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$1,000 cash prize geo search


Davidgior

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my son and I are talking about setting up a group of geocaches around the Tampa Bay Florida area where the first person to locate all ten caches receives $1,000... there will be a small fee to participate in the search..and a limited number of players...all participants would receive the first coordinates on a set date and time...any thoughts?

One more comment, we have friends around the United States so if people found it interesting we could do them nationwide!

Edited by Davidgior
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My thought is that you would not see the contest concept published on Geocaching.com unless (1) the entry fee is eliminated, and (2) the caches are available for everyone to find.

 

Alternatives include writing to Groundspeak for special permission (I wouldn't be too optimistic), or publishing the group of caches with no mention at all about the contest -- which you would then promote through separate, non-Groundspeak channels. It could be a fun offsite private activity among friends on a local website or Facebook group.

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I am happy to give general advice such as my prior post and a general caution to read the listing guidelines and find a lot of geocaches before embarking on something ambitious like a contest with a cash prize.

 

For detailed advice, though, you'd want to work with your friendly local volunteer cache reviewer.

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I am happy to give general advice such as my prior post and a general caution to read the listing guidelines and find a lot of geocaches before embarking on something ambitious like a contest with a cash prize.

 

For detailed advice, though, you'd want to work with your friendly local volunteer cache reviewer.

Once again thanks for the advice, I tried to read the guidelines but could not find them...

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I've seen cache series where the owner offered a reward to anyone who completed the entire series. In some cases, the reward is a geocoin or similar trinket. In some cases, the reward is an invitation to a dinner hosted by the owner. In some cases, the reward is merely a bonus cache.

 

The problem with publishing such a series on geocaching.com is not the reward for finding all the caches in your series.

 

As Keystone indicated, the problems with publishing such a series on geocaching.com are the pay-to-play fee, and the limit on the number of people who are allowed to play. You can publish such a series on your own, independent of geocaching.com (assuming it doesn't violate your local gaming laws, or anything like that), but you can't publish it here. If you publish caches here, they have to be available to all members of geocaching.com, or for PMO caches, they have to be available to all premium members of geocaching.com.

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I've seen cache series where the owner offered a reward to anyone who completed the entire series. In some cases, the reward is a geocoin or similar trinket. In some cases, the reward is an invitation to a dinner hosted by the owner. In some cases, the reward is merely a bonus cache.

 

The problem with publishing such a series on geocaching.com is not the reward for finding all the caches in your series.

 

As Keystone indicated, the problems with publishing such a series on geocaching.com are the pay-to-play fee, and the limit on the number of people who are allowed to play. You can publish such a series on your own, independent of geocaching.com (assuming it doesn't violate your local gaming laws, or anything like that), but you can't publish it here. If you publish caches here, they have to be available to all members of geocaching.com, or for PMO caches, they have to be available to all premium members of geocaching.com.

Good morning NiraD,

I read your bio and you seem like an accomplished fellow, do you think a cash based series with geo coordinates combined with puzzles to solve would be interesting to the geocaching community? Nothing like cash to get the juices stirring! I know it would fun for me, kinda like a treasure hunt with a real treasure. As I mentioned to Keystone if you would like to advise I would welcome the assistance!

 

My main concern would be people rushing like crazy to solve the series...don't want people to drive carelessly pursuing the treasure, I think the puzzle component could be used to slow people down

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The problem you're going to run into is that you're brand new to the caching community. Even if you were to set up these caches, make them available to everyone, but then set up a separate page for the contest and only allow so many people in to the contest, how many people are really going to trust you enough to give you their entry fees that are going to total $1000 (or more) with absolutely no reputation, no finds, and no friends? If this is something you're serious about doing, I would think your first step would be to start caching and do it for a year or more, go to lots of events and make lots of friends in the caching community. Once people know you and trust you, then MAYBE you could pull something like this off. Even then, I'm not sure sure. Of course, that's assuming this isn't just a scam to try to get people to pony up some entry fees before you're never heard from again...

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The problem you're going to run into is that you're brand new to the caching community. Even if you were to set up these caches, make them available to everyone, but then set up a separate page for the contest and only allow so many people in to the contest, how many people are really going to trust you enough to give you their entry fees that are going to total $1000 (or more) with absolutely no reputation, no finds, and no friends? If this is something you're serious about doing, I would think your first step would be to start caching and do it for a year or more, go to lots of events and make lots of friends in the caching community. Once people know you and trust you, then MAYBE you could pull something like this off. Even then, I'm not sure sure. Of course, that's assuming this isn't just a scam to try to get people to pony up some entry fees before you're never heard from again...

Good points... At this time it's just an idea... My son and I thought it would be a lot more fun if there was a treasure at the end of the journey...I'm thinking this would be a fun father son hobby (he's 12 yes old)...as for the credibility we could align with established participants where we would "meet and greet" to formulate the various series ie mainly the puzzle components...anyway we want to do our first series this coming Sunday...

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I'm glad you're excited about geocaching. You've had an account less than a month and have yet to log a find. Before planning on creating some huge series (or even hiding one simple cache) it is good to go out and get experience. Just have fun finding for a month or two to see what is out there. Then hide a couple caches to see what effort goes into that. After maintaining those caches for awhile, and continuously caching in the area, and attending events then you could do something grand. Each community is different. Your idea would work great for some areas not well in others (including the one I currently live in).

 

Also check out others who have done something similar. I know there is a Geotrail with prizes in the Lakeland, Fl Area

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I'd like to second what the others have said regarding doing some regular caching before running with this idea.

 

There is a group in my area that regularly runs such contests (very long, complex series of tasks with large cash prizes), but these are organized and run completely separately from Geocaching.com on the local geocaching forum. No part of the contests is ever listed on Geocaching.com. As such, they aren't governed by Groundspeak guidelines.

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Good points... At this time it's just an idea... My son and I thought it would be a lot more fun if there was a treasure at the end of the journey...I'm thinking this would be a fun father son hobby (he's 12 yes old)...as for the credibility we could align with established participants where we would "meet and greet" to formulate the various series ie mainly the puzzle components...anyway we want to do our first series this coming Sunday...

What I don't understand is how you and your son got from discovering geocaching, thinking it's a good activity for you two to share, and deciding to host a contest with a $1000 prize. What about the part where you and your son have spent lots of time geocaching together? Shouldn't you do that first?

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[...] do you think a cash based series with geo coordinates combined with puzzles to solve would be interesting to the geocaching community? Nothing like cash to get the juices stirring! I know it would fun for me, kinda like a treasure hunt with a real treasure.
Personally, I don't describe geocaching as a "treasure hunt". I describe geocaching as a "scavenger hunt". The difference is that the things you find on a scavenger hunt are of little monetary value, and the point is just to enjoy finding them.

 

I'm sure there are geocachers who might be motivated by a $1000 prize. After all, there seem to be geocachers who like all sorts of things that make no sense to me. But I am not aware of any geocachers who would be motivated by a $1000 prize, and I know a few who would find it offensive.

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we could do a Nigera series :)

 

Nigeria could use more caches. There are only 6 in the entire country, including one that was placed in 2003 and has never been found. There was a DNF on that one in 2004 so it's unlikely that it's still there.

Well, when you send money to that Nigerian prince, send him some cache containers too!

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Geocaching was never meant to be a "compete for cash and prizes" kind of game. If you want that take up poker or something. Geocaching is supposed to be about going out and seeing things and places you haven't seen before. I'm sure there are some folks who would take up your offer, and I wouldn't blame them, I guess, but that's not the motivation to this game....those folks would still go out and do your puzzle cache just because it's there. You know, for the fun of it.

 

Even if you weren't suggesting a cash prize, most everyone here would suggest that you go out and find a bunch of caches before you start hiding them. Owning a cache is a long term responsibility and there are tons of caches out there already placed by excited newbies who found two caches their first day, went out and hid 10 film canisters in bushes then disappreared forever after the initial excitement wore off. Make sure you want to be in this game for awhile before you start planting caches.

 

Frankly, if the first idea that came to your mind upon learning about Geocaching was how to make it about prizes, this might not be the game for you. Why don't you try playing the game the traditional way for awhile, get out there with your son and see what it's really all about...you might discover why so many folks play this game with no other motivation than the adventure.

 

Besides, I really wouldn't want to see this become a precedent....the last thing this game needs is for the "treasure hunt" aspect to become a real treasure hunt, with a bunch of über-competitive jerks joining up just for the prize money. No, we don't need that...

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we could do a Nigera series :)

 

Nigeria could use more caches. There are only 6 in the entire country, including one that was placed in 2003 and has never been found. There was a DNF on that one in 2004 so it's unlikely that it's still there.

Well, when you send money to that Nigerian prince, send him some cache containers too!

 

I met a guy from Nigeria when I was teaching a workshop in Tanzania a couple of weeks ago. He was very sharp and lives just outside of Lagos, a city of nearly 8 million people and only one geocache. On the other hand I've heard quite a few horror stories about Lagos that would make most caches hides quite an adventure.

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