Frequently asked questions

The questions people ask us, and the ones they should.

Is it free?

Yes, entirely. Playing costs nothing and needs no sign-up, no address, no payment. There is nothing to buy to take part, and nothing you can buy gives an advantage.

Do I have to read the book?

No. The novel The Angel of the Water accompanies the hunt: it tells the story and the world the riddles come from. But it contains no riddle, no clue, no answer. Everything you need to play is in the riddle itself, published for free. Whoever reads the book plays for the pleasure of the story, not for a head start.

Where is the treasure?

On the Bitcoin chain. Each chest is a bitcoin address, funded in advance and visible to everyone. Nothing is buried, nothing to dig, nothing to move: the chest’s key is rebuilt from the riddles’ answers, and whoever has it can take the sum. No need to travel, nor to live in France.

How much?

Four thousand euros at the start, spread over twenty-four chests, from January 2027 to December 2028: nineteen stones (€60 to €115), four cathedrals (€300) and one final chest (€1,300). These sums are in bitcoin: they move with the price, up or down. We do not promise what they will be worth tomorrow. A share of each sale of the book’s digital edition (20% when a companion brought it, 60% otherwise) goes to the chests still closed, every quarter, by a signed, public payment.

How do you play?

Two riddles a month, on the 3rd and the 17th at 18:15:05 UTC, published on the site. Each riddle’s answer is a few French words from the public list of five thousand (three; four for a cathedral and the final chest). The two answers, and the cry published one hour after the second riddle, open the month’s chest. The first to have them takes the chest. You test your answers in GodGift Core, on your own computer or phone: nothing leaves your device.

And if nobody finds it?

The chest stays there to be taken, with no time limit. Rescue clues open by themselves: the first thirty days after the cry, the second one hundred and eighty-two days after the cry, as long as the chest is full.

What is hunt zero?

A trial run, for real, before the main hunt: three chests of €100, six riddles from 3 November 2026. Almost everything works as in the main hunt (these three chests come from the author alone: book sales do not feed them). It is made for learning, and so that sceptics can verify the circuit end to end. Hunt zero.

How do I know it is not a scam?

You do not have to believe us. The chests are visible on the chain with their balance. The author’s commitment to the solutions is engraved on the chain before the start. Every message from the author is signed, and GodGift Core, a free program whose code is public, verifies those signatures on your machine. Nobody will ever ask you for money, a key, a password or an answer: whoever does, even in our name, is a scammer.

What is GodGift Core?

A small free program (Windows, Mac, Linux, or in the browser) that verifies everything by itself: that the chests exist, that the sums are there, that the messages really come from the author. It is also where you test your answers. It can be downloaded here, and only here: every version publishes its fingerprint, and a signed message from the author names it as official.

Why 3 January at 18:15:05 UTC?

It is the hour of Bitcoin’s first block, on 3 January 2009. The hunt opens eighteen years later, to the second.

What happens if the author disappears?

The hunt goes on. The riddles are sealed before the start and their fingerprints engraved; they appear by themselves at their hour. A custodian keeps what is needed for everything to go on, and a keeper of the riddles, whose name stays sealed, keeps what allows them to be published as a fallback if one of them has not appeared. The rules are written, and everything that matters is already on the chain. It is one of the lessons of the Chouette d’Or.

Who organises it?

One author, alone, with his tools. The terms and conditions say everything else, and they are the only reference in case of doubt.