Régis Hauser

Paul Régis Hauser (27 February 1947 – 23 April 2009) was a French writer and puzzle designer, famous as the creator of numerous treasure hunts, including On the Trail of the Golden Owl, under the pseudonym Max Valentin. Hauser was a native of Sarreguemines, Moselle. During childhood, Hauser and his brother Jean-Loup were members of a band, 'The Tigers'. They held concerts in France, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. Later, in the 1970s, Hauser became a rally driver. He also had a career as a marketing consultant and was a keen adopter of new technologies. This led into his work designing treasure hunts. Hauser died in Metz during the night of 23 April 2009. Hauser wrote books about his professional activities in communications, as well as about popular subjects, such as remarks on women, and funny or unusual graffiti. Design and write effective mailings, How to sell, by mail, number of products, ideas, services (Organisation, 1988) They are terrible (Hermé 1989) Effective direct marketing, Sales by persuasion (Organisation, 1991) The walls are laughing, Volume 1 (Manya, 1991) The walls are laughing, Volume 2 (Manya, 1992) The walls are laughing, Volume 3 (Manya, 1997) The walls are laughing, Complete Edition (Manya, 1997) The Treasure Hunter's Guide (Marabout, 1998), a collection of articles about historical treasures The trap of the botanist (Ramsay, 2003), a thriller From 1993 to 2001, Hauser created many treasure hunts, in print and online, often under the pseudonym "Max Valentin". All his treasure hunts were solved or halted by their producers/publishers during his lifetime, with the exception of On The Trail Of The Golden Owl. On The Trail Of The Golden Owl (1993) was Hauser's first treasure hunt. He started to think about it in the late 1970s, and launched it in May 1993. As of 2018, the Golden Owl has not been located, and the hunt is ongoing. Cryptique (1996), a series of online treasure hunts commissioned by Microsoft France, for the launch of MSN. Four were published in 1996; the last two in the series were canceled at the last moment.