Hide & Seek

If you enjoy a challenge and finding hidden treasure----if you always found the most Easter Eggs---if you could find someone in a game of Hide & Seek in record time---Try it 2018 style:

Do you have a GPS, or another device such as a phone that has a GPS feature? GPS stands for 'Global Positioning System'. It's what you use when you let your phone guide you to a destination while driving.


You can try Geocaching... ("jee-o-cashing"). It's like hunting for treasure, but using technology.

Here's your word of the day....Definition of a cache by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Cache (pronounced kash):

1a : a hiding place especially for concealing and preserving provisions or implements

b : a secure place of storage

2: something hidden or stored in a cache

3: a computer memory with very short access time used for storage of frequently or recently used instructions or data —called also cache memory

**And don't worry if you don't have a GPS: there are ideas at the end for treasure hunts as well.**

The idea is, someone has hidden something and the challenge is for you to find it using a GPS device. It can get you to the general area, but you will then have to hunt for the item using your own wits.

                                                      a cache hidden in the home of a gnome (apparently)

The 'cache' or hidden treasure will be a container with a log book and other items. When you find it, sign the log book and, if you want, take something from the container, but then put something else in. Items traded should be of similar value, and will not be anything truly expensive. You may find a rubber duck left by someone else and trade it for a fancy pencil, for example. Put the lid back on and put it back where you found it.

                                         Typical cache with journal and pen and some treasures...

Do you know the latitude and longitude of your home? Look it up: http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/latitude_and_longitude_finder.htm#.UdxfAF0o5ZQ


For more on geocaching, check out this website:
http://www.geocaching.com/

• Find geocaching challenges in your area- https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4B1R6_blueirocguy-is-awesome?guid=ba324bb2-22dc-4b15-baf2-280c435cb36b
• Some cities have geocaching programs but will request a sizable deposit for you to use their 'rented' GPS devices.

tricky: a fake rock with cache in it..

Hidden in a hollow tree stump....no Keebler elves here...

and another--look at the collection of stuff!

As an alternative, without a GPS, you and your friends can hide something and write directions as to how to get to the item. Another group of friends can do the same, and then each team tries to find the other's cache.  See how well you write directions and follow them--how fast does it get found?

There could be a map.......

                                Just because you don't live near water doesn't mean you can't pretend you do. 

                                                              OK, here's the back yard version, if you must be a realist......

Walk the route to get to the treasure---don't be too direct, make them work. Write down the number of steps and which direction you walked. Another way would be to record how to walk and have the person listen to the recording, or you could take pictures and tell them to find what's in the pictures.

You might leave clues that lead to other clues: "Follow the driveway to the mailbox and look for a white rock" and then have a clue under that rock. That clue tells the person "A red thing in the back yard will tell you more" ...then he or she has to find the red thing...etc. Or, you might issue a key and let them find several items that lock, but the key only opens one of the things.

If you use a map, make it fairly puzzling and a bit confusing.

Once the treasure/cache has been found, move it and see if it can be found once again. You can set a timer to see who finds the cache faster. Maybe the cache will be a container of treats to be enjoyed by the victor.

Ready......set..........search!