Challenge Suggestions?

[+CCFsmile]

Hello Cachers Who Like Challenges,

I'm planning to make a challenge cache and am aware of most guidelines and I know where to find them. I thought I would come to the forums and see if I might pick peoples' brains for some interesting ideas. I know it can't be time limited (bit sad about that since the 'doing a bunch of things in one day' was fun!). I obviously have to qualify and so it needs to be interesting but not onerous. I thought maybe I would list a few things I think I fulfill and some kind folks might suggest a combo or add ideas.

 

• Caches found in X number of countries (I have 6 total I think, but say 3 maybe, since Canada and US are easy enough for here).
• Also caches found in at least 5 states.
• Number of caches found older than 2005 (random date, but when caching was 5 years old). I don't want it to be tough as a Jasmer but fairly tough. I have over 200 that age apparently. (Additional thought: a cache with any combo of 2 and 5 in the name - because of the 25th anniversary - or are names of caches out, as I think they might be?!)
• Number of varied or unusual types of caches - i.e. it has to include a minimum combo of an earthcache, a Wherigo, a letterbox, CITO, locationless, webcam.
• Caches with the D/T combos 4.5/4.5 and 3.5/3.5 (this is random and maybe it could include having a full fizzy though it would be nice to leave it a little more open).

 

Am I nuts? Should I not make it a combo of various things? Generally thinking, something that looks more difficult than it is and something than anyone who travels and has more than - I dunno - say 2,500 finds, would likely fulfill.

 

I would love for it to be funny and creative and do-able. It will be placed in New England, probably in the Connecticut River valley along the I-91 corridor (but not on the highway!). Anyway I know there are some good ideas out there - bring them on! And thanks for reading this far 

[+MartyBartfast]

One I found interesting was based on the Blockbusters TV quiz show. You have to make a chain left to right and top to bottom on your date found grid.

This one requires you to link cells with at least 10 finds, but you could adjust that to something that you think is difficult enough but doable, even just days with at least 1 find.

Or how about placing 2 based on tic tac toe, you must complete a X for one and a O for the other in your D/T grid, again you could choose the number required for each cell:

[+niraD]

3 hours ago, CCFsmile said:

I thought maybe I would list a few things I think I fulfill and some kind folks might suggest a combo or add ideas.

I like "bingo" challenges, where the CO presents a 5x5 grid, where each square has a different mini-challenge. To qualify, you need to complete mini-challenges that form a straight line (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), just like in the game bingo. Here are a couple examples: GC4ZM2V and GCAJ8HF

 

I also like quad challenges, but those aren't allowed any more.

[Keystone]

3 hours ago, MartyBartfast said:

a O for the other in your D/T grid

 

Check with your Reviewer as to whether the "O" shape constitutes "Grid Art" - which is not allowed.  The "X" is allowed as an exception (among others).

[Keystone]

29 minutes ago, niraD said:

Here are a couple examples: GC4ZM2V and GCAJ8HF

The first example is pre-moratorium and would not be publishable under current Guidelines, for several reasons.  The second example is publishable today, IF the CO qualifies for each and every BINGO square, and enough local geocachers qualify for the challenge or are close to qualifying, and there's "plenty of qualifying caches" within a reasonable distance from the challenge cache.

[+Anders716]

There's a challenge series near me that requires you to get a fizzy of different attributes- for example a fizzy of caches with the Bikes Allowed attribute that I like. 

[+TheLimeCat]

I enjoy the challenges requiring old cache finds, since the ones that are still around tend to be exceptional in some way. Around me, we have a couple pre-moratorium challenges about finding old caches. One required finding every cache placed in the first year of caching in my state. The other required finding every cache placed in the first 4 years in our most populous county.

 

I don't think you could get away with these types of bookmark list challenges now, but you could probably do something like, find 80% of the caches placed before 2005 in X county. In my opinion, this would be wise anyway, since I've done a few bookmark list challenges and there's almost always one pesky cache that winds up missing or disabled for years and prevents the challenge from being completed. Since geocaching is about finding new and interesting places, I think limiting challenges to a particular geographic area is a good way to get people to branch out into unfamiliar territory.

[+MNTA]

I dislike attribute challenges. The reason being you have to jump through hoops to find qualifying caches. On the web site there is no way to search for negative attibutes still missing not <1km find. I don't mind searching by hand for qualifying caches as we have to do with some grandfathered challenges. Besides half the time the attributes mean nothing or are missing all together or wrong. They are to me the LPC of the challenge world. Make it fun and interesting. Though that is definitely hard as many of those for me are now the grandfathered challenges which I seek out when I can.

 

My challenges have been to encourage travel. 

 - 25% land area of the US in different state finds

 - I borrowed the idea of connecting counties from Canada to Mexico. Love seeing how folks qualify though the checker should allow some water connections at least for WA where ferry service is present. I gave one exception for this. Great idea for the inventor and a lot of work.

 - Find a top 10 favorite cache in 50 different counties. My invention glad to see a few proliferations of this challenge.

 

I do dislike traveling challenges that require many different types in multiple countries/states. For me geocaching does not rule all. So when I travel I don't spend all my time caching. I'll go out of my way to find few but they they do need to be convenient and not annoy the others I am traveling with. If by myself I'll stop every 10 miles and grab a new county or state if needed.

 

You can specify regions instead of state/provinces then you may get some international folks and not limit to just US or CA. 

 

 

[+Goldenwattle]

23 minutes ago, MNTA said:

I do dislike traveling challenges that require many different types in multiple countries/states.

My favourites; travel ones. I am trying to find at least one cache in every council area in Australia for example. I only need one more in NZ to have found one in every council area (or whatever the term is there) in NZ.

[+Goldenwattle]

7 hours ago, CCFsmile said:

Also caches found in at least 5 states.

You will need to state whether this is generic, a state in any country, or only a USA state.

[+funkymunkyzone]

1 hour ago, MNTA said:

My challenges have been to encourage travel. 

 - 25% land area of the US in different state finds

 - I borrowed the idea of connecting counties from Canada to Mexico. Love seeing how folks qualify though the checker should allow some water connections at least for WA where ferry service is present. I gave one exception for this. Great idea for the inventor and a lot of work.

 - Find a top 10 favorite cache in 50 different counties. My invention glad to see a few proliferations of this challenge.

 

Those sound like really fun challenges!

 

1 hour ago, MNTA said:

So when I travel I don't spend all my time caching.

 

You don't?!?!  Ok now I can't take you seriously!

[+niraD]

4 hours ago, Keystone said:

4 hours ago, niraD said:

Here are a couple examples: GC4ZM2V and GCAJ8HF

The first example is pre-moratorium and would not be publishable under current Guidelines, for several reasons.

Is the problem with the first example just the specific mini-challenges, some of which are no longer allowed? If so, then all the CO has to do is choose mini-challenges that are allowed.

 

Or is there a deeper issue with the first example?

[+barefootjeff]

4 hours ago, MNTA said:

I dislike attribute challenges. The reason being you have to jump through hoops to find qualifying caches. On the web site there is no way to search for negative attibutes still missing not <1km find.

 

You can search for negative attributes using a PQ. Project GC on the My profile Stats page also shows how many caches with each attribute (positive and negative) you've found.

 

My own two challenge caches are attribute-based, the first one (GC752YF) just requires 20 caches with the Takes more than 1 hour attribute, since many of the qualifying caches (at least around here) are the ones that take you on a nice hike through the forest to a scenic spot that you probably wouldn't have known about if not for the cache. One of the logs I got said, "The qualifying caches for this challenge are generally the best ones around, and make for great days with family and friends too" so I hit the mark with at least one finder. It's had 21 finds (and received 12 FPs) in the almost 8 years since it was published, with only two finds in the last four years, so not a very popular one now. The cache itself is an embodiment of the challenge, with a long but scenic hike to a mountain-top vista and a themed regular-sized container.

 

 

My second challenge (GC8DQXK) requires a mix of the Scenic View, Cliffs/Falling Rocks, Significant Hike and Dangerous Animals attributes, as well as some terrain-4 rated finds, as esch of those is applicable to the journey to GZ and the challenge cache itself has all of them. It's had 18 finds (and received 10 FPs) in the five years since it was published, mostly by the same players who've completed my other one. Again it's gone very quiet of late, with only one find in the last eighteen months. It's also a long scenic hike to an interesting spot with a themed container.

 

 

I created those challenges in the hope that they might encourage a few more players to try some of the more remote scenic caches instead of just roadside P&Gs, but in that respect they've likely failed, as most of those are just as lonely now as my challenges. Oh well.

Edited January 28 by barefootjeff

[+thebruce0]

7 hours ago, Keystone said:

 

Check with your Reviewer as to whether the "O" shape constitutes "Grid Art" - which is not allowed.  The "X" is allowed as an exception (among others).

 

To my knowledge, or at least in Ontario, even "X" isn't allowed, as 'grid art', or a user-defined area/region/pattern.

 

In my challenge series Gridrunner, I barely got away on the fizzy grid with requiring D+T value sums (ie any DT combos that sum to values 2 through 10; kind of a half-difficulty fizzy grid). In depicting the DT grid, it would look like a 'star' (well, a diamond) - wasn't allowed. But listing the qualifying DTs for each sum, it was; the almost-denied aspect was that the list under each sum value make it look like a shape as well. It was pretty insane to convince publishing variants on this 'star sum' idea, because any depiction made it look like a user-defined region, despite it being pure math.  (find some quantity of 2.0 (D1/T1), through 10 (D5/T5), so you can see 6.0 could have the most qualifying combos, from D1/T5 to T5/D1).

 

Anyway, yeah, best option is to ask the reviewer how they would interpret the rule given the concept you want to publish.

[+Vooruit!]

I've got a couple of challenges I deem original myself. For some I even had to write a checker script.

 

Graven in de sneeuw (GC98C8F) (translation: Digging in the snow). Requirement: find 10 caches in January and February with the 'Not available in winter' attribute.

Skiën op het zand (GC9CF1B) (translation: Skiiing on the sand). Requirement: find 10 caches in July and August with at least one of the 'Snowmobiles', 'May require snowshoes' or 'May require cross country skis' attributes.

Flora Challenge (GC992G6). Requirement: find 500 caches with one of the 'flora' attributes ('Tree-climbing required', 'Thorns', 'Campfires allowed', 'Poisonous plants nearby').

Fauna Challenge (GC992G9). Requirement: find 500 caches with one of the 'fauna' attributes ('Dogs allowed', 'Horses allowed', 'Dangerous animals nearby', 'Livestock nearby', 'Ticks nearby').

Weirdo Grid Challenge (GC6XNJY). Requirement: fill at least 50 squares in your D/T grid without using Traditional, Multi or Mystery caches.

Oh no! More Weirdos (challenge) (GC76H2E). Requirement: fill at least 50 squares in your D/T grid without using Traditional, Multi, Mystery or Letterbox caches.

 

And my favourites, also the only ones still online:

 

Ultimate Grid Challenge (GC8QTEH). Requirement: find at least 300 type-rating combinations.

A Traveler's Challenge (GC8JTHP). Requirement: find at least 100 country-type combinations.

[+CheekyBrit]

On 1/27/2025 at 3:45 PM, niraD said:

Here are a couple examples: GC4ZM2V and GCAJ8HF

Those are pretty cool bingo challenges. The hardest bingo grid I've seen is the pre-moratorium madness of  https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC3D5EB and I doubt anything like it would publish now. I almost have that bad boy blacked out.

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC3D5EB

  

On 1/27/2025 at 3:45 PM, niraD said:

I also like quad challenges, but those aren't allowed any more.

What are quad challenges? Fizzy, Jasmer, Date found, and Date hidden filled out?

[+CheekyBrit]

If you're looking for Challenge ideas there is a wealth of inspiration on the game board.
https://project-gc.com/forum/list?11 is the challenge checker forum thread for completed checkers - these will be the ones that are approved within the guidelines, built, and either live or about to be published. 

You can also check out the Challenge talk podcast and browse the fun stuff they talk about there. They highlight a list of challenges every month toward the end of each episode.

If you want to build something new and not using inspiration from existing ones, you could check out some tools from that show: "the challenge builder 200". It's a list of different things you can combine together for challenge requirements.
You can get real nerdy with it and use "The gridbuster 4000" that charts out different combinations and try to link examples of ones that have already been published.

The video of that podcast episode explains it a bit but the accent is hard to understand.

https://www.youtube.com/live/ddQI4qJLV9U?t=1011s 

 

[+niraD]

7 hours ago, CheekyBrit said:

On 1/27/2025 at 5:45 PM, niraD said:

I also like quad challenges, but those aren't allowed any more.

What are quad challenges? Fizzy, Jasmer, Date found, and Date hidden filled out?

You have to find a cache in every USGS quadrangle of a specified region. I was working on GCYNR9 until we left California.

 

But like I said, they aren't allowed any more. Challenges can use states (or provinces, or commonwealths, or whatever) and they can use counties (or parishes, or boroughs, or whatever), but you can't use user-defined polygons, latitude/longitude, etc.

[+MNTA]

15 hours ago, Vooruit! said:

Weirdo Grid Challenge (GC6XNJY). Requirement: fill at least 50 squares in your D/T grid without using Traditional, Multi or Mystery caches.

Oh no! More Weirdos (challenge) (GC76H2E). Requirement: fill at least 50 squares in your D/T grid without using Traditional, Multi, Mystery or Letterbox caches.

 

And my favourites, also the only ones still online:

 

Ultimate Grid Challenge (GC8QTEH). Requirement: find at least 300 type-rating combinations.

A Traveler's Challenge (GC8JTHP). Requirement: find at least 100 country-type combinations.

'

Love the weirdo chalenges! I'm a bit short 3 and 13 respectively.

 

The traveller challenge is really hard for folks in the USA only cached in 3 countries. Like the idea maybe I qualify on regions.

 

If I ever hide another cache maybe I'll borrow your ideas.

 

Thanks!

[+Goldenwattle]

31 minutes ago, MNTA said:

he traveller challenge is really hard for folks in the USA only cached in 3 countries.

LOL, try Australia. We have zero other countries bordering us. Get on a plane, as we do. Or take a boat, although not as frequent as planes. (I recently took one to Singapore, rather than fly.) But still, I have found caches in 35 countries. Australians travel. This Australian, with zero bordering neighbours, would like travel challenges.

[+CCFsmile]

Slow in thanking everyone for all the GREAT suggestions - for some reason I couldn't log in on the device I was using the past few days (yet it has me logged into the website and the app - don't get me started!).

I am leaning towards the bingo idea because it has various choices to fulfill the challenge and I could theme them... however, I have not even managed to finish looking at all your suggestions and I will! Thanks again!!!!

[+CCFsmile]

On 1/27/2025 at 2:27 PM, MartyBartfast said:

One I found interesting was based on the Blockbusters TV quiz show. You have to make a chain left to right and top to bottom on your date found grid.

This one requires you to link cells with at least 10 finds, but you could adjust that to something that you think is difficult enough but doable, even just days with at least 1 find.
 

 

The linking one is especially interesting - it has to be tough to build that checker though?! (Or was tough...!)

 

On 1/27/2025 at 5:45 PM, niraD said:

I like "bingo" challenges, where the CO presents a 5x5 grid, where each square has a different mini-challenge. To qualify, you need to complete mini-challenges that form a straight line (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), just like in the game bingo. Here are a couple examples: GC4ZM2V and GCAJ8HF

 

I also like quad challenges, but those aren't allowed any more.

 

LOVE the bingo idea - thanks! What are quad challenges?

 

On 1/27/2025 at 6:17 PM, Keystone said:

The second example is publishable today, IF the CO qualifies for each and every BINGO square, and enough local geocachers qualify for the challenge or are close to qualifying, and there's "plenty of qualifying caches" within a reasonable distance from the challenge cache.

 

Definitely know to be sure I qualify for everything. Luckily I am in an area that's heavy with active cachers. :-) And I don't intend to make it too onerous, just creative. 

 

On 1/27/2025 at 8:46 PM, MNTA said:

I dislike attribute challenges. .../

 

My challenges have been to encourage travel. 

 - 25% land area of the US in different state finds

 - I borrowed the idea of connecting counties from Canada to Mexico. Love seeing how folks qualify though the checker should allow some water connections at least for WA where ferry service is present. I gave one exception for this. Great idea for the inventor and a lot of work.

 - Find a top 10 favorite cache in 50 different counties. My invention glad to see a few proliferations of this challenge.

 

I do dislike traveling challenges that require many different types in multiple countries/states. For me geocaching does not rule all. So when I travel I don't spend all my time caching. I'll go out of my way to find few but they they do need to be convenient and not annoy the others I am traveling with. If by myself I'll stop every 10 miles and grab a new county or state if needed.

 

You can specify regions instead of state/provinces then you may get some international folks and not limit to just US or CA. 

 

I like attribute challenges although it did annoy me when I started on some that there were PLENTY of qualifying caches for things like "no campfires" or "stroller accessible" and yet a LOT of COs don't bother using applicable attributes!

 

I like the idea of connecting two places geographically! I wonder how tough that is for a checker? (And if allowable?)

 

I began the idea because of an international visitor so it will have an option for well-traveled folks, yet that's why I'm loving the bingo idea - I can theme it so that there are options depending how people like to cache. 

 

On 1/27/2025 at 9:13 PM, Goldenwattle said:

You will need to state whether this is generic, a state in any country, or only a USA state.

 

LOL... I did say I'm in the US and it'll be placed here, but obviously PGC will add that and so will my description if I do it.

 

On 1/29/2025 at 8:00 AM, Vooruit! said:

I've got a couple of challenges I deem original myself. For some I even had to write a checker script.

 

Graven in de sneeuw (GC98C8F) (translation: Digging in the snow). Requirement: find 10 caches in January and February with the 'Not available in winter' attribute.

Skiën op het zand (GC9CF1B) (translation: Skiiing on the sand). Requirement: find 10 caches in July and August with at least one of the 'Snowmobiles', 'May require snowshoes' or 'May require cross country skis' attributes.

Flora Challenge (GC992G6). Requirement: find 500 caches with one of the 'flora' attributes ('Tree-climbing required', 'Thorns', 'Campfires allowed', 'Poisonous plants nearby').

Fauna Challenge (GC992G9). Requirement: find 500 caches with one of the 'fauna' attributes ('Dogs allowed', 'Horses allowed', 'Dangerous animals nearby', 'Livestock nearby', 'Ticks nearby').

Weirdo Grid Challenge (GC6XNJY). Requirement: fill at least 50 squares in your D/T grid without using Traditional, Multi or Mystery caches.

Oh no! More Weirdos (challenge) (GC76H2E). Requirement: fill at least 50 squares in your D/T grid without using Traditional, Multi, Mystery or Letterbox caches.

 

And my favourites, also the only ones still online:

 

Ultimate Grid Challenge (GC8QTEH). Requirement: find at least 300 type-rating combinations.

A Traveler's Challenge (GC8JTHP). Requirement: find at least 100 country-type combinations.

 

LOVE LOVE LOVE the "Digging in the snow" challenge! Presumably allowable if it uses the calendar grid? I know time-based aren't... all the others are great too. The bottom two look quite tough.

 

On 1/29/2025 at 1:05 PM, CheekyBrit said:

If you're looking for Challenge ideas there is a wealth of inspiration on the game board.
https://project-gc.com/forum/list?11 is the challenge checker forum thread for completed checkers - these will be the ones that are approved within the guidelines, built, and either live or about to be published. 

You can also check out the Challenge talk podcast and browse the fun stuff they talk about there. They highlight a list of challenges every month toward the end of each episode.

If you want to build something new and not using inspiration from existing ones, you could check out some tools from that show: "the challenge builder 200". It's a list of different things you can combine together for challenge requirements.
You can get real nerdy with it and use "The gridbuster 4000" that charts out different combinations and try to link examples of ones that have already been published.

The video of that podcast episode explains it a bit but the accent is hard to understand.

https://www.youtube.com/live/ddQI4qJLV9U?t=1011s 

 

 

Wow... a host of further ideas - THANK YOU!  So much research and work to do, but all fun. Appreciate the input, will watch for more.

 

[+niraD]

3 hours ago, CCFsmile said:

LOVE the bingo idea - thanks! What are quad challenges?

You have to find a cache in every USGS quadrangle of a specified region. I was working on GCYNR9 until we left California.

 

But like I said, they aren't allowed any more. Challenges can use states (or provinces, or commonwealths, or whatever) and they can use counties (or parishes, or boroughs, or whatever), but you can't use user-defined polygons, latitude/longitude, etc.

[+ChriBli]

On 1/30/2025 at 11:11 PM, CCFsmile said:

LOVE LOVE LOVE the "Digging in the snow" challenge! Presumably allowable if it uses the calendar grid? I know time-based aren't... all the others are great too. The bottom two look quite tough.

There's a cache in Sweden on that theme, with the additional requirement that qualifying finds must be north of the challenge cache itself. This would prevent qualifying with caches found where there is not ever much snow, although that attribute may not be commonly used in those areas. A nice twist though, made impossible by the unreasonable new rules.

[+ChriBli]

On 1/28/2025 at 3:13 AM, Goldenwattle said:

You will need to state whether this is generic, a state in any country, or only a USA state.

 

On 1/30/2025 at 11:11 PM, CCFsmile said:

LOL... I did say I'm in the US and it'll be placed here, but obviously PGC will add that and so will my description if I do it.

 

I don't know what happened to the quoting function, wasn't it possible to do nested quoting before?

 

Anyway, you may get foreign visitors to your cache, or Americans that have been traveling abroad. You'll need to clarify if only caches in US states qualify, or also Canadian, German etc. 

[Keystone]

5 hours ago, ChriBli said:

There's a cache in Sweden on that theme, with the additional requirement that qualifying finds must be north of the challenge cache itself. This would prevent qualifying with caches found where there is not ever much snow, although that attribute may not be commonly used in those areas. A nice twist though, made impossible by the unreasonable new rules.

You are correct to say that "qualifying finds must be north of the challenge cache" would no longer be publishable today, because it's a user-created polygon.  As an alternative, say that qualifying finds must be in the [more northerly states/provinces/regions/counties] listed on the cache page and built into the challenge checker.

[+Vooruit!]

On 1/30/2025 at 11:11 PM, CCFsmile said:

LOVE LOVE LOVE the "Digging in the snow" challenge! Presumably allowable if it uses the calendar grid? I know time-based aren't... all the others are great too. The bottom two look quite tough.

 

I've had some discussion with my local reviewer on this, it even went through HQ at some point. But in the end, TPTB concluded it was within the rules.

 

And yes, the other 2 I mentioned (GC8QTEH and GC8JTHP) are quite tough, but of course you can make them more easy by tagging the scripts with more lenient qualifications. I can help with that if needed.

[+bflentje]

I've been around a while and have scored many challenges. But this is the first time I've ever heard the term grid-art. Hmph.

[Keystone]

1 hour ago, bflentje said:

this is the first time I've ever heard the term grid-art

Creating the letter "Z" or similar pattern on your D/T Grid or a Calendar Grid is not a positive geocaching goal.  From the published guidance:  "Challenge criteria must be positive and require that a geocaching goal be achieved."

 

Exceptions are made for a row or column within a D/T or Calendar Grid, and for an "X" shape or a "+" (Plus Sign) shape within the D/T Grid.

[+Max and 99]

On 1/27/2025 at 7:46 PM, MNTA said:

I dislike attribute challenges

I'm not a huge fan of these since all my geotour geocaches get that attribute taken away when it is archived and/or a new one placed.

[+Nite*Owls]

I really wish they'd allow cache title/name challenges again. I always love getting those. Like X number of caches with Blue in the title, Christmas, Bird, etc.

And ones that require colors, numbers, animals, places in the name, etc. This would open a lot more fun challenges and some can be made with a checker. It would be great if they opened up more possibilities for challenge caches since they are pretty popular! Mostly what you see now are the same type of new challenge caches being recycled since they are so limited by the rules. This makes it a little less fun, when the goal should be to add more fun and different challenges!

And what has been needed and wanted for a long time is for challenge caches to have their own icon. They are very different from the usual mystery/puzzle caches. I think it would also help with the confusion some newbies may have with challenge caches since they would be a separate type and could be explained better - I think it would make a lot more sense and is long overdue.

 

[+Nite*Owls]

4 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

I'm not a huge fan of these since all my geotour geocaches get that attribute taken away when it is archived and/or a new one placed.

I enjoy the attribute challenges but I didn't realize the Geotour attribute went away. That's not right and I don't think that should happen!

[+Hügh]

15 minutes ago, Nite*Owls said:

ones that require colors, numbers, animals, places in the name, etc

 

I think the issue with this is how completely arbitrary cache names can be. I'm allowed to hide a cache and call it "Green Eagles Goofy Martin Cheeseburger Laos Cache!" (squeezing in just under the character limit for cache titles) and now you have a qualifier towards the colour challenge, the animals challenge (& the football teams challenge), the Disney characters challenge, the boy's names challenge, the food challenge, and the country names challenge. If you find this cache and use it as a qualifier towards any of these challenges, have you really... accomplished much?

 

On the other hand, if despite the nonsense name the cache is a 5/5 because you have to get safety gear and climb 100 feet up a cliff, then to me that feels like far more of an accomplishment.

[+Hügh]

5 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

I'm not a huge fan of these since all my geotour geocaches get that attribute taken away when it is archived and/or a new one placed.

 

I was under the impression this isn't done anymore. If not, they missed GC9XA5G (and the whole rest of the geotour), GC863EY (and the whole rest of the geotour), GC9XCYA (and the whole rest of the geotour), GCA6W9V (and the whole rest of the geotour), and a bunch of other ones here and there.

 

(In particular: 123 of my 256 finds with the GeoTour attribute are now archived, with most being archived in the last year or two.)

Edited February 11 by Hügh

[+Nite*Owls]

9 minutes ago, Hügh said:

 

I think the issue with this is how completely arbitrary cache names can be. I'm allowed to hide a cache and call it "Green Eagles Goofy Martin Cheeseburger Laos Cache!" (squeezing in just under the character limit for cache titles) and now you have a qualifier towards the colour challenge, the animals challenge (& the football teams challenge), the Disney characters challenge, the boy's names challenge, the food challenge, and the country names challenge. If you find this cache and use it as a qualifier towards any of these challenges, have you really... accomplished much?

 

On the other hand, if despite the nonsense name the cache is a 5/5 because you have to get safety gear and climb 100 feet up a cliff, then to me that feels like far more of an accomplishment.

To me it's more about the fun of finding caches where certain words or things are in the titles. Some can look at it as an accomplishment, but why take it so seriously and instead just have fun with those types of challenges and see if you qualify when you come across one. I don't see anything wrong with them and it would add another type of challenge people can enjoy since we're already so limited. If people don't like them, they can always skip them or put them on their ignore list. But why take it away from those who enjoy those types of challenges? I add some challenges to my ignore list because I may never qualify for them, or I just don't search for certain types of caches that apply to some challenges, but I'm still fine with those challenges being published because there's still people that enjoy them. It doesn't affect me at all.

[+thebruce0]

56 minutes ago, Hügh said:

I think the issue with this is how completely arbitrary cache names can be. I'm allowed to hide a cache and call it "Green Eagles Goofy Martin Cheeseburger Laos Cache!" (squeezing in just under the character limit for cache titles) and now you have a qualifier towards the colour challenge, the animals challenge (& the football teams challenge), the Disney characters challenge, the boy's names challenge, the food challenge, and the country names challenge. If you find this cache and use it as a qualifier towards any of these challenges, have you really... accomplished much?

 

On the other hand, if despite the nonsense name the cache is a 5/5 because you have to get safety gear and climb 100 feet up a cliff, then to me that feels like far more of an accomplishment.

 

But there's already so much 'fudging' of stats for challenges anyway. 2.5/2.5? Let's just adjust that 2/2.5 into a 2.5D, since people will really want that combo for this challenge over here. No one will tell the difference. 

 

SO much in cache listings is arbitrary; some entirely (names), some within reason (d and t ratings).  Part of challenge design is understanding how simple it could be for someone or some group to 'fudge' their qualifications while still statistically qualifying. It can happen now, it can happen whatever the 'rules' may be. *shrug*

 

I mean c'mon, we're now even seeing a proliferation of 5 terrain CITO events on park trails and whatnot... tell me there ain't something wrong with whatever reviewer guideline was loosened for that to happen... guh? 

Edited February 11 by thebruce0

[+Hügh]

1 hour ago, Nite*Owls said:

To me it's more about the fun of finding caches where certain words or things are in the titles. Some can look at it as an accomplishment, but why take it so seriously and instead just have fun with those types of challenges and see if you qualify when you come across one. I don't see anything wrong with them...

 

I don't see anything "wrong" with them as goals, either. If it's a goal you want to work towards, go for it! But I guess I just don't see it as something that "fits" the framework that HQ is looking for. They want geocaching goals ("[challenge caches] must require that a geocaching goal be achieved"), which I interpret to mean they mean to be challenges about location, the physical process of navigating to & finding the cache. Or in other words, I suspect they want challenges to be based (if at all) on the intrinsic properties of geocaches rather than the extrinsic or superficial properties of geocaches. If I took a T1 and changed it to a T5, you'd feel the difference hunting for it. If I took a film can under a LPC (a "0 FP" hide) and swapped it out for a gadget cache, you'd notice the difference. If I moved the cache to a different county/country, hey, now you've got to change the car's navigation or maybe even buy a plane ticket! Whereas if I renamed my cache from "Nite*Owl's Amazing Cache" to "Hugh's Terrible Cache" no one could tell the difference - in essence the geocache is still what it was before. (cc @thebruce0: I see why "fudgeable" is the message taken out of my previous post but it isn't really what I was going for... - yes, a half-star is imperceptible and a CO can choose to throw five stars at something simple. But what I was trying to say above & have hopefully articulated a bit more clearly is that the "terrain rating property" is intrinsic to the hide whereas the title is not.)

 

One could argue, and I suppose you are, that this is too narrow. That finding caches whose titles satisfy particular properties is a geocaching goal since it involves geocaches. Sure. But were HQ to loosen the guidelines, I just don't believe it would be in that direction.

 

---

 

Anyways, I guess the point of this thread was to discuss ideas for Challenges that are creative despite the narrow framework. Here's a couple that have popped up recently in my browsing:

• GCACK8Y - I wrote the Challenge checker for this one.
• As a variant of the above, I thought I could do the same thing with container sizes instead of cache types. I have not gotten around to hiding anything unfortunately.
• GCACHED - my own, inspired by the GC#
• GCADZ0P - something about a "Sunday streak" but cumulative over all years? I had a hand in the checker but to be honest I still have no idea how it works. Creative, though.
• "Find 7 Earthcaches in 7 different regions with 7 different terrain ratings."
• "Find caches in 10 completely landlocked regions (Canadian province, U.S. state, Australian territory, or country.)"

Edited February 11 by Hügh

[+barefootjeff]

1 hour ago, Hügh said:

"Find caches in 10 completely landlocked regions (Canadian province, U.S. state, Australian territory, or country.)"

 

Your mention of regions reminded me of one of my favourite challenge caches, GC91D9H that requires 55 finds on terrain 3.5 or higher caches located within the New South Wales Central Coast Local Government Area. Although I'd already qualified at the time of publication, looking through my list of qualifying finds brought back lots of great memories of the higher terrain caches I'd done in the region, particularly in my first few years of caching.

 

While a challenge like this is really only going to appeal to those living in or close to the specific region, it can be a good way to highlight whatever flavour of cache the region is renowned for and hopefully encourage visitors to the area. It might even encourage the locals to add to the list of qualifying caches. For this particular challenge, there have been 21 new qualifying caches put out since it was published in mid 2022, including 7 of mine.

[+arisoft]

10 hours ago, Keystone said:

Exceptions are made for a row or column within a D/T or Calendar Grid, and for an "X" shape or a "+" (Plus Sign) shape within the D/T Grid.

 

How were these exceptions requested? Is straight line like | - / or \ allowed too?

[+niraD]

7 hours ago, Nite*Owls said:

To me it's more about the fun of finding caches where certain words or things are in the titles. Some can look at it as an accomplishment, but why take it so seriously and instead just have fun with those types of challenges and see if you qualify when you come across one.

You can always hide an Unchallenge Cache. That provides the fun of finding caches where certain words or things are in the titles, but without tying it to the accomplishment of logging a Find on the Unchallenge Cache (because the challenge is optional, and the cache can be logged whether you complete the challenge or not).

[+ecanderson]

On 1/27/2025 at 8:31 PM, niraD said:

Is the problem with the first example just the specific mini-challenges, some of which are no longer allowed? If so, then all the CO has to do is choose mini-challenges that are allowed.

 

Or is there a deeper issue with the first example?

For one - try finding 10 webcam caches in 2025!

 

[+Gill & Tony]

On 2/11/2025 at 5:43 PM, Nite*Owls said:

I really wish they'd allow cache title/name challenges again. I always love getting those. Like X number of caches with Blue in the title, Christmas, Bird, etc.

And ones that require colors, numbers, animals, places in the name, etc. This would open a lot more fun challenges and some can be made with a checker. It would be great if they opened up more possibilities for challenge caches since they are pretty popular! Mostly what you see now are the same type of new challenge caches being recycled since they are so limited by the rules. This makes it a little less fun, when the goal should be to add more fun and different challenges!

And what has been needed and wanted for a long time is for challenge caches to have their own icon. They are very different from the usual mystery/puzzle caches. I think it would also help with the confusion some newbies may have with challenge caches since they would be a separate type and could be explained better - I think it would make a lot more sense and is long overdue.

 

I agree

 

My favourite challenge was "Find a cache whose name begins with the letter A.  At least one day later find one beginning B.  Repeat until Z"

 

I was up to about L or M when I found it and it was in Florida, so I had a hard deadline to complete the challenge.  Q and Z were tricky and there was only one X within 200Km of home and I attempted that on a trip to Sydney- and DNFed it!

 

Fortunately a puzzle "X marks the spot" appeared near home and that one I found.   I completed the challenge and found the cache.

 

It was definitely a geocaching achievement.

[+Gill & Tony]

On 1/30/2025 at 12:00 AM, Vooruit! said:

I've got a couple of challenges I deem original myself. For some I even had to write a checker script.

 

Graven in de sneeuw (GC98C8F) (translation: Digging in the snow). Requirement: find 10 caches in January and February with the 'Not available in winter' attribute.

Skiën op het zand (GC9CF1B) (translation: Skiiing on the sand). Requirement: find 10 caches in July and August with at least one of the 'Snowmobiles', 'May require snowshoes' or 'May require cross country skis' attributes.

 

These would be easier down-under, but then, getting to GZ is more difficult.

 

Great ideas

[+ChriBli]

On 2/14/2025 at 1:55 AM, Gill &amp; Tony said:

These would be easier down-under, but then, getting to GZ is more difficult.

 

Great ideas

I think the real challenge would be to find caches that have those attributes at all down-under. While Australia currently has 15,502 caches with the "available in winter" attribute it is probably a small fraction of those that have the negative attribute (not possible to search for that, for some reason). Those other three attributes are carried by 252, 224 and 180 caches respectively, and some of those attributes may be negative or sharing the same cache.

[+barefootjeff]

17 minutes ago, ChriBli said:

While Australia currently has 15,502 caches with the "available in winter" attribute it is probably a small fraction of those that have the negative attribute (not possible to search for that, for some reason).

 

Searching for negative attributes can only be done in a PQ, which yields 191 "not available in winter" caches in Australia. Some of those are in mountainous locations but others don't make much sense, like one in a Sydney suburban park that has nothing in the description to suggest why it wouldn't be available in winter. It was only published a year ago so has had just one winter, but it got plenty of finds during those months. I'm guessing someone needed it for a challenge.

[+ChriBli]

4 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

 

Searching for negative attributes can only be done in a PQ, which yields 191 "not available in winter" caches in Australia. Some of those are in mountainous locations but others don't make much sense, like one in a Sydney suburban park that has nothing in the description to suggest why it wouldn't be available in winter. It was only published a year ago so has had just one winter, but it got plenty of finds during those months. I'm guessing someone needed it for a challenge.

Agree that some of them might not make much sense. I picked one of the snowmobile ones, it turned out to have cross country skis and snowshoes as well. Plus scuba gear and difficult climbing (on a T1). Seemed to be located in a parking lot.

[+thebruce0]

Another option is to create an Unchallenge, as suggested, and provide reward for people who complete the challenge. A little extra incentive, if everyone around just wants the smiley and doesn't care about other stuff.  My Iron Bingo challenge provides a little extra bonus for people who complete the entire grid, or are first to claim complex shapes. That at least gives incentive for completing more than the minimum requirement (and for unchallenges with disallowed challenges, the minimum requirement is merely signature on the log, like any other cache)

 

eg, You could make a series of difficult unchallenges, and make a digital badge graphic people can put on their profile if for qualifications in the series. Some people love those (and moreso if it's a series instead of just singletons)