For those that like puzzle caches:

[+Castle Mischief]

I have an idea for puzzle cache that I'm working on- because I've never hidden one and I thought it might be fun.

 

There is a small park just down the road from me that has several hiding places appropriate for a micro-sized container.

 

The question is for those of you that enjoy solving puzzle caches- does it matter to you if the container at the end of the puzzle is a log-only micro (bison tube or similar)? If you found my micro would you think "I solved this puzzle for a bison tube?"

 

Which I guess leads to the next question: do you hunt puzzle caches for the "reward" of swag in the cache or do you do them for the fun of solving the puzzle? Or is there some other motivation involved?

[+Jumpin' Jack Cache]

Purely the fun of solving the puzzle for me. It doesn't matter what the container is.

[+Singletree Expedition]

As I mentioned in a related thread:

 

I enjoy puzzle caches. I also enjoy scenic terrain (and large containers). Put them together and you have the perfect cache.

 

I like challenges both mental and physical, and I am most impressed with a cache that gives me both. Those are the ones I remember.

 

But if you have a great idea for a puzzle and no quality location then go ahead and place it. I tend to shy away from urban hides, but puzzle caches can get me there. Just find a way to be unique and you'll please most puzzle cachers.

 

Size for the environment. I enjoy large containers just because they're large. I enjoy micros when they are hidden uniquely.

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

I love caches with swag in them and therefore I seldom hunt for micros. That is, except for puzzle caches. The puzzle is reward enough. (Obviously if it had a puzzle and a regular-sized container and great swag and a beautiful location and a travel bug, it would be a perfect cache.)

 

However, if you put your bison tube in a garbage dump, the garbage horror would overwhelm the puzzle cache fun and I would avoid it. Otherwise, I would not turn my nose up at your micro puzzle cache.

 

Carolyn

[+hudsonfam]

Sure, I like swag when we find it, but I don't mind if it's just a micro with a log. I enjoy doing reasonable puzzles (there are some in my local area that are only for people with hours and hours of time on their hands to figure out).

 

What I do mind is going through the trouble to solve a puzzle and feeling really proud of myself that I found the coordinates only to wind up empty handed because the cache itself is too difficult to find or not maintained because very few attempt the puzzle cache in the first place. If the challenge of the hunt is going to be solving the puzzle, at least make finding the physical cache relatively simple and keep an eye on it to make sure it's still there, even if no one has even attempted it in weeks or months. -K

Edited August 25, 2009 by hudsonfam

[+succotash]

We like solving puzzles (and in fact have solved many that we will never visit). The puzzle is the real attraction. For those we go to find, we definitely prefer an interesting/scenic final location with a full-sized container. But we don't feel at all disappointed if the puzzle leads us to a great location even if the container is a micro (as long as we find it, of course!). We do feel disappointed if an excellent puzzle leads us to what (in our opinion) is a lame location, even if the container is full-sized.

 

Thanks for asking this question and good luck with your puzzle!

[+flask]

while i don't care what the container is, i object to it being placed in a location where i wouldn't want to see a cache.

 

e.g., if you wouldn't put a regular cache in a guardrail on a busy road, don't put a puzzle cache there.

[Dinoprophet]

while i don't care what the container is, i object to it being placed in a location where i wouldn't want to see a cache.

 

e.g., if you wouldn't put a regular cache in a guardrail on a busy road, don't put a puzzle cache there.

Agreed. My standards for a good cache are not lowered for puzzle caches.

[+fegan]

Doesn't matter to me.

 

Most of the swag I find is junk anyway...so the size of the container doesn't really matter except for moving TBs & GCs.

[Clan Riffster]

If all other things are equal, my rather biased preference is for regular sized caches.

While I almost never trade, I like to leave signature items and paw through swag.

I also like to play with TBs, moving them along when I am able.

Add to that my addiction to reading. I love sitting down and reading logbooks.

 

These activities are kinda excluded from bison tubes and blinkies.

 

Will having a micro at the end of a puzzle lead to angst? Absolutely not!

So long as it's a quality container in an interesting location, I'll be a happy Riffster.

Give me a 5 difficulty puzzle which leads me to a soggy log film can in a Wally World lamp post kilt and I will likely grumble... to myself.

[Mushtang]

As long as the container size is identified as a micro on the cache page, I can't imagine that any puzzle solver would get all the way to the cache and then get upset that it's only a micro.

 

If they do, they're not paying attention.

[+Kit Fox]

If you properly rate the size of the cache, and make mention that the cache is in a location some may feel uncomfortable looking, I would have no problem with your cache. I remember a five star difficulty puzzle cache that I was struggling on. A friend solved and found the cache, and was nice enough to warn me that the cache was a guardrail micro. I stopped working on the puzzle after the warning.

[+Chrysalides]

I generally don't mind about the location, as long as it is not objectionable. I enjoy those whose final are in theme a lot more though.

[+unclefunky]

I really don't mind. One thing that may attract even the people who don't like puzzles that result in micros is to make it into a series with clues inside for the final. I have done that and have a puzzle that results in a micro and it has been successful, and people seem to like it.

[Clan Riffster]

If they do, they're not paying attention.

Well put. For those who actively dislike micros, they are too easy to avoid to take seriously any degree of angst toward them.

I don't think those folks would say something to the effect of "I solved this puzzle for a bison tube?".

However, several folks may think something to the effect of "I solved this puzzle for a film can under a dumpster?"

Cache size, in and of itself, is not an indicator of cache quality.

[+BigFurryMonster]

Cache satisfaction for me is determined by:

 

1. Location: do I visit a place I otherwise would not, AND enjoy it doing so?

2. Creativity: are you challenging me in a creative and fun way?

3. Learning: do I learn something along the way?

4. Maintenance: are the cache and cache page in order, i.e. no errors?

5. Container.

 

The thing is that quite a lot of micros are placed because the cache owner was being lazy about any (if not all) of the above. This gives micros a bad name. If you ensure 1 to 4 are OK, a micro would be OK.

[+L0ne.R]

The question is for those of you that enjoy solving puzzle caches- does it matter to you if the container at the end of the puzzle is a log-only micro (bison tube or similar)? If you found my micro would you think "I solved this puzzle for a bison tube?"

 

Yep.

 

But I'd know beforehand that it's a micro. In that case I would not look for it. Currently I filter out micros and unknown sizes. Maybe I'd try to figure out the puzzle though and then not bother to go look for it. I'm trying to be proactive and not encourage the placement of micros by seeking them. However, I do create a separate PQ for micros that have a scenic attribute. So if your micro puzzle cache ends at a scenic location I'll likely look for it (if I can figure it out the puzzle) and thank you for the view.

 

Which I guess leads to the next question: do you hunt puzzle caches for the "reward" of swag in the cache or do you do them for the fun of solving the puzzle?

 

Both.

Edited August 25, 2009 by Lone R

[+niraD]

The question is for those of you that enjoy solving puzzle caches- does it matter to you if the container at the end of the puzzle is a log-only micro (bison tube or similar)?

Does it matter? Sure. I like trading for sig items, and I like leaving my own trackable sig tokens. I can't do either at a log-only cache.

 

If you found my micro would you think "I solved this puzzle for a bison tube?"

Not at all. I'd have enjoyed the puzzle, I'd have enjoyed the trip to GZ, and I'd have enjoyed the search. It would be nice if I could also enjoy the sig item aspect of the game, but it isn't necessary.

 

Which I guess leads to the next question: do you hunt puzzle caches for the "reward" of swag in the cache or do you do them for the fun of solving the puzzle? Or is there some other motivation involved?

I hunt puzzle caches because I enjoy the fun of solving the puzzle. I hunt all types of caches because I enjoy the trip to GZ, and I enjoy the search. I enjoy finding caches that aren't log only because I enjoy leaving my own sig tokens. I enjoy finding caches that contain other cachers' sig items because I enjoy trading for sig items.

 

I can enjoy one aspect of the game, even when the others aren't applicable.

[+Castle Mischief]

Thank you all for the well-worded responses. Your replies have been extremely useful and educational.

 

I was a little unsure myself as I 1) don't usually hunt puzzle caches and 2) have been largely filtering out micros. The general rule of "hide what you prefer to seek" wouldn't fit*, so I thought I would get a quick sample from cachers that do hunt puzzle caches much more frequently than I.

 

Rest assured that no guardrails, lamp posts, or dumpsters will be involved in the final placement. It's a nice little park in my very small home town that has been host to a cache in the past that was recently archived due to the CO dropping out of the game.

 

Does anybody feel that I should hunt a significant sample of puzzle caches before placing one? Are there any facets to puzzle caches that anybody thinks you might not be aware of before seeking a puzzle cache?

 

 

 

 

*Which begs the question, why hide it then? Well, because I wanted to try something new, something outside my comfort zone.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I solved a puzzle cache awhile back that ended up being a bison tube hidden in a manner that is often not highly regarded.

 

However, the puzzle was a challenging (5 stars), the puzzle solving experience between others and the CO was unique, and the view where the cache was hidden was exceptional.

 

If the puzzle would have been poorly constructed, or something that one could solve merely by doing some basic match given some objects at the published coordinates, or hidden in a park that wasn't particularly interesting, I would have seen it as just another bison tube.

[+niraD]

Does anybody feel that I should hunt a significant sample of puzzle caches before placing one? Are there any facets to puzzle caches that anybody thinks you might not be aware of before seeking a puzzle cache?

Well, experience with other caches like this can teach you something about what works well, and what doesn't...

 

IMHO, with a good puzzle cache, it should be obvious that you've solved it. You might want to provide a checksum or a coordinates checker to let people verify that they didn't make a silly error converting the puzzle solution into coordinates, but I think it's best to avoid puzzles where they aren't sure they've figured it out until they get to GZ and find the container.

 

Other than that, it's up to you to decide what kind of puzzle to create. There are a lot of great puzzlers around here, but they all have different styles, based on their varied backgrounds and tastes.

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

Does anybody feel that I should hunt a significant sample of puzzle caches before placing one? Are there any facets to puzzle caches that anybody thinks you might not be aware of before seeking a puzzle cache?

 

I think it's cool that you want to create a puzzle cache. The one thing that is hard to know before seeking out a number of puzzle caches is how to rate the difficulty level. But this seems like a problem you could overcome with beta testers.

 

Carolyn

[+Puppy Dawg]

I try to make the finals of my puzzles regular or large, but don't mind if their micros. And regarding ^^this post^^, you will eventually get used to rating pyuzzles. Maybe base it on the ones you've found??

[+The Blue Quasar]

Cache satisfaction for me is determined by:

 

1. Location: do I visit a place I otherwise would not, AND enjoy it doing so?

2. Creativity: are you challenging me in a creative and fun way?

3. Learning: do I learn something along the way?

4. Maintenance: are the cache and cache page in order, i.e. no errors?

5. Container.

 

The thing is that quite a lot of micros are placed because the cache owner was being lazy about any (if not all) of the above. This gives micros a bad name. If you ensure 1 to 4 are OK, a micro would be OK.

 

That is exactly how I feel. Often once the puzzle is solved, the cache becomes the same as a Traditional Cache.

 

BQ

[Mr.Yuck]

I have an idea for puzzle cache that I'm working on- because I've never hidden one and I thought it might be fun.

 

There is a small park just down the road from me that has several hiding places appropriate for a micro-sized container.

 

The question is for those of you that enjoy solving puzzle caches- does it matter to you if the container at the end of the puzzle is a log-only micro (bison tube or similar)? If you found my micro would you think "I solved this puzzle for a bison tube?"

 

Which I guess leads to the next question: do you hunt puzzle caches for the "reward" of swag in the cache or do you do them for the fun of solving the puzzle? Or is there some other motivation involved?

 

Hmm. There was another thread on this subject in the past few months. I for one have placed several micro puzzles on my ignore list that I know to end with lampskirts in parking lots. I suspected they might, and asked the local puzzle expert if in fact they were before attempting them. Now if he were to tell me said micro was in a park, I'd probably attempt to solve it. This is just me speaking though, I'm a known intolerant puritan. Or so I've been labeled.

Edited August 26, 2009 by TheWhiteUrkel

[+Buddies-Buddies]

Hi Castle,

 

You may also want to consider using evince or some other similar tool so people can confirm the coords once the solve the puzzle and before they start the search - It could save some cachers from the frustration of incorrectly solving the puzzle and wasting time looking in the wrong location (or worse yet ending up on the wrong end of a shotgun in the hands of an aggravated farmer)

[+NYPaddleCacher]

 

Hmm. There was another thread on this subject in the past few months. I for one have placed several micro puzzles on my ignore list that I know to end with lampskirts in parking lots. I suspected they might, and asked the local puzzle expert if in fact they were before attempting them. Now if he were to tell me said micro was in a park, I'd probably attempt to solve it. This is just me speaking though, I'm a known intolerant puritan. Or so I've been labeled.

 

There are some of us (myself included) that have been known to solve puzzle caches knowing full well that we'll probably never find the physical cache. Probably the most difficult puzzles I've ever solved is for a cache that is 700 miles away and I worked for awhile on one but eventually got stuck on that's over 8000 miles away from home.