You can get rich in the Net game

Quick-witted Internet users could become very rich this year, thanks to an online treasure hunt game which threatens to become as popular as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

In Treasure Hunt 2001, shadowy author Max Valentin is offering $1m to surfers who can solve a series of labyrinthine puzzles and track down a fictional Egyptian artefact, the Mask of Nefer.

The game, developed by technology company Cryonetworks, allows people to share information online in a bid to track down the treasure.

Exciting stuff. But what are the chances that the game will be clogged with doomed dot-com execs trying to win back fortunes they lost in the first great Internet treasure hunt of the past few years?