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Free Money! @HiddenCash Scavenger Hunt Spreads

By:
Brad Tuttle
3 min read
Hundreds of people search for 36 buried plastic Angry Bird orbs filled with hidden cash in Hermosa Beach, California May 31, 2014. They were following clues posted via the Twitter handle @HiddenCash. - Jonathan Alcorn—Reuters
Hundreds of people search for 36 buried plastic Angry Bird orbs filled with hidden cash in Hermosa Beach, California May 31, 2014. They were following clues posted via the Twitter handle @HiddenCash. Jonathan Alcorn—Reuters

Talk about "found money." It's not every day that some anonymous philanthropist decides to give away thousands of dollars to total strangers via a social media-coordinated scavenger hunt. So when the @HiddenCash hunt came out of the blue a couple weeks ago in San Francisco, it understandably drew worldwide attention.

Coming this weekend, people outside the San Francisco Bay area can also join in the fun. The man behind HiddenCash—he's a Palo Alto-based real estate investor named Jason Buzi, and he was outed over the weekend—appeared Anderson Cooper's show on CNN on Monday night and revealed that the game-hunt will take place this weekend in Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, New York City (Brooklyn and Manhattan), and Mexico City. The cash hunts are also due to hit Paris, London and Madrid by the first week of July. A @HiddenCash Tweet went out this morning spreading the word:

NYC. Chicago. Houston. Vegas. Mexico City. Hitting all of these this weekend, and Europe next!

— Hidden Cash (@HiddenCash) June 10, 2014

While the HiddenCash phenomenon is intended to be fun, Buzi was also motivated to create the hunt for the purposes of spreading the wealth in a world rife with income inequality. As the then-anonymous Buzi told TIME via e-mail a couple weeks ago:

“My message for the ‘haves’ is to be a little more generous, and to give back more,” HiddenCash adds. “I know so many wealthy people who are selfish and greedy, and just want more, more, more. When is it enough? When will you be satisfied? Take a step back, relax, and give back a bit. Putting smiles on other people’s faces will put a smile on your face. Believe me.”

Buzi told CNN that he's already given away $15,000 in cash, and he's planning to give away a lot more in scavenger hunts this summer.

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