MEET MUNZEE MONDAY

August 11, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: Rob Vardeman

Here at Munzee we’re constantly encouraging our players to meet and greet and build the personal relationships that make this game so great. Over the next few weeks we’ll be showcasing members of Team Munzee so our players can get to know us a bit better. So each Munday (see what we did there?) check in to see a new member of Team Munzee and you decide if you trust the game in our hands. It may have taken him all day to finish his questionnaire, but he’s a pretty busy guy. It’s Munzee President Rob Vardeman!

Name and Title:
Rob Vardeman, President of Munzee Inc.

Where are you from?
Born in West Texas (Odessa) but jumped around the state several times, and a 4-year stay in California, before finally landing in Allen Texas. I’ve lived in Allen for 22 years, about 5 miles from our amazing location for Munzee HeadQuarters.

How did you find Munzee?
August 13th 2011, just over a month after Munzee launched I was out playing two other location games. I was headed for a long trail, but stopped at a windmill to find a container. As I approached GZ I noticed a tag zip tied to the structure flapping in the breeze. Odd but unimportant in my current search. I found the container a few feet away, took care of business, and turned to leave. Then I noticed the tag had a QR code on it and said “Scan for points”. Being a gamer, and having just installed a QR code reader on my phone a few weeks earlier I scanned it and was taken to the Munzee website. I found out I needed to create an account to play this game, so I did. It was love at first cap. I spent the next 5 hours, and over 100 miles driving to all the nearby Munzees collecting my 5 points. Over the next few weeks I started to interact with “snicker” via email because I was unable to find some of his daughter’s deployments. He basically made fun of me (sarcastically) and said I needed to improve my “geo-senses” if I couldn’t find something hidden by his little daughter. LOL. It kicked my Munzee hunting into high gear when I figured out I was interacting with a co-founder and the president. Eventually capping Munzees in his neighborhood lead to meeting him so I took my shot and told him I would work for Munzee one day. I had a vision for what it could be used for and where it could go! I became addicted to chasing special icons and points. I was a fanatical player and made it all the way to #7 on the global leaderboard before I finally got added to the team. The rest of the story is history. 🙂

How long have you worked for Munzee?
After 9 months of bugging Aaron and Scott to let me help, I began volunteering for Munzee in June of 2012 as my summer started for my teaching job. My title was Business Development, Community Support, and Player Interaction (or something like that). Over the next 6 months I worked hard to prove my worth and earn my spot, while working full time as a 5th grade Math teacher. In December 2012 I presented a plan to Aaron that would move me to full time contractor status with Munzee due to increasing needs for work to be done during “normal business hours”. While the plan was risky, I had faith and knew it was the right move for Munzee, and Aaron agreed. In January 2013, things really started to take off, after finally finding a supplier for vinyl stickers. It was 9 months later when Aaron and I talked through the future path for Munzee and he handed off the reins of Munzee Inc to me. October 4th 2013 was a life changing day for me and a game changer for Munzee. Since that time we’ve grown by leaps and bounds, increasing to 8 full time employees, 3 part time, and a fast growing worldwide community of players! Every day I’m amazed at our growth as a company and a game. I’m proud to lead our team as we venture out into new arenas and press on as THE 21st century scavenger hunt.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
Munzee is family. I truly see it that way. From hanging out with players at events, to interacting via email or Facebook groups I have always enjoyed spending time with my Munzee family. Hearing stories of need and how Munzee has made a difference, like in the case of my buddy David Reed, I believe in giving back to the players and their communities. It’s part of the reason I love to travel to events so much. Without the players, and their love for Munzee, we would be nothing. That’s something at the forefront of every choice we make at MHQ. The theme of 2014 is “Expect the Unexpected” and I think we’ve lived up to it at this point. The addition of new Munzee types, special contests, new badges, special events, and the marketplace show we aren’t afraid to keep things fresh. Munzee is home of the “Play it your way” special, and we will absolutely continue to innovate and give players new experiences in the years to come.

Famous last words?
When we moved into our first MHQ in January the three of us had quotes on the board. Mine is “I’ll be excited with one”. Sometimes we get carried away with bigger, faster, better, and the things that could be. But I’m excited with one. One person at an event, one deploy in a small town, one event in a new location, one shipment to a new country, one new player. It takes one to get the ball rolling. We’re seeing amazing growth in so many new places all around the world and it all started from one person in that area. Thanks also to the One who protects and guides me daily through this life I’m blessed to live and to my supportive family for allowing me to chase this dream. #MunzeeOn

August 4, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: Scott Foster

Name and Title:
Scott Foster, Co-Founder/VP of Technology

Where are you from?
I am from San Rafael, California, USA which is on the North side of the Golden Gate Bridge, south being the beautiful city of San Francisco. I lived there until I was 15 and then moved to Texas with my mom and step-dad. We moved in the middle of July and I would call my friends back in California and say “You wouldn’t believe this place. It’s 2am and it’s still 102F outside.” I still hate the heat. HATE IT.

Tell us about yourself:
About me? Let’s step back a bit …

I have always been interested in programming. I remember being fascinated with computers as a child. I feel like this is very cliché, but I loved being able to type something into the keyboard and things would appear. My dad bought me a C++ book when I was 7 and I didn’t understand a single word of it, but I felt much smarter that I had that book. “Look at me, I’m a REAL programmer!” I remember my house had two phone lines and two computers. So one day I played Warcraft 2 with my friend in the other room via dialup (56k baud modem) and was so amazed how that worked. I lost the game, but it was amazing how it was possible that I could play a game with somebody in the other room. It almost felt like Bell talking into the phone to Watson for the first time, “Mr. Watson – Come here – I want to see you.” … ah, something that is so taken for granted nowadays.

In middle school, I learned Hypercard and would make the teachers impressed that I could make a button on the screen that when you click it, a sound would play on the computer. The girls in my class were not as impressed as my teachers (surprising, I know). My school also had a website that they had no idea what to do with, so I asked if I could play with it – and I thought it was so cool that I could make changes to a file called index.html and people all over the world would see it. Things like that were always a delight.

Once I moved to Texas at 15, it was time to grow up. I just wanted to learn programming and make my 7 year old self proud. Once I graduated from high school and tried a few attempts at college, I decided to join the United States Air Force because they were willing to teach me programming, or so I thought. Basic training was “fun” as was technical training school. I kept asking when I was going to go learn real programming. I got stationed at RAF Lakenheath, England and was excited to learn … which I never did. I bought a PHP book which, like when I was young, I thought that it made me a real programmer. I learned the basics, created a website, and just had fun. As the great historian band Bone Thugs-n-Harmony once said, “You know nothing come easy, you gotta try real, real hard, I tried hard…but I guess I gotta try harder.”

I got out of the USAF after 2.5 years because the military was done relying on people to do programming and switched to using companies. I then moved back to Texas where I married my high school sweetheart, got my college degree at University of Texas at Dallas in Management Information Systems, and my wife and I moved to Philadelphia, PA to start our lives. I worked for a few companies, learned a lot about real programming, and then one day got a Facebook message from Aaron talking about this game he thought about called Munzee which has all lead to this.

Now, my life is not completely boring. I love all kinds of things. I have a Barry Bonds jersey in my closet. I will fight to the death at the notion that he ever did steroids. I also still love playing video games – Final Fantasy and Counterstrike: Global Offensive are the two that I play the most. I also enjoy nature, bike riding, 90’s west coast rap music, and hanging out with my family. A wife and 3 kids keep me very busy outside of work, but I love it.

How long have you worked for Munzee?
I have been around since the almost beginning of Munzee, but have only been working on it full time for about 1.5 years. Most people don’t know, but the first year when we created Munzee… nobody got paid. Everybody thought the idea was stupid, but we wanted to prove them wrong. All the money we earned, which wasn’t much, went back towards the servers or things to grow the game. Myself, along with the three other founders, would sit on Skype from about 8pm – midnight every night coming up with what Munzee was. We all had families and full time jobs so it was all done on the side because players, like you, kept playing. There were many debates on things like what it’s called when you scan a munzee. Everybody now knows it’s called capturing, but back then we had to come up with the terminology.

How did you come up with Munzee?
I actually did not come up with Munzee. Aaron approached me with some ideas he had along with mockups of the website. When I moved back to Texas, the 4 founders met on a cold February 2011 evening at a Mexican restaurant where we all agreed to start Munzee. The rest is history.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
The two things I love most are the abilities to prove to myself that I am a real programmer, that my 7 year old self would be proud of, and talking to people all over the world. Most people just go to work, do their job, think the work that they do doesn’t matter to anyone, and go home. Not me. My job is to make sure there is enough coal in the Munzee engine so that people can use it and Rob can steer where the boat needs to go. I have met a lot of interesting people via Munzee and realize that people from all over the world have the same hopes, fears, doubts, inspirations, and goals.

Famous last words?

I got 3 quotes. Dylan is mad that I couldn’t just pick one.

“I want to put a ding in the universe.” – Steve Jobs
“Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth. ” – Mike Tyson
“When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want them to bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my…” – Bobby Knight

July 28, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: Omi Salavea

Here at Munzee we’re constantly encouraging our players to meet and greet and build the personal relationships that make this game so great. Over the next few weeks we’ll be showcasing members of Team Munzee so our players can get to know us a bit better. So each Munday (see what we did there?) check in to see a new member of Team Munzee and you decide if you trust the game in our hands. You know her voice, you probably know her instagrammed face, it’s social media director and podcast host extraordinaire Omi Salavea!

Name and Title:
Omi Salavea, Social Media Director for Munzee

Where are you from?
Everywhere, USA! But I hung my hat in Virginia for the longest time.

Tell us about yourself:
Almost everything people could learn about me can be found online, 🙂 . Well, almost everything.

I spent most of my childhood as a Navy brat in Virginia. I grew up loving sci-fi, fine arts, and the great outdoors. I come from creative artists, but to this day, can barely scratch out a simple stick figure. Being surrounded by creativity, I had to find my own niche. Back in my day, the web and communicating globally was still a very new thing. So I made a decision to attend quite a few technical colleges, majoring in anything from web design (hey, that’s creative) to general IT/Networking studies (pays the bills).

With a whirlwind of half-completed studies, creative endeavors, and general craziness that happens in your 20’s, I landed a very awesome job at a pretty large company. I spent several years working up the ranks from the bottom level, technical support. Working in technical support gave me two things: appreciation and compassion for the customers that sign my paychecks, and time to work on what I wanted to do career-wise.

By now the internet was in the infant stages of global communication and interaction. The ability to enjoy a photo of the Sahara desert taken ten minutes ago, and then turn around and watch a DIY repair video recorded in Seattle intrigued me. This sense of sharing experiences, art, etc… to millions of people planted the seeds in my heart to delve into the world of Social Media.

I officially started in 2008 running several blogs and social campaigns with limited success, until I settled on my old blog and Youtube channels (poor, poor, neglected media outlets). In late 2010, Canon USA & Canon ITS grabbed me out of my current Fraud/Investigations position (at the time), and placed me as lead/senior technical consult for developing and launching Canon’s first ever involvement within Social Media. I assisted in rolling out Canon USA’s presence on all major Social Outlets. In 2011, I shifted to the role of senior Social Media Moderator/Advocate for Canon CITS.

Once this happened, well, I officially designated myself a Social Media Maven :). People have seen my face (or heard my voice) all over Youtube, re-pin ANYTHING any of my Pinterest presences post, deal with my terrible blogs, and “heart” my ridiculous tweets.

How long have you worked for Munzee?
Scott, Rob and the original president of Munzee, Aaron, took quick notice of me online and how pro-active I was in promoting some of my outdoor hobbies. In late July, 2013 Aaron asked me to join the team. Basic stuff first, answering support tickets, providing suggestions/feedback about Social Media. The role has grown from there. Everyone at Munzee wears different hats, currently I’m wearing a painter’s mask and a sailor hat constructed out of 120 grit sandpaper.

How did you find Munzee?
Probably the only normal answer I have for this interview! I found Munzee the same way many of our players did. I went out for a ‘caching break at a rest area during a very cold, bitter December. After rooting around in a tangle of dead branches and snow, I found a very neglected cache. No swag, no travel bugs, but a very large, home-printed Munzee with very vague instructions on the back. When I got to my vacation destination, I looked up Munzee and was instantly intrigued, and confused! It took a better smartphone, and a lot of time out in parking lots to get familiar with the game, as well as time spent in the forums, Facebook, and Youtube.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
Unlike some of my other hobbies, Munzee doesn’t have me circling the same area for 20 minutes scratching my head because I can’t locate it. Then someone else finds it 2 hours later and says I didn’t look hard enough. I don’t spend 4 hours carving an elaborate stamp of a heron flying through reeds, weeks planning the special place to plant it, and then days being depressed when someone takes the stamp out of it’s hidden spot because they thought it was a prize (Letterboxers feel my pain right now).

Munzee helps so many people stay active. That makes me super proud of Munzee. Even if I didn’t run almost every evening, I get my daily walk and Fitbit steps in by playing Munzee almost every night. It’s the same for many of our players out there.

What are some of your other hobbies?
Live, Eat, Breathe Social Media (drops mic, walks off-stage). Actually, in my spare time I love hiking, making videos for Youtube, and photography. I’m not that great at any of those, but I still love them. I have taken up running, and hope to take part in my first Color Me Rad later on this year. I love spontaneous road trips and with the amount of road trips I’ve taken this year, I’m sure we can list those as a hobby. Oh, does weight loss count as a hobby? If so, then that too.

Famous last words?
Will be available via podcast, you just need to download a better audio player to hear them.

July 21, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: The Munzee Marketplace!

Here at Munzee we’re constantly encouraging our players to meet and greet and build the personal relationships that make this game so great. Over the next few weeks we’ll be showcasing members of Team Munzee so our players can get to know us a bit better. So each Munday (see what we did there?) check in to see a new member of Team Munzee and you decide if you trust the game in our hands. Team Munzee is a bit busy this week moving into the new office, continuing birthday celebrations and just staying cool in this Texas summer heat. So instead of showcasing an actual Munzee employer this week, we’re showing off the latest addition to the team, The Munzee Marketplace!

Name and Title:
I’m the Munzee Marketplace!

Where are you from?
Right in the heart of Munzee Headquarters in McKinney, TX. I live at 111 E. Virginia which McKinney residents will know as the former Garrett Art Gallery. Unfortunately after 29 years in downtown McKinney the Art Gallery had to close it’s doors in April 2014. Although we were sad to see it go, we’re excited to continue to honor the downtown McKinney spirit and make the space thrive.

Tell us about yourself!
What started as a front for our QR based scavenger hunt app, the Munzee Marketplace has evolved into so much more. Featuring Breadwinners sandwiches and many more notable DFW area goods, the Marketplace brings local fare to a new level. Munzee is eager to become a staple in the McKinney community. Munzee has something for everyone, even more so now. Whether you are a Munzee player or you work in downtown McKinney, the Marketplace is here to serve your needs. Looking for a quick grab and go snack on your lunch break? Interested in a compelling, competitive smartphone app with an international fan base? Stop by the Munzee Marketplace and we’d be happy to help.

How long have you worked for Munzee?
I’m a bit new… Technically I haven’t even started yet, but we’re hoping to change that very soon! The doors to the Munzee Marketplace will open soon and just today Team Munzee started moving into the new office space! Although the tech guys are huffing a bit about the manual labor, we’re all very excited to move into the much larger (and more appealing) space!

How did you discover Munzee?
Really, Munzee discovered me. What started as simply a need for more space at MHQ turned into the something so much bigger. Team Munzee saw a need for downtown McKinney to have a grab and go convenience store. Although there are a number of great places to dine downtown, it can get pricey for the business owners and employees downtown to eat out every day. The Munzee Marketplace is dedicated to offering a quick, affordable bite to eat.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
Munzee, much like Downtown McKinney, is unique by nature. While it may not seem like a logical step for a QR based scavenger hunt app to open a Marketplace, Munzee isn’t interested in doing whats logical. We’re constantly looking at interesting new ways to shake things up and my creation is only the next in a long line of ideas coming to fruition!

What are some of your other hobbies?

Serving the fine people of McKinney a tasty, yet affordable lunch.
Getting Munzee players everything they need including game pieces, apparel and souvenirs.
Providing Team Munzee with as much craft coffee as needed to keep them alert and focused on expanding the game!

Famous last words?

“In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.”
– Seth Godin

July 14, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: Daniel Fischer

Here at Munzee we’re constantly encouraging our players to meet and greet and build the personal relationships that make this game so great. Over the next few weeks we’ll be showcasing members of Team Munzee so our players can get to know us a bit better. So each Munday (see what we did there?) check in to see a new member of Team Munzee and you decide if you trust the game in our hands. Munzee is an worldwide game so it’s important that we focus on our international team members as well! Get to know our German developer Daniel Fischer!

Name and Title:
Daniel Fischer, Backend Developer

Where are you from?
I was born and raised in a small village in Thuringia, Germany. I left there in 2007 and moved to Chemnitz, Saxony where I went to university studying computer science until last year. It’s a lovely countryside around here at the edge of the Ore Mountains and even the Czech boarder is nearby, so I decided to stay for a few more years.

Tell us about yourself:
As I said, I finished university last year and so I had to sort things while getting from studying over to real work a.k.a. getting things done. I spend most of the day in front of two computer monitors. Yes, maybe that comes with my job but it’s also fun and hobby and feels like I’m doing the right thing. Beside that I try to be outside enjoying the sun and nature every minute I can get. I really need to move around after sitting at the desk for hours. Enjoying outdoors alone is great, but sure it’s much more fun to do it with friends and people you like. This is where Munzee comes in 😉

How long have you worked for Munzee?
I’ve been on the Munzee ship since fall 2013, but I did some minor tasks for them before officially coming on.

How did you find Munzee?
Hah, I really didn’t find Munzee as a company in the first place, I found it as a game. Coming from that other geo-location game, I read about Munzee in a blog post and I decided to get an account (that was 1,051 days ago) and have a look at the map. There was only one Munzee deployed in the whole state! I got some friends hooked and the game started to grow (very slowly) in our area. In order to share thoughts and information about the game with other players from Germany, I set up the German Munzee forums and started coding up some tools that helped me and others playing the game. For that I got into contact with Scott and this is maybe how Munzee find me and gave me the ability to find Munzee as a company. I’m so glad to be here and work in such an awesome team!

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
That’s easy! What I like most about it is being outside and being on the move. Also the game gets me in contact with people from around the world and on weekend Munzee trips it shows me great new places. There is an active development going on and every week is exciting, from the game and from the job point of view.

What are some of your other hobbies?
Other hobbies? Are you kidding? Hah, there are. Two years ago I bought a new bike and so I cycling for about an hour a day if the weather is good. Okay, maybe I have to admit that most of the times Munzee is included even if I’m going by bike. The other hobby is electronics. So soldering is no problem for me, in terms of hobby projects like doing fun things with the Arduino platform or other micro controllers. And well, there is even reading. Unfortunately I don’t read as much as I want, but I bought a kindle in March and things are getting better, hah.

Famous last words?
No time for being famous. I have to get out and score some points!

Check back next week to get to know another member of Team Munzee!

July 7, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: Matt McCann

Here at Munzee we’re constantly encouraging our players to meet and greet and build the personal relationships that make this game so great. Over the next few weeks we’ll be showcasing members of Team Munzee so our players can get to know us a bit better. So each Munday (see what we did there?) check in to see a new member of Team Munzee and you decide if you trust the game in our hands. We may still call him The Intern, but this week’s Munzee Team member does far more than fetch coffee. Meet marketer Matt McCann!

Name and Title:
Matthew McCann, Business Development/Marketing

Where are you from?
I was born in Lake Havasu, Arizona and moved 4 times (California, New Mexico, and Kansas) before my family finally settled in Port Isabel, Texas when I was 6. I spent most of my life there before moving up to Dallas for college. I’ve been here for four years now.

Tell us about yourself:
Sports, craft beer, and technology are the things my life revolves around when I’m not in school (yes, I’m still attending UT Dallas) or at work. I love to travel, especially for sports, and I’m on a mission to visit all MLB ballparks. I also spend quite a bit of time binge watching movies and TV shows.

How long have you worked for Munzee?
About two months.

How did you find Munzee?
I actually knew Rob (President of Munzee) and TJ (VP of Operations and Marketing) from Allen Americans (our local CHL hockey team) games. We met before either started working for Munzee, and when they joined the Munzee team, I learned more and more about it. When I was looking for work earlier this year, I inquired with TJ, interviewed for the job and started work a week later.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
For anyone that’s been to MHQ or met members of the Munzee team, one thing is apparent: this isn’t just a job. The members of the Munzee team are invested in the game and players. We may have laid back attitudes, but our work is top priority. We do everything we can to make the game better and grow our player base.

What are some of your other hobbies?
Tying back into what I said earlier, sports and technology consume my life. I can usually be found watching a sport (baseball, soccer, and hockey are my favorites) in my free time. I also play on an indoor soccer team. I’m also a huge SciFi nerd. I love Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Superman. While I’m watching any of these things, I’m usually tinkering on my computer, phone, or tablet. I started learning coding (PHP, Java, and HTML/CSS) for fun. Music is my other passion whether it be listening, making, or editing. I treat myself to concerts when I can, and I’ve edited music for teams and individuals competing in dance competitions.

Famous last words?
“This is who I am, right here, right now, all right? All that counts is here and now, and this is me!” – The Doctor

Check back next week to get to know another member of Team Munzee!

June 30, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: Peter Vogt

Name and Title:
Peter Vogt, User Interface Designer.

Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Norfolk, Massachusetts. Equidistant between Boston and Providence (yes that’s a word, yes that fact is true, and yes I’m damn proud of our little town). I went to college in Connecticut and have been living in Texas the past few years. Hate to admit it, but I’m probably never leaving.

Tell us about yourself:
Well, I’m slowly creeping up on the wrong end of my twenties, but I don’t feel too awful about it at the moment. I’m a lover of technology, hound dogs (we have two – Bonnie & Huckleberry), cinema, gaming and music. Firearm and Central Texas-style barbecue enthusiast. Retired punk rocker. Lifelong geek.

How long have you worked for Munzee?
Just about a month.

How did you find Munzee?
I found their post for a designer on Reddit’s “for hire” section. The thought of working for a mobile game company based out of McKinney of all places really intrigued me, so I sent a reply pretty much right away. They impressed me, I impressed them, here I am now.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
The community of Munzee impresses me the most. It feels really good jumping on board with a company whose fans, friends, family and local community are so gung-ho about the product. I’ve kept a pretty close eye on the Munzee Facebook groups ever since joining up and love reading the feedback and seeing people come up with really creative and awesome new ways to Munzee. I love the support and love we get from the town of McKinney. Everything about and surrounding Munzee is special and fun right now. My co-workers are incredibly talented, informed and helpful people. Rob is an outstanding leader.

What is your favorite Munzee?
I love the virtuals. I’ve deployed in all of my previous hometowns and it’s great seeing someone from Massachusetts drop by my childhood home to play.

What are some of your other hobbies?
I live and breathe my craft in the sense that I’m always trying to learn as much as I can about design, development and working with tech startups. I love creating products, communities and shiny fancy internet stuff. At home and in the office. My girlfriend and I watch a metric ton of movies together which has become a hobby all on it’s own, as we’re always looking for new and obscure stuff to geek out over. Chasing after our two beloved (and dumb) hounds is a daily task in and of itself and on weekends you can find me smoking briskets, ribs and sausage while tending to the fire pit of my offset cooker. It’s named Cool Runnings and it definitely feels the rhythm.

Famous last words?
“It’s a hundred and six miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a packet of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it.”

Check back next week to get to know another member of Team Munzee!

June 23, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: Dylan Derryberry

Name and Title:
Dylan Derryberry, Master of Media, AKA glorified writer, AKA whatever Rob tells him to be.

Where are you from?
I grew up in McKinney, TX long before Munzee thought it was cool. I’m just that kind of trendsetter.

Tell us about yourself:
I’m a 24 year old Master of the Universe. I’m father to two Welsh Corgis, who like me as much as most teenagers like their fathers, and I’m expecting my first non-fur child in August with my wife Wylie. No, she’s not named after the city, Texas players. After graduating from McKinney High School (Go Lions) in 2008, I took my skills a bit north to Colorado Mountain College (Go Eagles) in a small town outside of Aspen. While there I got my Associate of Arts, studied theatre, enrolled in Advanced Snowboarding 101 (real class) and River Orientation (also, real class) and blogged about the student experience. After two years in the snow and three vehicles lost to a Texas kid driving on ice, I transferred to the University of Kansas (Go Jayhawks) where I studied journalism. After many nights of studying, singing karaoke and slinging liquor part time, it was finally time to graduate and get a big kid job. Jury is still out on Munzee’s qualification as adulthood.

How long have you worked for Munzee?
Although I may have just started a few weeks ago, Team Munzee has welcomed me into their home without hesitation. Their mistake.

How did you find Munzee?
After moving back to McKinney after college graduation I began writing for the local news publication Town Square Buzz. After two months of putting my journalism degree to good use, the publication had to shut down for financial reasons. Out of work, again, my editor-in-chief suggested I reach out to Munzee. The rest is (very short) history.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
Aside from the fun work environment, I’m regularly astounded at the dedication the players have for this game. Whether it’s players coming to visit Munzee Headquarters, the ever-growing game map or how many notifications I get on Facebook at 2 in the morning, the loyalty to Munzee amazes me.

What are some of your other hobbies?
After witnessing true art in the form of Gordon Bombay and the District 5 Ducks, I became engrossed with ice hockey at a young age. I played throughout high school and even played a couple weeks in Germany my senior year. In Colorado I attempted to organize a team for the school, which was a blazing success of a failure, but fun all the same. In Kansas I played a year with the school’s club, but busted my shoulder in Chicago and decided it was probably time to call it quits. I still try to get on the ice as often as possible (which isn’t often enough) and cheer on the Dallas Stars in the regular NHL season. Come playoffs, it pays off to be a Chicago Blackhawks bandwagon fan. Other hobbies include watching movies, crafting and working around the house. I’m told I’m never satisfied, which I’m not totally against.

Famous last words?
Worrying is like a rocking chair: It gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere.

Check back next week to get to know another member of Team Munzee!

March 13, 2014

Team Munzee Player of the Week: Scott Foster (Coolant)

We’ve received a lot of feedback regarding Player of the Week interviews, and some of the top requested interviews are for the players that make up Munzee as a company. You want to get to know Team Munzee. Who are the mysterious, magnificent faces behind Munzee HQ? Well, this week, we’ve decided to start interviewing our own. And what better person to launch Team Munzee interviews than the man that brought us the new website: Scott Foster!

Who are you?

My name is Scott Foster, 31 years old, married with 2 kids ( 3rd kid due in a month ) and VP of Technology for Munzee. My player name is coolant.

Coolant developed a love of all things Apple and Tech at a young age!

Where in the world do you live?

Just north of Dallas, TX

When did the co-founders first come up with the idea of Munzee?

I met Aaron at a Computer Gaming LAN Event called TANGO (Texas Area Network Gaming Organization). He was one of the founding members of TANGO and I went up to him and asked if they had somebody that ran Counterstrike (a computer videogame) tournaments. He said no, so I said I would do it. Aaron moved on from doing TANGO and I kept doing it for many more years.

Here is a picture of Aaron and I (and the rest of the TANGO crew) from Jan 2001:

Then life happened, Aaron and I lost touch for many years until we reconnected on Facebook… Fast forward 10 years later (2011), my wife and I were moving back to Texas from Pennsylvania. Aaron knew I did coding and asked if I could help him with a project called “Munzee”. Aaron is a very smart individual so I knew I had to help him out, and it sounded cool. So the four founders – Aaron, Chris, Josh, and myself met for a wonderful Mexican dinner ( https://goo.gl/maps/wWId5 ) on a cold Februrary night and started making Munzee a reality.

And here’s a picture when Munzee became an actual business!

We know you’re busy at work, keeping the servers running, and keeping the game going strong. When does your Munzee day start, and when does it end?

When it comes to any website, it’s a job that requires 24/7/365 monitoring. I work mostly 8am – 6pm Monday through Friday, but I am constantly tweaking things on the weekends or late at night just to make things better. For instance, the weekend is the busiest time for Munzee. So I may work all week to fix a problem and find it’s not working so well on the weekend. Also, a lot of Europeans play Munzee and they are 6-7 hours ahead of Munzee HQ. I’ve woken up many times at 4am on a Saturday just to make sure people in Europe can have a great time playing Munzee or stay up till 4am to make sure Australians can have fun too!

When Munzee first launched, did you consider yourself an active player? How would you compare yourself to the active players today?

No. I’ve never been a real active player. I always joke that I am afraid to capture because if it takes a while or doesn’t go through, it’s another thing to fix. Although if I go to a big park, airport, or stadium – I’ll capture some munzees just to prove to Rob that I play Munzee. I also will capture some socials if I know the person or just want to test things. Playing Munzee is like the people that work at a McDonalds will eat anything EXCEPT McDonalds.

What’s your favorite Munzee? Why?

When Munzee first started, anytime Aaron and I were together – we would deploy munzees to grow the map. We went into downtown Dallas and I deployed a munzee at Dealey Plaza. It’s the infamous Dallas location where JFK was shot (grassy knoll, sixth floor musuem, etc…). It’s a popular tourist place and I figured maybe somebody would surely discover Munzee there. Nobody did for a while, and I honestly forgot about it. Fast forward a few months, and I was telling Lance (my boss at the job I had when I started Munzee) about this fun game I made called Munzee. He seemed mildly interested, but nothing happened more from that. He then comes to me the next day and says “Hey! I found that Munzee at Dealey Plaza.” I was shocked. Somebody I talked to actually played Munzee. It was the first time that I thought that Munzee might actually become something more.

Side note – I still talk to Lance and he is very proud of where Munzee is. You can check out that Munzee here: http://www.munzee.com/m/coolant/2/

What surprises you more: new player growth, clan wars, or super high scores (1 million points)?

Wow, that’s tough. I love all 3. I think my favorite part about Munzee is that there are so many different ways to play. You can join a clan and work on beating other clans, you can be #1 on your friends list, you can try to get all the badges, trade social munzees, etc. I can’t wait till Rover comes out and see how people use that.

Where do you see Munzee in three years?

Three years is a long time. Munzee itself is just three years old! I hope it continues to grow; 10 million deployments, 100 million captures, and a million users sounds great. But, I hope that people will still feel like it’s THEIR game. I always want to be a company where people feel that they always have a connection with Munzee HQ. We are so grateful for our players, so we want to make sure we always have a connection to them.

If there were one Munzee player you could meet (or have already), or one Munzee location you could go, who or where?

I really want to meet robje64 – “Dutch Rob”. He has been tremendous as far as helping Munzee grow in Europe and telling me when there are issues. He seems like a great guy and will always have a special place in my heart. Also that mustache he has looks amazing. 😉

Tell us about yourself! If you’re not working for or playing Munzee, how do you spend your off-time?

Playing with my family! I have a 3.5 year old daughter, 1.5 year old son, and another girl that’s due in a month. My kids and my wife make up most of the day when I am not working on Munzee.

But if they are napping or late at night – I still love video games. I love Final Fantasy games – Final Fantasy 6 is my favorite game of all time and has my favorite song in it, “Maria and Draco.” I think all Zelda games are great, and Counterstrike: Global Offensive! I have recently got into watching “Speedrunning” -it’s people trying to beat games as fast as they can using all kinds of glitches, exploits, and timing (something I find very interesting). I also love sports, mostly college sports like basketball and football. Texas A&M is my favorite team – Gig’em Munzee!

Thanks so much Scott for being this week’s Team Munzee POTW!

Check out Scott’s POTW Social here:

If you know a player that should be nominated for Munzee Player of the Week, shoot us a message at iLoveYou@Munzee.com -Please note, this is a super active campaign. We may not be able to get back to everyone, but you’re helping to grow the list of amazing people in the Munzee community!