In 1992, MTV ran a contest built around an NES game called Treasure Master. The game shipped with 5 levels, and on a specific broadcast date MTV announced a password that unlocked a 6th. Players had until the end of that day to enter the password, beat all 6 levels, and call in to claim the prize.
That contest ended, but a second contest was planned. A different password would unlock a second prize world. That contest never ran, the password was never revealed, and the world has never been unlocked.
The password is a decryption key so there is no way to know if it's right without trying it. There are more than 18 billion billion possibilities, more than any one machine could ever check. This project intends to try them all by spreading them out the search space across volunteer's computers. Any compute power donated moves us closer to unlocking a world that has been sitting in a 34-year-old cartridge.
Contributors can donate idle CPU and GPU time to try batches of passwords. Each completed batch eliminates that range from the search. Here's how you can help:
Start contributing right now →
Use your CPU or GPU through a browser tab — no account or install required.
Run it in the background on your computer
Install the desktop client and let it run quietly whenever your machine is idle. (Powered by BOINC.) Learn more →
Developer or running a custom setup?
A REST API is available if you want to integrate or contribute in your own way. Learn more →
Join the community
Chat with other contributors on
Discord,
or help improve the code on
GitHub.
These screenshots are from the 6th world — locked behind the unrevealed password. No one has seen it since the contest was cancelled.
