500 folks will get the chance to spend the night exploring the 70 miles of collections in the NY Public Library as part of a scavenger hunt designed by Jane McGonigal, the author of Reality is Broken, who is on a mission to add game mechanics to just about everything.

McGonigal is one of those TED talking, world beating types with a mission that sounds made up at first: to use alternate reality and massively multiplayer online roleplaying games to solve big real world problems like poverty and education. SuperBetter, for example, was a game McGonigal designed to help herself recover from a serious concussion.

The overnight at the NYPL will be in the style of National Treasure, with teams competing to find items like Jack Kerouac’s glasses and a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Teams will check in to objects by scanning special codes on these items, with that leading them to complete a special quest. Sounds like a young nerd’s dream come true, except sadly the event is not open to anyone under 18.

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