
Cards Against Humanity’s Private Island - colinprince
http://cah.tumblr.com/post/110099027175/cards-against-humanitys-private-island-by-jenn
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cbd1984
Reminds me of the Klondike Big Inch promotion Quaker Oats ran in the 1950s:

[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-07-07/features/87021...](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-07-07/features/8702190736_1_quaker-
oats-yukon-territory-cereals)

Here's what happened:

> Ronald Bottrell, my source at Quaker Oats, said that in the early 1960s, all
> the land reverted to Canadian-government ownership. The reason: nonpayment
> of taxes.

> ``The individuals who had received the deeds in the cereal boxes had become
> the owners of the land,`` Bottrell said. ``Obviously, none of them ever paid
> taxes on it. So the ownership of the land went back to Canada. The promotion
> was long over, anyway.``

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Big_Inch_Land_Promotio...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Big_Inch_Land_Promotion)

More:

> Although the deeds were a campaign promotion, many people took ownership of
> the land seriously. One man wrote Quaker Oats to announce that he had
> collected 10,800 deeds and was now the owner of 75 square feet of land.
> Another man, accused of murdering his wife, used his deeds to secure the
> services of a defense lawyer. The lawyer asked to be excused from the case
> when he learned the land consisted of 1,000 inches.

[http://articles.dailypress.com/2000-04-04/features/000403013...](http://articles.dailypress.com/2000-04-04/features/0004030133_1_quaker-
oats-deeds-yukon-territory)

[http://articles.mcall.com/2008-04-29/features/4064347_1_yuko...](http://articles.mcall.com/2008-04-29/features/4064347_1_yukon-
act-quaker-oats-yukon-territory)

~~~
ivraatiems
It sounds like CAH is holding the land on behalf of the people who actually
"own" it, to prevent the taxes thing or something similar from happening?
Interesting, either way, to see the possible ramifications. I still think it's
a cool idea, though.

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bradleyjg
Laphroaig does something like this for their fan club. Sign up and you get a
plot of land for life on their grounds. For rent they will pay you a dram
whisky annually, but you have to go collect it in person. They are located on
the Isle of Isley off the coast of Scotland, so unfortunately I haven't been
able to collect my rent yet. Hopefully someday.

~~~
markba
I've done this and been there to collect my dram. Scotland is wonderful.

~~~
jonah
That's not very much.

~~~
jonah
* Formally, a dram is an eighth of a fluid ounce. (Less than a teaspoon.)

~~~
steveklabnik
Someone who used to work at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Edinburgh told
me that the exact size of a dram is a covenant between the barkeep and their
customer ;)

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manachar
They probably spent less to buy the entire island of Hawaii 2 than it costs to
buy the average house on Oahu or Maui.

Bonus: I now own land on Maui, Hawaii 2, and Islay. Luckily two of these do
not require taxes and one provides rent that can be redeemed in person in the
form of a dram of Laphroaig.

~~~
dwild
I don't know the exact amount but when we got the deed, I was able to find it
on an island selling website.

Now the page is down but it was archived:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20140820193302/http://www.vladi-...](https://web.archive.org/web/20140820193302/http://www.vladi-
private-islands.de/en/objects/usa/maine/buy/birch-island/)

I don't know if they actually paid 200 000$ but I doubt they paid more
considering their budget.

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sekasi
I'm sorry if I misunderstood this article.. but they took their $70k of profit
and donated it to wikimedia, then took all profit from the 'gift' idea and
bought an island.

So these dudes essentially give away the vast majority of their profit yeah?
What am I missing? Don't get me wrong, it's incredible.. but at the end of the
day, very few forms of altruism exists and I feel like I'm overlooking some
part of the equation. Where's the sinister ending? :)

~~~
metavida
I'd say nearly every move the CAH folks make is some form of nontraditional
marketing. Sure, buying an island may seem like just throwing away profit, but
the amount of buzz and fan loyalty generated by that sort of stunt is a big
part of what keeps their brand relevant & growing.

~~~
batiudrami
You could argue that their entire holiday promotion is really an exercise in
marketing, and that they've already written off any profit from it as part of
their marketing budget. Their business is selling the boxed card game, rather
than gimmicky promotions.

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freshyill
I know there's got to be a lot more involved with buying/owning an island than
just coming up with the money (a boat, for one), but it's fun to think about
the fact that you can buy an island in Maine for roughly what a decent house
costs around a lot of major cities in the US.

Granted, the really nice islands with really nice houses on them will cost a
heck of a lot more, but it's still fun to think about.

~~~
mp4box
Your comment reminded me of this HN post
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6395148](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6395148)

~~~
freshyill
I remember that one! I was actually visiting Maine when it was posted, so it
certainly got me thinking.

Even if buying an island isn't in the cards, it really is a beautiful place,
and worth a visit.

Oh, and poutine and cheap lobster rolls everywhere.

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speeder
This remembered me of a nobility title scam coming from Scotland.

In Scotland for some weird combinations of their laws, and UK laws that I
don't remember properly anymore, anyone can get a "nobility" title by owning
land there, except UK laws say nobles are only those that can be peers in the
parliament (House of Lords), and that scottish title is NOT one of them.

Some scammers then sell those titles attached to a square foot of land, and
charge crazy prices (ie: much, much, much more than buying a square land of
foot yourself in Scotland), then claim the buyer is an actual noble (like I
said, the buyer isn't, although the title IS legitimate, in UK it does not
count as a nobility title)

People that work with actual nobility title frequently get annoyed with those
scammers and try to convince UK government to shut them down.

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hoopism
I have relatives in Liberty ME and we Kayak (usually on the coast) quite
often.

We'll have to add this to our spots and check it out...

Also, there was an article a while back on HN about some friends who bought an
island:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6395148](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6395148)

Wonder how that's going...
[http://tynan.com/island2](http://tynan.com/island2)

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finnn
What is going on with the timezones in that email exchange? First one is in
-0500, second one doesn't specify a timezone and third one is in +0000

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cju
This island's shape reminds me of Corsica
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsica)).

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PureSin
It was a big surprise to receive that in the mail. Wasn't sure if it was a
joke or serious but after looking for it on Google maps I think I have a
future trip planned.

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personlurking
I always enjoy looking at islands for sale online. There are quite a lot of
them available for purchase at around $100k. One can dream...

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harkyns_castle
Be nice to see more and more bits of land claimed, and just let live. I'd sign
up for that.

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zkhalique
What

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rrival
"Hawaii 2" is one of my favorite things from 2014.

