[thepharmgirl]

Congrats! Another 1500 milestone

[thepharmgirl]

Thanks, everyone!

[thepharmgirl]

Congrats! Nice to meet you!

[thepharmgirl]

@The Crippler wrote:

I must agree with some of Lostbys comments. If you do not hand out tickets, or whatever with the new caches there is no reason to hide 50 new caches in my opinion. If I get 1 or 2 tickets at check in what is there to encourage me to go after all the brand new caches spread out over 25 square miles when I can just narrow my search and still bag 50-100? As an out-of-towner, there are plenty of caches within 3 square miles for me to get within a 10 hour period. Hiding the 50 new caches will really only be targeted by many of the locals who have found a great deal of the area caches already. There will be significantly less finds on the 50 new caches this way.

Another suggestion, at MWGB there was a “poker run” done in which the cacher was given coords to 7 different businesses in the area. At each business the cacher was able to pick a random barcoded number which represented a card. (There was NO possibility of cheating this way). Best hand and worst hand won prizes. This would accomplish many things, it would be an alternate activity, it would not take a great deal of time, it would get us visiting local businesses and socializing. The prizes could be GPS units or something larger associated with geocaching. Because it is controlled you could make the seven “finds” each eligible for a ticket to the drawing. At MWGB I made the stops coincide with my cache run for the day AND spent $ at 2 of the 7 places we stopped at. The businesses could each kick in for the big prize for winning the poker run, etc.

Cool idea… thanks! I’ve never been to a big event like MWGB or Geo-Woodstock, so it’s very helpful to hear these specific ideas.

[thepharmgirl]

I can tell you that the Chamber feels strongly about NOT giving prizes for fastest time, etc, because they don’t want to encourage speeding or anything that could result in injury as a direct result of competition.

[thepharmgirl]

As geocachers on the committee, we can certainly report back everything we’re reading in this forum. Keep in mind, however, that we are not the ones in charge of the event. We’re just the little helpers who hide the caches and help guide the Chamber in their decisions about what would make a good geocaching event. The Chamber of Commerce is ultimately running the show and all final decisions are theirs.

[thepharmgirl]

@Mister Greenthumb wrote:

SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD PUZZLE CACHE. THERE GO MY TICKETS.

haha 😆

[thepharmgirl]

@Lostby7 wrote:

My odds would go down…very few folks found 50+ caches…for each team which didn’t, my odds were better. I like winning….I guess I’m shallow like that. But like I said, I’d still come whatever the format would be and I’d guess that would hold true for most folks.

But also consider that I might pop in at registration, go home, and come back later in the day to see if I won….no real incentive for me to hang out in town if I didn’t feel like it….

I guess that makes sense. 300 teams x 25 tickets average (?)=7500 tickets
7500 tickets/all 50 tickets= 1 in 150 ticket chance.

Still… if we had 45 small prizes along with the 5 big cash prizes…
300 teams x 2 adults = 600 people/50 prizes = 1 in 12 chance of winning something. [/i]

[thepharmgirl]

@zuma wrote:

But still, that leaves 792 geocachers behaving the way that I saw, and that was great.

Yup. 😀

We’re just throwing the idea out there. Is the “competition” really necessary with the playing cards and stamps? Do people enjoy that aspect? Would you be equally happy just getting a raffle ticket for your attendance? Then people could enjoy the event however they want to… whether it’s hanging around the park and socializing or whether it’s finding as many caches as possible. Since every team enjoys different things, each team can enjoy the event how THEY want to and still have equal chance at the raffle. Your odds of winning would go up. 1/800 instead of 1/ten-thousands. Plus, we’d add more prizes to the raffle.

What does everyone else think?

[thepharmgirl]

I like it. One ticket per adult. Have more raffle prizes. More people win prizes. Treasure box for kids only (will reduce that line and increase odds of winning for kids too).

1) Actually improves odds of winning something for every team.
2) Eliminates the actual or perceived “cheating” aspect with stamps and codewords, etc.
3) Teams can find caches at a more leisurely rate, enjoying more of West Bend if they desire without worrying about the deadline. Those who still want to find all 50 caches can still do it for their own self-satisfaction.
4) If teams turn in their one raffle ticket at the beginning of the day… the prizes can all be drawn in the afternoon while people are out caching. Then they could be posted ahead of time, and the annoucements READY TO GO by the time the drawing takes place, making the drawing much more efficient!

Also… because teams felt like they had no chance of winning, they never bothered to register in the morning. That sort of hurt our overall stats of how many people/teams actually attended. It’s nice for the Chamber to go to the city when they’re asking for money in their budget for this event (during a tough economic time when city budgets are being cut) to be able to say, “We had over 1000 people! Look at the tourism it brought!” Instead, only half that number actually registered at the park. That’s just from an event organizer perspective.
[/b]

[thepharmgirl]

@Cachelovskys wrote:

I don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but I didn’t want to start another Cache Ba$h thread.

It seemed to me like there was an “offical” picture taker. Taking pictures of the winners, and the cachers coming in. Are those picture posted somewhere…or are they going to be posted somewhere? I see there is an empty photo album for the bash. Thanks

The Chamber was taking pictures. I will post them when they give them to me… our wrap-up meeting is next week… so hopefully then.

[thepharmgirl]

@jerrys dad wrote:

For me, the socializing is while we are actually doing the caching, not while in the park.

It is not offensive… just your opinion. 😀

Unfortunately, the definition of a “geocaching event” MUST include more than just an organized cache hunt. It would not get published without the socializing aspect in the park, and we almost didn’t get published last year until we added more “stuff” like the social hour, treasure box, geocaching class, etc.

Directly from Groundspeak:

“Event caches are gatherings that are open to all geocachers and which are organized by geocachers…. An event cache should not be set up for the sole purpose of drawing together cachers for an organized hunt of another cache or caches….”

[thepharmgirl]

@Team Vaughan wrote:

Not to stray from the topic but many of you have said next year is already on your calendar. What is the date for next years event?

Thanks
Chris

Aug 13-15, 2010

[thepharmgirl]

Thoughts…

“You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

I guess the big question … is it really about the prizes?? Is that the most important aspect to make this event truly successful to everyone? …Or are the 5 cash prizes just a bonus? A fun extra lottery chance on a day when you can get together with a LOT of other geocachers to find a LOT of caches and socialize with a lot of different people from all over the state and country who share your same hobby/sport/obsession before,during, and after your caching. Maybe it’s just a day or weekend when you aim to set a personal goal and that is its own reward. What is the event to you?

@zuma wrote:

…. if folks are going to be there for 2 hours waiting and chatting, they are gonna feel better about it if they walk away with something maybe.

250 teams walked away with a Cache Ba$h pathtag. Most teams also walked away with an official bag, a free water from Walgreens, free breakfast/lunch from George Webb, free $2 ice cream from Chocolate Factory, and free McCafe coffee from McDonalds. It’s not much, but it’s something. Do you think we’d be better off handing these out at the END of the day so people feel like they’re a winner instead of throwing it all in the bag/envelope at the beginning which now almost seems like an entitlement?

@Cachelovskys wrote:

1)No Code Words – it seemed to me like there was a bunch of cell phone activity going on. I didn’t hear of any exchanging of code words, but I think we should remove the temptation.

This is tricky. I’d love to eliminate code words(!), but then we’d also have to eliminate certain types of containers such as “Stick-y Situation” and “How Do You Measure Up?” I’d hate to throw micros and unique hides out the window because of a small number of people who abuse the codeword. It’s nice to have a variety, don’t you think? If you can think of a way around this, I’d love to hear it!

@-cheeto- wrote:

– For the longer hikes and water caches, perhaps give 2 stamps/tickets to reward those who target the harder caches

I’ve heard this comment a few times now… Would anyone OPPOSE this?

@Lostby7 wrote:

… I’d work really hard to make the caches a bit more accessible. If the chamber wants folks to spend more time spending money in town then a few less caches or shorter walks are in order so that we have time to stop and spend some $….

How does everyone else feel about this? Did we spread them out TOO much this year? TOO long or too many long hikes? Would you rather decrease the terrain/difficulty? Keep in mind that the number of teams you encounter at each cache would significantly increase. Are you okay with this trade-off?

@jerrys dad wrote:

Maybe next year you could get businesses to donate smaller items for the raffle on top of the money.

Heh. We tried. Tough economy right now I guess. But many restaurants were willing to provide small discounts for the weekend. On this note… Do you think it would be better to scratch the Treasure Box activity and give those prizes away in the raffle instead?

@marc_54140 wrote:

…Have more activities to do at the park. A second bingo card with Team Names, perhaps a 3rd with faces. Selected cachers have an item to turn over if someone introduces themselves. A Team bingo card – which team has completed the most objectives. Etc ….
Weigh the socializing with the caching – give lots of tickets for that as well.

Would anyone OPPOSE giving out more tickets for the socializing aspect?
Does anyone have additional ideas for park activities throughout the day?

@marc_54140 wrote:

6. Vendors. Had a couple of people ask me where the coin dealers were located.

Yes, I will definitely bring this up and hope to get some vendors involved next year. We had asked a couple vendors this year and they declined, but I think they were weary of a first time Mega event, and it was somewhat late notice.

Any other comments, concerns, suggestions?? The event itself.. the caches…anything. Things you liked? Keep all comments coming. Not everyone will agree on everything, but the comments are all very useful, and the committee is keeping a close eye on this thread!!

[thepharmgirl]

@jerrys dad wrote:

@Joey_Skywalker wrote:

I heard some guy went nuts at the cache bash and started ramming cars. Is that true?

Can I assume you read My log for Pu, what a stinker! You did read the cache page first, right?

Part of the log from Jerry’s Dad from the PU What a Stinker cache page… Now this topic starter makes sense. haha…

“When we finally left the hospital, five hours later, (there was a twelve car pile up of geocachers, at the parking lot of the Cache Bash, it was pretty ugly. One cacher was mad that the fifty caches were spread so far apart, that he just rammed people in the parking lot at Regner Park, sad, very sad.) Jerry had a broken wrist and some minor scrapes. We went back to the cache. We used OUR GPSR this time, went in the opposite direction from what they had told us, and I came up with the find while Jerry ate, in the car, the McDonalds Happy Meal he made me buy him, for doing this GOD awful cache.”

See GC17PV2 and you’ll understand why this log wasn’t being serious. 😆

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