South Bend couple wins $2,000 after 'Escape Warsaw real life treasure hunt'
SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- X marks the spot!
Dozens of people took to the streets of South Bend and Mishawaka over the weekend in hopes of finding $2,000 dollars in buried treasure.
Winning South Bend couple, Kyle and Lauren Leigh Kownacki say it took them about 16 hours of searching.
They made stops at Potawatomi Zoo, local graveyards, and various parks, to eventually make their way to Rum Village Park in South Bend to get their hands on the treasure.
“So with the pandemic we have not been getting out of the house to do anything at all. Lauren found the treasure hunt and it looked like it could be a fun way to get out of the house and do something in a safe environment," said Kyle.
Escape Warsaw real life treasure hunt is a game in which a team of players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more locations in order to find a prize.
The couple says, it was not easy.
“Some of them we went to the wrong place. One of the them was just a picture of a gravestone and it said family name on it.” “it says family name one the gravestone and it gives you a few clues in the background. I noticed the Studebaker obelisk is actually in the background of this. That gave us a clue but we had to go to the actual cemetery and based on the picture actually narrow it down where it was," said Kyle.
16 hours later, and the Kownackis could smell the victory just a few feet away from them.
“We got to the location, i'm getting the stroller out of the back of the car and he's gone! He abandoned his family. I'm sitting in the parking lot with our newborn and trying to put her jacket on and he's just gone! He darted into the woods and just left," laughed Lauren.
“The walking trails were not going to be stroller friendly. The prize itself was off the trail so i had to get off the trail, through the woods, climbing over down trees, searching for it," said Kyle.
The couple tells ABC57 they’ve used the money to start and education fund for their daughter.