Folks, I almost spilled my coffee reading this one. A popular mobile game called “June’s Journey” is on a mission to find some lost artifacts from the American Revolutionary War. The game, which has been downloaded over 50 million times, is a hidden object game where players take on the role of amateur detective June Parker as she searches for clues to solve crimes in 1920s New York. Now, the game’s developers have teamed up with historians, museums, and galleries to integrate missing artifacts into the game, hoping that players will help find them in real life.
The artifacts in question include an 18th-century Battle of Cowpens medal, a coat of arms, a cannon, a military cap with three ostrich feathers, and an embroidered scene. These items have been missing for centuries, and the game’s developers are hoping that by featuring them in the game, someone might come forward with information about their whereabouts. I mean, it’s a long shot, but hey, stranger things have happened, right?
The idea for this project came from a pretty cool story. A Hungarian art historian named Gergely Barki was watching the movie “Stuart Little” with his daughter when he spotted a painting in the background that he recognized as a missing artwork. He tracked down the painting and was able to recover it. The game’s developers thought, why not try something similar with their game? And so, they enlisted the help of historian Don Hagist to choose which artifacts to feature in the game.
The game will feature several missing items, including a reproduction of the Battle of Cowpens medal, which was created in 1839 after the original was stolen. The reproduction also disappeared but resurfaced at auction in 2022 and sold for $960,000. Players will also be on the lookout for part of King George III’s royal coat of arms from Philadelphia’s historic Christ Church, which was attended by George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Most of the symbol is believed to have been torn down by patriots at the onset of the revolution, though the surviving third remains at the church.
Other items hidden in the game include an embroidered textile believed to depict the long-demolished New Jersey estate of Revolutionary War general William Alexander, known as Lord Stirling, and a red British military coat last recorded in 1901 in Connecticut. The game will also feature an engraved cannon present at the surrender of British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga, New York on October 17, 1777. I’m no historian, but even I think this is pretty cool stuff.
The game’s developers are hoping that by featuring these artifacts in the game, they might be able to recover some of them. And who knows, maybe some player out there has one of these items sitting in their attic or something. The feature will be available throughout July, and the game’s developers are encouraging players to reach out if they think they might have found one of the missing items. Arthur Brand, an art crime investigator, thinks this is a great concept and might actually help some of these items surface. He’s not involved with the initiative, but he’s keeping a close eye on it.
In conclusion, this is a pretty wild story, but hey, it’s definitely interesting. Who knows, maybe some gamer out there will stumble upon a missing artifact and make history. And even if not, it’s still a cool way to get people interested in history. As I always say, you can’t make this stuff up. The idea that a mobile game might help recover lost artifacts from the American Revolutionary War is just crazy enough to work. 🙃
Armchair patriot. Believes in the free market, cold beer, and that there’s always a guy named George behind every CNN segment.
Former remote-throwing champion turned #1 couch commentator on liberal panic in the media. Born in Texas (or so his mug says), he earned a degree in Fake Newsology & Beer Philosophy from YouTube University.
