Treasure Master was this weird, kinda brilliant NES game from '91 that turned into a real-life treasure hunt. You had a tight window—just a few months—to practice beating it before MTV dropped a secret password. Enter that with your serial number, and bam, you unlocked the "Prize World" level.

But here’s the catch: You had one day to finish the whole game, including that new level. If you pulled it off, the game spat out a 24-digit code. Call the hotline with that, and you were in the running for actual cash and prizes. Wild, right? Felt like a mix of speedrunning and a lottery ticket.

Honestly, the game itself was just okay—standard platforming with some clunky bits—but the whole contest gimmick made it unforgettable. I still wonder how many people actually won.