Good morning everyone. This week's fun fact is most mystery caches found. In Canada that would be joce13 with 11,002 and in the States, Alamogul has found 19,556.
This week I want to look at the mystery cache. The blue circle with the white question mark on your geocaching map. Some people love them and others avoid them. How many of you love solving the puzzles? Not all mysteries are puzzles. Some are challenges. How many of you will do a challenge but not a puzzle? Or do a puzzle but not a challenge? There is a FB group/page devoted to the beloved mystery/puzzle cache. These people love solving puzzles no matter where in the world it is. They may never actually find that puzzle final, but they have the solution and that's all that matters to them. I even have some puzzles solved in other parts of Manitoba and even a few in North Dakota. When I get on a roll, I forget what time it is.
When I started geocaching, I avoided the puzzles. I'm sure a lot of newbies do. Slowly I was able to solve the really easy puzzles, but there was so many more out there that was beyond what my brain could figure out. What got me into puzzles more was my geocaching partner, Auntie Mo. I was trying to solve a puzzle and we were chatting by text. I had already introduced her to geocaching at this point. Auntie Mo loves working on puzzles. Together, we started tackling some of the harder puzzles (harder to me/us). One of the more challenging puzzles we tackled was "the staIrs of Cirith Ungel" GC3EHEY. I don't know how long it took us to solve that puzzle. I'm talking days. Finally, Auntie Mo had a break thru and soon we had the puzzle solved. Off to find the final. Finding that took almost as long. It was a tricky hide, and I contacted the CO (okeeffek) for help. Just so happens, the CO was in the area and walked over to give us a hand. By the time he showed up, I had the cache in hand.
This cache has since been archived, and I do hope okeeffek brings back this puzzle in some form. It had a D/T rating of 5/2. It was worth the 5. This inspired me to create a similar puzzle "Eclipse (ing) the New Moon" GC69V9V.
What also helped with the puzzle solving was a workshop/event that is held by local cacher dani_carriere. She loves solving puzzles and helps the rest of us by showing us some of the tricks to solving those pesky puzzles. It was an eye opener of sorts and made quite a few puzzles so much easier to do. She holds this event once a year and tries to focus on puzzles that haven't been solved yet as a group. These puzzles are submitted by the geocachers that will be attending. There's also a list of puzzles where the CO does NOT want their puzzle discussed. New people to puzzle solving will be grouped with people that are good at puzzle solving so they can learn and apply some of the tips that were taught earlier. It also gives them a chance to meet and talk to other geocachers and make new contacts for future puzzles. Even YouTube vloggers attend puzzle solving events. @hakliva is on the left.
I've had a couple of my puzzles make the list of "want to solve". To me, that's a pat on the back that I created a really good puzzle. A few of my puzzles will lean towards the more challenging. Most of my puzzles are more on the easy side as I want cachers to solve it.
My mystery cache count that I have found currently sits at 307, having found 4 on Saturday with Auntie Mo. There are some puzzles that scare me off at first glance. I'll look at it later, my brain starts to cramp and still I run away from it screaming. If it's a puzzle that has anything to do with precalculus or some other form of math that requires a university degree, I'm not doing it. A good chunk of those mystery caches found are also challenge caches. I love challenge caches. They add an element of fun to the game. You have to find caches that have a particular theme in the name (Christmas, Halloween, food, months, places, etc.). It could also be number of cache types in a day or some form of alpha-numeric challenge. County challenges are popular in the States. Combing through my lists of found caches looking for the ones that qualify (GSAK can do it quicker but going through the lists manually is like going through old photo albums). brings back memories of adventures past.
There are also books dedicated to helping people solve geocaching puzzles. A quick search on Amazon listed a few. Another good resource is other geocachers. That brings me back to that FB group that's devoted to solving puzzles. They won't give you the answers, but they'll nudge you in the right direction. The cache owner/puzzle creator wants you to find that cache. What's the point of hiding something if you don't want anyone to find it? I'm always willing to give hints and guide puzzle solvers in the right direction. That's why most of my puzzles lean towards the easy side. The only difference between a traditional and a puzzle cache is you are handed the coordinates for a traditional. The puzzle tests your brain as you have to earn those coordinates.
How do you know you have the right answer? Most puzzles will include a puzzle checker, an outside website where you can confirm if you've solved the puzzle. Just recently, Groundspeak incorporated a puzzle checker with the cache page. It's not fancy like the other websites, but all that matters is if you have the right answer.
Puzzles take on many forms, depending on what the owner wants to do. An easy puzzle (it's easy because I learned about this at a puzzle solving event) is the white on white text. The cache description doesn't really say much, but if you highlight the description, the coordinates appear. Tricky, yes, but it does make for a quick solve and you can move on to the next puzzle. "Beausejour Walking Series: Walking on Sunshine" GC6TYP8 is an example of white on white text. Google is your friend when it comes to solving puzzles. My newest puzzle "March Madness" GC7K2XC is an example where Google comes in very handy to solve a puzzle. Another one of my more recent puzzles that I put together was done spur of the moment. "January 25th" GC7HJ7Y. Anything can be used to compose a puzzle, just as long as the answers give the correct coordinates. There are many more tricks that can be used in creating a puzzle.
That is a look at the mystery cache. Don't be afraid of them. They don't bite. Until next week; enjoy, be safe, peace out, and remember, geocaching is suppose to be fun.
This week I want to look at the mystery cache. The blue circle with the white question mark on your geocaching map. Some people love them and others avoid them. How many of you love solving the puzzles? Not all mysteries are puzzles. Some are challenges. How many of you will do a challenge but not a puzzle? Or do a puzzle but not a challenge? There is a FB group/page devoted to the beloved mystery/puzzle cache. These people love solving puzzles no matter where in the world it is. They may never actually find that puzzle final, but they have the solution and that's all that matters to them. I even have some puzzles solved in other parts of Manitoba and even a few in North Dakota. When I get on a roll, I forget what time it is.
When I started geocaching, I avoided the puzzles. I'm sure a lot of newbies do. Slowly I was able to solve the really easy puzzles, but there was so many more out there that was beyond what my brain could figure out. What got me into puzzles more was my geocaching partner, Auntie Mo. I was trying to solve a puzzle and we were chatting by text. I had already introduced her to geocaching at this point. Auntie Mo loves working on puzzles. Together, we started tackling some of the harder puzzles (harder to me/us). One of the more challenging puzzles we tackled was "the staIrs of Cirith Ungel" GC3EHEY. I don't know how long it took us to solve that puzzle. I'm talking days. Finally, Auntie Mo had a break thru and soon we had the puzzle solved. Off to find the final. Finding that took almost as long. It was a tricky hide, and I contacted the CO (okeeffek) for help. Just so happens, the CO was in the area and walked over to give us a hand. By the time he showed up, I had the cache in hand.
What also helped with the puzzle solving was a workshop/event that is held by local cacher dani_carriere. She loves solving puzzles and helps the rest of us by showing us some of the tricks to solving those pesky puzzles. It was an eye opener of sorts and made quite a few puzzles so much easier to do. She holds this event once a year and tries to focus on puzzles that haven't been solved yet as a group. These puzzles are submitted by the geocachers that will be attending. There's also a list of puzzles where the CO does NOT want their puzzle discussed. New people to puzzle solving will be grouped with people that are good at puzzle solving so they can learn and apply some of the tips that were taught earlier. It also gives them a chance to meet and talk to other geocachers and make new contacts for future puzzles. Even YouTube vloggers attend puzzle solving events. @hakliva is on the left.
My mystery cache count that I have found currently sits at 307, having found 4 on Saturday with Auntie Mo. There are some puzzles that scare me off at first glance. I'll look at it later, my brain starts to cramp and still I run away from it screaming. If it's a puzzle that has anything to do with precalculus or some other form of math that requires a university degree, I'm not doing it. A good chunk of those mystery caches found are also challenge caches. I love challenge caches. They add an element of fun to the game. You have to find caches that have a particular theme in the name (Christmas, Halloween, food, months, places, etc.). It could also be number of cache types in a day or some form of alpha-numeric challenge. County challenges are popular in the States. Combing through my lists of found caches looking for the ones that qualify (GSAK can do it quicker but going through the lists manually is like going through old photo albums). brings back memories of adventures past.
There are also books dedicated to helping people solve geocaching puzzles. A quick search on Amazon listed a few. Another good resource is other geocachers. That brings me back to that FB group that's devoted to solving puzzles. They won't give you the answers, but they'll nudge you in the right direction. The cache owner/puzzle creator wants you to find that cache. What's the point of hiding something if you don't want anyone to find it? I'm always willing to give hints and guide puzzle solvers in the right direction. That's why most of my puzzles lean towards the easy side. The only difference between a traditional and a puzzle cache is you are handed the coordinates for a traditional. The puzzle tests your brain as you have to earn those coordinates.
How do you know you have the right answer? Most puzzles will include a puzzle checker, an outside website where you can confirm if you've solved the puzzle. Just recently, Groundspeak incorporated a puzzle checker with the cache page. It's not fancy like the other websites, but all that matters is if you have the right answer.
Puzzles take on many forms, depending on what the owner wants to do. An easy puzzle (it's easy because I learned about this at a puzzle solving event) is the white on white text. The cache description doesn't really say much, but if you highlight the description, the coordinates appear. Tricky, yes, but it does make for a quick solve and you can move on to the next puzzle. "Beausejour Walking Series: Walking on Sunshine" GC6TYP8 is an example of white on white text. Google is your friend when it comes to solving puzzles. My newest puzzle "March Madness" GC7K2XC is an example where Google comes in very handy to solve a puzzle. Another one of my more recent puzzles that I put together was done spur of the moment. "January 25th" GC7HJ7Y. Anything can be used to compose a puzzle, just as long as the answers give the correct coordinates. There are many more tricks that can be used in creating a puzzle.
That is a look at the mystery cache. Don't be afraid of them. They don't bite. Until next week; enjoy, be safe, peace out, and remember, geocaching is suppose to be fun.
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