There would quickly be established a small number of customers who win all the prizes, and then it'd be stupid to compete against them without their tools and expertise.
Proof: That's exactly what happens with Augmented Reality Games.
(Probably why they fell out of favor as a marketing vehicle. You think you're marketing to millions, but after a couple of weeks it becomes clear you poured all this money into this bizarre marketing attempt for dozens.)
I'm glad they've fallen out of favor. Every time I come across one, it's a year after the fact and there's already a full-fledged community with a forum, mailing list, and meetups run by people who quit their day job to devote all their time to it. Talk about intimidating.
If that is the case then it is an even better idea. These folks aren't after "stuff" they are completionists with a competitive streak. That suggests that you could have something as simple as steel medallions which were the "prize" such that folks could collect them and then turn them in for other "in game" items. Sort of the Internet of Things meets Freemium gaming.
I'm talking about encryption specialists looking to sucker a poorly-equipped business into giving them easy money, not hobby gamers doing it for thrills. If you're offering thrills and game trinkets, you're looking to attract WoW and LoL players, not professional cryptologists. If they can't break your encryption, they won't stick around.
