Driftline: Metal Detector

The tide is out. Everything the sea buried is still down there. Driftline is a metal detecting game. You sweep a coil over wet sand, listen to the signal climb, and dig. Most of the time it's a bottle cap. SWEEP, THEN DIG Walk the coil with the stick. The meter climbs as you close on something and the tone tightens with it. When it screams, hold DIG and scoop the sand out. The hole is real — keep going until it is deeper than whatever is down there. SEVENTEEN THINGS TO FIND Pennies, dimes, quarters, an old key. A silver ring, a wristwatch, a locket, a message in a bottle. A gold ring, a doubloon, a pocket watch. And rarely — an emerald pendant, a gold cross, or a whole pirate cache. Also bottle caps, pull tabs and rusty nails. A great many of them. That is the tax you pay for the rest. THE TIDE IS THE CLOCK The good finds sit in the wet strip closest to the water, which is exactly the…