CARLSBAD — The hunt for hidden treasure returns.
In the spirit of Blackbeard, Capt. Kidd, Charles Vane and Anne Bonny, a new pirate has emerged in Carlsbad. This one, the Haiku Pirate, though, has a fondness for haiku riddles for players to navigate and win a prize. Unlike the famous pirates of old, Carlsbad’s pirate doesn’t raise hell on the high seas.
Instead, Haiku Pirate delivers fun, joy and challenges through clever riddles, decryption, Carlsbad landmarks and, to a point, disconnecting from the digital world while encouraging players to tap into their imaginations and nostalgia of hunting for “buried” treasure.
Haiku Pirate, who asked to remain anonymous, said the first treasure hunt started in 2020 with Chapter 1 leveraging various landmarks across the city. Chapter 2 came in 2021 but with a new, albeit more challenging, based on the famed Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian’s paintings.
Now, Chapter 3 is on the horizon and starts in November. It incorporates a deliberate family, or team, element to the hunt. Pirate said the game is open to anyone, although online sleuths can’t crack it as the key clues are hidden in the city and required to unlock the treasure.
