Well I just purchased one of his regular ones in July.  And by golly will try to figure out how to squeak out enough dollars for one of these. They HAVE to be beautiful.  With those fonts on them.

This is how I justify it:

That Cryptex is a collectors piece.  In the genre I have a lot of fun playing in.  I bet I could blow that amount of money on something or a few things easily.  This is like skimping on that new deck, renovations around the house, or on any decorations and then regretting it.  How many times has someone skimped a few hundred dollars only to kick themselves in the butt a few months down the road.

I know what I'm asking for as my next christmas/birthday gift combo!  

Justin.  Please let us know if you received interest in this and can go forward on making a batch.

j

 

Hello everyone, I just wanted to let you know that the second quarter is now avaiable on the Golden Key Quest website. Also, if you'd like to do that hunt as a team, that is one of the ones we are doing.  Check it out here!!!  http://gameprospuzzlehunts.ford3.myfastforum.org

 

 

I understand, these can be pretty pricey, but as you know, very nice.  I had to make a choice of doing something chincy (like the Da Vinci Code movie prop replica - you have no idea how many people I've heard complaining about those) for cheap (and these movie prop replicas are not that cheap) or doing something really high quality but at a higher cost. 

I think if there was a reasonable amount of interest I could probably do something like this for $300 plus $15 SH but this would include a bloodwood display stand (very nice hand polished exotic red wood) and reduced shipping costs: old price $250 for the box + $25 for the bloodwood stand + $25 for S&H = $300 would now be $300 for the box and stand + $15 for S&H = $315, so it would be an additional $15 bucks for the special fonts and "The Quest" logo.

I'm actually about to raise my prices to $300 plus $15 S&H (down from $25 before) due to design and quality improvements and the increase in the price of many of the materials I use (the price of solid brass seems to be tied to the current price of fuel which if you've filled your gas tank lately you know what I mean).  But while display stands were optional before, I am now going to include them in the deal because about 95% of my customers want a stand anyway and you really should have something nice to display these boxes on.

So basically, I could do these special boxes for my new combined price, but without charging anything extra for the custom stuff (if there was a decent amount of interest).  I only have a handful of boxes left at the $250 price (17 to be exact) and when these are gone, the next batch of boxes will be at the new pricing (but will come with a stand and reduced S&H) which is basically a $15 to $25 increase in price overall.

I'd love to make these boxes for "The Quest" enthusiasts because as you can imagine I am into this kind of stuff too (but never have the time to participate).

I don't generally like to make posts or "plug my wares" on message boards as they are a forum for discussing various topics and not for "advertising".  But this thread came up on a daily Google search I have set for the word "Cryptex" and it seemed like there were a number of people who found my boxes interesting and there were questions as to whether boxes like the ones used in "The Quest" final challenge would be available.  So I thought I'd provide this information.  Forgive me if I'm overstepping the "code of conduct" for posting on this message board, I've only done this because the subject came up already.  

j15bell:

Justin.  Please let us know if you received interest in this and can go forward on making a batch.

j15bell,

Well this is what I'm sort of thinking...

If I can throw these special rings in with the next batch of regular code ring engraving I do, there would be no additional cost to me for running a special batch of custom rings.  I'm not sure when this will be, but it will be within the next few weeks (as soon as the new blank code rings are ready for engraving).

I'm thinking that I could take orders for these special boxes up until the point when I do the next batch of code ring engraving and then however many orders I have at that point would be how many I would make.  So if even one person wanted a box like this, I could still give the regular price for my boxes without any additional cost for the special fonts, "The Quest" logo, etc.

The downfall to this would be that there would be a delay in sending the finished box while I made all the rings, engraved them, coated them, etc. (I couldn't turn these orders around in a week or something like that).  But if it meant saving on the price by the $105 for custom batch engraving, this might be worth it.

I guess what I'll do will be to allow people to put in a special promotional code ("The Quest") when they place an order and I would then give them the special total pricing of $315 for the box with special fonts, 23k gold "The Quest" logo, hand polished bloodwood stand, and S&H.  This promotion would be open up until I do this next batch of code ring engraving (which I'm shooting for September 1st, but it might be as late as September 15th).  After I've done this next batch of engraving, it would be an additional $105 if someone wanted to get the special fonts and such.

How does that sound?

Justin

Just watched the summary of the final challenge.   Amazing work!!!   At the very end of the segment, the announcer says that another Quest is soon to begin.   Does anyone have the scoop on this?

Justin --

For $315, I'd buy one.

nightstrike:

Justin --

For $315, I'd buy one.

Cool.  Just go to my website (www.cryptex.org) and put in an order with "The Quest" in the message/promo code space and I'll put you down for one.  You are not limited to color (it doesn't have to be red) and it will have the same alphabet used in the game as well as a 23K gold "The Quest" logo.  The only difference between the one you would receive and the ones used in the event would be there would be no "soundwave" Doritos logo (I don't think I can use their trademarked logo), but it would include a handcrafted display stand (if you get a red box this would be made from bloodwood... very nice).

I'll take orders until I do my next engraving run so people can benefit from a batch order as opposed to a one off custom job.

Justin

 

The Highlight Reel is up in www.doritosthequest.com for those of you that want to see it.

Is this all we are going to ever see?  I am very disappointed it wasn't a bigger presentation although I congratulate you on your victory.

 

 

retsbob999:

The Highlight Reel is up in www.doritosthequest.com for those of you that want to see it.

The "Final Challenge" competition seemed kind of lame to me.  What was the point of all the "physical challenges"?  Did I miss something?  They all started each "challenge" at the same time, with at the most a slight advantage/disadvantage.

 It would've been neater if it was an "Amazing Race" kind of thing where all 3 went at their own pace and raced to the final puzzle.  Also, "quest" backwards??  Again, lame... imho, especially with that format.

 Finally, all 3 finalists were fairly young and fit.  What would they have done if one was in a wheelchair, or blind, or 450 lbs?  Was there some kind of fitness caveat in making that final selection?  I thought it was just the order the online puzzle was solved.  Not to mention, what if one of them got hurt on that boat jump or rapelling drop.

 OK, finally finally... was that amulet thing pure gold or something, worth $100,000?  And I didn't see any mention of consolation prizes for the other two guys.

 Walt

After additional thought and math, for that amulet to be pure gold and worth $100,000, it would probably have to weigh like over 120 oz, which is like 8 lbs.  It didn't look that heavy.  I'm guessing the amulet was a cheap prop and the winner got a check(???)

 Congrats to the winner!  And, did they really have you three rely on memorizing the alphabet, or did you have a "cheat sheet" to help you?

 Walt

Hello Walt, This is John Wright, the winner of The Quest. I just thought I would answer all of your questions. First of all, they didn't show the entire final puzzle. For a better explanation of the final puzzle, you can look to my post at http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25373&start=750. Secondly, the finalists were not necessarily the first three to finish the online puzzles. The top 10 finishers on the website were sent packets in the mail with a medical report that had to be filled out. My best guess is that they Doritos people sifted through the 10 packets and decided on the people who were most physically fit to compete in the challenges. Insurance information had also been gathered from each of us, so if we had gotten hurt then they would've taken care of that. They also had EMT's on site at both the Boat Jumping and the Repelling to make sure everything would go well. Lastly, that amulet was definitely pure gold. When I picked it up to put it on I was very surprised at the weight of it. I commented to the hosts that it must be at least 8-10 pounds. It definitely doesn't look like it weighs much, but it did. I could've chosen to take the amulet as my prize, but that would mean needing to have access to about $30,000 to pay taxes on it. Therefore, I ended up being paid by means of a wire transfer a week or so later. I hope that answers all of your questions. If you would like to know anything else, just send me a PM.

I forgot to answer one of your questions...each of us competitors had memorized the Quest Alphabet for the Quest. However, after completing the first "wheel of fortune" challenge we had the choice of buying a scroll which we were told may help us throughout the challenges. I later found out that this scroll was a Cheat Sheet for the Alphabet, but I never used it since I had it memorized.

Wow!  That's great, John!  Thanks for the info.  That all sure took a lot of work, skill, and intelligence.  I'm sure it will be something you'll remember your whole life with great fondness.

 Walt

Again, congratulations, John!  Very cool!  I'll check out your post on unfiction.

Have you heard anything about when it might be televised?