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are people getting sick of puzzle caches


jasondulac

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I don't know if it's my area or not but I find that alot of the old puzzle caches were very popular when they were posted like This one when posted had 5 finds the first day but now it seems people are not finding some of the newer puzzle caches I hid this one on september,2,09 in the first 2 days three people found it it's been 7 days since than and nobody tryed it. these two caches cache 1 cache 2 were hidden by a local cacher one of cache 1 hidden on aug 14 still has not been found. so just wondering is it just my area or are people getting sick of puzzle caches.

Edited by jasondulac
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They may not be getting sick of them, but once it's been found right away, the FTF Hounds move on, and that's why the large gap. When it's first placed, it shouws up on everyone New Hides query, but after a week it falls off that and gets lost in the mix. I have a lampost in the woods that was found several times in the first week, but hasn't been found since then, about a month and a half ago. It's just the way the game goes.

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What's a puzzle cache?

 

I completely ignore them.

You certianly do all your finds are traditionals :D:):P

 

I search what I like to find.

I do actually have everything I need to get a smiley on a virtual cache but found no joy in the experience. No joy means no smiley...

I totaly agree geocaching is about fun if your not having fun whats the point. Like when I hide a cache I only hide a cache I would enjoy finding.

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Solving puzzles is a nice way to pass a truly CRAPPY rainy/snowy winter day when finding any new cache means digging out the driveway and using a shovel to make the find. Depending upon the quality of the puzzle, it's a lot more fun than the tedium of Sodoku or crosswords where the requisite solving methods for the puzzle type are well understood before you begin. And rather than simply having a piece of paper with a solution in the end, you've got a piece of paper with coordinates on it that will take you to another cache once the parking lot glaciers melt!

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Solving puzzles is a nice way to pass a truly CRAPPY rainy/snowy winter day when finding any new cache means digging out the driveway and using a shovel to make the find. Depending upon the quality of the puzzle, it's a lot more fun than the tedium of Sodoku or crosswords where the requisite solving methods for the puzzle type are well understood before you begin. And rather than simply having a piece of paper with a solution in the end, you've got a piece of paper with coordinates on it that will take you to another cache once the parking lot glaciers melt!

you mentioned sodoku check out this cache

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You know, now that you mention it, there seem to be a lot fewer new puzzle caches published around here (which isn't quite what you're saying, but close to it). You might be right. And if so, I'm sure it is probably related to the quest for smilies. Fewer multi-caches published as well is my perception, and probably for the same reason. I personally am not sure that is a Bad Thing, though. But that's probably just my own quest for numbers speaking.

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I love puzzle caches. Many, if not most, of my favorite and most memorable Geocaching memories involve puzzle caches. But I can understand how they are not everybody's cup of tea.

 

But this is nothing new. This topic brought to mind this cache that was disabled because of "...lack of interest in puzzles." That cache was archived in 2007 so I don't think puzzle caches are becoming less popular. In general they just aren't solved as frequently as traditional caches. The way I figure it, the best puzzle caches will have the fewest logs :)

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I don't know if it's my area or not but I find that alot of the old puzzle caches were very popular when they were posted like This one when posted had 5 finds the first day but now it seems people are not finding some of the newer puzzle caches I hid this one on september,2,09 in the first 2 days three people found it it's been 7 days since than and nobody tryed it. these two caches cache 1 cache 2 were hidden by a local cacher one of cache 1 hidden on aug 14 still has not been found. so just wondering is it just my area or are people getting sick of puzzle caches.

 

Here's why I would forgo the above puzzles. One is a rubik's cube - I've never been able to solve a rubik's cube. Not fun for me. Cache 1 and 2 are nano's, I filter out micros/nanos unless they have a 'scenic' attribute.

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:P You can not make them ALL happy ALL the time! :D There will be a group that will hate every type of cache. Simply, if there is a cache you HATE, then do NOT put in your PQ! There are a few types I dis-like, and I just ignore them. Ther are folks, for their own reasons, who like Lamp Post, Gard-rail and Park & Grabs, and that's OK, as we are all different.

 

We need to be POSITIVE, SUPPORT each other and the sport of Geocaching. Let's dwell on the positives of the sport and avoid the negatives.

 

:D PEACE :)

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just wondering is it just my area or are people getting sick of puzzle caches.

If you want to get a lot of finds, don't hide puzzle caches. Or caches that require a walk of more than a tenth of a mile.

 

It's just a fact of life.

 

As this sport has evolved from one of discovery and adventure to a smiley hunt in many areas, any cache that takes more than 7 minutes (which means most puzzles) is largely ignored after the FTF.

Edited by briansnat
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:D Well our caching group in our local area, has formed an "Extreme Caching Group" going after caches 3.5/3.5 and up. Most are in the mountains and we are having a BALL :P The age of this group is from early 40's, to me going on 63-yo. One cache was a multi (13-waypoints) and involved a 2800-ft change in elevation and 10.4 miles. This one was placed in 2003 and we were the 7th to finish it (and it's 2009)!

 

You folks should consided such a group, as we are having a ball (do not forget to take & post pic's) :D:):D

Edited by Cherokee Bill
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As this sport has evolved from one of discovery and adventure to a smiley hunt in many areas, any cache that takes more than 7 minutes (which means most puzzles) is largely ignored after the FTF.

 

it is precisely for this reason that it is our obligation, nay, DUTY to put out more hard puzzles and more long multis.

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I get a lot of pleasure from solving/finding a puzzle cache. The fact that I typically suck at puzzles makes it even more rewarding. I'm not one who will even try to solve a puzzle in the field, but like others have mentioned, I like to work on them at home during idle time.

 

But I have to confess that some puzzles frustrate me. There are a few around here which rely on an understanding of some pretty advanced or arcane science and I apparently can't even come up with the right search terms for a successful Google search on the topic. Others are so abstract that I'm completely baffled by the description and don't even know where to begin. I give them an honest effort and if I can't get anywhere with 'em I ignore them. Simple, but a little bit frustrating.

 

But I'll be damned if I'll let life's little frustrations make me "sick." :)

 

Pete

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You just have to know who your audiece is going to be. I have some easy to find traditionals that only get a visit or two a year since you have to hike to them. There are some caches in my area that are hard to find and even harder to solve puzzles that involve long hikes that have never been found. We both are placing caches for a target group so it's "not about the numbers."

 

We have a dedicated group of puzzle people who enjoy things involving higher math, obscure codes, and twists of logic - some of them have solved hundreds of regional puzzles they have not had time to actually find. For me all of that was feeling too much like work so I rarely even look at them anymore. But because the puzzle group is smaller, after the initial finds are made a cache may go unfound for awhile.

 

So have fun placing the caches. If some are unfound it maybe that the puzzle is hard, but it also may be that there is a group that appreciates it all the more.

Edited by Erickson
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I get a lot of pleasure from solving/finding a puzzle cache. The fact that I typically suck at puzzles makes it even more rewarding. I'm not one who will even try to solve a puzzle in the field, but like others have mentioned, I like to work on them at home during idle time.

 

But I have to confess that some puzzles frustrate me. There are a few around here which rely on an understanding of some pretty advanced or arcane science and I apparently can't even come up with the right search terms for a successful Google search on the topic. Others are so abstract that I'm completely baffled by the description and don't even know where to begin. I give them an honest effort and if I can't get anywhere with 'em I ignore them. Simple, but a little bit frustrating.

 

But I'll be damned if I'll let life's little frustrations make me "sick." :)

 

Pete

 

I know for a fact that there are many geocachers which will categorically put unknown caches on their ignore list. I think it's unfortunate as puzzle caches come in a variety of difficulties. Some may require no more than a 10-15 minute search for information on the net to obtain the coordinates. I really don't have much more than anecdotal evidence but I have generally found that a CO that took the effort to create a puzzle for cache listing probably is type of geocacher that might show a little more initiative in creating an interesting hide. By categorically ignoring puzzle caches one may be filtering out some of the more interesting hides as well.

 

I took dislike puzzles in the field (for the limited amount of time I have to spend out in the field, I would prefer to spend that time actually searching for geocachers (or hiking to geocaches) rather than solving a puzzle). I have much more idle time available to me at home so don't mind spending some of it solving puzzles.

 

I've certainly worked on my share of frustrating puzzles (I've solved well over 100 of them). If you find one that is completely baffling, contact the cache owner and ask for a hint or nudge in the right direction. Like any other cache, most caches owners want it to be found, and if that involves solving a puzzle, most are happy to provide a hint or two to help you along. However, don't expect much help on a puzzle cache that has not yet been found.

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I like to solve puzzle caches in bunches, during the times when I can't actually go out caching. Then I use GSAK to view the final locations of the puzzle caches together with the regular caches so I have a complete picture of an area I want to visit. The result is that there will often be a span of weeks or months between the time when I solve the puzzle and the time when I go get the cache.

 

Also, I often get stumped on new puzzle caches, so I need to wait for a few logs to come in so I can get more clues. In that way it's a chicken-and-egg problem for the cache owner: I can't find the cache until others do, and some of them may be waiting for logs as well.

 

Anyway, I enjoy puzzles. They seemed impossible at first, but now that I've learned a few common patterns, I can solve about half of the puzzles I try.

 

- Joe

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My problem is going to the extra trouble of solving a puzzle only to find out cache is MIA. In our area there seems to be a lot of caches without maintenance. Owners ignore needs maintenance logs. Some are now being archived because of lack of owner response.

 

I think your over-generalizing from a handful of bad experiences.

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I like to solve puzzle caches in bunches, during the times when I can't actually go out caching. Then I use GSAK to view the final locations of the puzzle caches together with the regular caches so I have a complete picture of an area I want to visit. The result is that there will often be a span of weeks or months between the time when I solve the puzzle and the time when I go get the cache.
Arrgh. I learned about that the hard way this last winter -- my first "caching winter", and hence, my first idle time to sit and really look at all of the puzzles.

 

I'd piled up solutions to a bunch of local ones, but on caching days, forget to include them in my regular runs. I finally starting entering the info manually into GSAK as a separate GPX file so that I'd have them loaded when I went out. Problem is that I tend to organize runs while looking at the maps on gc.com, and of course, none of the coordinates I've worked out show up there, and I would forget to go back to my list of solved ones and insert them into the routes when it made sense. Darned if some didn't get archived before I got around to visiting.

 

I try not to make that mistake now!

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My problem is going to the extra trouble of solving a puzzle only to find out cache is MIA. In our area there seems to be a lot of caches without maintenance. Owners ignore needs maintenance logs. Some are now being archived because of lack of owner response.
Owners who ignore NM logs ignore them whether they're for puzzles or traditionals. It's no more annoying to find a puzzle final missing than to spend the time to try to locate a difficulty 3.5 or 4.0 traditional, DNF it, and later find out it was never there during the search.
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My first summer, I wanted to find as many caches as possible. It wasn't just about the smilies, though. The caches up here are pretty well spaced out and I just wasn't up for complicated things like multis and puzzles.

 

This summer, I did a couple multis, a couple puzzles, and a couple EarthCaches. I learned that I enjoy them, but they are time consuming. I often planned my caching day around the finals.

 

Wintertimes up here can make caching pretty tough and I'm not a big fan of being cold and wet. I do, however, plan on hooking up with a friend and working on puzzles. We might even go out and find a few.

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For me it's all about time management. I work full time, go to school for my master’s degree, and have two children who are very involved in sports and school activities. I would like to do puzzle caches but can’t find the time to solve the puzzles. Maybe in a few years I'll be able to devote more time to them.

Edited by Roaring_Fork
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I get a lot of pleasure from solving/finding a puzzle cache. The fact that I typically suck at puzzles makes it even more rewarding. I'm not one who will even try to solve a puzzle in the field, but like others have mentioned, I like to work on them at home during idle time.

 

But I have to confess that some puzzles frustrate me. There are a few around here which rely on an understanding of some pretty advanced or arcane science and I apparently can't even come up with the right search terms for a successful Google search on the topic. Others are so abstract that I'm completely baffled by the description and don't even know where to begin. I give them an honest effort and if I can't get anywhere with 'em I ignore them. Simple, but a little bit frustrating.

 

But I'll be damned if I'll let life's little frustrations make me "sick." :laughing:

 

Pete

 

I like solving puzzles, even for caches far away, that I won't go search for. However, I prefer to have an indication of progress. If the puzzle is presented along with the rules to solve it, no matter how hard it is to solve, I will spend the necesary time. If the puzzle is shown, and I have to come up with the rules to obtain the coordinates, I will spend some time on it. If I have to locate the puzzle, hidden in a steganographic way somewhere, then I get bored quickly.

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CT is somewhat of an "old school" caching state, in that a lot of the cachers here were hikers who took up caching. When puzzles started coming to the area, they often got ignored because people wanted to be outside hiking, not inside solving puzzles.

 

Now that there are more puzzles, people are solving them a bit more, but a lot of times, the puzzles are just too confusing and don't make any sense unless you've seen them before or know something about whatever type they are.

 

In that case, a few people will find them when the first come out, but then they generally sit, unfound for long periods of time until someone on vacation comes through the area and finds them.

 

That said, I find that most owners want people to find their caches and will usually offer a hint to "get me pointed in the right direction" when starting to solve it. That is sometimes enough to solve it the rest of the way.

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For me it's all about time management. I work full time, go to school for my master’s degree, and have two children who are very involved in sports and school activities. I would like to do puzzle caches but can’t find the time to solve the puzzles. Maybe in a few years I'll be able to devote more time to them.

 

How do you find the time to geocaching? For me, working full time, having a family, and the fact that I've found almost every cache within a 20 minute drive from home limits how often I can go geocaching. However, I have a much greater amount of time after work in the evenings when I can spend some time working on puzzles.

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..........so just wondering is it just my area or are people getting sick of puzzle caches.

 

Some are, some aren't.

 

I enjoy writing puzzle caches, and I enjoy reading the logs that are written by those who find them. In most cases, the logs for the puzzle caches, though fewer in number, tell a better story than those for my non-puzzle hides.

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You know, now that you mention it, there seem to be a lot fewer new puzzle caches published around here (which isn't quite what you're saying, but close to it). You might be right. And if so, I'm sure it is probably related to the quest for smilies. Fewer multi-caches published as well is my perception, and probably for the same reason. I personally am not sure that is a Bad Thing, though. But that's probably just my own quest for numbers speaking.

This is my sense too.

 

Since I started caching (around the same time as knowschad) I have noticed that the number of both newly published puzzle and multi caches have decreased by roughly half.

 

In my area four years ago, multis accounted for roughly 15% of new caches and puzzles accounted for roughly 10% (excluding events). Today, those percentages drop by roughly half for each type, in favour of traditionals.

 

There might be several reasons for the decrease in puzzles, but considering a similar decrease in multis, I personally think it has more to do with the quest for smilies.

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Puzzle caches are okay, as long as the puzzle is solvable on about an 8th grade level. Some of us (*me*) don't do well with puzzles....

 

I agree. If not then there will be fewer visitors. If visits are important to a hider then I would suggest: make them relatively easy to solve, don't make the container a micro, use geochecker (or equivalent checker).

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I am fairly new to geocaching, but I do enjoy the puzzle caches. For me cahing is about having fun and as a gamer the puzzles just add to the fun for me. Now, having said that, I have actually solved more than I have found, but the corrected coords are in GSAK and I will get there eventually. Of the ones I have attempted so far I am truly stuck on 3 of them outof about 30. But eventually I'll get them!

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can anyone offer me some help to FILTER OUT puzzle /mystery caches when I do a pocket query rather than have to make an IGNORE LIST or delete one at a time from the GSAK? I would appreciate it...in my area the puzzles that are coming out are EXCLUSIONARY in their design and for the most part UNSOLVABLE for me. I do not like puzzles that expend valuable PREMIUM family time and for the most part have NOTHING that a FAMILY can usually do together for a hide and seek outcome. I also suck at puzzles. Just need some helpful POSITIVE help from folks and I am taking a risk at being honest , here. Thank you.

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can anyone offer me some help to FILTER OUT puzzle /mystery caches when I do a pocket query rather than have to make an IGNORE LIST or delete one at a time from the GSAK? I would appreciate it...in my area the puzzles that are coming out are EXCLUSIONARY in their design and for the most part UNSOLVABLE for me. I do not like puzzles that expend valuable PREMIUM family time and for the most part have NOTHING that a FAMILY can usually do together for a hide and seek outcome. I also suck at puzzles. Just need some helpful POSITIVE help from folks and I am taking a risk at being honest , here. Thank you.

Well, the OBVIOUS answer is to simply FILTER by CACHE TYPE, either in your POCKET QUERY, or in GSAK. :)

 

Somehow I gather, though, that you already know that, and are really asking something else.

 

ps: not sure what you mean by puzzles in your area being exclusionary by design. Can you elaborate? Do you need to know certain cachers middle names or birthdays or something in order to solve them?

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I don't know if it's my area or not but I find that alot of the old puzzle caches were very popular when they were posted like This one when posted had 5 finds the first day but now it seems people are not finding some of the newer puzzle caches I hid this one on september,2,09 in the first 2 days three people found it it's been 7 days since than and nobody tryed it. these two caches cache 1 cache 2 were hidden by a local cacher one of cache 1 hidden on aug 14 still has not been found. so just wondering is it just my area or are people getting sick of puzzle caches.

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I like puzzle caches and try to do them when I can. But they do take more time and I lot of people want to just put in coordinates and go for it. I own a few simple puzzle caches and like yours they get found when they first come out and then an occasional find now and then. That is ok with me and actually all new caches are hot for awhile and then die out to a few finds a month or a year depending on location. If I were you I would not worry about it. Another advantage of puzzle caches is that they are a little less maintenance and do not get lost as often because they are not found as often. I still like puzzle caches, and do them when I can. Actually I try to do Earthcaches and Multi's when I have time also, these types do not get as found as often either. If we just wanted caches with high find value they would probably be all JOE's and GR's--boring. I think my next few caches will be traditionals because I do like to have them found--but we will see if we can change it up a little.

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I like puzzle caches and try to do them when I can. But they do take more time and I lot of people want to just put in coordinates and go for it. I own a few simple puzzle caches and like yours they get found when they first come out and then an occasional find now and then. That is ok with me and actually all new caches are hot for awhile and then die out to a few finds a month or a year depending on location. If I were you I would not worry about it. Another advantage of puzzle caches is that they are a little less maintenance and do not get lost as often because they are not found as often. I still like puzzle caches, and do them when I can. Actually I try to do Earthcaches and Multi's when I have time also, these types do not get as found as often either. If we just wanted caches with high find value they would probably be all JOE's and GR's--boring. I think my next few caches will be traditionals because I do like to have them found--but we will see if we can change it up a little.

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can anyone offer me some help to FILTER OUT puzzle /mystery caches when I do a pocket query rather than have to make an IGNORE LIST or delete one at a time from the GSAK? I would appreciate it...in my area the puzzles that are coming out are EXCLUSIONARY in their design and for the most part UNSOLVABLE for me. I do not like puzzles that expend valuable PREMIUM family time and for the most part have NOTHING that a FAMILY can usually do together for a hide and seek outcome. I also suck at puzzles. Just need some helpful POSITIVE help from folks and I am taking a risk at being honest , here. Thank you.

 

I feel your pain! :sad:

But, some puzzles are actually fun...and easy!

I 'review' each puzzle/mystery as it is published. If I have no idea how to proceed, or if it looks like the solution would take more than an hour, it goes on my ignore list.

I have a couple of easy ones waiting in GSAK right now that I really should get done! :D

Occasionally, I look at the ones in my ignore list to see if I might have subliminally figured it out or overlooked an easy solution.

 

In any case, this is what the ignore list is all about, so use it...you paid for it. ;)

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