All about geocaching

Hide and seek is a game familiar to every person from childhood. I remember that earlier in every courtyard children of different ages set up hiding places, looked for treasures, imagined how they set off on a fascinating journey through mysterious places.

But after a while, those same children lose interest in the under-tree crown and the front gardens overgrown with bushes. The older they get, the more responsibilities are assigned to them. But even an adult needs a fascinating leisure time that allows them to plunge into childhood. And we are talking about a geocaching game.

It's no secret that in the modern world there are many options for recreation for adults... In mountainous areas, they even arrange 21+ camps, where everyone can escape from their everyday routine. However, not everyone can afford to be away from home for more than 2 days, respectively, they should choose other ways of leisure for rest. For example, geocaching. To some, this word may seem new, unusual. Although, in fact, geocaching has been known around the world for quite some time.

Geocaching - a tourist game involving the search for caches and treasures. The word itself originates from the Greek language, where "geo" means "land", and "cache" is translated as "hiding place." This game is already more than 15 years old, but in such a short period of its existence it has won the hearts of many people around the world.

What is remarkable the modern variation of geocaching is designed not only for a single or corporate quest, this game can be played even by a family. The number of existing caches is more than 2 million. They are located in almost all corners of the globe. And this number is increasing every year.The main platform of the presented game is centered on the website www. geocaching. com. Registration on the platform is free.

After creating an account, the registering person becomes a full participant in the project and can start looking for caches, as well as create their own treasures. In addition to the main platform of the game, in each country individual internet portals launched... In Russia, for example, this is www. geocaching. su. This game came to the territory of the Russian Federation in 2002. To Russian society, it seemed like a prototype of the Soviet game.

The essence of the game - some players hide caches, indicate their coordinates using a GPS-navigator, report this data on the Internet. Other players, using the provided coordinates and their own gadgets, find hidden treasures. Often, caches are hidden in natural surroundings, in places of historical and cultural significance, which is why the game takes place in the cognitive process.

Each team member (not only adults, but also children) will be able to prove themselves during the game. Older people, based on geographic knowledge, like to make routes, overcome difficult obstacles. Preschoolers and schoolchildren prefer to solve riddles and, of course, find treasures more.

Geocaching began as a modern type of game in 2000. Everyone knows that the United States has developed a lot of technologies for its own military forces, including a GPS system. However, it transmitted data with some errors, which negatively affected even the exercises of the American army. In 2000, US President Clinton announced the removal of the classified status of GPS technology and gave permission for its implementation in all industries. Information about the cancellation of the secrecy status spread all over the world in a matter of hours. The very next day one ordinary American invited his friends on the network to play the game "Stash", which in Russian sounds like "nychka".

The rules of the game required one person to create a cache, publish its coordinates on an Internet portal. Others only needed to find the treasure. The man hiding the treasure was the initiator of the game. He hid books, food, money in a cache. Well, his friends from the network were engaged in the search. Thanks to public interest, geocaching began to gain momentum. Already today, this game covers a lot of countries around the world.

Each member of the community is allowed to create own hiding places. At the same time, there are no requirements for the treasure. The treasure can be hidden in a large container or in a small box. The smallest treasure is 3 mm. A small piece of paper should be attached to it, where users who have managed to find a niche will leave their data. Large treasure should be supplemented with a notebook or notepad.

Do not forget that the player who has found the treasure is allowed to take one item from the cache for himself, but put something of his own in return. Today there are many types of caches, each of which has certain characteristics. The most popular are the traditional, step-by-step and mystery cache. It is proposed to learn about them in more detail.

A traditional cache is placed in a container, the coordinates of which are reflected on the GPS-navigator. Initially, they were hidden in certain places, but today they are hidden almost anywhere, including the city.

The traditional stash is considered the most common... Its location should be published on the site in direct coordinates, without any additions.Although sometimes it is very difficult to find it, because such caches are hidden under the most realistic camouflage. Sometimes, in order to find such a treasure, the player will need to show climbing or diving abilities.

This type of cache assumes a step-by-step search. To reach the finale, the player needs to go through several caches, each of which contains a riddle, the solution of which is the next search location. These riddles can be hidden in a wide variety of places, for example, on the back of road signs, in trees or large boulders. Each new stage, bringing the player closer to the final, becomes more difficult, but if a person takes up the search, he must bring what he started to the end.

In this case, the cache requires solve a difficult puzzle. The map displays the coordinates of the area where the cache is hidden. The player needs to get into this area and find one or more puzzles, thanks to which it will be possible to calculate the exact location of the treasure. As riddles, you can use math problems, encryption, Sudoku and much more. Only by solving the puzzles will it be possible to understand exactly where the treasure is hidden.

There are other types of caches that are popular in the modern world.

• Night cache. In this case, the search for treasures is carried out only at night. Special reflective stickers or inserts that are fixed in different areas of the terrain help to get to the cache.
• Mail cache. Combination of a cache with a mailbox. The box contains a stamp and a journal for notes. Players need to get to these boxes, put imprints of found stamps in their journals and leave a mark of their own stamp in hidden journals.
• Moving stash... This type of cache is designed for the opencaching site. us. The GPS-system hides the cache in a certain place, and shows the players different coordinates. Players need to understand what is common between the shown search points in order to figure out where the treasure is hidden.

In this case, only a subset of the types of caches that can be found when playing geocaching are presented. Among children, for example, the type of "photo-video" cache is very developed. A player hiding a treasure lays a cache and takes a photo of it from different angles using a variety of photo modes. For the search, a short hint is indicated, for example, a music cabinet. Those who are looking for treasure need to understand from the photo which particular music room is the place to hide the treasure, after which the players go to the selected room and try to find the treasure using the photo distorted by filters.

Geocaching Is a game that has conquered the hearts of millions of people on earth from different countries and continents. This way of leisure is chosen for a joint vacation by family, team, friends. You can play geocaching alone, only then the search for the treasure does not bring such a significant pleasure.

It is noteworthy that this game does not have any age restrictions. It can be played by kids, schoolchildren, students, adults. It is enough just to register on the platform of this tourist game, read the rules, get acquainted with the technology of creating bookmarks and finding hiding places.

It is suggested to start with the rules.

• When creating caches, it is important to take into account their unusual location. Yes, you can shove a box into a hollow of a tree, but finding it will turn out to be uninteresting, banal, boring. The stitch should be hidden and disguised in the most unusual way. The main thing is to reinforce the search site with photographs and tempting slogans.
• After finding the treasure, the player is allowed to take one item from the cache, and instead put something from himself, making a corresponding entry about this in a special journal.
• If finding a cache requires passing difficult obstacles, you should notify the players about this in the same prompts.

Now it is necessary to understand the prohibitions that exist for registered geocaching players.

• You can not do nychki in secure facilities, in guarded places. The player should enjoy the game, not a fine with an administrative violation or criminal prosecution.
• It is forbidden to create multiple caches in the historical and cultural area.
• You can not put drugs, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, toys of an intimate nature into hiding places. This game is played not only by adults, but also by children of different ages. And finding such a treasure will definitely not bring them positive emotions.

Well, now it is proposed to get acquainted with the step-by-step process of the game. This is important for those who have never participated in such an event.

• The first thing to do is purchase a GPS-enabled gadget. In the modern world, this is a smartphone. It is wrong to purchase a GPS navigator for the game.
• The next stage requires registration on the geocaching site. Most sites even have a detailed list of existing caches, and some only show a fraction.
• Next, you need to find and select one of the nearby treasures. For beginners, the best place to start is with those hidden nearby.
• Information about the treasure you are interested in must be recorded in the journal or printed. It is important to pay attention to the level of difficulty of the task. Beginners should start with the simplest riddles.
• Using a GPS navigator, you need to determine the location of the cache.
• Before you go in search of treasure, you need to think about what kind of thing or object can be put in place of the seized one. This trinket shouldn't be expensive, but it should have some value. By the way, the creators of some caches in the description of the treasure report that the nested items correspond to a certain topic. And those items that will be placed in the cache should not further deviate from the theme conceived by the author.
• When finding a cache, it is important to carefully examine how it is packed. After all the manipulations, the bookmark should be folded according to the same system.
• When you find a treasure, you can not take any thing from it. It is enough just to report your trifle. If you wanted to take something as a souvenir, it is important to understand that the thing invested in return must be of equal value.
• In the notebook attached to the cache, you must write your name, the date the treasure was found and the nickname from the site.
• Further, the nychka hides again in the same place.
• After all the manipulations, the player must go to the site and make a note of the places he visited.