Posts Tagged ‘2014’

December 31, 2014

Top 14 of ’14: The Overall, Best of the Best for this year.

As the year comes to a close we can’t help but look back on how big 2014 was! From special icons and big events, to huge announcements, 2014 is going to be a tough act to follow. Here we have the 14 best things about 2014, ranging all things Munzee. In no particular order Team MHQ has decided on what they think made the year so special.

MHQ Gets an Office!

MHQ may have hit the ground running in 2014, but at the end of 2013 they still didn’t even have an office! So when the 3 (at the time) full time members of the team moved into their new office in McKinney, TX they knew it was a start to a big year. Having a home base (that wasn’t Rob’s living room) solidified their full time role with Munzee and paved the way for the company’s growth. Little did they know that growth would come quicker than expected…

New Hires

While the first office in McKinney was a huge step for Munzee, the 350 square foot space filled up quickly. After hiring Intern+ Matt and a month later UI Designer Peter and Master of Media Dylan, it was time to look at expansion. Even in the final months of the year our team began to grow more with development on both technical and business sides. Munzee will only grow from here- especially considering the growth of the company’s business ventures.

The Munzee Marketplace

What started as a convenience store to provide the downtown McKinney workers with an affordable snack option has grown into something much bigger than anyone at MHQ could have imagined. The Munzee Marketplace is now McKinney’s premier option for local, organic, fresh foods. The Marketplace has partnered with various local vendors and has big plans on the horizon that make Munzee proud.MarketplacEE

MHQBashEmblemMHQ Bash

All the extra space from the Marketplace was handy for MHQ’s first official event. In connection with Downtown McKinney’s Oktoberfest Celebration, MHQ Bash featured three days of activities that nearly 200 people joined us for. After seeing some of the great events our players have thrown over the year, we knew we had to go big. We learned a lot about how to plan and execute events (a learning experience to say the least) and we know next year’s Bash will be even bigger.

GemVirtEmerald128Official Virtual Garden

Speaking of learning experiences, there’s still a lot the players have to teach us. Much like MHQ Bash, players have made their own virtual gardens for a while and needless to say we have been super impressed with what our players have created. So in connection with the emerald family jewel we made our first official virtual garden outside of McKinney and our players helped us fill it in. It took a little maneuvering and some help from our players with our design, but we’re proud of the new garden and excited to release more official gardens around the world.

Rob2_128 (1)The Traveling President

President Rob Vardeman may have done a bit of Virtual Garden scouting during his world travels this year as well. CoachV started his presidency with an oath to expand the player connection and he has not wavered on that promise. For as busy as we keep Rob in the office he still made as many trips to as many events as possible this year. From Germany to California to Canada and everywhere in between, the President racked up the frequent flyer miles, sometimes squeezing trips into a 24 hour span- and enjoyed every minute of it.

Football- More Kicks- Points: 20 split cap & ownerCopa Do Munzo

It’s hard not to enjoy world travels, especially when you’re in Germany days after they won the World Cup. Rob got to experience just this during his trip to Cologne, Germany. To celebrate the world’s favorite sport, Munzee blasted the world with football special icons and held a competition where players could vote on who they thought would win in the Copa Do Munzo competition. As many guessed, Germany won the cup and Rob was on hand to reward the faithful football fans.

Special Icons

Much like the footballs that bounced across the map, this year featured a lot of special icons. From 8-bit ghostzees to non-exploding London dynamite, the unique and eclectic assortment of specials got players out at odd hours and in new places hunting for munzees. This year’s specials not only took the game to different levels, but also gave us an opportunity to do good for others as well…

Charity Fundraising

The benefit of special icons is that they are constantly interchangeable and can be used in unique ways, like helping raise money for charity in a fun way. Our players came out in full force multiple times this year to use Munzee for good. The Autism Puzzle Hearts brought in $5000 for the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation, The RMH Virtuals garnered $25,000 for the Ronald McDonald House of Spokane, and the ALS Ice cubes raised $54,000 for Project A.L.S.. Needless to say 2014 was a big year in many ways!

3rd Birthday Celebrations

July 2014 also marked Munzee’s official 3rd Birthday Celebration, or #FiestaThree as we called it. We kicked off the month-long celebration by introducing Ruby Munzees, held various events every third day of the month and even had Pinata special icons that players could smash open. The whole month was a huge celebration and our players even sent in special Happy Birthday pictures and videos for Munzee. Players also took advantage of Rovers in order to get the Birthday Barker badge. Speaking of Rovers…

Rovers

During one of his many trips this year, Rob and other members of Team MHQ announced the arrival of Rovers at Munzee Madness 3 in California. Rover is a supplemental piece to the game, and in fact a game within the game of Munzee. Rover is an extremely unique part of Munzee because although it is not a munzee type it encourages players to travel and expand their personal maps. Since its announcement in March, all the active Rovers in the world have traveled a whopping 61 million miles!RoverCaptured

Clan Wars

Another huge part of this year was the Munzee Clan Wars. Players battled it out month after month, fighting for that number one spot and the ever-glorious Super Chuck. This aspect of the game has shown MHQ how dedicated our players really are and the lengths they are willing to go in the name of Munzee. As we head into the new year we’re sure our players will take the battles to an even higher level and the Clan count will only grow from there!

Podcast/ Videocast

In case you couldn’t tell from our world-traveling President, Munzee is all about transparency and our player relations are extremely important to us. So what better way to interact with our players on a weekly basis than with a podcast? Our weekly update on all things Munzee has evolved a lot over the year. We’ve recently turned our podcast into an interactive videocast that players can now ask us questions each week, which has furthered the connection we get to make with our players. Be sure to join us Tuesdays at 1 pm (MHQ Time) for the live videocast where you can interact with us, ask questions and see us stumble over our words!

videocastEventzee

As big as 2014 was, 2015 is going to be even bigger. Perhaps the biggest announcement of the year was the development of our new app Eventzee! The private events-based app will not only expand the Munzee events system, but will help our business grow to new reaches and in turn grow the Munzee map as well. We’re currently beta-testing the app and fixing any final kinks, but Eventzee will be a huge part of the new year.

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Thank you to all of our players for a great 2014. We can’t wait to see what happens next!

December 30, 2014

Munzee: 2014 By The Numbers

As the year comes to a close we can’t help but look back on how big 2014 was! Over the next few days we’ll be looking back on some of our favorite moments of the year. You guys grew the game in a big way this year and our numbers prove it. Check out 2014 By The Numbers!

Edit: The numbers below show what are labeled Virtual and physical deploys. These numbers should be 2014 and 2013 deploys, respectively.

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December 30, 2014

Top 4 of ’14: Team MHQ’s Top Events

As the year comes to a close we can’t help but look back on how big 2014 was! Over the next few days we’ll be looking back on some of our favorite moments of the year. 2014 was a record-breaking year for Munzee events! Although there were events all across the world, the following brought out big numbers in attendance and President Rob was on hand at all of them.

MM3_BADGE_720MUNZEE MADNESS III

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA- USA

March 01, 2014

The original large scale Munzee event was back for its third year in the Yorba Regional Park located outside Los Angeles, California. Members of Team Munzee joined Rob for his 2nd year for some Fun in the Sun. Unfortunately the rain decided to crash the party, but it didn’t slow down the true Munzee spirit of the players who had traveled from almost a dozen states for the annual event the first weekend in March.  Several events over the course of the weekend included dinners, time at the park, and mega points at nearby Anaheim Angels stadium and Disneyland. This annual event is hosted in part by Munzee reseller Elliot of the Munzee Madness clan (see where the name came from now).  🙂 Members of Team MHQ also announced the Rover!

Rob2_128 (1)

EURO MUNZEE 2

COLOGNE, GERMANY

July 19 and 20, 2014

More than 100 Players from almost a dozen countries traveled to Cologne for multiple events and the opportunity to play host as Rob visited from MHQ. The main location was a biergarten surrounded with mystery virtuals deployed by players from around the world. Side trips to the Köln Dom, the Rhine river, and nearby parks allowed for fun times to socialize and score maximum points. Munzee reseller John of EUMunzeeshop was on hand to take care of player needs. Rob also revealed a new line of hats, clothing and stickers!

CapCoast1_720

CAPPING THE COAST

MERRITT ISLAND, FLORIDA- USA

November 15, 2014

New to the Munzee scene and showing explosive growth over a 6 month period, the Space Coast of Florida was home to a huge event in November. Over 100 players traveled from distances up to 1000 miles away to join Rob as the event was sponsored by Munzee resellers Dale & Barb of the Space Coast Geocaching Store. The event was the perfect temperature to soak in the sun, cap a ton of points, and then unwind in nearby Port Canaveral at sunset to watch the massive cruise ships departing on their ocean voyages.  A month later Rob rejoined over 60 Florida Munzee Hunters in Celebration, FL near DisneyWorld for an event to celebrate all things Munzee. The Trail Munzee was introduced in Celebration with many players capturing the first trail ever deployed and spending time enjoying the unique town.

MHQBashEmblem

MHQ BASH

McKINNEY, TEXAS- USA

September 26-28, 2014

MHQ’s first official event went BIG. In connection with Downtown McKinney’s Oktoberfest Celebration, MHQ Bash featured three (kinda four) days of activities. Nearly 200 people joined us throughout the weekend and proved just how far our players were willing to travel for the game they love. Friday night we rented out Franconia Brewery, a traditional German brewer based in McKinney, for a night of laughs and socializing. Bright and early the next morning we hosted the Amunzing Race Scavenger Hunt, followed by tours of MHQ. The weekend was rounded out with a mystery munzee poker tournament, capping The Village at Fairview and brunch with Team MHQ. Other highlights of the weekend included the Grand Opening of the Munzee Marketplace on Thursday, a World’s Collide event that took over downtown McKinney, and a special sneak peak at Eventzee! I wonder what MHQ has planned for next year…

What were your favorite events of 2014? Be sure to follow along the rest of the year as we look back on more big moments from 2014!

If you’re interested in hosting a Munzee event contact events@munzee.com today and be on the lookout for news about our new app- Eventzee!

 

December 29, 2014

Top 4 of ’14: Special Icons

As the year comes to a close we can’t help but look back on how big 2014 was! Over the next few days we’ll be looking back on some of our favorite moments of the year. To start things off, here are some of the icons that made this year so special. As many of you may have noticed a few of these have been re-released to the map for the rest of the year as well!

ALS Ice- Iced Over- Points: 20 split cap & owner

ALS Ice Cubes

SEPTEMBER

MHQ’s base in McKinney, Texas may usually be warm in September, but the Munzee community helped freeze us over in our fight to end ALS. This September we sold special virtual icons featuring ice cubes in connection to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and gave all proceeds to ALS research. The campaign was an overwhelming success and in two weeks we raised a donation of $54,000 for Project A.L.S..

Football- More Kicks- Points: 20 split cap & owner

Copa Do Munzo Footballs

JUNE

In celebration of the world’s favorite sport, Munzee blasted the world with football icons. From the first whistle in Brazil on June 12 until Germany hoisted the cup on July 13, 704 footballs bounced across the Munzee map. We also held a competition where players could vote on who they thought would win the Cup. As many guessed, Germany won the cup and in hand our players were rewarded too!

Puzzle Heart- More Love- Points: 14 split cap & owner

Autism Awareness Puzzle Hearts

APRIL

To celebrate and bring awareness to April’s Autism theme, Team Munzee deployed 680 special icons on the map. 680 represents the 1:68 ratio of children born with autism currently. The amazing efforts of our active Munzee community lead to over 8,055 hearts captured in the month of April! Player captures raised a total of $4,027.50 in donations towards the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism.

birthday

3rd Birthday Piñatas

JULY

As a part of our #FiestaThree 3rd birthday celebration, we released special piñata munzees around the world. What better way to celebrate Munzee’s third birthday than to hit a paper-mâché donkey until it gives you candy? We released 3,333 piñata specials and just like in real life, munzee piñatas were about getting as many different kinds of candy as quickly as possible. When you capped a piñata you randomly received one of three types of candy and a corresponding special icon. It was a hit! Get it?

What were your favorite icons of 2014? Be sure to follow along the rest of the year as we look back on more big moments from 2014!

June 11, 2014

The time has come for… COPA DO MUNZO!

7Q0izQhCTYL7Relcwba3vbs7eiLVRcm77n5Qea0xGOgIn celebration of Munzee, our players across the world and the greatest sport known to man, we are happy to announce the Copa Do Munzo special map which will go live tomorrow at 3 p.m. (GMT-5). From the first whistle in Brazil on June 12 until Germany hoists the cup (according to Munzee President Rob Vardeman anyway) on July 13, we will have 704 bouncing footballs (soccer balls to those in the States) on the map across the world.  These special captures will attach to physical greenies that have already been deployed internationally and those lucky enough to find them get a Copa Do Munzo special icon and badge. As players cap the specials a reward of 23 points will be randomly split between the player that captured it and the owner of the Munzee. Once captured the ball will bounce to a new location somewhere in the world and similarly if a ball is not captured within six hours of spawning it will relocate.  Why 704 bouncing balls? Why 23 points? Well we’ll leave that to the smartest of our Munzee players to figure out, because those numbers do indeed signify something.

Also, don’t forget to visit www.munzee.com/football to pick who you think will win the Cup this year for a chance to win even more extras. You’ll have until noon (GMT-5) tomorrow to pick your team, so don’t miss out. Good luck to the teams in Brazil, the Munzee players across the world and from the rest of us at MHQ (Rob excluded) GO TEAM USA!

December 31, 2013

Warning: Expect the Unexpected in 2014!

Since September, our Munzee clans have strategically plotted, planned, and executed elaborate, elegant tactics to score high, and earn weapons.  Well, it’s 2014 (soon) and we’re adding a special twist to Clan competition!

Colourful 2014 in fiery sparklers

Each will still need to have 10 players to be eligible for clan rewards

Here are the requirements for January 2014 Clan weapons:

Brass Knuckles:
250 points
Each player with 1+ regular munzee deployed

Mace:
500 points
Each player with 10+ regular munzee deployed

Longsword:
1500 points
Each player with 25+ regular munzee deployed

The Chuck:
Earn 3000 points
Each player must Capture 25+ social Munzees
Each player must Deploy 100+ regular Munzees (must remain green – not converted)

Be aware, Clan requirements will change every month.  From the mighty words of Rob: “Expect the unexpected.”

Get excited, it’s going to be a fun year of Clan competition!

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