Geocaching is one of the famous treasure hunting game that is currently played worldwide. The inspiration of the game rules was taken from the popular children’s game “hide and seek” which was integrated with the use of GPS to extend the perimeters of the game from local to international. It is an outdoor game that can be played by people from ages five and up.
The objective of the game is to find containers that are hidden in various locations. Once found, Geocachers must indicated the date and the name of the geocacher in the logbook that is inside that container. It also contains items such as toys and gadget which will serve as the reward for retrieving the cache.
The game was originally called “GPS stast hunt” or more popularly known as “GPSstashing” which means finding hidden stashes with the use of GPS. The name GEOCACHING was suggested by a geocacher name Matt Stum on one of the online discussion for the game. Stum’s inspiration for the term GEOCACHING could possibly came from the two words “Geo” and “caching” combined. Geo for geography, a location across the globe where caches are hidden, and Cache a term used in Computer Engineering field to describe a component that stores information that have a relevance in the future.
To be able to understand and related to the players of the game, here are a few terms:
Geocache / Cache - it is any waterproof and sturdy container with distinct size and shape that contains a logbook and any item. It’s usually hidden, and needs to be recovered by the player.
GPS (Global Positioning Program) – a navigation device that points to the location of an object by working with coordinates. It was first employed by the military to locate their target when in battle or find their allies when a back-up is requested. In Geocaching, it’s employed to locate the geocaches that are hidden by others.
Muggle – a person who is not familiar with the game. Generally, they’re hindrances in finding the cache or they’ve stolen the contents of the cache.
Geocacher – a person playing the game and hunts for geocaches.
At present, the popularity of the game Geocaching extends to all the seven continents. A lot of people are playing the game because it takes treasure hunting experience to a whole new level. Also, finding caches and discovering the rewards that awaits each cache can be a great exercise and bonding activity.