What do you think of 'Mission GC'?

Question

This new collection of souvenirs has just been released by Groundspeak, which require you to solve a puzzle and complete a find with the correct cache criteria to claim the souvenir.

What do you think of them?

Are they hard?

Are they well thought out?

Have you earned any yet?

Are you ready for the next ones to be released?

Answer 1

I managed to achieve the last one without having seen the criteria. In fact, I only know what the criteria had been by looking at the souvenir because, despite their claims to the contrary, they only seem to have released the puzzle to premium members who had the right email settings at the time.

I don't like the fact that they never released the puzzle for the first souvenir publicly. Because they didn't, I can't comment on the puzzle itself.

I am now ready for the next one to be released, having changed my email settings as they require to receive information which is not related to the setting they want on.

Comments

...and I still haven't received the second one even with changing my settings. Not happy.

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same here :(

Answer 2

There are apparently going to be three in total, each collectable over two days (all three are weekends) and the information to find what is required is being emailed to premium members on a Friday (i.e. 8 days before the relevant weekend) and 'made available' to everyone else at the beginning of that weekend itself. The next two relevant weekends appear to be the 13/14 August and 27/28 August. The requirement for the weekend of 30/31 July was to find a cache with 10+ favourite points.

We did solve the puzzle in advance for the last one, which was not difficult once you knew what was required, and there were a lot of hints posted on Groundspeak forum. But we can imagine that people who don't like puzzles may have been put off by having to solve one. We don't know whether the puzzle was just for premium members in advance or was also included  in the information 'made availble' on the weekend itself as we didn't see that. This information will be apparently posted on Geocaching.com, Geocaching® app, Facebook and Twitter). Does anyone know?

Comments

I got the E-mail and I am a Premium member, so maybe you do need a premium membership to see the puzzle.

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They posted the mission on facebook but not the puzzles... They just said earn a souvenir by finding a cache with 10 or more favorite points. So if you hate puzzles just wait til the day of and they will post on Facebook and their other media outlets

Answer 3

I earned the first souvenir because i was able to solve the puzzle (with a little help). (I am premium member, so i got the mail a week earlier)

I don't know what to think of it. To be honest, i didn't even search for any cache that would match the criteria. I just went on a prior planned tour and at least one of those caches had the required 10+ favorite points..

Maybe the criteria are too easy (yet) to get the souvenir, but on the other side GS want to get more people to earn some of those pictures..

I am not really "hunting" those souvenirs, but for some challenge caches you have to have a certain number of them.

I would like it if the users could (under certain circumstances / rules) create ther own souvenirs. (e.g. find 5 or 10 named caches in a certain period of time (hours, days, weeks) or something like that) but the time is not chosen by Groundspeak but the creator of the souvenir or related cache.

So i will look after the puzzle, and when the criteria match my geocaching plans, i will collect the souvenir. if not, then not..

Comments

I solved the puzzle and looked on the 'Find a Geocache' page and there was an icon to search for Mission GC geocaches, so I don't know why they hid it in a puzzle when everyone who visits that page can look for geocaches that meet the criteria.

Answer 4

I missed it because our grand plans to go geocaching, and do a series, were blocked by a cycling event shutting the roads off. Didn't know about it until I saw it as a featured search on the search page!

Looking forward for the next one though, which I think is next weekend!

Answer 5

I like the idea of the puzzles as I think if it's pitched at the right level it could encourage people who are normally a bit scared of attempting puzzle caches to have a go but I don't think it's really been thought through very well. There's no point setting a puzzle and then giving out the answer, people just won't bother solving the next one unless they actively enjoy puzzles anyway. There are numerous places to ask for hints online for anyone who is really struggling including Groundspeak forums so you wouldn't have to be a member of e.g. a facebook group to ask for help.

I solved the last puzzle and got the souvenir, I don't think I'll be collecting the others due to prior commitments on those weekends but I'm not that bothered about souvenirs anyway. I'll try the puzzle just for fun anyway.

Answer 6

I enjoyed the first puzzle and found it to be a quick solve once I determined what the clue was to the solve.  As for what i think of "Mission GC', I'll hold my final thoughts until after the next two segments are released, but so far I think the theme is fun and engaging.

Answer 7

The only purpose to solving the puzzles seems to be for giving premium members extra time to plan for getting the cache needed since they tell everyone at the beginning of the souvenir weekend. If it was going to be something difficult to find in your area that would be a benefit I guess.

At least with the first two (solved the second puzzle this morning) it hasn't been very challenging coming up with a cache to fit the criteria. Maybe the final one will be tougher to come up with.

At least it gives folks a reason to get out and find a cache, that's always positive.

Answer 8

It's ok, but I do not find it particularly exciting and innovative.
I think there are definitively much more important tasks Groundspeak should take care of, as such gimmicks.

Answer 9

I like the puzzles even though I thought the first one was really hard.  Luckily I know some people who are pretty good at puzzles.  And then even if you can't solve them they will tell you what you need to do that day which is probably so they don't get too much hate mail.  I haven't looked at the new email yet but am excited for the next challenge!

Answer 10

I was a little bit surprised about the new way to publish the traditional August souvenirs. But I enjoy it. The tasks were not so heavy yet and the story is nice. It is a welcome variety for summer holidays. Recently I earned the first one. The second task is already solved, but it will be not so easy due to the travel into holidays. Yes, it is a Little challenge and I enjoy it. Congratulations for this nice idea.

Answer 11

i think it's very good, i should be more explain perhaps ... it's not hard, i earn the second and i think the labyrinthe should be give a one point cache !?!

Answer 12

I think it is just another thing of Groundspeak to make Geocaching interesting for us. But in my opinion, they could have been a bit more creative, because the challenge of finding a cache with 10 Favorites isn't really hard and we already had that last year in the souvenirs in August....The next one with the Multi Cache shouldn't be tough, too...

Answer 13

I didn't receive the puzzle email either.

Even though the missions are not very difficult, I always liked the August challenges because they motivate you to do something more or less special on a specific date.

So they are not hard, I plan to earn all of them and I cannot wait for the next ones 

Answer 14

I received the 3rd misson and I found it fabulous! photos are fun and perfectlydecipherable! it's a movie that has enchanted me, and gives me ideas for variouscaches! Bravo

Answer 15

I did not got any of those three emails allthough my settings are right, we checked this already. Nobody knows why it does not function...

The first riddle i got by chance because somebody asked me to help  - so i got the first souvenir too, the second i missed... and for the third i asked somebody who got #1 and #2 to forward it to me...  I do not use gc forum or facebok or sth... so if nobody tells me that there will come a new souvenir, normally i do not get it...  :-(

Answer 16

I haven't found them very hard to solve and I think especially the last one was rather elegant. I've earned the two ones that can be earned this far and will get the third one as well since that's the one that's easiest for me to qualify for.

Compared to the previous years of summer souvenirs I think the idea of this with the puzzles and general theme is good. What I don't really like is that the qualification time was so short. Having logged most caches in my area I need to travel a bit to find something with 10 FP or a multi I haven't already done, so having at least a week would be nice.

These are the summer promotions this far:

2013: 31 Days of Geocaching (31 souvenirs)

2014: The Seven Souvenirs of August (7)

2015: Geocaching Road Trip (6)

2016: Mission GC (3)

To me, 2014 and 2015 were basically the same, and probably the best from a promotion perspective. Some of the souvenirs those years were very easy (like log at least one traditional over the course of over a month) which means that almost everyone will manage them, many even by mistake. Others were a bit more adventurous for newbies, like logging a D5 or T5 or logging a CITO or earthcache.

Answer 17

I thought it a bit of a waste of time. In our area one of the first persons to solve the puzzle merely told the local WhatsApp group, etc what was required so most did not even bother with solving the puzzle. some also shared the email/links.

The first puzzle was a stiff one and took time and then they got easier as they went. The issue I have is that there is no reward for the puzzle solving as it was not an essential part of obtaining the souvenir.

That being said I have solved all three puzzles and "earned" the first two souvenirs

Answer 18

I do like the souvenir idea in general and the August challenge in particular. For many this is a somewhat quiet time of the year due to the holiday period. The puzzle idea is ok though the first one was a bit tricky indeed (or I had a bad day) - took me a broad hint to get it. Finding a matching cache then was an easy task and I got the first two - the third I will have to manage as I am abroad that weekend and will only be back late Sunday. Let's see...

Answer 19

Well, they are very easy, but I like the Souvenirs. So it is a nice little task.

Answer 20

All possibilities of getting souvenir is nice, so the summer holiday souvenirs every year are great idea for me. This year there are few of them, and very easy to achieve them, but also I got all 4.

I hope that next year it will be more challenging :-)