Poll

Should Multi and Unknown caches be one unified cache type?

Yes
1 (20%)
No
4 (80%)

Total Members Voted: 5

Author Topic: Shouldn't Multi's and Unknown's be one type?  (Read 325 times)

Offline Griff Grof

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Shouldn't Multi's and Unknown's be one type?
« on: July 17, 2013, 06:52:21 pm »
Just wondering what people think on this one...

I think they overlap, for example an Unknown cache can lead you on a trail too, as it can reveal coords to it in another cache.

Surely the rules to differentiate them should be stricter (ie Unknown is just puzzle and Multi just involves multiple locations/caches) or they should be unified into one cache type...

What are your thoughts?  :)
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Offline Gackt

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Re: Shouldn't Multi's and Unknown's be one type?
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2013, 06:18:39 am »
They do overlap often. Some of the most interesting caches I have found have been combinations of the two.

It's easy to determine if a cache should be a puzzle type when setting one. If there is a puzzle to solve at any point to find the cache, then it is a puzzle whatever else has to be done to retrieve the cache, including visiting multiple stages. There are cachers though that are more than capable of solving puzzles, but maybe are not capable, or just not happy to tackle a long distance multi to find a cache. Sometimes COs are good at giving distance info on cache pages through listed waypoints or by using the attributes, but not always.

I wouldn't make the rules stricter, but have thought about this in the past and came up with another, what I believe would be a good simple solution for groundspeak, which other people may of thought of too. That is have another cache type icon. Puzzle for puzzle, Multi for multi, and PuzzleMulti for the combinations. I cannot see it being implemented though because of the thousands of caches already out there that are in place on the existing icons.


A side note, has anyone come across any other caches with the same query? Do other cache types have to conform? I give Lair of the Lost Boys as an example. That one is not a straight forward letterbox. Are letterbox cache setting rules different to other types?

Offline walktall

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Re: Shouldn't Multi's and Unknown's be one type?
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2013, 10:55:32 am »
Couldn't you say getting numbers from other caches and putting them into a formula and getting an answer is solving a problem which is a Puzzle?

The cat is now out of the bag........

What about Letterbox caches where the co-ordinates is where the cache is actually sited (I'm guilty of this, I ran out of time). Surely the idea for a letterbox is that you follow directions (not sets of co-ordinates like a multi) from a known starting point to find the cache and you can stamp your 'book' when you found it, like Lair of the Lost Boys :)
« Last Edit: July 18, 2013, 11:00:49 am by walktall »
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Offline Gackt

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Re: Shouldn't Multi's and Unknown's be one type?
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2013, 01:42:53 pm »
Good point on the getting numbers and putting them into a formula etc! I hadn't thought about that angle, I was just thinking about more complex puzzles.

Maybe not just multies and puzzles, but all physical caches should be just one type 'a geocache', and any specific details about how to find were just noted on the cache pages, and the finder decides from that if they want to go find. That might make things simpler? :)


Never having done a letterbox outside of geocaching, I am not really up on how they are supposed to work. From geocahing.com I have just understood that they are a geocache, but with a stamp inside, and I know no more. So, if I am reading you correctly, Lair of the Lost Boys for example is how they are supposed to be laid out? In which case that is the only one I have found that is laid out correctly, my other finds were just normal caches with a stamp.

Offline walktall

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Re: Shouldn't Multi's and Unknown's be one type?
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2013, 05:49:09 pm »
So, if I am reading you correctly, Lair of the Lost Boys for example is how they are supposed to be laid out? In which case that is the only one I have found that is laid out correctly, my other finds were just normal caches with a stamp.

Correct, you follow clues/directions NOT co-ordinates to find a true letterbox.
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Shouldn't Multi's and Unknown's be one type?
« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2013, 06:15:42 pm »
Letterboxes... Hmm, yes, I think that's another dodgy one at times: if I remember correctly, the only requirement Groundspeak set is that the cache has a stamp in it? (Though it'd be nice for it to be guided traditionally)

Always wondered why GS were trying to merge Letterboxing in to Geocaching - was it to bring in more players  ;) :D...  to the 'official Global GPS cache hunt site' - what makes them official over the others?  :o ::) :D
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Offline Bear and Ragged

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Re: Shouldn't Multi's and Unknown's be one type?
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2013, 08:44:24 pm »
Letterboxes... Hmm, yes, I think that's another dodgy one at times: if I remember correctly, the only requirement Groundspeak set is that the cache has a stamp in it? (Though it'd be nice for it to be guided traditionally)

Always wondered why GS were trying to merge Letterboxing in to Geocaching - was it to bring in more players  ;) :D...  to the 'official Global GPS cache hunt site' - what makes them official over the others?  :o ::) :D

As Letterboxes were there first, and cachers (Old Style!) and Letterboxers often hide in similar places, it makes sense to make cachers aware of Letterboxes, so if a cacher find a Letterbox they knew what it is.
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Offline Y6GST

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Re: Shouldn't Multi's and Unknown's be one type?
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2013, 03:46:26 pm »
The majority of puzzles I have found are solve puzzle, usually from home, then go and find cache at co-ords you have generated, occasionally there is more to do, a twist or two, for the puzzles I have found these are usually only puzzles from blindmouse though, almost expected that there will be a twist to be honest  ;D

Occasionally I miss puzzles that are listed as puzzles, but are actually go to listed co-ords, find a sign, do some work to build co-ords and find cache, personally I see these as multi caches, so I agree there is some cross over on types, but again I think these types are more caches of the older variety, I find the newer ones, post 2010, seem to be set as the 'correct' type (or 'correct' as I understand each cache type)

I certainly wouldn't have them as one cache type, in a nutshell I see Puzzle as 'work required from home' and multi 'I can do this with no research beforehand' the majority of the time this rings true, but there are always exceptions....

The majority of Letterbox caches I have done are only that type due to there being a stamp in the box, I can think of two where extra work was required, giving them a puzzle element, but using what I understand to be Letterbox techniques, these two are listed below:

CTC - Burial Lane (Letterbox Hybrid) (GC19M60)
Stagecoach Stash (GC136H4)

This one was a little different, as the cache hide was a small red post box container, inside an actual letterbox that had been attached to a fence
YO7 56 Thorpefields (GC30N1C)


 


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