Come Out And Play 2014-2015 : ScrabbleCache!
In this geocaching variation of the game you can spell words by finding or placing a series of geocaches. The new rules are listed below. This contest being brand new, I anticipate that some may have questions, so feel free to post them in the comments feed below. I will do my best to answer all of them before the official start date of December 1st. There will also be a series of launch events in various parts of the province where you can get additional information. I will post the GC codes as soon as they all become available. The list of eligible words, as well as the web platform, will be available shortly. Zor will be providing additional details on the web platform functionality once it is released.
There will be an official geocoin for this contest, available in limited quantities. The cost for the coin is $15. I am taking pre-paid orders until it becomes available, at which time you will be able to procure it through me and at various events in the province. Pre-orders for the coin will be accepted at the Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John launch events. The design of the coin will be released within the next few days.
I hope that everyone will enjoy this new contest. Get out there and have fun!
The Rules
- The game starts at 12:00:01am on December 1st, 2014 and ends at 11:59:59pm on March 31, 2015.
- The game is open to residents of New Brunswick. Cachers from our neighboring border cities/towns in Maine and Quebec who are part of our geocaching communities will also be accepted.
- Players may only use caches found or hidden on www.geocaching.com between the start and end dates of the game. For caches hidden by the player, the publication date will be used to determine if it qualifies. For event caches, the actual date of the event will be used for both host and attendees.
- To play the game, a series of words is provided which players must attempt to spell by finding multiple geocaches.
- To spell the desired word, use the GC codes of the found or hidden caches (e.g., GC25EWD) and use the characters to form a portion of the word. In this example, valid letters would be G, C, E, W, D. If a player wanted to spell the word GEOCACHE, this code could be used for the letter G, C or E. The player would then need to find 7 more caches with the correct codes to complete the word.
- You may only use one character per cache found or hidden, this means that to correctly spell a word, the players must find as many caches as there are letters in the word. Incomplete words will not count. The same GC code may not be used for more than one word.
- The caches required to spell one word can be found throughout the contest period; however, a higher number of points will be awarded to those who are able to find them all on the same day.
- Caches may be found or hidden anywhere in the world.
- There is no requirement to spell every word on the list. However, the more words a player has spelled, the better the chance of winning.
- At the Bye Bye Winter Bash, a number of “winning words” will be chosen, and players who have correctly spelled these words will receive a chance at a prize. Prizes will also be awarded for the most words spelled and the highest number of points scored.
- Some letters of the alphabet do not exist in GC codes. These letters are I, L, O, S and U. In the list of words provided, these letters have been replaced with a number (0 and 1 for the letters O and I) or by the symbol “#” (for the letters L, S and U). This symbol can be used as a wild card. This means that any letter or number from a GC code can be used to fill that spot. For example, when trying to solve the word “#WAG”, a player could spell it as 7WAG, or KWAG.
Yes, a game that does not require any thinking or much pre-planning…lol. I love it!
I suck at Scrabble but I’ll give it atry!
You don’t have to be good, the words are provided for you
I guess I need to turn on My Spellchecker!
My favourite pastime when relaxing in a chair watching tv.
Yay! We get to play for a change! Sounds like fun. 🙂
Hope a lot of caches come out on Dec 1/14 or it will be hard to play the find game that day. lol
The way I read the rule for caches that count:
You can use the code for any cache that you find after December 1, 2014. The cache can have been hidden before that date.
You can use the code for any cache that you hide after December 1, 2014.. The date of publication will be used as the date hidden
1.The game starts at 12:00:01am on December 1st, 2014 and ends at 11:59:59pm on March 31, 2015.
3.Players may only use caches found or hidden on http://www.geocaching.com between the start and end dates of the game.
This is correct PA. The caches you find can have been hidden by another user at anytime. Caches you hide must be hidden within the contest period. .
A- This will be fun! There are plenty of Scrabble apps 😉
B- I wonder if the word Rumpelstilskin will be used…
C- Maybe next year we can incorporate palindromes, anagrams, similes and metaphors. Somehow.
Awesome job, Natalie, can’t wait for winter! (Did I just say that?)
So I guess the words to spell will not be available until December 1
Yes, they will be. We are still working out some bugs with the Web platform, but I hope to have this resolved soon. Either way, the words will be available at least two weeks before the contest starts.
This looks like a lot of fun!
I can not wait either!! I missed all the other winter challenges so this will be my first!! Already scouting for more places to put out caches, even tho the code will be whatever, it will be a good start!! Thanks for doing this for us!
A helpful hint is to keep creating new cache listings until you get the code you like before submitting to reviewers 😉
done
There are 5 letters not used in a GC code (I, L, O, S and U). An easy way to remember what they are is to rearrange them to form the word LOUIS
I wonder why those letters? Must have something to do with the name…lol 😉
Gotta start plannin’ … Thanks for a new adeventure!
I can spell “adventure” … I just can’t type.
I have more questions. Says there is a “web platform”. Am I correct that it will decide what cache is used for our scrabble words? And am I correct that it is not up yet? Why would it be up yet? And the #’s are not free ones, but you can use any cache for those numbers, but you still need one for it. It also says more points if found on the same day, I assume that counts for hides and finds. I am going to the Woodstock opening. Hope to get it all clear by then.
yes, there will be a web platform available on the first day of the contest (dec 1st). This is where you can go to log your caches to claim your points. there should be a banner at the top of the home page that will allow you to access it. you will have to enter all of the gc codes based on your finds\hides and identify which letter from the code to use for which word. you must have the entire word solved in order to claim it.
No, the #s are not free, they are more of a wild card. you can use any character from any GC code to fill those spaces.
Yes, the double points count for hides and finds. for hides, they must all be published on the same day. that means that when hiding, you might need to add a note to reviewer to ensure he publishes all your caches at once.
Hope this helps, feel free to as more questions if some things are still not clear.
As Nathalie mentioned, there will be a web interface on this website that will provide you a way to claim your letters whether it be through hides or finds. The system will help guide you through what you can and cannot do. It will be available soon.
It’s almost time!!!
Are folks from Nova Scotia included?
no, this is a New Brunswick contest
However, some exceptions can be made for players who are part of a new brunswick geocaching community, i.e. regularly cache here and attend most events
so if you found a cache in the past, then you cant go back to that cache log it again just to use it in the game right??
You could have but now we are watching you
bahahah
haha, it has to be a cache that you are finding for the first time within the contest period.
Shucks. I had the board filled already with my old finds. 🙂
I’m trying to submit my first word in Scrabble cache, but the date box gives me no choice on a pull down and when I manually enter it I get a “date format” error…. I have tried 1 Dec, to 1/12/2014 and all variations I can figure. Anyone else having a problem??
Rick, we are working on a solution now and should have something ready soon. The problem seems to affect certain browsers only. If you have access to Google Chrome, you can try that, it seems to work. Otherwise just wait a day or two and we should have this fixed. I apologize for the inconvenience.
no problem, it means that you guys will have more work all at once though — been finding a few over here in PEI.
The issue is now resolved.
I think the format used is yyyy – mm – DD, but there should be a functional drop down option
If a cache gets archived before you make a claim can you still use it? And if so can we use archived caches (GeoLitter) found within the time of the contest also?
Will those who are only submitting words near the end of the contest be running into the risk of their claims not being accepted if a cache gets archived before submitting?
good question Teta. I would think that they should be acceptable unless the program involved will not accept them. This will affect us as we plan on submitting our words after we have a large number of caches to choose from.
The verification process is manual, so as long as i can access the cache page and see a valid log, with the correct dates, it will be accepted.
We can use found and hidden for the same word?
yes you can
To get bonus points by using caches hidden do they all have to be published the same day or hidden the same day?
they have to be published on the same day. You can also find caches on the same day as your caches are published, and use a combination of both to create a word, still earning the double points.