Geocaching Event Games

[Pokagon Nature Center]

I have tried to do some searching for other ideas to use at geocaching events, but keep coming up empty. Perhaps some folks can recommend easy games to do at a geocaching event, or list some links to threads mentioning them.

 

We have used Closest to the pin for a while now, and would like to explore some other short, fun ones. I have heard of a reverse closest to the pin, but don't know the logisitics of averaging everyone's lat and long coords to get an official winner.

 

Any ideas or thoughts?

Thanks,

[+Always & Forever 5]

We have used Closest to the pin for a while now...

 

What's "Closest to the Pin"?

[CoyoteRed]

"Turkey Shoot." Kind of a lotto type of deal, but illustrates the real-world concept of repeatability over accuracy. Just mark a spot on the ground and have everyone take a reading. Average them and the closest to the average wins. In the event of a tie, you can designate a winner a couple of ways; either by the shortest amount of time to get the coords or a simply random drawing.

 

The idea behind this form is every single person is both the hider and a finder. Accuracy is less important in geocaching than is repeatability. As a hider, you want folks to be able to get to your ground zero. The actual numbers are irrelevant. The scatter of all the coordinates represent each person's "visit" to the cache. The nearest to the average (tossing outliers, of course) would be the hider that provides the rest, the finders, the best coordinates.

 

It's kind of a crap shoot, too, so luck does add to the game just like a turkey shoot.

 

SIDE NOTE: I just did a search on the internet for "turkey shoot" in order to link something in case someone didnt' know what I was referring to. There's not much out there.

 

In short, a "turkey shoot" is a game of chance that primarily happens around Thanksgiving where groups of folks will shoot at a paper target, generally a paper plate. They shoot birdshot. Each person has their own target and gets one shot. The person with a pellet hole closest to the center of the plate wins--generally, a turkey.

 

I don't know if it's a regional thing, but see them all over the South.

[+murfster]

I haven't tried but may ..

 

a " Filmcan Toss" Who can throw an empty film can the furthest!

 

Murfster

[Pokagon Nature Center]

"Turkey Shoot." Kind of a lotto type of deal, but illustrates the real-world concept of repeatability over accuracy. Just mark a spot on the ground and have everyone take a reading. Average them and the closest to the average wins. In the event of a tie, you can designate a winner a couple of ways; either by the shortest amount of time to get the coords or a simply random drawing.

 

The idea behind this form is every single person is both the hider and a finder. Accuracy is less important in geocaching than is repeatability. As a hider, you want folks to be able to get to your ground zero. The actual numbers are irrelevant. The scatter of all the coordinates represent each person's "visit" to the cache. The nearest to the average (tossing outliers, of course) would be the hider that provides the rest, the finders, the best coordinates.

 

It's kind of a crap shoot, too, so luck does add to the game just like a turkey shoot.

 

SIDE NOTE: I just did a search on the internet for "turkey shoot" in order to link something in case someone didnt' know what I was referring to. There's not much out there.

 

In short, a "turkey shoot" is a game of chance that primarily happens around Thanksgiving where groups of folks will shoot at a paper target, generally a paper plate. They shoot birdshot. Each person has their own target and gets one shot. The person with a pellet hole closest to the center of the plate wins--generally, a turkey.

 

I don't know if it's a regional thing, but see them all over the South.

 

I think this is what I was thinking of when I said Reverse Closest to the Pin, where you provide the pin, they give you the coordinates. My thought would be you average the lat's, and score the closest winner in that half of the coordinates. Score the long's with the closest guess from the average, then add the scores, and whomever has the lowest score wins. That make sense?!

 

I haven't tried but may ..

 

a " Filmcan Toss" Who can throw an empty film can the furthest!

 

Murfster

 

Now that's funny! Might have to try that too! I should probably purchase some sling shots.

[Mushtang]

You could have 5 sets of coordinates on a big sign that you show to the players at the same time, and see who can enter them into their GPSr manually the fastest. Folks who don't cache paperless might have more practice doing this.

 

You could also let players decrypt a rather long ROT-13 paragraph by hand.

 

If you had a big enough field you could come up with some simple one line diagram and see who could draw it on their GPSr screen the best by walking around in the field. This would have to be a winner determined by vote I think, unless it's way obvious.

[+wimseyguy]

Geobingo is always a fun icebreaker and event activity. Fill out a grid, 5x5, 6x6 with details about individuals:

-has found a 5/5

-has hidden more than 50 caches

-owns a virtual

-is wearing boxers

-has found a cache in another country

-has attended a mega event

-etc.

 

Fill out your grid with the signatures of those who qualify for that specific square, and give out door prize randomly or for the first to complete the sheet.

Edited August 6, 2007 by wimseyguy

[+briansnat]

Poker run. 5 caches with bunch of cards in individual sealed envelopes. As each person finds a cache he takes an envelope and when he completes a hand (5 envelopes) he brings them back to the gathering spot. The envelopes are opened and the hand is posted on a board. Best poker hand at the end of the event wins a door prize.

 

Bingo. Have a sheet with 50 or 100 boxes in a grid pattern. In each box is a mission where participants gather get the signatures of various other people at the event. Things like "someone with 1,000 finds", "A Groundspeak volunteer" , "someone who found a cache in a foreign country","someone who started geocaching before 2002",

someone who owns more than 20 caches", "Someone who has a Garmin", "Someone who owns a Magellan" , anything you can think of.

 

Finish a row and get a door prize. Person with the most boxes filled gets another prize. It's a great icebreaker and way to get people to mingle. A good game for larger events.

Edited August 6, 2007 by briansnat

[Scuzball]

I just made this up, it has no name that I know of. Anyway, make a 10-stage puzzle cache that requires difficult riddles and logic. In each stage, hide a stamp of a different color or something like that. First to get all the stamps wins!

[Scuzball]

I just made this up, it has no name that I know of. Anyway, make a 10-stage puzzle cache that requires difficult riddles and logic. In each stage, hide a stamp of a different color or something like that. First to get all the stamps wins!

[+Driver Carries Cache]

At the last event I attended, there was a log rolling competition... (that would be, logs for nano's an logs for bison tube micros!) fastest one wins!

 

I also attended a fantastic event that combined Geocaching with a Scavenger Hunt (The Sonoma County Cachvenger Hunt). There were five new caches placed that you could find and log, but inside each cache was a list of things you had to the "scavenge" for... and point values for each item. We spent 8 hours searching, drove over 240 miles, saw corners of Sonoma County I hadn't seen in years and had an absolute blast! At the end of the day we met back near the starting point for dinner at a local place that had been reserved just for folks attending the event and it was still standing room only.

 

Great fun!

[Neos2]

GeoConcentration (like the card game where you try to turn over matching pairs of cards).

 

Needs about 30+ ammo cans, with 15+ matching (or nearly matching) pairs of items.

 

Elimination rounds--Draw numbers to see what order you go in: Keep going as long as you keep matching items. Person who matches the last pair of items.

[Pokagon Nature Center]

Many great ideas. I will use some of these. Thanks!

[+CYBret]

Geobingo is always a fun icebreaker and event activity. Fill out a grid, 5x5, 6x6 with details about individuals:

-has found a 5/5

-has hidden more than 50 caches

-owns a virtual

-is wearing boxers

-has found a cache in another country

-has attended a mega event

-etc.

 

Fill out your grid with the signatures of those who qualify for that specific square, and give out door prize randomly or for the first to complete the sheet.

 

I've got a GeoBingo sheet (two actually) available here.

 

On the printables page, you'll also find some coloring book pages for kids and some place mat activity pages...which were for kids...but a lot of adults seem to enjoy them.

[+wimseyguy]

Another way to set up the poker run is to put a bag of chips in several caches in the area; one color per cache. Each chip is worth a card, up to seven if you want to play stud. When they return to the shelter, they are dealt a hand-best hand wins. Not every cache needs to have chips in it to add to the challenge.

[+Mudfrog]

An idea i've seen and particpated in is who is fastest at decyphering ROT13. Maybe make up a paragraph or a short geocaching story. The one who decyphers it fastest is the winner!

[+wimseyguy]

Na vqrn v'ir frra naq cnegvpcngrq va vf jub vf snfgrfg ng qrplcurevat EBG13. Znlor znxr hc n cnentencu be n fubeg trbpnpuvat fgbel. Gur bar jub qrplcuref vg snfgrfg vf gur jvaare!

 

There, fixed it for ya.

[+Mudfrog]

Na vqrn v'ir frra naq cnegvpcngrq va vf jub vf snfgrfg ng qrplcurevat EBG13. Znlor znxr hc n cnentencu be n fubeg trbpnpuvat fgbel. Gur bar jub qrplcuref vg snfgrfg vf gur jvaare!

 

There, fixed it for ya.

 

Gunax!

[+duckm]

Have a karoke night where you change the lyrics of the songs so they pertain to geocaching : )

[Mushtang]

Get those big Japanese sumo suits and put them on members of the Defenders and the Complainers, to solve this thing once and for all!

 

LLLLLLet's get ready to ruuummmble!!!!!!!

 

And please, as always, no wagering.

[+CYBret]

Have a karoke night where you change the lyrics of the songs so they pertain to geocaching : )

 

I've heard you....you'd win.

 

"I Will Survive"

[+Corp Of Discovery]

Here's a variation of GeoBingo that I call GeoTag:

 

Rules: 1] Find someone attending today’s event who meets one of the statements below

that has not already been checked off. That person can’t have a star on their

nametag and can’t have arrived with you. That person is now ‘it’. Put

their caching name in the space, and check off the box, next to the statement

they meet and give the person you tagged all game materials.

2] If you are tagged ‘it’ put a star on your nametag and refer to rule #1. If you

cannot find a person to tag, or are leaving before doing so, see the event holder

(event holders name) for help.

 

Statements: Find a person who…

 

□ has less than 25 finds ____________________

 

□ has less than 50 finds ____________________

 

□ has less than 100 finds ____________________

 

□ has more than 100 finds ____________________

 

□ has more than 500 finds ____________________

 

□ has more than 1000 finds ____________________

 

□ has attended a MEGA event ____________________

 

□ has found a 5/5 cache ____________________

 

□ has found an earthcache ____________________

 

□ started caching in 2000 ____________________

 

□ started caching in 2001 ____________________

 

□ started caching in 2002 ____________________

 

□ started caching in 2003 ____________________

 

□ has finds in more than 1 state ____________________

 

□ has finds in more than 5 states ____________________

 

□ has found a cache in country other than the US ____________________

 

□ has found more than 25 caches in 1 day ____________________

 

□ owns a podcast cache ____________________

 

□ owns a virtual cache ____________________

 

□ owns a webcam cache ____________________

 

□ owns a waymark ____________________

 

etc.

[CoyoteRed]

Here's another one from the "Geocaching Rodeo" idea--ammo can packing. Judged on speed the participant has to open an ammo can find the logbook, find a specially stamped page and tear it out, and re-pack the cache.

[+Markwell]

We did a different version of Geo-Bingo back at the 2003 picnic. There were no less than 34 officially published caches put out by a team of volunteeers, and 10-20 temporary caches in a 10 mile radius around the picnic site.

 

Just so everyone knows, 11 of those caches are still active, while 8 didn't last 90 days because of muggles in the area. For the remaining 14 caches that were placed and have now been archived, they all lasted longer than a year, and the average lifespan of those "longer than a year, but archived" caches was 750 days.

We also had the owners of the new caches put a sheet of unique stickers (from a teacher supply store) or a unique stamp pad. Then we had random bingo cards. Those bingo cards had the cache names on them with a "free space" in the middle. We had 3 laptops set up with EasyGPS ready to send coordiantes to various units and many sheets with the printed coordinates of the caches.

 

The cachers then spent the morning finding caches and at lunchtime came back with their bingo cards. Any five in a row (with the free space center counting) or four corners, got a little "fun" prize.

 

 

Just another option, but it takes a lot of coordination and lots of caches being placed.

[+GEO.JOE]

We had a good time "Scrabble Caching": Much like the poker run but with a Scrabble game. Hide 7 caches with different colored items in each cache (stickers, poker chips, paper squares, dots etc) The participants bring back their 7 colored item (or however many they found) and draw one Scrabble tile per cache found. the first person back gets to choose if they go first or last everyone else goes in the oder that they made it back to the scrabble table. The person with the highest scrabble score at the end of the game wins.

 

We have also had a GPS drawing game: Participants had 30 minutes to use their track feature to draw a picture by walking around in the field.

 

Another game that was a hit: I gave everyone a flag with their name on it. They were given a set of coordinates and boundaries where they could walk back and forth within, when they were ready they put down their GPS, went to the spot they thought the Coordinates were and placed their flag. After 6 runs there was a 3 way tie and we had to have a tie breaker. It was amazing how close some folks got to right spot (within 5 feet) even when they were not in site of the tie breaker spot. However, some people were way off and it was fun watching them comply with the group instead of placing where they guesstimated

 

We also had a Scavenger Hunt: I hid 27 caches ranging from easy to difficult, in each cache was the name of the item they needed to find also ranging from easy to find to difficult to find. Each participant was handed a page with coordinates and how many points the item was worth. Items ranged from 2 pt easy cache at base of oak tree needing to find an acorn to 50 pt micro looking for a skull to 100 pt. piece of bark with Live Squirrel written on the bottom side. The winners found the skull

I did learn that points matter so next time the acorn will be worth 20 points, 500 points for the skull and a Squirrel will be 1000 points. It makes everyone feel like they accomplished more even though the point ratios are the same.

 

GEO.JOE

[+Markwell]

We have also had a GPS drawing game: Participants had 30 minutes to use their track feature to draw a picture by walking around in the field.

I really like that one. Grown-up connect-the-dots with a multi-million dollar tool!

[+briansnat]

I think the best games for events are those that encourage people to stick around and mingle. I'm not thrilled with events that have a lot of temporary caches or games that require people to go out and find caches.

 

To me the point of an event is to meet people and socialize. When I've gone to events that had a lot of temp event caches, or were in cache rich parks, I missed meeting a lot of people.

 

It's disappointing when I look at the attended logs afterward and see numerous logs from people I wanted to meet but never got to because they were off hunting temp caches all afternoon.

[+brenda&&rew]

I am bumping this thread because I have a question.... how do you acquire the prizes, draw gifts, etc for the events without using cash from your own pocket?

 

Thanks!

[+Landsharkz]

Hi brendah,

 

The best way to acquire prizes is to contact local outdoors companies in your community (especially places you shop) and some of the folks listed HERE and ask them to sponsor your event by sending items for prizes. In exchange for their donated products you will offer advertising. I believe you can name companies on the event listing that are donating, but you are not allowed to create a link to them. Please check if you should just use their written company name, or if you're allowed to use their logo minus the link. This rule has 'evolved' in the past year, so check with your local reviewer so you start out your listing on the right footing.

 

If you also create a separate web page to give people more event information, you can certainly put their logo and link to them from there.

 

Most savy geocaching donors like to know that the event is listed on Geocaching.com and actually happening, before they send product. The letter of request should have a business tone because essentially you are offering advertising to a company in exchange for them giving you product. Make sure and include your mailing address, full proper name and phone number in case they want to call and talk to you about your request. Also include the event date, the GC number, the expected number of attendees and anything else of interest to entice them to part with product for the cause .

 

Make sure and mention the donor at the event (especially if they are there! )... for example... this prize for 'Closest to the Pin' is donated by (insert company name here)! They should be invited to send business cards with the donation or a promo page to put with their donation too.

 

A lot of people who host events do put up some of their own funds to make it happen. Donors can't usually cover all the expenses. so if you put out a jar and discreetly ask for donations to help offset the costs, you may find that some of the attendees will chip in.

[+brenda&&rew]

Hi brendah,

 

The best way to acquire prizes is to contact local outdoors companies in your community (especially places you shop) and some of the folks listed HERE and ask them to sponsor your event by sending items for prizes. In exchange for their donated products you will offer advertising. I believe you can name companies on the event listing that are donating, but you are not allowed to create a link to them. Please check if you should just use their written company name, or if you're allowed to use their logo minus the link. This rule has 'evolved' in the past year, so check with your local reviewer so you start out your listing on the right footing.

 

If you also create a separate web page to give people more event information, you can certainly put their logo and link to them from there.

 

Most savy geocaching donors like to know that the event is listed on Geocaching.com and actually happening, before they send product. The letter of request should have a business tone because essentially you are offering advertising to a company in exchange for them giving you product. Make sure and include your mailing address, full proper name and phone number in case they want to call and talk to you about your request. Also include the event date, the GC number, the expected number of attendees and anything else of interest to entice them to part with product for the cause .

 

Make sure and mention the donor at the event (especially if they are there! )... for example... this prize for 'Closest to the Pin' is donated by (insert company name here)! They should be invited to send business cards with the donation or a promo page to put with their donation too.

 

A lot of people who host events do put up some of their own funds to make it happen. Donors can't usually cover all the expenses. so if you put out a jar and discreetly ask for donations to help offset the costs, you may find that some of the attendees will chip in.

 

Thanks for the detailed response Landsharz... is funny, i just saw this now. I was rereading some of the suggestions for games and saw your post!

thanks again!

[+W7WT]

Since the very first Spring Fling and GeoLuau we have conducted a GPS Accuracy Game. To enter the game you must contribute a Geocaching Related Prize such as a amno can, coins, camping equipment etc. Then you are given a flag and place it where you think GZ is. GZ has been determined by either a surveyor or several GPSs that are connected to a

external amplified antenna. With the new GPSs the amplified antenna is not necessary. Let them acquire and then average their readings. All of the prizes are placed on a table and the one nearest gets first choice etc. Dick, W7WT

[+Team O-Zone]

You can have a "Best Camoed Container" Contest at your event. We attended a themed Halloween Geocaching Event, and everyone was encouraged to bring a 'scary' container. There were different catagories like, 'best camoed' 'most original' 'most scary' 'best kids camoed'. Then everyone voted (paper ballots) on the containers. It was a lot of fun! And a lot of great ideas!!!

[+flask]

ooh, ooh!

 

for best cammoed, you could have all the entrants hide their containers in a prescribed area. the last one to be found wins.

 

we've used rot-13 flashcards, with common geocaching words. one point for the fastest answer. most points at the end wins.

 

and don't forget the budget piñata! put a bunch of (sturdy) prizes in a bag and hang it from a tree. people seem to like beating on it.

 

you can play "find-the-prize", too. just hide prizes out there and at the game time hand out the list of coordinates to the prizes. do not list on the page what the prizes are.

 

and then there's the time-honored game of "put the really big and inconvenient TB in someone's car without their noticing it until they get home."