A Puzzle Cache Unsolved

[+Dogmeat*]

We have a local puzzle cache that has gone unsolved since it was published. The owner likes to make difficult caches, and this one is difficult without anyone even finding it yet. As of right now, there are 371 failed attempts at solving it, and about 12 of those are mine mostly from taking random six letter words he used on the cache page and turning the letters into numbers, as his Sudoku directions state. A few people have solved the Sudoku he made and said it's solution doesn't work because there are three different solutions or something, so I'm trying to find alternative routs with no prevail. I'm positive the Sudoku is just a ruse to confuse us.

 

Ever come across a puzzle that was never solved? Do people go nuts over those unsolved, or just ignore them? Something about it being unsolved makes me want to solve it even more.

[+niraD]

Do people go nuts over those unsolved, or just ignore them?

Yes.

[+lamoracke]

Here you go, go solve this one.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC167RW_dharma-initiative-phase-ii-graduation?guid=671c7cb1-a682-4ba1-aa1c-16592580cd81

[+T.D.M.22]

Yup. Had one that was in the top 10 hardest on geochecker. In fact the person who solved it was thousands of miles away. Didn't find it, he just wanted to solve it. I think it was over two years from published o first correct answer.

Edited October 10, 2013 by T.D.M.22

[+Traditional Bill]

It seems in my area people go crazy over them at first, but once the hype dies out, they get forgotten. I had one puzzle that went a few months unsolved, but there was one puzzler in my area with some determination that eventually solved and found it. That's the one and only time it's been found.

[+etphoneme2plz]

MOST of the puzzle caches are just too hard for me to figure out. I've been working on a local one for MONTHS! lolI usually glance at them and if it's not slapping me in the face I move on.....

[+The Rat]

We had one that went unsolved for ages until local puzzlers proved that it was not solvable within geocaching guidelines (because they placed caches all around the posted coordinates until the only space left within two miles was on a private golf course green). When they notified the reviewer, that reviewer contacted the CO who admitted that there really was no cache. He had made the puzzle unsolvable thinking he would drive everyone nuts and it wouldn't be discovered. The reviewer was livid and the CO was never trusted again so his caches were no longer approved. He eventually moved to a different area and only hid regular caches.

[+dphickey]

Unsolved for 2 years... CO said he provide a hint at one point but there was so much local buzz he decided against it.

http://coord.info/GC341XG

[+Yorkshire Yellow]

There's a couple by me which haven't been found yet since being published - Battle Of Nibley Green 2013 and Riddle Street.

[+fizzymagic]

Making an effectively unsolvable puzzle is easy. Hiding an un-findable cache is easy.

 

For some reason, there are people that seem to believe that making an unsolvable puzzle or hiding an un-findable cache shows that they are smarter/better than everyone else. They get a kick from other people's frustration.

 

It's just a part of human nature. We have a couple of such puzzles in my area as we speak. But the good thing about my local community is that people tend to figure out that the puzzle is not solvable pretty quickly, so everyone just ignores it and gets on with their lives. It is perhaps a little regrettable that the unsolvable/un-findable cache takes up space, but it's no worse than space taken up by lame caches.

[+Fugads]

I second fizzymagic's assessment that some people enjoy watching others get totally frustrated with their puzzles/hides. In my area we have a bunch of these. I don't necessarily think that those that hide these think they are better/smarter than everyone else, they just like to cause a little mischief. I don't see anything necessarily wrong with this. Everyone plays the game they way they want to. Perhaps in some ways doing this helps those people vent their frustration from other caching experiences? I'll take a stab at some of these purposefully vengeful caches now and again, just because I don't mind taking on Quixotic challenges every now and again. Besides, whon doesn't love racking up a few choice DNFs?

[+kunarion]

I second fizzymagic's assessment that some people enjoy watching others get totally frustrated with their puzzles/hides. In my area we have a bunch of these. I don't necessarily think that those that hide these think they are better/smarter than everyone else, they just like to cause a little mischief. I don't see anything necessarily wrong with this. Everyone plays the game they way they want to. Perhaps in some ways doing this helps those people vent their frustration from other caching experiences? I'll take a stab at some of these purposefully vengeful caches now and again, just because I don't mind taking on Quixotic challenges every now and again. Besides, whon doesn't love racking up a few choice DNFs?

Several of my caches are the kind I have a very hard time finding, set up in a way I'd enjoy finding them if I could. Most people seem to find them just fine, and it was certainly not my intention that cachers would have difficulty. Still, I actually worried about these being impossible to find -- and how many DNFs I should accept before it becomes an "impossible" cache. I enjoy interacting with most of the local cachers, and my impossible caches would put a damper on lots of conversations. And I'm pretty sure the one or two who have the ridiculous puzzles and impossible caches, and who taunt us mortals over our inferiority, are people I would not want to meet.