Archive for February, 2017

February 28, 2017

Munzee Services Update

Due to extenuating circumstances, including AWS outages, our server migration has taken longer than expected. While the migration itself is almost complete, we will not be able to re-enable the Munzee services until AWS completes their repairs.

We realize that this has caused issues with some players while they try to maintain gameplay achievements. Therefore, today will NOT be counted for deploy or capture streaks. It will be viewed as a null day, e.g. if you were at day 52 yesterday, tomorrow will count as day 53.

The February Clan War WILL END at the normal time, and no exceptions will be made in regards to points or placement.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and we are working diligently to get everything up and running again. We will continue to update status.munzee.com as we have more information.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

February 27, 2017

Server Migration TOMORROW

Tomorrow, February 28th, we will be migrating our servers. Beginning at 10:00 MHQ time, all Munzee services including, but not limited to, the Munzee app, store and website, the Eventzee app and website, and the WallaBee app and website, will be offline. This migration is scheduled to last roughly three hours, but it may take more or less time than the estimate that our AWS partner has provided us.

Please make arrangements to complete any gameplay you need to, such as clan requirements or streaks, before this time. If there is an extended outage, we will ensure protections against loss of streaks, etc.

Status updates regarding the migration will be provided on our status page and on our social media channels:

While we hate to have large amounts of down time such as this, we want to ensure the future stability of the game and platform.

Thanks for your understanding!

February 27, 2017

March Clan Requirements

Level 1:
Individual Greenie Deploys: 15
Clan Total Greenie Captures: 250
Individual Total Points: 1,500
Clan Total Points: 40,000

Rewards: 1 Mace Munzee, 1 MVM, 1 Virtual Munzee, 1 Virtual Color

Level 2:
Individual Greenie Deploys: 30
Clan Total Greenie Captures: 1,000
Clan Total Shamrock Captures: 20
Individual Total Points: 5,000
Clan Total Points: 150,000

Rewards: 2 Mace Munzees, 2 MVMs, 1 Ruby Munzee, 1 Diamond Munzee, 1 Scatter Munzee

Level 3:
Individual Greenie Deploys: 65
Clan Total Greenie Captures: 1,750
Clan Total Shamrock Captures: 40
Individual Total Points: 12,000
Clan Total Points: 250,000

Rewards: 2 Mace Munzees, 2 MVMs, 2 Ruby Munzees, 1 Diamond Munzee, 1 Scatter Munzee, 1 Longsword Munzee

Level 4:
Individual Greenie Deploys: 100
Clan Total Greenie Captures: 2,500
Clan Total Shamrock Captures: 60
Individual Total Points: 20,000
Clan Total Points: 400,000

Rewards: 2 Longsword Munzees, 3 MVMs, 2 Battle Axe Munzees, 2 Diamond Munzees, 2 Scatter Munzees, 2 Ruby Munzees

Level 5:
Individual Greenie Deploys: 150
Clan Total Greenie Captures: 4,000
Clan Total Shamrock Captures: 100
Individual Total Points: 30,000
Clan Total Points: 600,000

Rewards: 1 THE HAMMER, 2 Longswords Munzees, 2 Battle Axe Munzees, 2 MVMs, 1 Emerald Pin, 2 Diamond Munzees, 2 Ruby Munzees, 2 Scatter Munzees, 1 Hotel Munzee

February 24, 2017

Player of the Week: Rebecca Wilken (denali0407)

As Munzee has grown over the years, the game has evolved in so many more ways than any of the co-founders could have imagined. We’ve certainly had our fair share of growing pains, but in its essence Munzee has tried to stick to its core goal of getting people out into the world. No one knows this better than those players who have been with us since the beginning. This week’s Player of the Week is Rebecca Wilken (denali0407).


Who are you?

My Munzee name is denali0407. Yes, 0407 denotes my April 7th birthday. Not terribly original, but it turns out it’s quite the happy little subtle reminder of the day for one & all, so, hey. I’ll keep it. (Oh, the year? Move along. There’s nothing to see there.) Denali National Park is a place I’d very much like to visit one day. (Maybe after someone plants a virtual garden there? [Because if there are no Munzees there, why go, amiright?])

Where in the world do you live?
In a small town west of Fort Worth, Texas. I’ve been in Texas for a number of years now, but I still claim both Iowa as home (though I’ve never technically lived there [oodles & oodles of family there]) and the Pacific Northwest as home (my favorite of all the places I’ve lived, including Hawaii [Navy brat]). I might could even claim to be a native Texan, since technically I was born here, though I left before my first birthday [that Navy brat thing].

How long have you played Munzee?
The better question might be how deeply do I play Munzee. But I probably don’t want to admit to that, so I’ll go with my start date of May 30, 2013. I was sitting in my car in the middle of nowhere, waiting for the interminable (and wretched) train to pass, and on a whim downloaded the app. As it happens, in that tiny little speck on the map (look for Cresson, Texas on the map. There’s nothing there but a train changing station that stops traffic for a criminal amount of time during rush hour [not rushing to that speck on the map, but rushing between Fort Worth and Granbury]), there were actually TWO Munzees. Right there in the middle of nowhere. Naturally, I had to cap one after that blasted train finally abandoned its attempt at suicide-by-angry-commuters. The next day my favorite aunts arrived for their first annual visit so I didn’t touch it again for two weeks, but after that? Oh, it was ON. But it was on in large part because my mother (Pippin) got interested and it was quite lovely spending time wandering the countryside with her. The woman is a workaholic so it’s a joy to drag her off to do things for the pure FUN of it. And FUN is something Munzee has in spades. (Preaching to the choir here, I know.)

How did you find Munzee?
I belong to a perfectly delightful, fundamentally life-sustaining, and certainly life-enhancing online community of essential friends who initially met in the forums of a wearable exercise tracking device (read: a new sort of pedometer). This was a dozen years before Fitbit, mind you. All these years we have hosted amongst ourselves monthly step challenges to entertain us and keep us moving. Our challenge in the month of May, 2013 was themed around geolocation games. One of those discovered that month was Munzee. Fun fact: The host that month, who introduced the game of Munzee to us, didn’t have a smart phone and couldn’t play it herself. But still, she’s responsible for tipping several of us down into the Munzee rabbit hole. (I’m undecided. Should I send her flowers? Or an invoice?)

What do you most enjoy about Munzee?

Let me think about that. Is it my updated tetanus shot (thanks to some rusty rebar)? Is it Pippin’s broken bones and possible torn rotator cuff (thanks to an uneven sidewalk on an unlit street)? Perhaps my terrifying credit card bill? Is it missing out on a mythological by 12 seconds – repeatedly – to the same local Munzeer? My shattered phone screen? Yeah, no. Probably not. It’s the adventure of it all – we all know that, right?! YES! The adventure. The thrill. The challenge. The triumphs. The badges. THE SPECIALS. The 3:30 AM trek down a trail in the dark with (the extremely happy) dog as a bodyguard to capture Frankenstein’s arm. It’s dragging Pippin 30 miles out of town at 10:00 PM for a cupcake (“It’s a HUNDRED POINTS! You can have it, let’s just go!”) It’s being accosted in a park by some random guy jumping out of a truck to yell, “Hey, are you looking for bacon?!” It’s questioning our sanity and our good judgment wondering if we should call search & rescue from the face of a mountain, certain we’ll not survive the trek back down. It’s battling impending heat exhaustion and flagging down passing cyclists begging for water because there was ‘just one more Munzee’ to chase down. It’s tramping through the snow and 2nd degree sunburn. It’s the strategy behind deploys and the delicious anticipation of planning events and the excitement of scoping out new Munzee types. It’s the travel. It’s the people. Ohhh, THE PEOPLE. How I do love the people. [Usually.]

Also, admittedly, I may be ever-so-very-slightly addicted to creating event tags for Munzee events. Just a teensy bit. Or a lot a bit. Whichever.

What is on your wish list?
…brace yourself…

The ability to upgrade an old virtual to a new kind of virtual – that can then be capped again by anyone who capped it in the previous iteration. I’d love to refresh some old virtuals this way. It would be a win/win for both deployer & local capper, and would keep the map fresh. (I’m thinking of you, Köln, Germany, and you, Franklin, TN.)

The ability to click on any deploy on our deployed lists and see how many cap-on points it has racked up for us. Oh, how I would love this! Also, clicking on any category of deployed Munzees to see how many cap-on points have accumulated from said category. This would be especially fascinating for Personal Munzees. Which reminds me:

Badges for owning a Personal Munzee with x number of cap-ons. Maybe 50, 150, 300? (Fiendish Friends, Convivial Cohorts, Sociable Stalkers?)

A Joker’s Wild Munzee. Double the points of the last two physical Munzees captured. (Ditto for the cap-on points.)

A virtual Prize Wheel (not blastable).

The choice to dismiss a Munzee private message when it pops up in app instead of ‘OK’ opening the message (still smarting over the virtual resort I didn’t get to deploy because of that).

An “accept all” option for coinz. Also, the ability to change my answer if I accidentally decline a request (basically a “Whoops! I didn’t mean it! button.) Maybe that would require a list of those requests that I’ve declined?

Hopelessly O.C.D. (Obsessed w/Caps & Deploys) badge. I’ll talk about this the day it happens 😉

Tell us about yourself!
I am stubbornly optimistic. Can’t hold a grudge to save my life (though I had a cat for 19 years who could hold a grudge like nobody’s business.) I am a painfully shy introvert. One on one, or in twos & threes, I’m pretty much okay. Put me in a group and I’ll immediately bolt to a corner or an edge somewhere. I thoroughly enjoy people. But sometimes I just need to curl up in a comfy chair with a good book and a purring cat. I love to travel, and I love coming home afterward. I am fiercely loyal to family. To friends. To the idea that chocolate is the breakfast of champions. I have 50 first cousins, and I’ve lost track of how many children they’ve produced so far (first cousins, once removed). Second cousins number in the hundreds. Myself, I was born to be an aunt and I enjoy it very much. And I have the best niblings ever grown, so yay me!

Other hobbies include:
There is meant to be life outside of Munzee? Oh. Yes. I took up digital scrapbooking after being sidelined over a marathon training injury. I took up Munzee after a back injury left me unable to sit at a desk long enough to really indulge in digi-scrap. (Apparently, I’m prone to injury. Thank you, genetics.) In the last year I worked back up to an easy 5k distance (although a recent tweak has set me back a bit). I’m a long way from my next marathon, but I’ll get there again one day (there’s that stubborn optimism thing). I live to read and I can’t go too long without creating something, even if it’s just a greeting card. I was once published in Paper Crafts Magazine for a birthday card I created out of aluminum flashing, cage wire, and leather. Go figure.

Any last words?
Somehow I suspect I’ve already more than exceeded my fair share of words sooooo I think I’ll just leave off now. Right after I thank whoever the blessed soul was who nominated me. So. THANK YOU. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you. I’m delighted to know you. Even if I don’t know who you are…

OH! I’d also very much like to thank everyone who contributed to the Mile High MHQ garden in Denver )(AKA the Denver, Texas garden) last summer. Thanks to your help we filled that garden in just a few days, and the cap-ons were lovely (and haven’t stopped). You’re the best, guys!

denali0407 also included some socials, so cap away!

February 23, 2017

Announcing Jewel Collector Badges!

Collecting jewel munzees has become a staple of the game, but what are you to do with all of those precious stones you’ve captured?

We’re happy to announce that a new line of badges have been released for capturing certain jewel munzees. These badges track captures on non-blastable jewels: Topaz, Aqua, Diamond, Ruby, Pink Diamond and Amethyst.

Null Image for Jewel Collector Badges.

The design of these badges feature a few ideas of where you might safely keep some of those jewels, but you’ll only be able to unlock one at a time. To start things off, you can earn the “Hidden Hole” badge by capturing 200 non-blastable jewel munzees. It may not seem like much of a security system, but you’ve got to start somewhere, right?

Hidden Hole- Capture 200 non-blastable Jewel Munzees.

Once you earn the first in the set you’ll unlock the requirements for the next badge. These may not be the easiest badges to earn, but you’ve really got to work for the added security. For those that are able to achieve maximum security, keep your eyes out for a secret Level 4 badge that won’t show up until you earn it.

Happy hunting for jewels and as always, Munzee on!

February 22, 2017

ZeeOps begin March 1st!

Agent, it’s up to you to go undercover and save the day.

At long last we are proud to announce the creation of ZeeOps- single player campaign missions to complete for rewards. These Operations work much like individual Clan Wars, but feature a variety of Mission levels. Missions range in difficulty and require a variety of Munzee skills.

ZeeOps will officially go live on March 1st at 10:00 MHQ Time and you can begin your missions on March 2nd.


To learn more about ZeeOps check out our campaign page at zeeops.munzee.com or the FAQs page.

More “How To” information will be released in the coming days through debriefings leading up to the launch of the Operations Dashboard. This dashboard will be where you can plan out your Operations and Missions each month. Currently there are four different Operation lengths each including varying levels of Missions. You’ll schedule out your Missions for each Operation in advance so prepare accordingly.

Whether it’s taking out members of the Mean Green Gang or acquiring rare gems and jewels it’s up to you to complete the Missions in the required amount of time. New sets of covert Operations are released monthly so schedule your time wisely.

To start ZeeOps you’ll have to earn ZeeCred. The cost of the ZeeOp depends on the duration of that Operation. Starting March 1st you’ll be able to purchase ZeeCred in the Munzee Online Store and you’ll also earn more by completing Operations. All Premium members will be awarded 50 ZeeCred on March 1st as well so make sure your membership is renewed at https://store.munzee.com/products/premium-membership.

In connection with the release of ZeeOps we’re also pleased to announce that 007 700 specials will be on the map to help you take your first steps toward becoming an agent. These ZeeOp icon specials will launch at 00:01 MHQ time on Thursday, February 23rd and end at 23:59 MHQ time on Sunday, March 5th. The specials will bounce on greenies every six hours or when capped and both capper and owner will earn points and extra ZeeCred. You’ll also earn the limited edition Operation: Launch badge for capturing one of these specials.

  • Capture: 20 points + 5 ZeeCred
  • CapOn: 10 points + 5 ZeeCred

You can view the number of ZeeCred you have earned on the FAQs page.

ZeeOps is a long time coming (more than a few thousand hours) and all of MHQ is super excited to give our players even more ways to play. Stay tuned for more information in the coming days and as always be on the lookout for updates and new features in the future. Get ready for March 1st- Director Zee is counting on you!

To learn more about ZeeOps check out our campaign page at zeeops.munzee.com or the FAQs page.

February 22, 2017

The Down Under #E1EW Tour Recap!

It’s been a few weeks since Rob took the first step in our 2017 #E1EW campaign. Now that his body clock has readjusted to MHQ time we thought it would be good to update you on the trip he took “Down Under.”

The number of players met in Melbourne, Shepparton (Shepzee), Queenstown, and Auckland made the hours and hours of travel time well worth it. The tour started with a nice Italian meal in the suburbs of Melbourne attended by players from near and far. It was a first chance to meet Louise, and a great time for Rob to reminisce with players he’d met on a trip 2 years ago at the same restaurant. The manager even remembered him, but it might have been because of the large group and the suit! This was a great chance to sit and talk with players who had recently started playing the game and hear about how the game was growing down under.

Next it was time for the big event on Australia Day! January 26, 2017 over 100 players traveled to Elsternwick Park in Melbourne for a great event. The event hosts thought of everything and arrived early to secure a shelter with built in grills for players to barbeque their lunch. Everyone had a great time celebrating this national holiday with friends from near and far, Rob & Louise even dressed up for the occasion! Rob’s personal highlight from the event was seeing the excitement as a group of friends surprised Debolicious with their attendance. The dancing and screaming was proof that the surprise worked 100%. Louise loved that the hosts planned a celebration for her birthday with cake and a card signed by everyone. Once again she thanks all of you for that special effort.

Australia Day event in Melbourne.

The next day our event duo was off to meet with the Tourism board in Shepparton, talk with the mayor, and attend multiple events. During a 2 hour drive north from Melbourne to Shepparton, Rob experienced something new. He was the passenger, capping a long trail of resorts tying Melbourne to Shepparton. It was difficult on occasion to time it just right to cap within 300 feet so he made some notes about a change that needed to occur. Capping while driving is definitely not encouraged, but a new capture proximity has been put in place to help passengers. 500 feet (approx 152 meters) is the new capture range, thanks to the play on this trip. The deploy proximity has not been changed and will remain 3500 feet.

The tourism board in Shepparton is interested in setting up munzees and using the app to help track the moooovement of their cow art exhibit. This is part of a “Get mooooving” campaign to get the residents of Shepparton and surrounding areas active and ties in with the E1EW campaign of Munzee. One of the employees set up an account during the meeting and even showed up at the event a few hours later! The event was organized by local players led by “Down Under Rob” aka Rob Steer aka rubik80. He gets a special mention in this blog post because he worked with the city of Shepparton to setup this special Get Mooooving event at Victoria Park LAKE. (DU)Rob set up for the mayor to attend and announce that Shepparton’s name would officially be changed to Sheppzee for the duration of Team Munzee’s visit! This was the first time such an honor has been bestowed on Munzee and a very touching moment. It was amazing and cemented a place in Munzee history for this special town.

SheppZee event in SheppZee (AKA Shepparton).

Next on the agenda was a special Munzee event held at the Aussie Hotel in downtown Shepparton. At the event, hosts from different states of the Australian federation presented Rob and Louise with gifts from their respective locations. Gifts to learn more about the area, the sports, and the people were heartwarming but most unexpected were the gifts to bring home to the kids. The gifts are displayed at MHQ as a daily reminder of the people who live nearly ten thousand miles from MHQ but are a big part of the game! Thank you to each player who attended the dinner and to those who presented the gifts, they mean the world to us.

CZeeO Rob Vardeman, Munzee Events Manager Louise Gibson and Australian player Rob Steer AKA Rubik80.

Saturday morning a group of players from Western Australia hosted an event near the main “Cow Park” in Sheppzee, complete with a very fun Eventzee hunt. The hunt was a great tour of the newly named town of Sheppzee which concluded at the visitor center. Everyone had a great time and a special presentation was made to the founder of Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation. Rob presented a check for $2500 on behalf of Munzee players worldwide to Allan, Zaidee’s father. During the event special cards were sold with funds also being donated to ZRF, and one more crazy thing. Rob is known for wearing crazy and colorful suits, made by Opposuits. One of the hosts came up with the idea to allow players to wear the jacket for a picture for a five dollar donation to ZRF. Over $100 was raised just from jacket pictures! In the end a final donation of $3250 was given to ZRF on behalf of players in the spirit of our E1EW 2017 campaign!

Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation event

Next up on the “Down Under E1EW Tour” was an event in Queenstown, New Zealand. Rob and Louise organized the event as a brief meetup during a personal holiday extension to spend time with Louise’s sister and family. Half a dozen players traveled from all over the south island to meet at “Cowboy”, seemingly appropriately named for the visitor from Texas. 🙂 Everyone had a great time trading Munzee stories and also added to the ZRF donation via special cards purchased at the event.

Queenstown, New Zealand event.

The final event of the Tour was held at One Tree Hill in Auckland, New Zealand. Players gathered from all over New Zealand’s north island and a few even visited from Australia. It was lovely to chat with the players who are really beginning to grow a large group locally, even forming several clans. One special event munzee was even deployed on Louise’s 15 month old niece, Nia, giving players the mission of catching a roaming toddler! The hospitality of the players from this event was special with many gifts, some handmade, that are now on display on the other side of the world! A few of the tasty gifts even made nice snacks for everyone back at the office, so a big THANKS to the Kiwi Players.

One Tree Hill event in Auckland, New Zealand.

2017 started with an amazing journey to the other side of the world, but we couldn’t think of a better group of people for the kick off. A heartfelt thanks from Rob and Louise for the hospitality and the conversations that mean the most at events. We take the ideas from these conversations and turn them into action back at MHQ, including the Bilby host badge for upcoming events. Stay tuned for more lessons learned and adventures to be shared over the course of the year.

Everyone. Everywhere.

Check out the video below to see the official recognition ceremony of SheppZee (excuse the loud ambulance!) and our donation to Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation! 

February 20, 2017

Maintenance and Database Transition

Hey, everybody!

As you may have noticed, some Munzee services have had a slower response time than normal. That is something that you, nor we, like. We are beginning a process to transfer our databases and servers. That process begins with some emergency maintenance tonight (February 20th) at 21:00 MHQ time. This maintenance should last roughly one hour.

Over the next seven to ten days, there may be outages or downtime that affect gameplay as changes and transfers are made. If we know about these potential outages, we will provide notice in advance here on the blog. If an outage is spontaneous, we will do our best to post an update on our status page within five minutes. You can sign up to receive SMS or email messages when an incident is reported, updated, and resolved on that page.

While we can’t give any specific time frames for some of these potential outages, we will continue to update you with the information that we receive from our AWS partners as we make these changes.

We apologize in advance for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. All of this is to make the game the best it can be and continue to push forward with our 2017 theme. Everyone. Everywhere.

Munzee on!

February 20, 2017

New Urban Camos and Price Changes

We’ve added four new urban camo designs to the Munzee Online Store!

The sizes for these are as follows:

  • Munzee Inspection Notice – 1″ x 2″
  • Property of Munzee Inc Management – 1″ x 2″
  • Warranty – .88″ x .88″
  • Warranty (Red) – 1″ x .88″

These are available now and are $7.50 for 20 stickers.

We’ve also changed the prices on the Mini Urban Camo Munzees. They are now $5 for 20 stickers.

We hope you enjoy these new skins. Keep an eye out for new designs coming soon!

Munzee on!

February 17, 2017

Introducing The Faun Mythological Munzee!

Something wild this way comes… The Faun Mythological Munzee!

As the first member of our Classical Mythology set, the Faun is a woodland creature not unlike the Leprechaun. This half goat- half human fella is known for guiding tourists in the forest and has a penchant for all things Earthy.

1,500 Faun Mythological Munzees will go on sale Monday February 20th at 15:00 MHQ Time in the Munzee Online Store for $20. Similar to other mythological releases, each player is limited to one each, but the sale is open to anyone- no matter if you have previous mythologicals or not. These furry forest dwellers are attracted to Earth Mystery Munzees, which are also for sale in the online store.

Details:

Name
: The Faun
Description:
The Faun Munzee bounces around on greenies and Earth Mystery Munzees every 12 hours or when captured. Each is numbered and owned by a Munzee player. Only 1 Faun Munzee is allowed per player.

Points:
Deploy: 100
Capture: 100
CapOn: 100

Earn a unique badge for owning a Faun Munzee.