random rules and what not

[+zays]

I don't know where to post this so I am going to post it here.Please let me know if this is possible.I want to make track able chess pieces and hide them in Nyc caches as gifts and who ever takes pictures with the whole set or keeps the whole set gets a custom New York city neighborhood map chess board that I have made.So the question. is this idea ok to do or is it frowned upon.and if it's frowned upon would i still be able to do something like it within the rules?

[+tallglenn]

I'm confused - are the chess pieces trackables (which are generally meant to keep moving) or gifts (for people to keep)? Last I checked, a Travel Bug tag cost around $15 each. Perhaps they are unactivated trackables that you are giving away? Either way, I doubt that one person would be able to end up with ALL of them! No doubt some of them would travel to different states and countries. Trackables are also notorious for getting lost. I would love to see a photo of your handmade chessboard - maybe you could post a picture with each chess piece.

[+cerberus1]

The odds of someone randomly collecting the entire set is pretty slim.

I'd attach the tag to each, so folks don't think it's a broken-up set (and now geotrash), not even noticing a tracking number's there somewhere.

[+kunarion]

I don't know where to post this so I am going to post it here.Please let me know if this is possible.I want to make track able chess pieces and hide them in Nyc caches as gifts and who ever takes pictures with the whole set or keeps the whole set gets a custom New York city neighborhood map chess board that I have made.So the question. is this idea ok to do or is it frowned upon.and if it's frowned upon would i still be able to do something like it within the rules?

It's OK to have a contest involving your Trackables. If you buy and activate a whole chess set worth of Travel Bugs and attach each to a chess piece, then you could place them into caches. They'd each be best with an information tag as well, about the contest details. Each TB page could also have details, and I guess the contest ends after one winner, so that's an important detail.

 

The issue as mentioned is how any one person could obtain or even locate the whole set of TBs. What happens if more than one person is keeping the TBs, hoping for the prize? Or if some of the TBs become misplaced? Or if some end up halfway across the planet?

 

It could work if there are a lot of duplicates, or if people don't actually need a whole set in order to win. There have been contests for promotional Trackables where finders take a picture of the item in a creative way, and photos are judged and winners are selected. If a finder could win by finding just one of the TBs, that's a viable contest.

 

You could place in caches, clues to a hidden prize (the solution producing coordinates to some secret location, maybe). The clues could be on the Trackables, but again, you'd need a bunch of duplicates, otherwise people are just not going to find all the clues.

 

You could place a ton of inexpensive Swag chess pieces, not actually Official Trackable items, but having the info attached. That could be your signature item, and also a contest game piece. Finders could trade and try to be first to complete the set. You will have to somehow convey to people that the contest has ended, once it's done.

 

If you wish for your Trackables to be “kept indefinitely by the finder”, that's a little unusual, but not unheard of. If you intend to activate them in advance, that adds to the confusion, since many people prefer to decide if a “Gift” Trackable is to be activated or not. It's not really a gift if it's activated and owned by you and part of a contest. But you can transfer ownership to a finder if you both do the paperwork. So if that's what you're planning, you can read up on adopting Trackables.

Edited January 15, 2016 by kunarion

[+Walts Hunting]

The odds of winning the Powerball lottery are less than the odds of someone actually collecting all 32 pieces at one time. You might want to go to the trackables forum and count the number of complaints about them not being where they are listed and totally disappearring.

[+Touchstone]

Home made stuff is cool I agree with the others, that the chances of getting a picture with all the pieces seems like a long shot.

 

How about engaging people in an online tournament, using one of the standard notation schemes? Kind of a winner take all for the "geocaching grand champion"?

 

As an aside, I read somewhere of a quilters trading cache once. The cache owner gathered up squares and made them into a quilt and then raffled it off at an Event, or something like that.

 

Good luck and have fun!

[Luckless]

I'll go so far as to say no one will collect the whole set. Maybe just use trackables for people to log and anyone who logs a trackable will be entered to win a complete custom chess set through a random drawing. The winner will be notified through geocaching.com to arrange an exchange of the prize. You won't need to buy a whole lot of trackables that way. Check with Groundspeak to see if this type of contest is allowed.

[+zays]

Sorry was a little sleep deprived so guess I was muddled also you guys make sense.you would just need the black and white queen/king which I would drop in my own caches the other pieces would just be put out for fun randomly people can keep the king queen or snap a pic with them and rerealese. But who ever gets all four first gets the board.I do like the idea of a random drawing also so if any one has any other ideas let me know you guys are awesome

[+J Grouchy]

Sorry was a little sleep deprived so guess I was muddled also you guys make sense.you would just need the black and white queen/king which I would drop in my own caches the other pieces would just be put out for fun randomly people can keep the king queen or snap a pic with them and rerealese. But who ever gets all four first gets the board.I do like the idea of a random drawing also so if any one has any other ideas let me know you guys are awesome

 

All four at the same time? Still problematic as it would only take one person hanging onto one to spoil it for others. I think it would be difficult enough to require someone to "find" all four and take a picture with each. If you put each trackable in different caches on different dates, it would take quite some time for any one person to discover each of them.

[+zays]

Yea you also have a point what if I do a puzzle multi.and at a set date pick one Winer out of the people who finished the multi.

p.s thank you guys for helping me figure this out I honestly think it would be cool to do but wanna make it enjoyable and fun for everyone

Edited January 15, 2016 by zays

[+captnemo]

How about creating a on line chess game that each finder of a piece got to make a move before moving that piece on?

 

The on line game could be a link from each TB page.

[+zays]

Dude that sounds awesome as hell but I don't know crap when it comes to doing somethiing like that but now your going to make me annoy my friends that might know lol so far the random winner is the most possible

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Sorry was a little sleep deprived so guess I was muddled also you guys make sense.you would just need the black and white queen/king which I would drop in my own caches the other pieces would just be put out for fun randomly people can keep the king queen or snap a pic with them and rerealese. But who ever gets all four first gets the board.I do like the idea of a random drawing also so if any one has any other ideas let me know you guys are awesome

 

I like the idea of a drawing as well but don't make it completely random. You could set it up such that submitting a photo of each pieces gets one "ticket" in the draw (the more pieces one discovers the better chance of winning. Schedule a drawing in a couple of months and the winner gets the custom board. You're still going to run into the trouble of people keeping the pieces so only they can get credit for discovering a specific piece. If you asked that each piece remains with the cache and that might help.

 

 

[+zays]

Hmm it's like the best of both worlds sounds great I'm in the procces of makeing the board now don't want to start till the board is done but so far I all these sound great

[+Shiny Black Shoe]

Probably bending the trackable rules but you could secure the trackable to your cache. With a tag saying it is NOT to be removed. So the cacher simply notes the TB code and tracks it... if they get all 4 or all 32 or whatever they "win"

 

Someone may still nick them. Caches get muggled etc. And it doesn't achieve anything that saying the cacher must log these 4 caches wouldn't other than saving you needing to check the paper log if you had doubts they'd been as they would be able to provide it by getting the TB #.

 

Although as I type this I realise YOU could move the pieces about. Actually if you could find 64 caches in an 8 x 8 grid... ...you could play chess with the pieces...

[+Touchstone]

Dude that sounds awesome as hell but I don't know crap when it comes to doing somethiing like that but now your going to make me annoy my friends that might know lol so far the random winner is the most possible

The low tech solution is just to post a picture of the board on the trackable page. When someone makes a move, you update the picture on the page. The biggest issue you'll probably run into is just to get people to play along, would be my guess. The game is so numbercentric, people don't go for this type of playing along so much anymore. Everyone's in a hurry, like it's some sort of race to the finish. Kind of sad, really.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Okay. As of last October, I have found

17 caches in Bronx County

22 caches in Kings County

363 caches in New York County

41 caches in Queens County and

2 caches in Richmond County

Um... 445 caches and they are almost all micros! How are you going to hide anything in those caches?

[+zays]

We first I thought of the grid but then decide to give away a board caause people would move the tag outta NYC second the whole reason I'm doing this is to place more small or non Micros in my area cause there is like only 5 lol when I started there where more now they are archived

[+vw_k]

There is a cache here in the UK where you have to discover 2 Travel Bugs, one with the Northings and one for the Eastings for a puzzle cache, once you have discovered both you have the co-ordinates to the cache. You could set up a similar cache and put the chess board in for the FTF.

[+wimseyguy]

Maybe just host a chess tournament event?

Assuming there are enough chess playing cachers in the area?

[+bflentje]

I am still trying to figure out what a "whatnot" is.

[+zays]

It's not really about me playing chess

 

Whatnot:used to refer to an item or items that are not identified but are felt to have something in common with items already named.

[+MartyBartfast]

I am still trying to figure out what a "whatnot" is.

 

In the furniture/Antiques trade this is a whatnot

 

 

Though this may be specific to the UK.

Edited January 19, 2016 by MartyBartfast