Difference between Field Puzzle and a Multi?

[+stevepre2]

Hi all,

I hid a cache where you I listed the Coords with filling in the last 3 numbers of North and West as ABC DEF. The coordinates takes you to a neat gravestone and you answer questions from the gravestone that give you the values for ABCDEF that you put in to give you the coords to the final. I first listed it as a multi and the reviewer had me change it to a puzzle. Since then I have done multi's that take you to a sign or something else where you get numbers and do the same thing. So, what is the difference between a field puzzle and a multi cache since I have seen even newer multis that do not have a physical container at the first coordinates?

 

Stevepre2

[+J Grouchy]

Hi all,

I hid a cache where you I listed the Coords with filling in the last 3 numbers of North and West as ABC DEF. The coordinates takes you to a neat gravestone and you answer questions from the gravestone that give you the values for ABCDEF that you put in to give you the coords to the final. I first listed it as a multi and the reviewer had me change it to a puzzle. Since then I have done multi's that take you to a sign or something else where you get numbers and do the same thing. So, what is the difference between a field puzzle and a multi cache since I have seen even newer multis that do not have a physical container at the first coordinates?

 

Stevepre2

 

I think that's a subjective thing. I have a three-stage cache listed as a '?' cache that uses a field puzzle to solve another puzzle to get to the next stage...where there are coordinates to get you to the third stage. I probably should have listed it as a multi...but I think it's really just up to the reviewer and ours didn't correct me.

Edited September 27, 2013 by J Grouchy

[+Isonzo Karst]

I'd say your reviewer was just wrong. This is an off-set multi-cache, and not a mystery.

 

There used to be better language about this in the multi-cache section of the listing guidelines, but that language is gone.

 

In 2008 this paragraph was in the Listing Guidelines as part of the Multi-Cache section:

 

Offset caches are a variation on multi-caches. They are listed as a multi-cache when selecting a cache type. They are not found by simply going to some coordinates and finding a cache there. With the offset cache the published coordinates could be of an existing historical monument, plaque, or even a benchmark that you would like to have your cache hunter visit. At this spot, the hunter looks for numbers or information already appearing on the marker or on some part of the marker or site (geocachers NEVER deface public or private property). The geocacher is then able to manipulate these numbers or information using instructions posted on the cache page to continue the hunt

[+stevepre2]

The advantage I would see to making them a Multi is I believe any multi you can load the coords and be at the first stage. The mystery cache may or may not be. If it is a field puzzle or challenge cache, then the mystery cache coords are good. I believe some may be skipping the field puzzles I have because they think they have to solve something first. I do have the word field puzzle in every title now, but some may not pay attention to mystery caches since they don't want to take time resolving them.

 

So, if the above scenerio is a multi, what would make something a field puzzle?

Edited September 27, 2013 by stevepre2

[+niraD]

I've seen regional variations. Around here (SF Bay area), multi-stage caches that require only copying information from plaques and monuments are consistently listed as multi-caches. But when I visited Massachusetts last year, such caches were consistently listed as mystery/puzzle caches.

 

IMHO, the cache as you've described it should be a multi-cache, similar to GC1EM3H or GC14TJH.

[+niraD]

So, if the above scenerio is a multi, what would make something a field puzzle?

What is required to get the coordinates for the next stage, or to get some of the coordinates for the final stage, or whatever else it is you need to get from the current stage of the multi-stage cache?

 

If it involves only copying information (e.g., the last digit of a date, or the number of non-humans in the sculpture) and basic arithmetic (e.g., the number of non-humans in the sculpture plus 2, or the last digit of one date times the last digit of another date), then it is a multi-cache.

 

If it involves something more (e.g., solving the Sudoku puzzle or the Rubik's cube found at the first stage, or noticing some discreet cable ties and figuring out how to extract coordinates from their arrangement), then it is a mystery/puzzle cache.

 

IMHO, and all that.

[+stevepre2]

Thanks for the explanation. Should I change them from Mystery to Multi? Will it even allow me? If I do change it, maybe it would mess up someone who found it and used it as part of a challenge cache?

[+Don_J]

Thanks for the explanation. Should I change them from Mystery to Multi? Will it even allow me? If I do change it, maybe it would mess up someone who found it and used it as part of a challenge cache?

 

Once a cache is published, only a reviewer can change the cache type. Even if you could change it, I would stick with what your reviewer said, even if it is may be wrong. If you had tried to publish that cache as a puzzle in my area, our reviewer would have asked you to change it to a multi, so what's the real answer when even the reviewers can't decide?

 

Around here, if the coordinates listed at the top of the listing bring you to an object with numbers on it and you use those numbers to derive the next or final stage, then it's a multi, even if you need a Cray computer to do the math.

Edited September 28, 2013 by Don_J