raising awareness by giving away private keys

[acoindr]

This is a brilliant idea, but it could be a treasure hunt - the easy to find QR codes should draw people into something more involved. They could link to a website that provides a clue to the next location leading them closer to the bounty.
There could be a process that encourages people not only to search but also to contribute bitcoins and leave clues for others - it could expand beyond the campus and to the wider world..

OMG That is brilliant!

I started to play a game long ago, can't remember the name of it, but it was soon after the Internet started taking off. This game came from a traditional computer game maker, a riddle/treasure hunt game, but the exciting thing about it was it adding an "online experience".

There was a real world prize, maybe like $100-500K or something, and you could talk with other players online and see how far they had gotten. I never had the chance to follow through more than the entry screens of that game, but I always thought it or something like it had HUGE potential. People love things like mysteries, riddles (really tough ones!), and scavenger hunts. They also love interacting with one another online, so merging these things can exponentially increase the fun.

If something like this could be created using Bitcoin the resulting word-of-mouth (best form of advertising) viral marketing could propel Bitcoin forward by leaps and bounds.

Let me think more on this...

[ErebusBat]

I *love* this idea.  Combined with the new bitcoin bills that actually look like money (people would assign value to them just by looking) this is great.

What would be 100% better would be a site like WhatIsBtc.com that you could print on the back of the bill, think of it as an analogy for WheresGeorge.com.  The site would educate from a zero-knowledge to having setup a wallet and imported the bill, then what to do next.

[Comepradz]

This is a brilliant idea, but it could be a treasure hunt - the easy to find QR codes should draw people into something more involved. They could link to a website that provides a clue to the next location leading them closer to the bounty.
There could be a process that encourages people not only to search but also to contribute bitcoins and leave clues for others - it could expand beyond the campus and to the wider world..

OMG That is brilliant!

I started to play a game long ago, can't remember the name of it, but it was soon after the Internet started taking off. This game came from a traditional computer game maker, a riddle/treasure hunt game, but the exciting thing about it was it adding an "online experience".

There was a real world prize, maybe like $100-500K or something, and you could talk with other players online and see how far they had gotten. I never had the chance to follow through more than the entry screens of that game, but I always thought it or something like it had HUGE potential. People love things like mysteries, riddles (really tough ones!), and scavenger hunts. They also love interacting with one another online, so merging these things can exponentially increase the fun.

If something like this could be created using Bitcoin the resulting word-of-mouth (best form of advertising) viral marketing could propel Bitcoin forward by leaps and bounds.

Let me think more on this...

It reminds me of Geohashing, a similar sport to Geocaching >> http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/Main_Page

Geohashing is a method for finding an effectively random location nearby and visiting it: a Spontaneous Adventure Generator. Every day, the algorithm generates a new set of coordinates for each 1°×1° latitude/longitude zone (known as a graticule) in the world. The coordinates can be anywhere — in the forest, in a city, on a mountain, or even in the middle of a lake! Everyone in a given region gets the same set of coordinates relative to their graticule.

[niko]

Thanks to all who commented so far. Lots of idea were thrown around, from "don't waste your time" to puzzles to geocashing. I'll get to it this weekend, most likely with a simple QR code, brief explanations, and pointers to a few Web sites.

[acoindr]

It reminds me of Geohashing, a similar sport to Geocaching >> http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/Main_Page

Geohashing is a method for finding an effectively random location nearby and visiting it: a Spontaneous Adventure Generator. Every day, the algorithm generates a new set of coordinates for each 1°×1° latitude/longitude zone (known as a graticule) in the world. The coordinates can be anywhere — in the forest, in a city, on a mountain, or even in the middle of a lake! Everyone in a given region gets the same set of coordinates relative to their graticule.

Geohashing looks fun

There are lots of ways to potentially set something up. In that treasure hunt game, as I recall, most everything - gameplay, riddles, etc. - was contained in the game, and you could talk with others online. However, I do think there may have been some real world components too. For example, extra clues might reference a structure in front of some museum, or maybe something found in the largest library in Los Angeles. Teams formed with an understanding to split the prize. It got to be a pretty popular thing.

Thanks to all who commented so far. Lots of idea were thrown around, from "don't waste your time" to puzzles to geocashing. I'll get to it this weekend, most likely with a simple QR code, brief explanations, and pointers to a few Web sites.

I liked your original idea, but thought it fairly small scale, with marginal effectiveness. However, you may have given inspiration for something much larger. You (or anyone) can of course continue taking any actions you want, but I'm thinking we collectively might also explore a larger game based project, and maybe pool a prize of several thousand dollars to add some kick.

[bitlizard]

could this idea be commercialized and bootstrapped via bitcoin merchant support? customers could follow qr codes and urls that link to a bitcoin market place/set up your first wallet site.

[acoindr]

could this idea be commercialized and bootstrapped via bitcoin merchant support? customers could follow qr codes and urls that link to a bitcoin market place/set up your first wallet site.

Wow, it certainly could! Ala Gowalla or flash mobs.

Kill two birds with one stone. Businesses would jump onboard for the obvious business promotion and potential side sales, so we get new Bitcoin businesses signed up, and it adds another fun dimension to the game for players  

[tvbcof]

Thanks to all who commented so far. Lots of idea were thrown around, from "don't waste your time" to puzzles to geocashing. I'll get to it this weekend, most likely with a simple QR code, brief explanations, and pointers to a few Web sites.

For reference, here's a couple of threads related to a problem along similar lines:

  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=45881.0
  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=45943.0

and if it will do you any good, here's a link to some code I hacked out which takes lists of 'hashes' and forms them into sheets with 10 business-card sized things each to be printed.

  https://github.com/tvghub/tvghub/tree/master/proj/bitcmp/trunk/print/pub

I had some thoughts along the lines to develop a system which one could run multiple 'campaigns' either educational or commercial.  The 'hash lists' would form the communications between the back-end machinery (where people go if the scan the QR or tap in the deliberately short URL) and the material handed out.  This would facilitate dynamic value adjustments.  And, again, avoid any need for a user to give any information about themselves.

I've lost interest in such a thing for the time being.  The code was just hacked out enough to successfully get a few card sheets printed off then abandoned, but it might have some ideas you can use.

[unclemantis]

Can I have a sample? I want to assure the quality of your product