Cards Against Humanity’s Private Island | Hacker News Reader

Cards Against Humanity’s Private Island

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224 pointscolinprince49 comments

Reminds me of the Klondike Big Inch promotion Quaker Oats ran in the 1950s:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-07-07/features/87021...

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...

> 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.mcall.com/2008-04-29/features/4064347_1_yuko...

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.

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.

May one accumulate the rent over the years? Because I could see visiting there after several decades …

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

That's not very much.

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

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 ;)

Informally, a dram is usually just a regular (perhaps smallish) serving of scotch. Usually between 1 and 2 fingers high in a regular scotch glass.

Don't tell them that on Islay. I upset the guide at Ardbeg by pointing this out, who called me a "typical British imperialist, what are you going to do, tax it, sassenach?!".

I'm Glaswegian.

Don't forget the raincoat, the wellingtons and probably something else that I forgot as well! (at least the first time you go there)

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.

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-...

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

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? :)

> but at the end of the day, very few forms of altruism exists

[citation needed]

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.

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.

Precisely. Their "brand" is being counter-cultural and edgy, so these antics just help support that and keep them relevant.

$70k is a very small percentage of their revenue - that's only from their holiday promotion. This 2013 article (roughly) estimates $12m in revenue:

http://voices.suntimes.com/business-2/grid/cards-against-hum...

These are for the money from holiday promos, not the regular income.

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.

Your comment reminded me of this HN post https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6395148

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.

Why? Why does there have to be a lot more? Sure, there is a but of paperwork, and taxes. And of course finding an island. But you don't even need a boat. Now, there may be more involved in using the island, especially if no infrastructure exists.

I know you don't need a boat, but it would certainly help. I wouldn't want to rely on someone else to get me on and off the island, especially in an emergency. Even if you don't own a boat, you still need to keep a dock in working condition. Oh, and if you do have a boat, that's another thing to maintain. And a boat isn't going to get you to the grocery store (unless there's a canal. Or an inlet. Or a fjord).

I keep thinking about things like maintenance. If you need a new roof, you've got to find a roofer willing to load up a boat full of shingles, ladders and a roofing crew. That's going to increase the cost.

And then there's insurance. I imagine that standard homeowners insurance isn't going to cover you quite like it would elsewhere.

I have a friend who lives in a house near a mountain top, in the middle of a forest. There is a road leading to it, but you need a good 4x4 car to get there(no, a BMW X6 or Audi Q7 will not get there without destroying the underbody), and between November-March you can't drive at all due to snow - to get anything up the mountain they actually use a horse-drawn sled(and the horse if nearly drowning in snow anyway).

And you know what? He has electricity,and internet, and fresh water. He managed to convince the utility company to lie down cables all the way to his house, and uses a well for water. He has house insurance. As for roof/maintenance problems - he just brings the workers up in his own car during the summer. He even gets post(in the summer, but the postman is a seasoned hiker) and has an actual address.

Compared to this, I think owning a boat is actually less trouble.

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.

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

Wonder how that's going... http://tynan.com/island2

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

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

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.

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...

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

What

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

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