Hawaii 2 is an island in St. George lake, near the town of Liberty in Maine. It was known as Birch Island until it was renamed by its new owners, who purchased it in October 2014. The new owners are Cards Against Humanity, a quirky Chicago-based party game company, who, in 2014, ran a campaign called “Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa.” They then gave roughly 250,000 people who purchased the holiday game package each an “exclusive” license to 1 square foot of the island.

“You may name your square foot of land. You may use the entire private island for passive, non-commercial, non-motorized recreational activities,” the certificate reads. “You may tell people at parties that you own part of a private island.”

One dollar from every purchase also went to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, which promotes openness and transparency in government.

Why did they rename the island Hawaii 2? “Because it’s the Maine island,” replied company co-creator, Max Temkin.

While Google Maps, Bing Maps, and OpenStreetMap have recognized the island’s name change, it is not clear whether Hawaii 2 has been accepted by local authorities, which is not to say that they are not aware of what has transpired. And some officials, including Liberty Code Enforcement Officer Donald Harriman, are none too happy. After all, if each one of the licensees should decide to visit the six-acre island on the same day, it would instantaneously have a population density roughly 1,000 times greater than that of New York City.

As reported in the Bangor Daily News:  Late last month, Harriman wrote to three legal entities involved with Cards Against Humanity and Hawaii 2 and gave them until April 15 to cease all commercial activity on the island, revoke the 250,000 “licenses” that grant the exclusive use of 1 square foot of land and remove the shed and platform from its present location. If this does not happen, he wrote, the town could levy fines of no less than $100 per day per violation and up to $2,500 per day per violation.

“While it is unlikely that the court would order penalties of $625,000,000 per day (250,000 multiplied by $2,500), the town will seek the maximum fines, penalties, and legal fees as may be awarded by the court,” Harriman wrote in the letter dated March 31. “A remedial plan acceptable to the town must be in place on or before April 15, 2015, to avoid the filing of a land use enforcement action in court.”

Representatives of Cards Against Humanity have suggested that it is all a misunderstanding.

For learn more about Hawaii 2, visit the website.

Thanks to Nate Spilman for contributing to this post.