How a Fort Collins family found the $200K wish lamp in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KXRM) — A family from northern Colorado was awarded $200,000 at a press conference on Tuesday, July 23 in Downtown Colorado Springs, after months of hunting a meticulously hidden Wish Lamp and deciphering clues to its location.

It was all part of something called Treasure Games, a skill-based geocaching event that awards everyday people with prize money, founded by TV producer and entrepreneur Dirk Gibson.

But what is Treasure Games, how did it come into being, and just how hard are the clues to follow and win? Gibson explained the history behind Treasure Games at the press conference on Tuesday, and winner Fernie Martinez detailed how his family was able to decipher a poem that led them to the Wish Lamp, disguised inside a utility box behind Kings Chef diner in Colorado Springs.

What is Treasure Games and how can you participate?

Treasure Games is a mobile platform that can be played for a monthly or yearly full-access subscription, which offers real-world treasure hunts leading to life-changing prizes. Gibson, an award-winning producer who has worked for the History Channel and Discovery Channel, said he wanted to start the games in an effort to spread wealth to everyday people by using their skills, rather than a luck-of-the-draw type of prize, like the lottery.

“For years I’ve wanted to build a model that spreads wealth to everyday people, in a way that could exceed the Lotto,” said Gibson. “I believe it’s better for 1,000 people to win $1 million dollars each in games of skill than one person winning $1 billion dollars in a lottery of practically impossible odds.”

The first game following the program’s launch, entitled Wish Lamps, saw 10 bronze genie-style lamps hidden across the U.S. in different regions, offering people the opportunity to play from any state. Once players sign up, Gibson said they get daily hints and clues to decipher that may very well lead to a lamp potentially worth millions.

The lamp that was found in Colorado Springs, worth $200,000, had been waiting patiently at its location behind Kings Chef since February!

How did the winner discover the Wish Lamp in Colorado Springs?

Martinez said he got involved in Treasure Games almost immediately after the program launched because he thought a treasure hunt might be fun to do and searched for something like it on Google. He discovered the Wish Lamp game after reading about a lamp worth $1.2 million that was later discovered in Texas by a man who was once homeless.

Martinez said once he signed up and started playing, he spent hours after work researching and trying to solve clues and became obsessed with the game once he learned the region including Colorado was opening up to players. It was then that his family got involved, with his wife and daughters all trying to decipher the poem that was sent out as a clue.

If you’re wondering how in the world that poem led Martinez to Colorado Springs, the amount of research and problem-solving is quite astounding. Watch Martinez explain below how numerous words in the poem correlated to destinations around Colorado Springs, as well as items on the menu at Kings Chef:

In total, the Martinez family made three trips from their home near Fort Collins down to Colorado Springs in search of the lamp, and after narrowing down the menu items clue, Martinez made the fourth and final trip to Colorado Springs by himself, even deciding on Kings Chef as a destination for some breakfast.

It was on the fourth trip that Martinez saw the utility box behind the Kings Chef purple castle on East Costilla Street marked with a “Property of Treasure Games” sticker, and after scanning several codes and gaining access to the utility box, Martinez sent his family a selfie with the lamp in front of the iconic purple castle. A castle that Gibson said was the perfect place to hide such a treasure.

How does the lamp being located in Colorado Springs impact businesses like Kings Chef?

Gibson said he was looking on Google Maps when he was trying to find a place to hide the lamp, and when he saw the purple castle, he knew it was perfect, though not without its challenges. Without knowing how many people would be searching for the lamp or whether they would be swarming to these locations, Gibson knew that whoever owned the property where the lamp was hidden would undoubtedly face some liability. Undaunted, Gary Geiser, owner of Kings Chef, jumped on board.

The decision paid off, because the hunt brought people like Martinez and his family to Colorado Springs and to Kings Chef.

“We’re just really excited to see people come to town, to come to Colorado Springs, to enjoy Downtown Colorado Springs and the surrounding area while they’re in the community looking for the treasure,” said Geiser. “It helps support the community through the tax dollars that they’re spending… we’re just really excited to participate, just to get you treasure hunters here.”

In addition to the prize money, Martinez was also given an extra $10,000 to disperse to causes that he cares about. Habitat for Humanity, Animal Friends Alliance, and Cambodian Children’s Fund all received $3,000, with the remaining $1,000 being given to fellow treasure hunters as a continuation of a tradition that began at the first Treasure Games award ceremony.

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