GREENFIELD — A real-life treasure hunt is underway in New England, and it may end with a 24-karat gold statue being found in the woods in Hampshire or Franklin counties.

Each day, Project Skydrop, a game created by New Hampshire game developer Jason Rohrer with help from creative partner Tom Bailey, updates a map at projectskydrop.com with a circle detailing the treasure’s location. The game began Thursday, Sept. 19, with a 500-mile diameter and is continuing to shrink until the prize is found. In  its center is a specially made, 10-ounce gold statue valued at $26,725. On Monday, the circle had narrowed to a 35-mile radius  that include large swathes of Hampshire and Franklin counties, from Northampton, Ea sthampton and South Hadley to the south, to the hilltowns and to Greenfield, Montague, Charlemont and other communities to the north.

“I’m trying to make the world’s best treasure hunt,” Rohrer said.

Rohrer said he finds the treasure hunts fascinating and has been studying their history. He said most treasure hunts held in the past have had issues: either the hunt has been too difficult and taken too long, or was too easy and ended too quickly, or had some sort of cheating scandal attached.

He added that most treasure hunts have also been marketing projects where hunters had to buy something, frequently a book, to gain clues.

Project Skydrop is different, Rohrer said, because he and Bailey wanted to create a business that was entirely about the hunt.

Bailey sketched out a design for a statue, loosely inspired by the Big Bang and expansion of the universe. Rohrer then used the design to create the statue himself and he hid it somewhere in the woods of New England.

“We didn’t want something too on the nose as pirate treasure,” Rohrer explained. “We wanted something mysterious.”

Project Skydrop had 7, 422 registered hunters as of Monday afternoon, and with more users signing up each hour, the competition is increasing, as is the grand prize.

In addition to winning the golden treasure, the lucky bounty hunter gets to keep half of all the registration fees, a prize that has reached $75,310. The prize money will be paid via Bitcoin.

Signing up on the game’s website and paying the $20 fee is not required to play and claim the prize, however, those who sign up will get daily hints in the form of aerial photos of the treasure’s location.

Rohrer could not share any hints about the location for risk of ruining the game, but he said the Greenfield area will remain in the center of the circle for a while, and that the treasure is located in a “beautiful” location.

He added that the state in which the treasure is hidden should be revealed in the next few days as the circle continues to shrink. On Saturday, the circle will shrink to a diameter of 58 miles and on Sunday, it will go down to 45 miles.

The circle will continue to shrink until the last day of the hunt, Oct. 10, at which point it will shrink to 1 foot and reveal the location. But Rohrer thinks the statue will be found well before then, likely by a treasure hunter who lives nearby and recognizes the location.

“I think it’ll come down to someone recognizing the map and the area from the aerial photos,” he said.

Rohrer said it is unlikely, if not impossible, for someone to accidentally stumble upon it. The statue was not placed near any trails or popular hiking spots, and he hiked about 1 mile through rocky hills to reach the site.

If all goes well, more hunts will be planned. Rohrer has been a video game designer for more than two decades, but Project Skydrop was a unique project he wanted to pursue. If the project breaks even, which he anticipates will happen soon through the registration fees, he will be able to create more statues and set up more games.

He said people on the West Coast, southern United States and even in Australia have expressed interest in playing and these areas may be the location for the next treasure hunt.

To claim the prize money, the person who finds the statue must record a video of themselves picking up the treasure in the woods and post it to YouTube with the phrase “Project Skydrop” in the title.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.