GeoMonopoly

[shroomAzoom]

I'm setting up a bunch of caches for a little geo-game I plan on hosting this summer. You all remember playing Monopoly, right? Buying up properties, collecting rent, becoming a real estate tycoon? Well, now you can do it without the frustration of playing the boardgame and with all the fun of finding a geocache!

Just giving you a taste of what's ahead. There will be more details to follow in the coming weeks!

[shroomAzoom]

Throughout July and August, on Friday, two or three GeoMonopoly caches will be published. Each cache you find earns you $$$ (Not real dollars, game dollars.) For each cache you find before the next Friday, (midnight Thursday) you will be entered into a draw* to become the "owner" of that property or public work. Owners of property and public works earn rent $$$ when other cachers find that cache. Other cachers do NOT lose $$$ when they find a cache "owned" by another cacher.

There are three non-property GeoMonopoly caches; Thunder Bay Transit, Thunder Bay Hydro and City Hall. They will be puzzle caches and will require you to have found certain other caches which contain secret numbers. They won't be hard puzzles. If you can add and subtract, you should be fine.

You may transfer ownership of properties and public works to other cachers, but transfers only go into effect on Fridays after rent is paid. If you "own" more than one cache in a neighbourhood group, you earn more rent $$$ per visitor.

I'll keep track of the property owners and scores on the NWOG website. If you want to play, send me an email and let me know. I'll presume that the "regulars" will be in the game, but if you're passing through town this summer and want to get in on the fun, you are welcome to! Even if a cacher isn't formally playing the game, if they find a cache, the "owner" of the cache will be paid rent $$$ for their visit.

To win the GeoMonopoly game you must find all the GeoMonopoly caches before September 4, 2009. Winners will be ranked by those who earn the most $$$ by the end of the game. These caches will stay active for the year, but will be retired in 2010, so be sure to find them while you can!

I have arranged with CacheMinder to have caches published on July 3, 10, 24, 31, August 7, 21, 28. In total there will be 15 GeoMonopoly caches.

* The draw will be weighted to favour those who "own" fewer properties and public works, but only by a little bit.
All rules, transfers, rent $$$, etc. (everything to due with the game) will be arbitrated, interpreted and declared by shroomAzoom at his sole discretion.

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[shroomAzoom]

Well, just so you can all have some fun tonight, I'll give you the coords for the first two GeoMonopoly caches. CacheMinder approved them and would have released them today if it weren't for the Fisher Data Center fire. Remember FTF is only for personal glory, all you have to do is find this cache by the end of the day Thursday to be entered into the draw to become the "Property Owner."

Frederica St
N 48° 21.898'
W 89° 16.804'

Victoria Ave
N 48° 23.095'
W 89° 16.025

But that's all you get for a head start. If you want hints or sizes, you'll have to wait until gc.com comes back online. Have fun!

[shroomAzoom]

I hope you've taken a look at the main portal page to see the standings after the first week of GeoMonopoly! The draw was held this morning and MillSeekers are the owners of the sometimes elusive Frederica St and Mechman is the owner of Victoria Ave. From today forward when anyone finds either of these two caches, the owners will be paid rent $$$!

You'll notice that I updated the grid to reflect the date range for each week that property owners earn $$$. I've also included the two "catch-up" weeks where there will be no new caches released but rent will still be earned. Also, because it's so early in the game and most folks have earned $120, I haven't started ranking players yet. Look for that in the next week or two when things really get rolling.

I went out to check caches last night and things all seem to be in order. This morning, CacheMinder published the next two caches in the game: Red River Rd and Arundel St. You've got until Thursday at midnight to find those two caches to be entered into the draw for ownership. Remember that the draw will be weighted to give an advantage to cachers who do not own property, so get out there and find those caches! (Like you need me to tell you to find caches. )

[Mechman]

Just wondering what time people got the notification that the new caches were out?  I read the logs that said people found it at lunch time.  I didn't even get the e-mail until 2:24PM.  How is this possible??

Not that I would have been there at noon if I could have been....but I'm just wondering why the lag??

[Wandering_Man]

I didn't get my notification till about 2:30pm as well... Not sure what was going on because the caches were up on GC.com well before that.

[the Pepsis]

We, too, were waiting for the notification for Red River and Arundel but didn't get it til 2:24.  We just went from gc.com.   

[shroomAzoom]

I got my "your cache has been published" email around 7:22 this morning, but I didn't get my Premium Member "cache published in your area" email til around 2:30-2:45 as well. But I saw it on the site around 8am when I got into work. I guess Cathy checked the site before she went to work. 

[csooley]

I kept hitting the refresh button on the geocaching.com website on Friday morning and noticed that suddenly the number had increased by 2.  So l went page by page to find the new listing, quickly printed out 1 of them at about 7:28.  Since I had to drop my son at work at 8  I had to backtrack to Red River Road so I was very surprised that I was the first to find.

[shroomAzoom]

Just a reminder that you'll want to get out and find Red River Rd and Arundel St today if you want to be in the draw to determine the "ownership" of those caches. The draw takes place first thing tomorrow.

And wait a second! I even got mixed up myself! This Friday is a week off for cache releases (one of two weeks off during the game, the next one being August 14.)

But, next Friday, the 24th, there will be not two, but three GeoMonopoly caches being published tomorrow. No need to rush out right away to find them, unless you are into FTF's or something. (I've heard that some people like being FTF, but I don't know much about that. )

Rumour has it that soon the caches will mix up the location order a bit, the finding $$$ prize and rent $$$ are going up, and I've heard something about a puzzle cache too. Probably has something to do with those "Secret Numbers" listed in the GeoMonopoly cache logsheets.

Anyway, the draw for ownership is still going on tomorrow, Friday the 10th and rent $$$ will be paid this week and next, even though there are no new GeoMonopoly caches.

Sorry for the mixup. Consider next week a "catch-up" week for anyone who hasn't been able to keep up with the GeoMonopoly caches.

[jleecollins]

Pnutbeagle and I will be back in Thunder Bay this Sunday evening (July 19) to Tuesday evening (July 21) to hunt down the 4 GeoMonopoly caches that are out (and other caches), so we will probably be the first to "pay rent" on the four properties.

jleecollins

[shroomAzoom]

More Owners = More Fun!

As the sole arbiter of my GeoMonopoly game, I have decided to increase the fun and excitement in the GeoMonopoly game. When I was planning the game, I didn't expect the players to property ratio to be so high. There is more interest on the part of participants and I hid less than half the caches that I originally planned to hide (30+ caches is a lot of caches .) As a result, players have much less opportunity to own multiple properties, collect rent on them or trade with other players.

Therefore, I've decided to award TWO owners for each cache on the Friday morning draws. That means that you now have two chances to be one of the owners for each cache you find during the first week of it's release. Please note that I will ensure a single person does not own both "shares" of property ownership.

Each owner will collect the full amount of rent $$$ per visitor. To keep the balance of the game in place I will draw for the ownership of already owned caches retroactively, and since no rent $$$ have been paid out yet, this will not affect the current standings in any way. However, it is my hope that it will lead to a greater spread over the course of the game.

So, without further ado, I'm off to the spreadsheet to adjust the draw algorithm and award four additional property owners! Woo!

[jleecollins]

Pnutbeagle and I were in town from last night.  Finished up the GeoMonoply caches that have been published

[pnutbeagle]

Out with jleecollins over the past 2 days grabbing the four GeoMonopoly caches.

Please sign me up for the contest

Thanks

pnutbeagle

[shroomAzoom]

For your GeoMonopoly information, I was out at lunch today to check on all the caches (notice I said "all" not "both?") One of the caches is a puzzle cache, and will require that you will have found some other GeoMonopoly caches to solve it. Now, let's hope there's no black market in trading secret numbers.

Anyway, CacheMinder is set to publish the caches sometime tomorrow. Remember that last time the emails didn't show up until the afternoon, even though the caches were published around 7:30am. So, do what you have to do; bring a GPSr to work, check the site and the maps often. Whatever does it for you. Or, just take it easy and gather them in the next week.