A short animated video explaining what a mystery cache is all about.

[caughtatwork]

A short animated video explaining what a mystery cache is all about.

[wayn0]

I’ve never been drawn to mystery caches. There was once a time where I was invested in solving a bunch of them but that time is over. I am however intrigued at the multiple ways that numbers can be hidden and recently started working on the Code Solving Series of Locationless Caches by Cybergran V. I’ll slowly work my way through these and I’m sure to learn a lot along the way. Even though I’m enjoying this journey, it’s unlikely going to make me hunt for mystery caches… or maybe it will! Thanks for another video

[caughtatwork]

One of things that I particularly dislike about Mystery's are the "guess what I'm thinking" puzzle. i.e. They are not a real puzzle, they are more of trying to guess what the hider was thinking at the time. Without clues and hints in the cache listing, it's an exercise in frustration. Some owners would like to you to contact them and ask for help which is a bit of an ego drive. This sort of puzzle drove me away from puzzles altogether.

When I play geocaching I like to find the container. You know, kind of what geocaching is about. Mystery's that exist to make GeoArt that have pointless puzzles are obviously doable, but they're just another layer getting in the way of why I find geocaches.

Everyone to their own and there are obviously people who enjoy solving the puzzles, so while I may not enjoy them, I wouldn't stop anyone from doing their own thing either. There are plenty of other fish in that geocache ocean.

[mattyrx]

It’s a handy cache type to have if you want to hide something that doesn’t quite fit into the other cache types.

The final location for a lot of puzzles seem to circulate amongst cachers at events and online these days, so slaving away at a tricky puzzle for hours on end to figure out where to go and find the cache isn’t as rewarding when you know that a good number of cachers were just handed the coordinates without having to do any of the solving.

[wayn0]

I was recently camping with geo-buddies and this topic was discussed around the camp fire.

One of things that I particularly dislike about Mystery's are the "guess what I'm thinking" puzzle.

Yep! The time required to solve some of those can be significant. I'd rather spend that time elsewhere in the geocaching world..

There are plenty of other fish in that geocache ocean.

..it's a big world

The final location for a lot of puzzles seem to circulate amongst cachers at events and online these days, so slaving away at a tricky puzzle for hours on end to figure out where to go and find the cache isn’t as rewarding when you know that a good number of cachers were just handed the coordinates without having to do any of the solving.

When discussing this exact topic at camp, we all realised that it's an unpleasant reality of creating and hiding some mystery caches. So why do we still publish them? For me, I create geocache listings for the people who play this game correctly. What the others do is not my concern or business. I don't care if this style of geocacher logs finds on my hides. They weren't created for them. There will always be at least a few that will endeavor to tackle and solve a puzzle before logging. There will always be at least a few that will not skip waypoints etc. These are the geocachers I create listings for.

On the other side, I have completed some thoroughly enjoyable puzzles and complex journeys to get to a cache find and I always appreciate the time and effort of the COs. It's a sad day when I hear of a geocacher not publishing a hide because of the way some decide to play this game. I once met a geocacher who created their own cypher and told me a story of how this occurred (without telling me "how" HAHA). I was both impressed and intrigued because at first glance I had zero idea on how to solve it. I was really looking forward to working on it and was prepared to put in many hours. I was looking forward to the process and eventually the story I would share in the log. Unfortunately, someone on facebook posted the solution with a description of how to solve it. The geocacher archived the cache. I've never had a facebook account and I'm rarely social so I would never have seen that spoiler. Even if I had of seen it I wouldn't have read it. My point is, without hiders this great game will eventually end. I have a goal of publishing at least one of every available GCA and GC type. I also have a goal of publishing 100 Trigs (half way there) but that's another story.

[Now_To_Morrow]

I'll start by saying a few days ago I solved a bunch of boring mysteries that had boring cache hides. They let the mystery team down. Made me wonder why I bothered wasting my time on them.

However
I've enjoyed mystery caches in the past for a few reasons. Some have interesting puzzles to solve at GZ ( coord.info/GC2Y866), some are themed (coord.info/GC60RA8), and some just make me feel good when I finally crack it, even if I needed a little help (coord.info/GC205EJ). That last one is a multi, but trust me, it's actually meant to be a mystery in the way it's been made.

I was actually so close to solving that last one when I heard a few different people saying they were given the final coordinates and were going to go get it that weekend. Made me a fair bit upset considering all the time and effort I'd put into solving it. With a little help from a friend finishing it off in a hurry I beat them to it, and having taken all the 1070 unloved days, no one bothered going after it anymore. It was an amazing final location too.

When hiding GC caches, I prefer mysteries or multis because they get destroyed less because of fewer visits. They get better logs because the finders who put the effort into solving a mystery usually put the effort into writing more than TFTC. And I hope to bring a smile to the finders face when they figure the puzzles out, like I do. And sometimes I do it just to make them read the description/learn something about the location.

[wayn0]

When hiding GC caches, I prefer mysteries or multis because they get destroyed less because of fewer visits. They get better logs because the finders who put the effort into solving a mystery usually put the effort into writing more than TFTC.

That's a good point. And, it's given me an idea for a GCA Mystery cache that I started working on last night so thanks

[Team737]

One of things that I particularly dislike about Mystery's are the "guess what I'm thinking" puzzle. i.e. They are not a real puzzle, they are more of trying to guess what the hider was thinking at the time. Without clues and hints in the cache listing, it's an exercise in frustration. Some owners would like to you to contact them and ask for help which is a bit of an ego drive. This sort of puzzle drove me away from puzzles altogether.

I agree.... there are some in Sydney I'm sure would keep the NSA busy for days.... Some puzzles we've found recently (solved in a group with varying levels of hints from CO/others) had the most crazy ciphers that even with explicit instructions what to do I would be still trying to do it! I like exploring and finding containers.... I don't mind a puzzle, but if I can't see a way in in 10 minutes I'll find something else to find....

[Now_To_Morrow]

One of things that I particularly dislike about Mystery's are the "guess what I'm thinking" puzzle.

I just realised today that I'd made a mystery cache a while ago that was accidentally one of those. It was even a mystery to me when my attention was brought to it today. I had to think real hard and do some googling to recall what I was thinking at the time of publishing it. Added a couple of extra words to the description and hopefully it isn't as convoluted as before, but still gets people pondering.

[Now_To_Morrow]

I also have a goal of publishing 100 Trigs (half way there) but that's another story.

Congratulations on publishing 100 trigs up in the sunshine state and overseas. As some of these are in my watch zone I've seen some appear and read the logs for a few and they are great stories.