2020 TC Treasure Time Travel Treasure Hunt

INTRODUCTION (October 26, 1985 — 1:35AM)
Local historians, start your DeLoreans for the TC Time Travel race—
Explore the counties to claim our bounties and crack the mystery case! 
Don't forget to follow us on social media—
And when in doubt, just look it up on Futurepedia!

Race against time to the scene of the crime, in the wee hours of the morning; 
Examine the signs by a pair of pines, and heed their wintry warning!
One of many, a lucky penny marks the first steps to the stone, 
So accelerate to eighty-eight—into the great unknown.

TRAILER

• The trailer is intended to confirm this hunt's Back To The Future-inspired theme and timeline, and suggests hunters should familiarize themselves with details and plot points relating to the movie(s).
• The trailer opens with a shot of Marty's skateboard rolling until it bumps against 'Doc' Emmet Brown's pilfered case of plutonium (the case is shown again at 1:07-1:10); this served as inspiration for this hunt's prize container: a miniature version of the yellow flight crate, replete with "RADIOACTIVE" sticker (Please note: the prize is not actually radioactive). The key to unlock the prize case was hidden along with the jewel.
• From 1:15-1:26, Marty is shown hitching a ride on the back of a Jeep driven by Back To The Future stunt coordinator (and apparent Mountain Dew aficionado) Walter Scott; this easter egg is intended to suggest the jewel would be hidden somewhere in Scott County. Of course, anyone possessing even a passing familiarity with Back To The Future, and Doc's frequently uttered catchphrase, "Great Scott!," was probably onto the idea from the get-go; indeed, the jewel was hidden in Scott County—at Savage's Hidden Valley Park.

INTRODUCTION (October 26, 1985 — 9:00AM)

• The hunt's introduction was published on "October 26, 1985 — 1:35AM"—which is the precise moment Marty McFly goes back in time to 1955. The remaining clues were published to coincide with Marty's time spent in 1955—November 5-12 in Part I and November 12-16 in Part II & III.
• The first letters of each line in the introduction—L, E, D, A, R, E, O, S—anagram to "Rosedale." This is meant to suggest searching for the first bonus prize—the "OUTATIME" license plate from Part I—at Rosedale Center, in Roseville (our stand-in for Hill Valley's "Twin Pines/Lone Pine Mall"). This is also meant to suggest this hunt's longshot: When anagrammed, the first letters of the names of the hunt's 16 bonus prize locations spell the name of the park in which the jewel was hidden.
• "Local historians" is meant to suggest that some clues in this hunt will rely on interpreting the history of the Twin Cities metro.
• "DeLoreans" anagrams to "Rosedale N," and is meant to suggest searching the northern parking lots of Rosedale Center for the first bonus prize.
• "Explore the counties to claim our bounties" is meant to foreshadow a component to this hunt's format: an outwardly spiraling, station-to-station quest for bonus prizes that sent hunters through all seven counties of the hunt's search area.
• "crack the mystery case!" is meant to suggest both the puzzle(s) at the core of this hunt, but also its grand prize: a one-of-a-kind, Back To The Future-themed loot box.
• "Don't forget to follow us on social media" is meant to suggest hunters be on the lookout for hints, easter eggs, and, in particular, three bonus clues, posted after the introduction and before the first clue, throughout TC Treasure's social media pages.
• "when in doubt, just look it up on Futurepedia" is meant to suggest hunters familiarize themselves with the primary online source for information on Back To The Future.
• "Race against time to the scene of the crime, in the wee hours of the morning" is meant to suggest hunters find a local location with parallels to Hill Valley's Twin Pines Mall, where Doc Brown is gunned down by terrorists around 1:30am on October 26, 1985.
• "Examine the signs by a pair of pines, and heed their wintry warning" is meant to suggest searching near a wooden stairwell, next to a pair of pine trees in the northern lot of Rosedale Center; the stairs are marked with two signs—one at the the top and one at the bottom—reading "WARNING: STEPS SLIPPERY IN WINTER." The first bonus prize was hidden at the base of the pine tree nearer the stairs.
• "One of many, a lucky penny marks the first steps to the stone" is meant to suggest searching near the stairwell—which connects an upper and lower parking lot for JCPenney, and is located just across the street from Lucky's 13 Pub.
• "accelerate to eight-eight" is meant to reinforce the parallel with the Twin Pines Mall parking lot, while of course referencing an important piece of exposition from the movies (it's the speed at which time travel occurs in the DeLorean), but this could also be taken to suggest hunters take Interstate 35E to its local terminus at exit 88 in Burnsville, then head "into the great unknown" (see below), bringing them across the county line to Savage.
• "into the great unknown" is meant to suggest hunters search for the jewel in Scott County, as Sir Walter Scott was often referred to as "The Great Unknown." The Scottish novelist—famous for such works as "The Lady Of The Lake" and Ivanhoe—is a primary contender for namesake to Doc's minced oath, "Great Scott!"
• The intro bonus prize was found by Pat & Ang Moriarty, of Cottage Grove, on November 5—ten days after the intro was published.

BONUS CLUE #1

• The first bonus clue was published exclusively on Facebook on "October 29, 1985," and featured a photo of a replica of George McFly's first novel A Match Made In Space (the bonus prize for the clue) in front of the Little Free Library at Alden Square Park in Saint Paul (the hiding spot). This was meant to suggest that the storyline in play takes place sometime after the events of Part I—as it is only after Marty gives his teenage father the sage advice "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything" that George gains the confidence to become an accomplished sci-fi author.
• This clue's bonus prize was found by Josh Ellingson, of Apple Valley, on October 29—just over an hour after the clue was published.

BONUS CLUE #2

• The second bonus clue was published on Halloween, on Facebook (backdated to "October 31, 1985"), Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit, and featured a photo of a watch set to 2:00 and the bonus prize for this clue: Marty McFly's "Art In Revolution" button (The photo also features a sneak peek of the prize crate in the background).
• The clue tells hunters to "Call the Time Travelers' Hotline ... between 1:00 and 1:00." In reality, the TC Treasure Hotline was set to play a temporary secret message in the final hour of daylight savings time (1:00-2:00am) on November 1; hunters who called would hear a brief greeting, then the sound of the word "LOWRY" spelled out three times in morse code. Anyone who called the hotline during the hour was sent a photo of a tree in Lowry Park—through the branches of which the hiding spot for this clue's bonus prize could be seen. The photo was also later reposted on Twitter for "#FallBack #Flashback #FridayThe13th."
• In a fitting turn, as a result of the switch back to standard time, this clue's bonus prize was found by eventual jewel co-finder Craig Heinen, of Richfield, in the early morning November 1, at roughly the "same moment" he and his teammates solved the clue—albeit one hour later.

BONUS CLUE #3

• The third bonus clue was published on Election Day (with hints published at noon the day before) on Facebook (backdated to "November 3, 1985"), Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit—and featured photos of a Mayor "Goldie" Wilson reelection campaign button and campaign poster (with a sneak peek of the prize crate in the background) and a landscape view from an unnamed park with the campaign poster taped to a light pole. The clue included a link to a fake campaign website with a form leading to a map of the visitor's Hill Valley "polling place": Deming Heights Park in Minneapolis—where the campaign poster confirmed hunters were in the right place, and the campaign button bonus prize was hidden inside an "elf door" at the base of a tree just off the trail near the northern edge of the park.
• This clue's bonus prize was found by Josh Ellingson, and his one-year-old son Ben, on November 3—just over an hour after the clue was published.

LONGSHOT

• When anagrammed, the first letters of the names of the hunt's 16 bonus prize locations—R, A, L, D, I, P, H, K, A, E, L, D, E, Y, V, N—spell the name of the park in which the jewel was hidden: "HIDDEN VALLEY PARK."
  • Introduction: Rosedale Center, Roseville 
  • Bonus Clue #1: Alden Square Park, Saint Paul
  • Bonus Clue #2: Lowry Park, Minneapolis
  • Bonus Clue #3: Deming Heights Park, Minneapolis
  • Clue #1: Ingerson Park, Arden Hills
  • Clue #2: Phalen Park, Maplewood
  • Clue #3: Harriet Island Park, Saint Paul
  • Clue #4: Keewaydin Park, Minneapolis
  • Clue #5: Arden Park, Edina
  • Clue #6: Edenvale Park, Eden Prairie
  • Clue #7: Lake Ann Park, Chanhassen
  • Clue #8: Dorothy Mary Park, New Hope
  • Clue #9: Epiphany Pond Park, Coon Rapids
  • Clue #10: Yost Park, White Bear Lake
  • Clue #11: Victoria Park, Woodbury
  • Clue #12: Nordic Park, Apple Valley