Puzzle Cache Hints

[+QDman]

I placed a two-stage puzzle cache about a week and a half ago. The first waypoint is in a pretty high-traffic area, so I left an encrypted spoiler hint (marked as such). Yesterday, someone posts a find and leaves the following log.

 

"Did this one a little differently. Just used the hints to find the waypoints."

 

I changed the hint to make it a little less of a spoiler.

 

This guy solved a different puzzle than the one I created, but he did sign the log, so I'm leaving it.

[+larsl]

Finding loopholes and shortcuts in multis and mysterys is the fun part. =)

[+zcubed]

My multi has several loopholes.

[+BadAndy]

Last year I went after a notorious Skinguy multi. I couldn't find the first leg, but was able to somehow decrypt the hints and found the 3rd (or 4th) leg. I didn't realize I had missed the first ew legs until we were discussing the cache at an event months later.

 

Looking back at it, there should have been no way for me to find the last leg based soley on the cryptic hints provided (no numerical coords).

 

I chalk it up to a lot of luck and some reasoned deductions.

[+Greymane]

I think a person should at least make an attempt at it before using the spoilers. (Just my two cents.)

[+carleenp]

I would definitely leave the find. They did find it even if it was not the way that was intended. But now the decision is whether to leave the alternate way of finding it in place or to change the hint. That is up to your personal preference.

[+WARedBear]

I found one once that had you had to figure out where the cache was after it was picked up at point A by something (don't want to give it away) and taken due north at this speed for this amount of time. Then picked up by something else who traveled due west at this speed for this amount of time and so on and so on. Then you were supposed to go on the Interent and use different programs to figure out where the cache container was. So I did....and kept putting the cache 20 miles away. So I unscrambled the ole grey matter and thought about the puzzle a while and realized the cache was dropped exactly one mile due north of where it started. So I map it out and sure enough there is a road there. So I do a GOTO to the original coords and drive down the road untill I am one mile from the start and start looking and looking and looking. I change the coords and zero in and what do I find???the cache. I logged the FTF but held off on telling how I did for a month or two so others could find it their own way. We do what we have to do to get it done.

[+QDman]

I did change the hint to make it less of a spoiler. As it was, the person had to work to find the first waypoint. It was just more physical then mental. I admire someone who thinks outside the box.

 

If anyone is interested, here's the cache: Sky Tale

[+Ed & Julie]

Reading a prior log on the cache in question, I saw this:

 

In the one hour since I left the house, drove to the cache, drove to a computer, the cache had been found and archived, due to a rules infraction.

 

Why was the cache archived? Rule infraction???

[+Gloom]

I would definitely leave the find. They did find it even if it was not the way that was intended. But now the decision is whether to leave the alternate way of finding it in place or to change the hint. That is up to your personal preference.

I would tend to agree. The cacher in question found your cache (the key here is found) but used means that you didn't intend for them to use. In my mind this is no different than someone finding one of my caches using a map and compass. Or a "muggle" stumbling on the cache and logging the find (and thereby being introduced to the game). Either way, they found the cache, which is the whole point of the game.

 

It's up to you to decide if you want to change the way the game is played, but IMHO as long as you find the cache you get credit for the find.

[+QDman]

Reading a prior log on the cache in question, I saw this:

 

In the one hour since I left the house, drove to the cache, drove to a computer, the cache had been found and archived, due to a rules infraction.

 

Why was the cache archived? Rule infraction???

I originally had a "code word" at the coordinates indicated by the solved puzzle. The description of the cache instructed finders to email me the answer, then log the find. I modeled it after a similar cache in my neighborhood.

 

Somehow that slipped by the approver. The first finder posted it on the forum, and when the approver saw it, it was archived. I was politely informed about the rule requiring a physical log at the site.

 

I went out, found a nearby location that would accept a micro, crafted a cache container (with log), placed it, changed the "code word" to the coords for the micro, got it re-approved, and all was well.

 

We live, we learn, we cache.