Kissing Munzees

Kissing in Marden
6 kissing-theme munzees were planted on the Kissing Bridge Trailway yesterday.  I'm hoping that people will like them enough to leave comments.

Geocache ownership is more satisfying then Munzee ownership

I planted a few munzees and geocaches lately.

Here are comments received on 3 new caches placed this week:

The captured munzees I placed in the same area - no comments. Which suggests to me that munzees are generally not exciting for finders. Geocaching is the meal, Munzee is the popcorn snack.  It seems that it's easier to comment on the quality and flavour of the steak but tedious to write something about each piece of popcorn kernel consumed.  
 

Munzee generators that make munzeeing easier and more fun

Two generous munzeers, DFX and thejoker have created databases that make munzeeing more fun.

Munzee GPX file generator
DFX has created a database that will generate a GPX file, a Google Maps preview or a Garmin POI (GPI) file. You can exclude your own munzees and your captured munzees. You can include special munzees and mark them as special. I love this database. I can save my iphone for capturing, saves battery life plus my GPS is so much more accurate.

Today I went out for some munzeeing and completely forgot to check my cell phone for battery life. It was down to 40%. So I shut it down and used my GPS. When I got to ground zero I used the cell phone to capture and to leave a comment then shut it down again. Walked a  couple of kilometers and captured 4 munzees and still had some power left in the cell phone.

Munzee Skin Generator
Thejoker has created a database that generates a skin from an image of your choice. You incorporate your munzee QR code by pointing to the undeployed section of your user page. Click generate and you get a cool munzee to deploy. I created the one below using the generator and an image of aged wood.

Deployed successfully

I've deployed a few munzees lately, with good results. Looks like the overloaded server is chugging along well enough now that the Easter frenzy is over. I was worried that there would be no more deploying until the site was moved to its own server. So far so good. :)

Munzee crashed

The  Munzee site crashed. On Easter weekend. Probably because the special easter egg munzees are a big hit and everyone is going out collecting their extra points.

The site owners have announced that the server has fried and they need to upgrade to bigger and better servers, which could take a month.

Geez, the writing was on the wall. There were several server problems in the last month. The game is growing exponentially. Too bad they couldn't take action in anticipation of the growth and the huge increase in activity on a Special Munzee weekend. They create special extra-point munzees to increase play yet aren't ready to deal with the increased play.

The problem with Munzee - the servers go down so does the game. It can't be played offline. When the servers are down you can't capture, you can't deploy you can edit deployed munzees. You can't do anything. With geocaching, as long as you have downloaded geocache gpx files to your gps you can play. You can go hunt geocaches. Later when the site is back up you can log your finds and add comments. Same for letterboxing. Print off or save the letterboxing clues and you're good to go. The letterboxing Atlas Quest site just about never goes down. I don't recall there ever being a problem. The webmaster even encourages people to try to break the server on Plant a Letterbox day.

I think I'm going to take a break from Munzeeing (although I had this great trail and some creative munzees I wanted deploy today -- maybe I'll wait until mid-May and see if Munzee has the kinks worked out).

Disheartened

Most of my munzees are laminated colour copies of paintings that relate to where they are located - for example, my cemetery munzees have cemetery scenes. My forest munzees have paintings depicting forest themes. I've deployed 36. Got 18 captures. I thought people might enjoy the creativity. Of the 9 comments I've got so far not one person has said anything about the art theme.  Maybe people just want a simple game - capture the qr code get 5 points.

Munzee Mistake

Ooooo the sting of a low score on a munzee hide.

Yesterday I got a score of 1 on one of my cemetery munzee hides. The cemetery was tiny with a couple of evergreen trees. I picked the tree with the most cover. It was at the fenceline but also next to a gravestone.

My first visitor was upset by my choice of spots to hide the laminated card. I can see his point. So I undeployed the munzee and realizing that I had a couple of other cemetery munzees in evergreen trees too close to headstones I also undeployed them (luckily one hasn't been visited yet and the other was visited by the same finder so I'm not taking away points from anyone else).

I don't want to plant crappy or disrespectful munzees so I'm going to undeploy any munzees that get less then a 3 star rating. The Munzee site makes it easy to undeploy. I may also be able to move the card and re-deploy somewhere else, so it's not a waste of a thermal pouch, colour copying and the art print I include in most of my munzee hides.

First capture of one of my munzee hides

One of my deployed munzees was captured today! Yeah.
Emmieo captured my first hide - Imperial Road Parkette.
The other 5 are still awaiting visits, but now I have high hopes. :)
I'm hoping people will leave journal entries, Emmieo left a note.
I thrive on feedback.

Features that I think would make Munzee better

Now that I've been munzing for a few weeks I'm becoming aware of some features that are lacking and would make the game more streamlined and fun for me:

• Notification when new munzees are deployed nearby
• Search for munzees by ratings
• Search for munzees by creators
• Ignore munzees you do not want to find (e.g. parking lot munzee, guardrail munzee)
• Suppress munzees whose last log was a DNF
• Different coloured pins for different statuses - Found, Not Found, Last log is a DNF, Needs Repairs
• GPX files for those of us who want to use our more accurate GPS units
• Munzee creators get more points for their highly-rated munzees
• Allow creators to manually enter in GPS coordinates
• Allow uploading of photos when logging a find

What do you think? Are the features on the site just fine or are there features that would make the game more enjoyable for you? 

Munzees: Found 1, Tried to find 2 more, Deployed my 1st

Did some shopping today. There were 3 parking lot lamp post munzees at my first stop. Normally I would skip them but there's no way to ignore munzees, so the only way to get them off the map is to capture them. So with some anxiety, I forged ahead.

First lamp post had a cabbie next to it. Looked like he was waiting for a call. Lucky for me, he left just as I was about to drive away. I went in for the find. The lamp posts in this plaza were skirtless, so no lifting was needed. Looked under and saw that it was tucked into the tube. I was a little nervous about wires near the spot I had to reach into but pulled the munzee out safely. Scanned and returned it. The MO's magnetic munzee was put together exactly how I made 2 of my 3 undeployed munzees - and here I was thinking I had created something unique.

Second lamp post was in front of the store entrance. It was a busy Saturday in the lot - dozens of people coming and going. The parking spots by the lamp post were busy. But I tried anyway. Did a quick scan under the lamp post but saw nothing. There was a big pink wad of gummy stuff under the lamp post. Very unpleasant. I didn't want to stick my fingers under there so I didn't. Went shopping. Came back to the car, drove over to the 3rd munzee, about 300m away. The munzee app was all over the place. Checked 3 lamp posts quickly because again there were too many people in the lot. Saw nothing. Went shopping again.

It's going to drive me batty having those green active parking lot munzee markers on my map of nearest munzees. I don't want to try again. I'd prefer an "ignore" feature. Hopefully the munzee team will see the advantage of allowing players to ignore munzees  that way we can concentrate on munzees in locations we'd prefer visiting. Otherwise there's going to be so much chaff on the map that it's going to be hard to separate out the wheat. Some of us may give up on the game if it becomes a chore.

After the plaza excursion I stopped off at a small city park. It has a metal feature/sculpture surrounded by ponds.  Deployed my very first munzee.  Deploying was quick, almost too quick. It gets deployed before you get to write up a description. Good thing it can be editted in the field, but it's not easy with a cell phone. I also took some averaged readings with my handheld GPS. I forgot to write the GPS coords and the parking info into the description (too cold to spend a lot of time writing up anyway). Finished the write-up when I got home. Added a more verbose description of where it is because cell phone coordinates can be so inaccurate.

I cold laminated the QR code and covered the back in camo tape. Punched an eyelet into the material then hung it camo side out against the trunk of a cedar tree, about 4 feet high. Hopefully it blends in  enough so park users don't notice but munzee players see it fairly quickly. I've got my fingers crossed that munzee players tuck it back so that the QR code is up against the trunk and not visible. Time will tell.

My first lame (ish) munzee

My first so-so munzee find. That's not bad considering I've found 19 before this one and they've all been more then just a notch-in-the-belt kind of finds. This wasn't awful, just not inspiring- an unobtrusive munzee on a pole by a vacant lot off a busy road. There was a no parking sign but I'm not sure if it meant the tarred off-road spot was off limits. I was only a minute, actually less then a minute - that's one nice thing about scanning as opposed to signing a logbook, it's very quick.

More Munzee Musings

I'm now hooked on 3 games: geocaching, letterboxing and munzees. They are all rewarding because they provide a day of discovery and adventure.

They all offer something slightly different.
For me the extra fun of geocaching is the swag.
Letterboxing - it's the handcarved stamps and the (often) handcrafted logbooks.
Munzees - it's the using the iPhone Munzee QR code app plus the different ways that a QR code can be hidden (as opposed to a container).

Today's adventure took me back to the arboretum for 3 more munzee finds. Armed with 2 successful difficult finds yesterday, I had an idea where to look for my 2nd attempt at the sign hide. Found it this time. Quite a muggly area even at lunch time on a mid-February day.  I was surprised by a couple of hikers who I didn't see while I was attempting to scan the code. Took me about 10 tries before it finally took. The size was good but it was the position of my camera that made it difficult. Then I was off to a very interesting part of the arboretum where I found a nicely tucked away munzee. Then finally off to a spot near a gazebo where I found a pill bottle with a qr code inside.

Finished scanning, glanced over to a nearby tree. There in the nook was a beautifully spray paint camo'd lock-n-lock tucked into the trunks. I thought I had found all the geocaches and letterboxes (and now munzees) in the park so this was a surprise. I opened up the box. There was a sentimental note from the cache owner. They dedicated their find to the one they loved. Very touching. The person who the CO dedicated the box to signed it in 2010. Last month in January Team ??? (can't make out their name) signed the log. Then today I signed the log. The label on the outside of the container was an official geocaching label. I did some sleuthing and in 2010 the paramour was likely a student at the university. Perhaps her beau planted it without realizing there was a cache/letterbox within .1 miles.

Munzee in the woods

Later on in the day I captured 3 more munzees. These were in the woods. It was a great walk with my dog. One very clever hide (not the one in the photo). Initially I wondered how I was supposed to get the code then it dawned on me what to do. I really need to replicate the hide for the letterboxing community, it's one I haven't seen.

OMG even in Munzees there are champions of the lame

Wow, even in Munzees there are defenders of the lowest common denominator, the lame and the unmaintained.  I thought it was just a geocaching forum thing:

Munzee TOO SMALL To Scan

Quote from: G

People are printing with low quality paper, low quality ink, the weather is eating these munzees up on a daily basis, then add to it they made them as small as you fingernail.  NOW!!!!!!!!!  Before we continue pushing how small these can be made why not try to use common sense and make the darn things big enough to scan well and yet blend well?  For Pete's sake, munzees seem to blend no matter how large and where they are placed.

S

I take issue with this.  First if you can not scan something, it doesnt always mean its the hiders fault.  Maybe you should have bought a droid.  2nd you could have taken a photo and used the cameras zoom to enlarge a munzee, if you remembered to bring a camera that is.  Also I bet the munzee wasnt faded or unscanable on the day of deployment.  But you didnt go for the grab that day, whos fault is that?  I recognize youre upset about your poor encounters, but just because you had a bad experience doesnt mean its everyone elses fault.  And yes I agree, we all could do a better job with quality and maintanence.

Quote from: G

This reminds me a bit of the geocaching craze to create the smallest cache.  WOW, we know how much fun it is to find a nano vs an ammo can.

S

  I prefer a nano to an ammo can. I have never found an ammo can and exclaimed "No Freakin' Way!  "

My 2nd and 3rd Munzee find

I no longer feel like a novice. I think I've got the hang of this after my 2nd and 3rd find.

This evening I attempted the 'Unleashed' munzees. I first tried Unleashed 2. Got it with the hint and some careful searching. I like how it was not in plain view. It has a much better chance of surviving and it doesn't give non-players a chance to complain about an eyesore. So far I'm liking how the munzees I've found have been hidden - discretely and not destructive. Armed with Malbec's MO I was ready to try Unleashed, the one I tried to find in the early morning but wasn't successful. This time it was a quick find.

My first Munzee find

I've been reading little snippets here and there about Munzee. I set up a Munzee account a few months ago and then forgot about it since there weren't any in my general location. And it seemed to numbers-centric.

I checked back a few weeks ago and there were a few but they seemed to be mostly guardrail and lamp post parking lot hides, which fueled my suspicions that it was a graffiti-numbers-centric game.

Last week I noticed that there were lots more munzees in the area and more variety so I got serious about it. I checked the Munzee forums to see what people were saying. There were a couple of well-respected geocachers posting in the forums so that peaked my interest. Today I gave it a try and found my first Munzee.

I used my iPhone4, didn't have my GPS with me.

First stop Malbec's Unleashed. I wasn't sure what I was looking for. I assume it's an in-plain-sight QR code on a post at the entrance but I didn't see anything. I checked the posts and the signage but no luck. Didn't have time to try the other nearby Munzee. Maybe tomorrow.

My first impression - using an iPhone isn't precise at all. It's very bouncy too - ground zero moves around. Having good clues and descriptions would help a lot.

Second stop Wizardsnake's Arboretum 3. GZ put me between 2 signs. I checked both out thoroughly but no luck. Headed over to Wizardsnake's Arboretum 4. The iphone put me in the middle of several likely trees. I checked about 5 of them before seeing the possible hiding spot. A little further investigation and I had the container in hand. My first find! :) It was decent. Very much like a nice micro hide. The location was good, a real hide, not a graffiti-ish type of hide which I had envisioned munzees to be, i.e. QR code stickers in ho-hum locations. This was a water tight container, in a park, in a tree, nicely hidden but easily accessible to everyone (might even be wheelchair accessible). Not having to fish out a pen/pencil to sign a log made it very convenient. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could leave a comment and rate the munzee via the iPhone app. These are two features that I really enjoy about geocaching.

So my first day of munzeeing proved to be surprisingly difficult but in the end, rewarding.

Munzee - geocaching with QR codes

I was reading CacheFreak's blog and found out about yet another geocaching database. This one uses the power of QR codes to record finds.

Munzee.com - 21st century Scavenger Hunt

Munzees come in any size or shape but all must contain a QR-code style barcode. The barcode combined with your GPS coordinates are the essential gameplay elements of munzee. Munzees can be hidden in containers, camoflauged or even in plain view.


Problems with Munzee:

• I'm not keen on the competitive aspect: Points are obtained by capturing other people's munzees or when your deployed munzees are captured by someone else. It's all about finding munzees for points and moving up levels.
• It's not available for Blackberry phones. 
• It's very phone centric. You need the munzee app and a gps app on your smartphone to play. 
• When you log your find you can't leave an online comment. Not particularly rewarding if you own a munzee "cache".  
• No munzees near me, I'd have to cross the border and drive another 100 miles.

  Check out CacheFreak's review of Munzee