+DAXLE Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Recently I've been helping my local library and parks department with some geocaching related activities and the parks director is interested in increasing the number of caches hidden in our county's parks. A friend of mine and I are planning to create a rather large multi-cache (at least by my standards) that will take geocachers to each of our county's 19 parks. I thought this could be a good way to introduce some folks to the world of geocaching by announcing a contest that would award the first person to find the final container with some kind of prize. And by prize, I don't mean a piece of swag found in the container, but something like concert tickets, a loaded gift card, or something else of relatively high value. My question is, is there some kind of rule against such a contest? I know commercial geocaches aren't allowed, but I don't think offering concert tickets would necessarily be considered promoting or advertising. Or would it? Any input will be much appreciated! Quote Link to comment
AZcachemeister Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Should be fine! Your local 'Parks and Rec' department is a part of your local government, not a commercial interest. GO FOR IT! Quote Link to comment
+Gitchee-Gummee Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Please don't call it a 'contest'. Sorry -- but I hate to think of geocaching as being a contest (of any kind). Why not just do as you plan, w/o calling it a contest? First-To-Find awards or prizes are fairly common, and that is what you are describing. Quote Link to comment
+Shaved Ewok Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Recently I've been helping my local library and parks department with some geocaching related activities and the parks director is interested in increasing the number of caches hidden in our county's parks. A friend of mine and I are planning to create a rather large multi-cache (at least by my standards) that will take geocachers to each of our county's 19 parks. I thought this could be a good way to introduce some folks to the world of geocaching by announcing a contest that would award the first person to find the final container with some kind of prize. And by prize, I don't mean a piece of swag found in the container, but something like concert tickets, a loaded gift card, or something else of relatively high value. My question is, is there some kind of rule against such a contest? I know commercial geocaches aren't allowed, but I don't think offering concert tickets would necessarily be considered promoting or advertising. Or would it? Any input will be much appreciated! Sounds like a good thing, but why not put one cache in each park rather than one big multi? If the parks people want to have more caches this would be the better way to go as a large multi would tie up a ton of prime areas. Also by placing several caches you also have a chance to hide a variety of types and sizes to really introduce new people to all the variety the hobby has to offer. Quote Link to comment
+DAXLE Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 Please don't call it a 'contest'. Sorry -- but I hate to think of geocaching as being a contest (of any kind). Why not just do as you plan, w/o calling it a contest? First-To-Find awards or prizes are fairly common, and that is what you are describing. I agree, the thought of turning geocaching into a contest isn't all that appealing to me, but I think a lot of non-geocachers would be more likely to participate if there were some kind of reward. And my hope is that those who do participate will enjoy the geocaching aspect, not the contest aspect Quote Link to comment
AZcachemeister Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Sounds like a good thing, but why not put one cache in each park rather than one big multi? Good point. May I suggest a bonus mystery cache for those who find all the traditionals? Put a single digit of the co-ordinates in each of your Traditionals, and those who find all of them will have the numbers to the 'puzzle' final. If I am passing through on vacation I may not have time for a 19 stage multi...but I would probably enjoy a few traditionals while visiting your town. Quote Link to comment
+The A-Team Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 (edited) Sounds like a good thing, but why not put one cache in each park rather than one big multi? Having 19 individual caches rather than a 19-stage multi will get a lot more people to visit those parks, too. Not many people will work all the way through or even attempt a 19-stage multi. That's pretty long. Maybe have one or more multis that visit 2-3 close-together parks, and have traditionals at the more widely-spaced parks. Edit: I like AZcachemeister's idea, too. Edited August 1, 2012 by The A-Team Quote Link to comment
AZcachemeister Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 ...if there were some kind of reward... Ahhh, but there is always a 'reward' when finding a well-done cache. Maybe not something you will take home and put on the mantlepiece, but real all the same. Quote Link to comment
+DAXLE Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 Sounds like a good thing, but why not put one cache in each park rather than one big multi? Good point. May I suggest a bonus mystery cache for those who find all the traditionals? Put a single digit of the co-ordinates in each of your Traditionals, and those who find all of them will have the numbers to the 'puzzle' final. If I am passing through on vacation I may not have time for a 19 stage multi...but I would probably enjoy a few traditionals while visiting your town. You also make a good point. And I really like the bonus mystery cache idea. I may just have to take your suggestion. Sounds like a good thing, but why not put one cache in each park rather than one big multi? Having 19 individual caches rather than a 19-stage multi will get a lot more people to visit those parks, too. Not many people will work all the way through or even attempt a 19-stage multi. That's pretty long. Maybe have one or more multis that visit 2-3 close-together parks, and have traditionals at the more widely-spaced parks. Edit: I like AZcachemeister's idea, too. I had wondered about the length of this multi. There are no multi-caches in my area that are even close to being this big, so I've been worried that people wouldn't even attempt it. Quote Link to comment
Dulce-Joy Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 You'd be better off with traditionals if you want more traffic. Multi caches get a lot less traffic. Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I'll just chime in to agree that it should be 19 separate caches with some kind of final bonus cache for completing the others. Write some code on each of the caches that is required to find the bonus when put together. Quote Link to comment
+Ms.Scrabbler Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I agree with all being their own cache and add a bonus one to tie them all in. I don't normally do multi caches after the last 2 I tried were missing parts. very frustrating. And having it available to the masses the chance of some going missing is pretty big. Bonus sounds much better than contest. Quote Link to comment
+Team Dennis Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Sounds like a good thing, but why not put one cache in each park rather than one big multi? Good point. May I suggest a bonus mystery cache for those who find all the traditionals? Put a single digit of the co-ordinates in each of your Traditionals, and those who find all of them will have the numbers to the 'puzzle' final. If I am passing through on vacation I may not have time for a 19 stage multi...but I would probably enjoy a few traditionals while visiting your town. +1 Doing a 19 stage multi might get a few locals into the park, but other than that you will end up with very few people attempting your caches...and 19 places that will never see another cache due to proximity rules. And should one of those stages go missing it would ruin the entire cache. I like to think that stages of a multi cache are like sneezes: 2 or 3 is normal and expected. 8 in a row (or 19) is just crazy. So if you have 2...bless you. Quote Link to comment
+McFlyAway Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I would probably do traditionals. I remember reading an article online about them doing something similar in the state parks of Minnesota. As for the multis, the longest I've ever found was four stages, but the longest I've ever heard of is a twelve stage called "Mario's Tower" in Cincinnati. You could place a couple of multis if you want, but keep them within two or three stages. Quote Link to comment
+coman123 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Why not create a passport tour with a prize at the end, check out other tours here Passport Tours Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Yes, it can be done. I prefer the series approach, unless there's a reason why you can't hide a cache at each location. Here's a local open space district's 22-cache series: http://www.openspace.org/geocaching/preserve_circuit.asp Here's a local wildlife refuge's multi-cache: http://coord.info/GC1HQ1W Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Why not create a passport tour with a prize at the end, check out other tours here Passport Tours I was going to suggest the same thing but I had not heard of a series of caches like this as a passport tour. If the Parks and Recreational Department or some other organization like it is going wants to "sponsor" a series of caches to promote their parks they could produce a passport book that could be "stamped" and turned into to get a custom geocoin for the reward rather than just a bonus cache. Quote Link to comment
Pup Patrol Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Recently I've been helping my local library and parks department with some geocaching related activities and the parks director is interested in increasing the number of caches hidden in our county's parks. A friend of mine and I are planning to create a rather large multi-cache (at least by my standards) that will take geocachers to each of our county's 19 parks. I thought this could be a good way to introduce some folks to the world of geocaching by announcing a contest that would award the first person to find the final container with some kind of prize. And by prize, I don't mean a piece of swag found in the container, but something like concert tickets, a loaded gift card, or something else of relatively high value. My question is, is there some kind of rule against such a contest? I know commercial geocaches aren't allowed, but I don't think offering concert tickets would necessarily be considered promoting or advertising. Or would it? Any input will be much appreciated! Lots of municipalities and tourism bureaus are realizing the potential of geocaching as a benefit. Check out the Help Center section "12. Partnering": http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=72 B. Quote Link to comment
+The_Incredibles_ Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 (edited) You are not supposed to use the name of a business or commercial product on your cache page. For instance,one of our local cachers was giving out gift certificates to local businesses and was not allowed to name the businesses specifically on the cache page. For Canadian Tire, for instance, he referred to it as "national automobile parts" on the cache page. However, depending on the reviwer, you can sometimes get away with it. For instance, with my first cache, I put down there was a $10 gift card for Gardenworks and that seemed to slip through. I agree with others about 19 individual caches. We have a tour like that in our province where you visit many differnet caches in different towns and at each one you get a sticker or write down a number and when your book is full, you can mail it in for a geocoin. Called geotourism. If you're going to give out a prize, don't just give out 1 large prize, maybe give out prizes to the first 3 or even 10 cachers to complete it. Edited August 5, 2012 by The_Incredibles_ Quote Link to comment
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