Treasure Hunters Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alaska

In the beginning, each set of five teams had no idea that there were actually ten teams in the race. Teams were simply instructed to find clues and make their way around their respective locations until they found an artifact. One of these was a cryptex found in Alaska, and the other was a map and coded message found in Hawaii. Teams were put together in groups of two outside the state capitol building in Lincoln, Nebraska and they had to work together to find the next clue.

Answer: Mount Rushmore

Using the starting points of the race (Lake George, Alaska and the U. S. S. Jefferson) as well as their starting point for this leg of the hunt (Lincoln, Nebraska), many teams realized that they needed to go to Mount Rushmore. When they arrived, they had to find time capsules and input a certain code to open them for their first artifact.

The code was the order of the presidents on Mount Rushmore. The Young Professionals team was eliminated because they and the Geniuses went in the wrong direction to Mount Theodore Roosevelt and it cost them.

Answer: A compass

In the second leg of the hunt, teams followed the trail of Lewis and Clark into Montana and found a bucket in the Lexington Mine that required them to 'Bend the Light' using water. They then camped out at Wood Bottom campsites on the Missouri River until the next morning.

The next morning, teams had to paddle a canoe twenty miles down the Missouri River (and partially portage the canoe) until they reached a cryptic message that allowed them to find the artifact at Tower Rock. One of the members of the Grad Student team was unable to compete in the race due to an injury, so they were next to leave the hunt.

Answer: Bullets

In the third part of the hunt, teams went to Boston's Old Burke School and paired up with other teams to find separate clues. One team had to go to Old Newgate Prison while the other had to find a house previously occupied by Minutemen. When teams found both bullets, they were instructed to head to Old North Church Cemetery, and then the next day they went to the Boston Light, America's oldest lighthouse.

Here they once again arrived in groups of two and in order to open the locked chests containing the artifacts, they had to find large roman numerals spelled out in rocks around the artifacts. in this part of the hunt, the Wild Hanlons became the third team to be eliminated.

Answer: South Carolina

Teams began this part of the hunt searching for the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel in Brooklyn. Here teams found a book and a clue sending them to Georgetown, South Carolina and the Beneventum Plantation. Here, one team could win $30,000. Teams needed to use the lyrics for the 'Follow the Drinking Gourd' song to navigate the swamp and unlock chests for new keys. Halfway through the swamp, teams were required to make a big decision. Two team members could cross the swamp in the boat, but three hours later, they could make the choice of whether or not to return for the third. If they didn't return, that team member would be out of the hunt forever. None of the teams decided to do this and the Ex-CIA team won the money. One team ended up leaving the swamp with two members though. A member of the Brown family was injured in the swamp, but the two remaining brothers continued anyways.

After reaching the last chest, teams had to find a safe house and search hundreds of quilts for their next clue which lead them to Dock Street Theater. Here, teams had to find clues by breathing on mirrors lining the walls (this took more than five hours for some teams to figure out). This lead them to Fort Pulaski. After finding clues in the tops of flagpoles in the fort, teams traveled to a site outside Savannah, Georgia where they had to dig for the fourth artifact, a death mask. Some teams took more than seven hours to dig for one of the six artifacts, and in the end, the Brown family didn't pull through.

Answer: France

Teams began the next part of the quest which would let them discover the identity of the man behind the death mask. In France, teams had to find the 'Empire of the Dead' in the French Catacombs in Paris. Here, they would find that the man behind the mask created the French flag.

The cryptic clue in the catacombs led teams to the statue of the Marquis de LaFayette, a French man who spied for the Americans during the American Revolution. Cracking open the death masks, teams found that there was a medallion within a small cavity in the mask the whole time.

This led them to Dover Castle in the U.K. Outside Dover Castle, teams found a canister containing a scroll that hinted towards American spies and Benjamin Franklin. When teams discovered that Benjamin Franklin used a printing press in the back of a London church, teams headed to St. Bartholomew's Church.

In one of the more difficult searches for the artifact (taking almost three hours), teams discovered that they could use the candle flames on their canister scrolls to find a map that would lead them to the artifacts.

It was here that the Fogal family was eliminated.

Answer: A rose

Teams went on the trail of a secret society and returned to France. In Peille, teams could choose to climb Peille Gorge or drive one hundred and fifty miles to Saint Tropez to find the clue. Teams ended up obtaining a ring of keys and they were told to head to a nearby castle in Peille. Once teams found a clue in the stone walls of the castle, they were given the message: "The ancient Roman ruin crumbles on the hillside on La Turbie", and it led them to La Turbie Ruins. Here they obtained a map of Old Paris leading them to Champs de Mars and the Eiffel Tower. Once teams saw the replica of the Statue of Liberty on the Seine, they could head down to their next clue. Once teams discovered that they needed to wash the streets of Paris (off their Old Paris map) they traveled to the Rosicrucian headquarters of the society in Normandy, the Château D'Omonville. Here they found a cryptex, the sixth artifact. Team Miss USA was eliminated in this part of the hunt, and although they were the only team to go to Saint Tropez (giving them a lead), they were stuck when searching for the Statue of Liberty.

The inverted rose symbol used by the Rosicrucian society was important in this leg of the hunt. The first team to find it at La Turbie Ruins, Team Air Force, won $50,000 for finding it.

Answer: Liberty

Teams began the next part of the hunt in New York City, but they soon went to Susan B. Anthony's statue at the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. Here they got a key for the Gould Library which contained many pieces of artwork. The Geniuses were first to discover that the next destination was Philadelphia's Land Title Building, where one team member had to go onto the ledge outside the twenty-second floor of the building.

Here, teams could find a plaque that said 'Founder's Hall, Girard', and at the Founder's Hall, teams could find the clues to open the cryptex. Teams found the clues in many different ways, but in the end, it turned out to be 'Liberty', and in the end, the Ex-CIA team was narrowly beaten out by The Geniuses.

Answer: The Battle of Lexington

In the final part of the hunt, teams had to head to the Library of Congress and use all six previous artifacts to find the final artifact. Once they arrived, teams needed to find one of the three books. In that location was the seventh artifact, a portfolio of maps and charts.

This would help teams find the clue that was in front of them every step of the hunt. Using a printing press for every artifact found along the hunt, teams made a map that led them to Fort McHenry, which was famous in the War of 1812.

Here they found the location where Francis Scott Key wrote 'The Star-Spangled Banner', the American national anthem. On the way to where the Lazaretto Battery once stood, teams found a location that had a sign for 'Key Industries' and received another message.

This one told them to search the area for the answer to a five-letter cryptex which would give lead them to the treasure.

Answer: The Geniuses

After two hours in the treasure chamber, the Geniuses still hadn't figured it out, and the other two teams joined them. It took eight and a half hours for the Geniuses to crack the five-letter code, which turned out to be F-S-K-E-Y (for Francis Scott Key).

Inside the cryptex was a small gadget that when placed onto a spinner in the room would show them the treasure's location. When it landed on a star, they found the one star in the room, hit it, and the treasure chamber opened. During the live season finale, The Geniuses received their prize worth three million dollars.