Inspired by the developments in cryptography and the gradually emerging detective fiction, "The Gold-Bug" surely got mixed critical reception from the public. Hailed as both "ingenious" and "trashy", the story's influence cannot be neglected, and surely Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" can vouch for that. What is more, the use of cipher in the story brought to the fore the interest in puzzles and hidden objects that would later be developed into board and video games. -