If you ever played Myst or other clue-based games as a kid, those skills could put you well on your way to winning a free iPhone 8. Today, Verizon is launching a first-of-its-kind scavenger hunt on Snapchat to give away 256 new Apple iPhones.
Intrigued? The payoff is big — you could save yourself hundreds of dollars — but the game isn't easy.
Here's how it works. Head to Verizon's "Find The 8" landing page and take a photo of the Snapcode. Open Snapchat, and scan the code within your settings. This will open a link with instructions. Tap "Play Now" to give the app access to your location and get your first clue.
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With each clue, you're given a hint about the location you're looking for: The clue will tell you how far away you are from it, and when you need to be there. For today's New York clue, for example, I was told to be "in midtown where schedules are planned and housed in a building that is so very grand" at the most crowded time of day, and given a countdown clock. You might be told to go somewhere at sunset or sunrise, too.
Here's the catch: When you find the correct location, you won't find an iPhone 8 hidden there. Instead, you'll unlock a special "8" world lens within Snapchat. Take a photo of the number and submit it to the game's Snapchat account. Your name will be entered into a larger contest for one of the phones that day. (The contest resets each day with new clues, so your entry won't carry over.)
The scavenger hunt sticks to a theme of eight to coincide with the iPhone 8. It is only live in eight major cities — Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, and Atlanta — and each city will have eight winners every day for the next four days. The contest concludes on September 22. If you don't win a phone, you'll still have a shot at winning a $100 Verizon gift card (four people will win them in each city every day), which you could use for anything at the Verizon store, including putting it towards lowering the $699 price tag of a new iPhone 8.
As you might expect, if you win the phone through Verizon, you'll be required to activate a Verizon phone plan. So if you aren't on Verizon and don't want to switch from your current carrier, you may want to rethink playing. But if you're game for the hunt, you might as well try your luck at winning one of the stunning new phones with an impressive camera to boot.