This week’s player of the week is a special player that Team Munzee’s very own TeeJayoo had the pleasure of meeting recently! He’s an all around exciting guy, and we’re excited to feature him for this week’s Player of the Week! Everyone, meet Manny:
Are you excited already? Well, read below and get to know Munzee player Doublestuff!
Who are you? Doublestuff
Where in the world do you live? Grafton, MA USA
How long have you played Munzee? 1 year & 5 months this Friday (Editor’s note: Happy Anniversary!!!)
How did you find Munzee?
To be honest, I came across Munzee completely by accident, and I’m glad I did! I have been a recreational ‘cacher for years. My daughter attends ISU in Ames, IA. We often fly to Milwaukee from Boston and take my in-laws van and drive out to Ames, I would cache at each of our destinations.
Have you heard of the show American Pickers? Well our family loves the show. After getting hooked on AP I found out that their shop Antique Archaeology was located in LeClaire IA, just across the Mississippi river. We would drive right by the place 5 mins off the highway. Sure enough there was a cache on location, I made a point to stop on our way to Ames find the cache and maybe meet Mike, Frank and Danielle. We stopped on our way out tons of muggles and they were closed doing their indoor shots for the show. (didn’t see any cast members). On our way back from dropping our daughter at ISU, AA just closed but the cache and letterbox (in the trunk of the 1959 Nash) was wide open as we approached. Since there was nobody around any more I got to look at and trade all sorts of SWAG and Travel Bugs. On thing that caught my eye was a business card with Mike and Frank’s face on it, it said Welcome to American Pickers Munzee and stated to scan the code with a smart phone. So I did, it brought me to the app which I downloaded and back on the road we went. I created my account and the rest is history.
Once we got back to Milwaukee, I found a few Munzees to cap while I cached with my brother-in-law and got him started. As soon as I got back to Grafton I started really searching. There wasn’t that many in the area, about 10 or so. They all belonged to RAWHYD and one was only 5 mins from my house. I capped that one on the way back home from the Airport. I didn’t even notice the virtual at the airport. Now I have 3 virts at the airport and other have deployed virts at the other terminals as well. I started to cap the ones close by and branched out from there. THere were not many when I started but in that first year, the Massachusetts Munzee map grew 1000 fold and I am very happy. Now, I try to grow the map in towns were there are no Munzees, maybe some day I’ll get a cap on one of those deploys. It has been only 17 months and I have capped and deployed in several states, I Munzee everywhere I go. I have greenies in Spain, virts all over the world. I am currently at level 87 and do not intend on stopping. This year I intend to deploy greenies in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. I now Munzee more than I cache and am a more active Munzeer than I ever was a cacher.
What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
Munzee is universal, you can deploy and cap in an Urban setting, something that’s getting harder to do in caching. Anyone with a smartphone can do it which opens it up to any age group and any physical ability. In caching you maybe limited to terrain 1 or 2., which there are not that many. It is easy to play, especially to deploy (just follow the rules, no strict approval process) you can create your own QR codes, you can buy generics for deploy) no more Tupperware or ammo cans. In the winter you don’t have to go on long hikes in the snow, in the woods, I guess the same holds true in the summer (no bugs). I enjoy the competition (clan wars), the recreation (cap while out shopping) and the challenge (getting those icons). I like the how MHQ is coming up with different types of Munzees, quiz, motel, etc. The Virts are the best of all, now you really can send people to interesting places, where a physical sticker, tag or a cache container is not a good idea. I also enjoy when MHQ goes out in the playing field to meet the players (don’t ever loose that part)! I met up with TeeJayOoo and Zoolander and some local Munzee players during their visit to Hartford and I look forward to attending the one in Boston this year.
What is on your wish list?
I would like to see virts have a bigger deploy and cap points since they’re price point is higher than regular Munzee. I have suggested that as the price of the “purchased” Munzee goes up the points should as well. I would also like to seen another increase (thanks for the first one) in the number of undeployed Munzees a premium user can have, maybe added in incremental parts as your premium membership gets renewed. Regarding premium renewals, is there anyway to make that automatic? I would also like to see a moving Munzee that I can put on my car, or maybe on shirt, cap or bag. It can be a sticker or a patch. that has points. That would go a long way in getting more exposure.
Tell us about yourself!
My real name is Manny Orejola, I am Filipino, born in the USA, a “Navy brat”. My parents are both imigrants to the US and I grew up mostly down south on different Naval bases. I am married with 2 children, my wife is Polish, born in Nebraska. My eldest I talked about earlier at ISU, and my son is a senior in HS. My son and wife have both started to Munzee recreational basis. I have introduced Munzee to two of my brother-in-laws. One is very active in the game, and the other is a casual player. Before Munzee I was a ‘cacher. I got introduce to ‘caching through the Boy Scouts, it’s funny how
Munzee also got exposure via Scouting as well at the Order of the Arrow conference. I teach ‘caching to the scouts and adult leaders at the distric level. I am also a Geocaching Merit badge counselor. I look forward to teaching Munzee to the scouts as well, right now a couple of pages in my Geocaching presentation is dedicated to Munzee.
People sometimes ask how I came up with doublestuff as my name. When I was in the Army, everyone would have a hard time pronouncing my last name O-RE-HO-LA, I would be called alphabet all sorts of names but after awhile they started to get it but it only got as far as saying “OREO” like the cookie. From there it morphed to doublesuff-oreo (Oreo was already taken as username in for other scavenger hunts) then just plain doublestuff.
I used to print and laminate my munzees. This made for a slow process. For those starting out it can be frustrating as you can only cap. Now I print my own sticker munzees and have several different skins depending on the deploy. I have a tackle box with all my munzees in it and a card case credit card wallet several munzee skins for those quick deploys.
Being able to print your own or buying from the store is the single thing that allowed me to grow the map at a faster rate and keeps me moving towards the next level. I would recommend anyone
that has a laser printer to buy waterproof labels and print your own. You will see your scores double and triple in no time. I supplement it with generics, metal tags and magnets from the store.
Other hobbies include?
When I am not Munzeeing or caching, I love to cook, and I am a foodie and will eat weird things (I have tried fugu fin in sake and did not die) I am a Food Network fan. I consider myself an amateur chef. I compete and have won in several local chili cookoffs for charity!
This saturday I am competing again for the Appalachian Service Project to raise funds to by materials needed to fix homes of our poorest of the poor in the U.S. (Appalachia) I try to play guitar, ukelele and the cahon. I’ve started to do unique “adventureous” things for my birthday. Sky Diving, Powered Parachute flying, Hot Air Ballooning and last year pilot lessons. I don’t know what I will be doing this year, maybe hang gliding, or bungee jumping.
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!
