Jump to content

Mission GC Summer Souvenirs


niraD

Recommended Posts

That's only because some people can't keep a secret.

 

I'd rather say it is because there are many people who seek out help to solve the puzzle and get it in public places like the official geocaching blog.

Anything else that happens is irrelevant when taking the blog into account (which is under GS's control - so apparently they do not care).

 

Geocaching.com's official Twitter account tweeted out a link to the puzzle. Apparently the creators of the secret themselves can't keep their own secret!

 

Link?

 

I looked and couldn't see anything about a link to a puzzle. Maybe I'm as non-compliant with twitting as I am with fazebooking.

 

B.

 

Look at GoGeocaching's timeline two days ago.

Link to comment

That's only because some people can't keep a secret.

 

I'd rather say it is because there are many people who seek out help to solve the puzzle and get it in public places like the official geocaching blog.

Anything else that happens is irrelevant when taking the blog into account (which is under GS's control - so apparently they do not care).

 

Geocaching.com's official Twitter account tweeted out a link to the puzzle. Apparently the creators of the secret themselves can't keep their own secret!

 

Link?

 

I looked and couldn't see anything about a link to a puzzle. Maybe I'm as non-compliant with twitting as I am with fazebooking.

 

B.

 

Look at GoGeocaching's timeline two days ago.

 

I found it. You have to look at tweets with replies. It was in response to something someone else posted on the @GoGeocaching timeline regarding the formatting of the PDF. Apparently the PDF doesn't have margins wide enough and cause it to print out a PDF with the portion of the maze cut off.

 

I didn't get a copy of the solution to the first one via email as I expected and don't recall seeing it on my twitter feed either.

 

 

Link to comment

Darn... I did not receive the first message because I didn't have "tips and tricks" turned on. Now I turned it on, and I still didn't get the second message. And no, it's not in my spam folder either.

I'm in the same boat. I sent a request to the Help Centre yesterday but just got a boilerplate response telling me to look in the spam folder, which I'd already done. Sigh. I'm getting all the other Groundspeak emails, just not these ones.

I sent a follow-up response saying I'd done all those things - Tips and Tricks is enabled, there's no spam filter blocking them - but wasn't receiving the souvenir emails, and this morning I received this reply:

To make sure you receive the next following messages for Mission GC in a few weeks, please make sure to enable “Tips & Tricks” in the Email Preferences of your account settings and create a filter in your Email Inbox settings to allow all emails from "Geocaching@communication.geocaching.com".

Agh! Do they actually read what people send them? I give up.

Link to comment

Darn... I did not receive the first message because I didn't have "tips and tricks" turned on. Now I turned it on, and I still didn't get the second message. And no, it's not in my spam folder either.

I'm in the same boat. I sent a request to the Help Centre yesterday but just got a boilerplate response telling me to look in the spam folder, which I'd already done. Sigh. I'm getting all the other Groundspeak emails, just not these ones.

I sent a follow-up response saying I'd done all those things - Tips and Tricks is enabled, there's no spam filter blocking them - but wasn't receiving the souvenir emails, and this morning I received this reply:

To make sure you receive the next following messages for Mission GC in a few weeks, please make sure to enable “Tips & Tricks” in the Email Preferences of your account settings and create a filter in your Email Inbox settings to allow all emails from "Geocaching@communication.geocaching.com".

Agh! Do they actually read what people send them? I give up.

 

http://view.communication.geocaching.com/?qs=b8b5cb02761c8aafc42641756043789f4390e2d893a1f8e14194e7c7269e46a3424f5cb602465aeaf4f68ff6de676445e4a5ad0f41f44cbc9f2d951d97f3f54b1d8f983fd53f11fb

 

https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2016/08/hints-for-mission-gc-message-2/

 

B.

Edited by Pup Patrol
Link to comment

Has Groundspeak ever done an Olympic souvenir? Seems like that would be a cool one.

That's unlikely to happen. The International Olympic Committee is very strict about licensing surrounding the "Olympic" brand. They even went after a restaurant in Vancouver named "Olympia" in the lead-up to the 2010 games. I doubt Groundspeak would be willing to pay for the rights to use the Olympic brand just for a souvenir.

Link to comment
The International Olympic Committee is very strict about licensing surrounding the "Olympic" brand. They even went after a restaurant in Vancouver named "Olympia" in the lead-up to the 2010 games. I doubt Groundspeak would be willing to pay for the rights to use the Olympic brand just for a souvenir.
Yeah, I find it amusing how advertising in late January/early February encourages people to stock up for the Big Game, to have a Super time with a big Bowl of snacks, and so on. All to avoid the Super Bowl™®©℗¹²³ᵃᵇᶜ name.

 

Maybe Groundspeak could issue a Big International Summer Games Souvenir...

Link to comment

Has Groundspeak ever done an Olympic souvenir? Seems like that would be a cool one.

That's unlikely to happen. The International Olympic Committee is very strict about licensing surrounding the "Olympic" brand. They even went after a restaurant in Vancouver named "Olympia" in the lead-up to the 2010 games. I doubt Groundspeak would be willing to pay for the rights to use the Olympic brand just for a souvenir.

 

Licensing issues aside, it wouldn't be the first time GS created a souvenir to celebrate something that has nothing to do with geocaching.

Link to comment

Has Groundspeak ever done an Olympic souvenir? Seems like that would be a cool one.

That's unlikely to happen. The International Olympic Committee is very strict about licensing surrounding the "Olympic" brand. They even went after a restaurant in Vancouver named "Olympia" in the lead-up to the 2010 games. I doubt Groundspeak would be willing to pay for the rights to use the Olympic brand just for a souvenir.

 

Licensing issues aside, it wouldn't be the first time GS created a souvenir to celebrate something that has nothing to do with geocaching.

 

It has no direct association with geocaching, but does it have any deeper meaning than finding a cache with 10 or more favorite points? It would be more a memory so a cacher can say, "Oh yeah, I remember caching during that summer."

Link to comment

Has Groundspeak ever done an Olympic souvenir? Seems like that would be a cool one.

That's unlikely to happen. The International Olympic Committee is very strict about licensing surrounding the "Olympic" brand. They even went after a restaurant in Vancouver named "Olympia" in the lead-up to the 2010 games. I doubt Groundspeak would be willing to pay for the rights to use the Olympic brand just for a souvenir.

 

Licensing issues aside, it wouldn't be the first time GS created a souvenir to celebrate something that has nothing to do with geocaching.

 

It has no direct association with geocaching, but does it have any deeper meaning than finding a cache with 10 or more favorite points? It would be more a memory so a cacher can say, "Oh yeah, I remember caching during that summer."

 

I pretty much agree. Finding a cache with 10 or more favorite points on a weekend in August is only slightly more related to geocaching than finding any type of cache on the first day of the year or on PI day.

 

A souvenir for finding a cache in Rio during the Olympics might be a worthy memory but not finding a cache before sitting on the couch to watch handball.

Link to comment

After wasting an inordinate amount of time enabling "tips and tricks" and authorizing all emails from geocaching, so as not to lose anything to the spam folder, I finally got Puzzle 1 and spent more time solving it, only to find I had no idea what to do with the decrypted solution. Now Puzzle 2 is out, but it did not arrive as an email, nor am I going to waste any more time hunting for it or trying to solve it because I still have no clue what anyone does with the solution. August 2016 be memorable for me as the one where Groundspeak tied PokemonGo for raising my blood pressure instead of being a fun game.

Link to comment

After wasting an inordinate amount of time enabling "tips and tricks" and authorizing all emails from geocaching, so as not to lose anything to the spam folder, I finally got Puzzle 1 and spent more time solving it, only to find I had no idea what to do with the decrypted solution. Now Puzzle 2 is out, but it did not arrive as an email, nor am I going to waste any more time hunting for it or trying to solve it because I still have no clue what anyone does with the solution. August 2016 be memorable for me as the one where Groundspeak tied PokemonGo for raising my blood pressure instead of being a fun game.

 

If you received the message from Groundspeak, at the bottom of the puzzle there is a box, "Enter the decoded message here" click this and enter the password: this is the decoded message. Remember no spaces, if all goes well you should see the mission.

Link to comment

After wasting an inordinate amount of time enabling "tips and tricks" and authorizing all emails from geocaching, so as not to lose anything to the spam folder, I finally got Puzzle 1 and spent more time solving it, only to find I had no idea what to do with the decrypted solution. Now Puzzle 2 is out, but it did not arrive as an email, nor am I going to waste any more time hunting for it or trying to solve it because I still have no clue what anyone does with the solution. August 2016 be memorable for me as the one where Groundspeak tied PokemonGo for raising my blood pressure instead of being a fun game.

 

No spaces, all caps for this one.

 

Click on the first link in my post, scroll down, and click on "enter the decoded message here"

 

Edited by Pup Patrol
Link to comment

Anybody want to guess what you have to do to get Souvenir#3 on the 27th and 28th? I have a good idea without even solving/seeing the puzzle.

 

It's the same thing every year in August; it's just in a different wrapping this year.

Link to comment

Anybody want to guess what you have to do to get Souvenir#3 on the 27th and 28th? I have a good idea without even solving/seeing the puzzle.

 

It's the same thing every year in August; it's just in a different wrapping this year.

 

You sound a little bored with summer souvenirs, yet looking at your profile, it doesn't seem to have stopped you from getting every souvenir offered in August to date.

 

The point is to have a month to celebrate geocaching. As part of that, Groundspeak puts out souvenirs to encourage folks who don't cache as much to get out there and find some; and to those who only find traditionals, to branch out and see what else geocaching has to offer.

 

If you have a suggestion to improve the program for next year, I'm sure Groundspeak would like to hear it.

Edited by hzoi
Link to comment

Hi hzoi, you are correct about souvenirs encouraging folks, like us, to get out and find a cache.

 

We did geocache while in a different area of BC, however since moving farther south: it just was not the same.

 

So we switched gears and now mostly waymark, but do geocache in new states and provinces we travel.

Link to comment

Anybody want to guess what you have to do to get Souvenir#3 on the 27th and 28th? I have a good idea without even solving/seeing the puzzle.

 

It's the same thing every year in August; it's just in a different wrapping this year.

 

You sound a little bored with summer souvenirs, yet looking at your profile, it doesn't seem to have stopped you from getting every souvenir offered in August to date.

 

The point is to have a month to celebrate geocaching. As part of that, Groundspeak puts out souvenirs to encourage folks who don't cache as much to get out there and find some; and to those who only find traditionals, to branch out and see what else geocaching has to offer.

 

If you have a suggestion to improve the program for next year, I'm sure Groundspeak would like to hear it.

 

It's not that I'm bored with the summer souvenirs (I do like them) but it just seems to be the same thing every year. A cache with 10+ favorites, a multi, a mystery (puzzle) cache or earth cache. I did like the d5 or t5 they did last year as it will bring more traffic to those particular caches since cachers seem to be going for P&G's more and more these days. I totally agree with you about getting people out and finding more than just traditionals though. I did like the 7 souvenirs of summer from 2014.

Edited by Reno8
Link to comment

Anybody want to guess what you have to do to get Souvenir#3 on the 27th and 28th?

Virtual/EarthCache/Webcam.

 

At least, that's what I hope it is. I'll be confined to Manhattan for those two days and won't have too many options for finding caches with tougher requirements. At least there are plenty of EarthCaches and Virtuals there.

Link to comment
Anybody want to guess what you have to do to get Souvenir#3 on the 27th and 28th?
Virtual/EarthCache/Webcam.

 

At least, that's what I hope it is. I'll be confined to Manhattan for those two days and won't have too many options for finding caches with tougher requirements. At least there are plenty of EarthCaches and Virtuals there.

Given that basic users will have only a day's notice, and that premium members will have only a week's notice, I don't see Groundspeak choosing anything too aggressive. I enjoyed the D5/T5 souvenir last year, but those kinds of caches need a bit more planning/preparation than this year's promotion seems to allow. Something "simple" like a virtual, webcam, or EarthCache will be hard enough.
Link to comment

Anybody want to guess what you have to do to get Souvenir#3 on the 27th and 28th? I have a good idea without even solving/seeing the puzzle.

 

It's the same thing every year in August; it's just in a different wrapping this year.

 

You sound a little bored with summer souvenirs, yet looking at your profile, it doesn't seem to have stopped you from getting every souvenir offered in August to date.

 

The point is to have a month to celebrate geocaching. As part of that, Groundspeak puts out souvenirs to encourage folks who don't cache as much to get out there and find some; and to those who only find traditionals, to branch out and see what else geocaching has to offer.

 

If you have a suggestion to improve the program for next year, I'm sure Groundspeak would like to hear it.

 

It's not that I'm bored with the summer souvenirs (I do like them) but it just seems to be the same thing every year. A cache with 10+ favorites, a multi, a mystery (puzzle) cache or earth cache. I did like the d5 or t5 they did last year as it will bring more traffic to those particular caches since cachers seem to be going for P&G's more and more these days. I totally agree with you about getting people out and finding more than just traditionals though. I did like the 7 souvenirs of summer from 2014.

 

I've enjoyed the souvenirs as a reminder to diversify my portfolio. They are getting a little static, but the puzzles this year were an interesting twist. To answer my own challenge, I don't have an idea to make next year's more exciting.

 

As for a guess, perhaps something more out of left field, like go get a Wherigo. Or go find an A.P.E. cache. :anibad: Nah, probably neither of those. Letterbox?

Link to comment

Anybody want to guess what you have to do to get Souvenir#3 on the 27th and 28th? I have a good idea without even solving/seeing the puzzle.

 

It's the same thing every year in August; it's just in a different wrapping this year.

 

You sound a little bored with summer souvenirs, yet looking at your profile, it doesn't seem to have stopped you from getting every souvenir offered in August to date.

 

The point is to have a month to celebrate geocaching. As part of that, Groundspeak puts out souvenirs to encourage folks who don't cache as much to get out there and find some; and to those who only find traditionals, to branch out and see what else geocaching has to offer.

 

If you have a suggestion to improve the program for next year, I'm sure Groundspeak would like to hear it.

 

It's not that I'm bored with the summer souvenirs (I do like them) but it just seems to be the same thing every year. A cache with 10+ favorites, a multi, a mystery (puzzle) cache or earth cache. I did like the d5 or t5 they did last year as it will bring more traffic to those particular caches since cachers seem to be going for P&G's more and more these days. I totally agree with you about getting people out and finding more than just traditionals though. I did like the 7 souvenirs of summer from 2014.

 

I enjoyed the 31 Days of August from 2013...though I could never run a streak like that again since I've pretty much found all but a handful of caches in my caching radius.

Link to comment

Hi hzoi, you are correct about souvenirs encouraging folks, like us, to get out and find a cache.

 

I find out about souvenirs after I get them, I never went out especially to "earn" one. I consider country souvenirs real souvenirs as they remind me of finds in a certain country but "days in August" kind of stuff?? Don't remember any of the caches associated with them.

Link to comment

Well, it was a great weekend for searching for a cache for the souvenir! Heat advisory in effect. Heat Index at 105° to 110°! At least in the northeast US of A.

Hope the next will not be a webcam. They are grandfathered, but none even close nearby. Letterbox or EarthCache would be no problem. I save them for souvenirs.

Link to comment

Well, it was a great weekend for searching for a cache for the souvenir! Heat advisory in effect. Heat Index at 105° to 110°! At least in the northeast US of A.

Hope the next will not be a webcam. They are grandfathered, but none even close nearby. Letterbox or EarthCache would be no problem. I save them for souvenirs.

Most Letterboxes around me are pmo anymore, so that would leave out a lotta basic folks.

Earthcaches would work. I sorta set 'em aside for some odd reason too. :)

Link to comment

Well, it was a great weekend for searching for a cache for the souvenir! Heat advisory in effect. Heat Index at 105° to 110°! At least in the northeast US of A.

Hope the next will not be a webcam. They are grandfathered, but none even close nearby. Letterbox or EarthCache would be no problem. I save them for souvenirs.

It's been about 100 here this weekend. Not the best weather to cache in, but I still ended up caching both days. Yesterday, we did some boat caching which was really nice (even though it was just a 50% find rate). We ended up in a cemetery just after sundown to get our multi for the weekend. That's the way to cache in this heat. Of course I found one in the middle of the day today (a local unofficial geotour that I'm slowly working on). I tried to be quick in and out of the air conditioned car. :rolleyes:

Link to comment

Well, it was a great weekend for searching for a cache for the souvenir! Heat advisory in effect. Heat Index at 105° to 110°! At least in the northeast US of A.

Hope the next will not be a webcam. They are grandfathered, but none even close nearby. Letterbox or EarthCache would be no problem. I save them for souvenirs.

 

I'd have to cross the border and drive for hours to find my closest unfound webcam!

 

Based on the past souvenirs, I expect it will be something a little easier than that. Maybe a terrain or difficulty minimum. Or a special cache type like Earthcache. Looking forward to it!

Link to comment

I'd have to cross the border and drive for hours to find my closest unfound webcam!

I suspect that it's would be one of the three remaining web cams in the state of New York. As it turns out, I'll be in the same small town as one of them on the weekend of the 27/28th but I found it several years ago.

 

Cross borders, I'll be crossing half of the world (Germany to LA). It will be interesting to see what is required for the 27/28 of August.

 

Germany to LA is only about a 1/4 of the way around the world and I assume that you're not just going to LA to find a geocache.

 

 

Edited by NYPaddleCacher
Link to comment

Don't know what will be next but found out I got another souvenir this weekend without doing anything special ( I like non traditionals anyway). This weekend's caches were prepared during the previous 3-4 weeks as we stayed overnight in the area. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if I'd get the next souvenir too without any effort. ;)

Link to comment

I know its all speculation, so I throw in my thought that it has to deal with Trackables.

 

I certainly hope not. People have made a complete mess of trackables, without any incentive like a souvenir. There's nothing in the history of the August souvenir promotion that would indicate trackables will be involved.

 

Hoping for an Earthcache. I like those, and they've been part of the previous promotions.

 

B.

Link to comment

I'm placing my money on a social gathering. 'Attend an Event or CITO event during this weekend'.

 

And keeping with the souvenir names being nods to James Bond titles, I'm expecting something like "Live and Let's Socialize" or "The Cacher's Who Love It".

Link to comment

I'm placing my money on a social gathering. 'Attend an Event or CITO event during this weekend'.

 

And keeping with the souvenir names being nods to James Bond titles, I'm expecting something like "Live and Let's Socialize" or "The Cacher's Who Love It".

 

There won't be enough time for people to organise an event between getting the notification and the souvenir date, and relying on there just happening to be enough events already organised isn't going to work.

Link to comment

I'm placing my money on a social gathering. 'Attend an Event or CITO event during this weekend'.

 

And keeping with the souvenir names being nods to James Bond titles, I'm expecting something like "Live and Let's Socialize" or "The Cacher's Who Love It".

 

There won't be enough time for people to organise an event between getting the notification and the souvenir date, and relying on there just happening to be enough events already organised isn't going to work.

 

Why not? They relied on there just happening to be caches with enough favorite points and multi caches.

Link to comment

I'm placing my money on a social gathering. 'Attend an Event or CITO event during this weekend'.

 

And keeping with the souvenir names being nods to James Bond titles, I'm expecting something like "Live and Let's Socialize" or "The Cacher's Who Love It".

There won't be enough time for people to organise an event between getting the notification and the souvenir date, and relying on there just happening to be enough events already organised isn't going to work.

There's also a CITO souvenir coming next month, so it would seem somewhat redundant. Especially if there's a possible "bonus" souvenir for attending an event on Saturday.

Link to comment

There won't be enough time for people to organise an event between getting the notification and the souvenir date, and relying on there just happening to be enough events already organised isn't going to work.

 

Why not? They relied on there just happening to be caches with enough favorite points and multi caches.

 

1) Events are rarer than caches with lots of FPs or multi-caches. I just did a quick check: from where I live in the suburbs, searching in a 50 mile radius, there are:

  • 900 caches with at least 10 FPs
  • 380 multicaches
  • 2 events being held that weekend

 

While not every souvenir has to be accessible by everyone, Groundspeak's modus operandi in souvenirs lately seems to be in favor of keeping the barrier to earning a souvenir easier rather than harder.

 

2) Also, caches can be manufactured pretty quickly to meet certain conditions ... events have to be scheduled at least two weeks in advance.

Link to comment

There won't be enough time for people to organise an event between getting the notification and the souvenir date, and relying on there just happening to be enough events already organised isn't going to work.

 

Why not? They relied on there just happening to be caches with enough favorite points and multi caches.

 

1) Events are rarer than caches with lots of FPs or multi-caches. I just did a quick check: from where I live in the suburbs, searching in a 50 mile radius, there are:

  • 900 caches with at least 10 FPs
  • 380 multicaches
  • 2 events being held that weekend

 

 

I was going to reply with something similar but Team Hugs made the point.

 

Also GS has a history of giving out souvenirs for events (Leap Day, and others), but when they do that the publicise it well in advance to give people the chance to organise something. If they issue a souvenir for attending an event with only 1 week's notice then a great wailing and gnashing of teeth will ensue.

Edited by MartyBartfast
Link to comment

The 'hint' I saw was the code name YAPIDKA (yet another park I didn't know about)

 

On the mission pages (when you've entered the correct password), the first mission (for the 10 Favs) was in a file labeled YAPIDKA; the second mission (for the multi) was in a file labelled "Bee Dance"; the third file (presumably for the third mission) is labelled "TNLNSL". If we're to take those labels literally then that would suggest the third mission will be for for something where you sign a log, which would exclude Virtuals, Webcams, Events, and Earth Caches. or maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

Link to comment

On the mission pages (when you've entered the correct password), the first mission (for the 10 Favs) was in a file labeled YAPIDKA; the second mission (for the multi) was in a file labelled "Bee Dance"; the third file (presumably for the third mission) is labelled "TNLNSL". If we're to take those labels literally then that would suggest the third mission will be for for something where you sign a log, which would exclude Virtuals, Webcams, Events, and Earth Caches. or maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

Could be a size thing - find a Micro or Small? TN, LN, SL.

Link to comment

There's not to many virtuals, Webcams, Events, or Earth Caches around in general compared to the others (especially webcams). I think it would be unfair if they made it one of those. I would have to figure out a road trip if it ended up being one of those. The closet Webcam to me is in Cape Cod and that would be a 3-4 hour drive one way. I've done all the Earth caches around me for about 50 miles as well and besides they may offer a souvenir for International Earth Cache Day on Oct.9th. Already looking into an Earth Cache to do in case they do.

 

I'm hoping it's a puzzle cache as I have a few of them solved that are nearby but haven't had a chance to go look for them yet.

Link to comment
I really doubt it would be anything involving a grandfathered cache type. It would cause too many problems and incite too many complaints.
In past years, they've included the grandfathered types virtual and webcam as options, but other (less rare) types could be used to earn the souvenir as well. Something like that could work for this year's promotion.
Link to comment
I really doubt it would be anything involving a grandfathered cache type. It would cause too many problems and incite too many complaints.
In past years, they've included the grandfathered types virtual and webcam as options, but other (less rare) types could be used to earn the souvenir as well. Something like that could work for this year's promotion.

 

That's true. I guess what I meant is that I don't think it will be something that can *only* be achieved with a grandfathered type.

Link to comment

Let me put this question to everybody!

 

Let's say you're on vacation somewhere and grab some caches including an Earth Cache. You log all the other ones but you decided to wait until International Earth Cache Day to log the Earth Cache to get the souvenir. Do you feel this is "wrong" or maybe a less strong word would be unethical? After all you aren't actually signing the log with a date so what does it matter when you actually log the find!

 

Like Linda Richman on Coffee Talk would say......Discuss!

Link to comment

Let me put this question to everybody!

 

Let's say you're on vacation somewhere and grab some caches including an Earth Cache. You log all the other ones but you decided to wait until International Earth Cache Day to log the Earth Cache to get the souvenir. Do you feel this is "wrong" or maybe a less strong word would be unethical? After all you aren't actually signing the log with a date so what does it matter when you actually log the find!

 

Like Linda Richman on Coffee Talk would say......Discuss!

 

The point of the souvenir is to go out and find an Earthcache on that day. What is the value of the souvenir if you lied to get it?

 

More importantly, why would you lie to other people? Falsifying the date of your visit can affect other cachers as well as the cache owner because it results in false information on the cache page.

 

And if the cache owner notices what you did, it puts him/her in the awkward position of possibly deleting the log or asking you to correct it.

 

Why would a good geocacher knowingly do something so hurtful to others?

Edited by narcissa
Link to comment
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...