendo Wii's, giftcards, Plasma TV's etc... It's a race against time and thousands of other players across the globe. You'll be visiting sites across the internet in search of the answers to clues. These sites could range from your favorite electronics store to a site pertaining to your credit score.

Be the fastest player to find all the clues and you win the grand prize. We also award prizes to 2nd and 3rd place and occasionally we offer a prize to a random player who found all the clues but did not place in the top 3 positions.

If you want to learn more about it and are interested in checking it out you can find the site currently at: The-Prize-Pursuit

Most of the bugs should be worked out by now, so we're interested in allowing others to try it out and see what it's all about finally.

If you have any comments or feedback, or encounter any problems please feel free to let me know on here, or you can contact us at: contact@theprizepursuit.com

Thanks a lot everyone, your feedback is very much appreciated!

[akula]

joe, i really don't say this often, but i think the concept is great, i'd definitely play and since there's enormous scope for product development in the future, i don't see why you can't walk out of this thing a millionaire in a few years. casual gaming is huge, and what you have is pretty addictive, scalable, differentiated and monetise-able. awesome effort, and i think you've done an exemplary job in your opportunity selection. from a purely professional perspective, i think that your kind of project would generate quite a bit of interest in menlo park and other startup hotspots. i wish you the best of luck!
p.s. can't wait for the next hunt

[lifefulfilled]

Great design. Now, for some constructive criticism.

Design. Logos and prize image integration needs some tweaking. The 'content area' is too large. Nix ~50px on each side, and provide ~10-15px buffer at the bottom. This change should not include top or bottom menus.

HTML/CSS. Does not validate. There are inline styles. And the font element has been used. It would seem the designer has a case of 'div-itis.' Float clearing div elements are not necessary. (There are better techniques these days.)

I love the design. It's great eye-candy, and pretty easy to make the 'safari to hunting' connection.

[J0schm03]

joe, i think the concept is great, i'd definitely play and since there's enormous scope for product development in the future, i don't see why you can't walk out of this thing a millionaire in a few years. casual gaming is huge, and what you have is pretty addictive. awesome effort, and i think you've done an exemplary job in your opportunity selection. what you wanna do now is go the monopoly route and start consolidating your IP portfolio so you can license it out in the future.

Thank you very much for the kind words akula.

What you have said is right on track with my thoughts from the start. We wanted to join the casual gaming arena. And as people are always looking for new effective ways of advertising we could bring the two together.

The only fear is the cuts companies have made in their advertising budgets with the current economic situation. But we feel that what we have to offer to the advertisers will help. Product engagement is very important, and advertising is not passive as banner and text ads can be.

Again thanks for the kind words. We have a lot in store for the future of the site.

[J0schm03]

Great design. Now, for some constructive criticism.

Design. Logos and prize image integration needs some tweaking. The 'content area' is too large. Nix ~50px on each side, and provide ~10-15px buffer at the bottom. This change should not include top or bottom menus.

HTML/CSS. Does not validate. There are inline styles. And the font element has been used. It would seem the designer has a case of 'div-itis.' Float clearing div elements are not necessary. (There are better techniques these days.)

I love the design. It's great eye-candy, and pretty easy to make the 'safari to hunting' connection.

Hi lifefulfilled,

Thank you for the comments.

I agree that the prize image and logo images need some tweaking. I didn't spend too much time on this for the test hunt. I was just mainly concerned with the functionality of the hunt itself. But when we actually launch I will definitely keep this in mind and be sure everything looks nice and the images are sized correctly.

The second issue you had mentioned I will mention to my partner. We have a software developer helping us out for small things as well so I will mention this to her and see if we should make some changes relating to this.

Thanks for the help!

[J0schm03]

Wow, so it's been a while since I've worked on this project.

But I find this very interesting. We contacted RedBull about potentially being a sponsor on our website ThePrizePursuit.com around the time this thread was made.

Unfortunately the site just is not up to par to be ready for officially launching and they politely declined.

HOWEVER. No less than a year later, RedBull is running a promotion that is EXACTLY like our website. They are hosting an internet scavenger hunt that sends players to numerous sites across the internet as part of their recent marketing promotion. If you read the rules there are two parts to the promotion. Finding a stash, and then a second part which features an internet scavenger hunt.

You can find the details here...Red Bull Red Bull Stash | Facebook

I wonder where the idea came from?

If I could only get the money to invest in our site and get all the features we need to make this successful. Big business' see the value in this form of advertising!

[hippie_wantab]

Awesome idea. I actually signed up and tried it out a little.

I'd love to have you feature my biz!

[J0schm03]

Thank you for the kind words!

We should be doing a full reworking of the site very soon. We've had some interest from potential investors to help us with the upgrades to really bring out the full potential. We want to add features to help business' see the number of visitors they receive etc. Basically have business accounts where you'd be able to edit clues, the landing pages for each clue and lots more.

We've even applied for Ycombinator, but that is a real far fetched dream, as they don't accept but a handful of companies.

It's good to see that others realize the value in this form of advertising as well.

I will keep you posted as we move forward.

Take care!

Awesome idea. I actually signed up and tried it out a little.

I'd love to have you feature my biz!

[benmaxime]

I've played, great idea!
Good luck!

[J0schm03]

I've played, great idea!
Good luck!

Thank you! I just read the article Making Money with Advertising on Your Website | Ben Lang, Entrepreneur on your site and couldn't agree more.

It basically sums up what we are trying to accomplish. Very interesting post.

[Sportsfan12]

Wow that bites how Red Bull stole your concept. You should take them to court for that one and really let them have it. I hate when major companies try to throw their weight around and take advantage of the smaller business.

Good luck in your quest; it's a great idea.

[smartwind]

i like the idea... good luck

[rickg99]

I like the idea, great site.

[entrepreneurrebel]

joe, i really don't say this often, but i think the concept is great, i'd definitely play and since there's enormous scope for product development in the future, i don't see why you can't walk out of this thing a millionaire in a few years. casual gaming is huge, and what you have is pretty addictive, scalable, differentiated and monetise-able. awesome effort, and i think you've done an exemplary job in your opportunity selection. from a purely professional perspective, i think that your kind of project would generate quite a bit of interest in menlo park and other startup hotspots. i wish you the best of luck!
p.s. can't wait for the next hunt

I second this. I was about to start a post to see if any members have found any great innovative ideas. This one hit the spot.

Also it is great to see Akula is still on YE. This man has knowledge listen to him.

[sciguy77]

Joe, brilliant idea! Does most of your income come from ads? Any other mediums of income?