Posts Tagged ‘fun’

September 11, 2014

Munzee Player of the Week: Markus Gillgen (zeusi)

Since it’s inception, Munzee has been about conquering goals and reaching new heights (sometimes literally). Munzee and our players have proven time and time again that we are limitless and with every achievement a new standard has been set. This week’s Player of the Week really has had an excellent week. Markus Gilligen (zeusi) is currently living up to his mythological username as he has become the first Munzee player to reach 2 million points! We know this strike of lightning is far more than coincidence and zeusi will continue to wow, so read on to learn more about Markus!

Who are you?

My name is Markus Gillgen aka zeusi.

Where in the world do you live?

I live in Bonn, Germany, the former capital. That is 25km south of Cologne, one of the biggest Munzee hot spots around.

How long have you played Munzee?

I started playing in June 2012, so that’s more than 800 days now, but I was too late for the “early bird” Badge. We traveled some kilometers for a handful of greenies, 100 points was an amazing day score. Then the birthday cakes popped onto the map and or score exploded to over 1.000 points… yeah!

How did you find Munzee?

We played another Scavenger game like many other players did and found a blue plate with “Mystery ?” on it while searching the stash of a mystery cache. I thought I had found it and looked for log book, but found none. Made a picture and we continued our journey. Home again we looked at the picture and googled “munzee mystery” since we expected a new log solution or another step in solving the mystery.

We found the Webpage and installed the App on the same evening. A guy named Louboey deployed a lot of greenies around the place where we live so we went out to capture one of his stickers. Some days later we started with our first deploys in our homezone.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?

There are many things that I enjoy, but here’s a selection :

I love the fund raising charity actions like Movember, RMH and ALS. The idea is really awesome and I supported all three charities. And not to forget: Munzee is unique and your deployment work is honored in points, the more you do, the more points you get day by day. Brilliant.

Being a team player it’s wonderful for me to be part of a clan, one of the best things Munzee established were the clan battles. We have a wonderful clan with great team spirit, from CW#1 till now.

And last but not least : 2014 my friend Robje64 and me hosted the 2nd European Munzee Event with more than 100 players in Cologne and CoachV and Dafi87 were our special guests – that was soooo awesome and everybody had a lot of fun. RobV was under siege from the first second. Everybody wanted to scan, take selfies, and touch him to see if he’s real – just like a pop star. That spirit was unbelievable. Thanks for being part of it!

What is on your wish list?

Since I love badges, definitely badges for blasts (20,50, 250) and the Clan War medals should be switched to badges soon.

I’d love to get credits right out of the App via Paypal or InApp purchasing & to see the amount I have left for blasts.

A “repair overview” filter on the map would be nice to see my own “yellows” not to miss them.

And if you could extend the Early Bird Badge counter by let’s say 50 days – wonderful 🙂

Tell us about yourself!

I’m 42 years old, married and we have four kids, all of us are active players with dedicated accounts. We found lots of friends and mates over several different countries. That is so amazing. I like to walk, but I need a target. With Munzee I walk a lot to move from code to code. I got my first Fitbit device two years ago and was very happy about the cooperation and integration of Fitbit. I love being out to grow the map!!!

I was addicted since the map around my hometown started to grow and my family and I deployed a lot in Bonn and Cologne and many other spots. Before we decide a destination for holidays we look first, if there are enough Munzees on the way or at the destination. And I have always some stickers with me 🙂

Other hobbies include:

Yes, there is time for other hobbies: family, time with the dogs, collecting and painting Warhammer fantasy miniatures with the kids.

Markus was kind enough to share his socials, so cap away!

If you know a player that should be nominated for Munzee Player of the Week, shoot us a message at iLoveYou@Munzee.com and let us know just why this person is outstanding in the global Munzee community!

-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!

September 9, 2014

Podcast Episode 28: Onezees, Zuesi and Icees

In this episode of the podcast we congratulate a player on their 2 millionth point and release the final ALS Ice Cube donation amount.

This week on the Munzee Podcast, we talk about:

1. The D.D. Errybaby and the new line of Munzee Onezees.

2. Zeusi hits 2 Million Points

3. ALS Ice Munzee Results

4. Info on MHQ Bash

August 29, 2014

September Clan War Requirements

As Labor Day weekend approaches you should all take advantage of the long weekend to prepare mentally for this month’s Clan Wars. Although the battle won’t begin until September 3rd, the map continues to freeze over as the ALS Ice Cubes cover the map. Below you’ll find next month’s requirements, so get your clans together and prepare for war.

Level 1 Mace — All 10 members of your clan must deploy at least ten Munzees of any type. All 10 members of your clan must also reach a minimum of 500 points. Rewards: 1 Mace, 3 ALS Virtual Ice

Level 2 Longsword — All 10 members of your clan must deploy at least 25 Munzees of any type. In addition to the deploy requirement each member must capture at least 75 munzees (socials excluded). All 10 members of your clan must also reach a minimum of 2000 points. Rewards: 1 Longsword, 2 Mystery Virtuals, 2 Virtual Colors, 2 ALS Virtual Ice, & 1 Blast Cap

Level 3 Battle Axe — All 10 members of your clan must deploy at least 40 Munzees of any type. In addition to the deploy requirement each member must capture at least 150 munzees (socials excluded). All 10 members of your clan must also reach a minimum of 4500 points. Rewards: 1 Battle Axe, 2 Mystery Virtuals, 2 Virtual Colors, 1 ruby, & 1 Blast Cap

Level 4 The Chuck — All 10 members of your clan must deploy at least 60 Munzees of any type. In addition to the deploy requirement each member must capture at least 500 munzees (socials excluded). All 10 members of your clan must also reach a minimum of 9000 points. Rewards: 1 Mace, 1 Longsword, 1 Battle Axe, 3 Mystery Virtuals, 3 Virtual Colors, 1 ruby, 1 diamond, & 1 blast cap

Level 5 #SuperChuck — All 10 members of your clan must deploy at least 150 Munzees of any type. In addition to the deploy requirement each member must capture at least 1350 munzees (socials excluded). All 10 members of your clan must also reach a minimum of 15000 points. Rewards: 2 Battle Axes, 5 Mystery Virtuals, 5 Virtual Colors, 5 Virtuals, 2 motel, 2 ruby, 2 diamond, & 2 blast caps

August 26, 2014

Announcing the ALS Ice Cube Special Virtual

The Texas heat may be sweltering, but Team Munzee has caught the cold! This morning at the Munzee Marketplace Team Munzee took part in the ever growing ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and we’re happy to announce we’re taking it a step further. Based on our previous charity fundraisers (See: RMH) we know the impact that our players can make and now we want to help the ALS Association. New special virtual icons featuring ice cubes are now for sale in the Munzee store and proceeds will be donated to ALS research.

Packs of 4 ALS virtual ice cube munzees are for sale until the early September. The owner of the ice cube virtual gets 32 points when they deploy and 32 points will be split between owner and capper when it is captured. An in-game badge will also be earned for any player who captures or deploys an ALS ice virtual. These virtual munzees are available for purchase through early September with no limit in quantity. Although we’re proud to be a part of such a big movement, be warned that this ice will melt. The ALS virtual ice will melt into your archived list at the end of September.

Team Munzee is proud of the impact our players can make and we look forward to all the good we can do.Below you can watch Team Munzee participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. We challenge our players to participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge as well as the Gurus of Geocaching and fellow Downtown McKinney businesses. #StrikeOutALS

To learn more about ALS and how you can help please visit www.alsa.org.

August 21, 2014

Munzee Player of the Week: Petr Stary (Czechroo)

Much like our game pieces, Munzee players come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes even all species? Whether you’re short or tall, or a marsupial, Munzee is the game for you. This week’s Player of the Week is Petr Stary AKA Czechroo and although he may not be an actual Kangaroo, his ability to bounce around the Munzee map has impressed MHQ. Read on to learn more about this Czech born player who currently calls Australia home!

Who are you?
My name is Petr Stary, AKA Czechroo. “Czech” is short for my home country “the Czech Republic” and “roo” is short for kangaroo.

Where in the world do you live?
I am originally from a picturesque tiny town Úštěk in the northern part of the Czech Republic, but I have been living in Sydney, Australia for almost 10 years.

How long have you played Munzee?
I signed up for an account and capped my first munzee in January 2012, but knew about Munzee 4 month before that. It took me a while to register as I was busy with my university studies. Four months later in May 2012, I went premium.

How did you find Munzee?
To be honest I do not really remember, but I think I discovered Munzee while googling some caching relating stuff.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
I enjoy the opportunity to get outside and discover new places while riding and sharing my scooter with other Munzers (BlueBearyk). I also enjoy Munzeeing because I can place munzees pretty much anywhere and they do not need to be reviewed.

What is on your wish list?
There are quite a few things on my wish list.
1. Clusters on STATzee – probably the most asked wish.
2. An alternative scanner button on the map in the app – I change scanners quite often. It involves 6 steps to change it if one is on the main screen. If one is in a hurry or there are muggles around a quick access to this feature would appreciate many Munzers.
3. I would like to see my own munzees that are in maintenance mode on the map in the app.
4. Proximity circles on/off in the Android app like the iOS app has.
5. A rover filter in the app and notifications so I know that someone picks it up, drops it off, or to be notified when my rover meets it goal.
6. To test scan NFC tags in the app.

Tell us about yourself!
I’m in my mid 30’s, BMI 21 🙂 and quite tall – 193 cm (6ft 4). That’s why are some of my early munzees deployed very high and they are not “kid friendly” and sometimes even adults cannot reach them. Lesson learned and now are most of my munzees deployed down low, waist and shoulder high. I moved to Sydney in 2005 to study English, but decided to stay longer and study more. I finished my Bachelor Degree in Information Technology (Networking, Systems Administration) in 2012. Unfortunately I have had no luck finding sponsorship which would help me to get permanent residency in Australia. Beside munzeeing I spend a lot of time outside enjoying the sun and Australian flora and fauna because it differs a lot from what you can experience in Central Europe. If you ever come to Sydney you can meet me in Kirribilli or Milson’s Point where the diamond mine is.

Other hobbies include?
Apart from munzeeing I occasionally play Ingress and search for geocaches. I also like traveling and visiting different places. When the weather is stunning I enjoy photographing.

Petr was kind enough to share his social, so cap away!

-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!

August 14, 2014

Munzee Player(s) of the Week: Dale and Barb Swinehart (DalenBarb)

Munzee may be a business, but our employees and our business partners are still players too. It’s this love of Munzee that brings us together and helps us do great things to make the game better for all. One such partnership is with Dale and Barb (DalenBarb) from Space Coast Geo Store, one of our authorized resellers. Dale and Barb help spread the Munzee word as well as expand our business, not to mention they’re dedicated players too! Take a look at our Player(s) of the Week DalenBarb!

Who are you?
We are a husband and wife team known as DalenBarb (yes our Munzee name is our real names as well). Barb plays under this account and Dale plays under the account known as SpaceCoastGeoStore.

Where in the world do you live?
We live in Merritt Island, Florida (The Space Coast)

How long have you played Munzee?
Since August of 2011.

How did you find Munzee?
A friend and fellow cacher was visiting our store and asked if they could place a Munzee in our window. We asked what it was and downloaded the app so we could “cap” our first Munzee. That was in August of 2011, only 1 month after Munzee started.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
We really enjoy meeting new people that play the game. It has given us the opportunity to spend time with each other after working all day. Getting outside and capping/deploying has become a favorite pastime for us in the evenings and weekends. Our grandkids (8 and 3) also enjoy Munzee and ask if they can go to the park to cap some Munzees. We also love how Team Munzee is always keeping the game fresh and adding new ways to score points. The badges have been a lot of fun working toward as well.

What is on your wish list?
We would love to see the ability to search for a specific Munzee or player in the app. Also the ability to filter a single players Munzees (allowing us to only search for that players deployments). One other thing I would LOVE to see is a vehicle Munzee. Oh and a visit to MHQ (which we plan to do in September).

Tell us about yourself!
Barb and I met over the internet 16 years ago. We were married on Sanibel Island, FL a year later. She has two kids from a previous marriage and I have one. We have two grandkids (8 and 3) who love to Munzee. We opened up an Automotive Air Conditioning Parts store when the company Dale worked for closed 10 years ago. Two years later we opened the first walk in caching store in the United States. We have since closed the Automotive Air Conditioning business due to the economy once they let everyone go at the Kennedy Space Center. We then focused on the caching store and becoming an Authorized Munzee Reseller. We started playing Munzee in 2011, but it never really clicked with us. We tried it again a year later and thought it was fun until our iPhone had an issue with the app which caused us to give up again. Then we introduced it to our grandkids and they loved it which prompted us to give it another shot. *Third time’s a charm!* Man have we been hooked ever since. We had the opportunity to meet Trish and Rob at an event in Texas back in April (thanks Trish for hunting down Rob and sending him over to our booth). Since then we have reached level 100 in a few months and watched our home town of Merritt Island explode in Munzee activity. Our local community has really taken off and many new players have started playing. We are now hosting Munzee events with a big one planned in November. Munzee has become a very big part of our life now and we are enjoying every minute of it. We have really enjoyed having impromptu meet & greets when fellow Munzee players show up at our store, sometimes as many as 10-12 different Munzee players standing around talking Munzee. This is what we love about owning our own business…where else can you work and do what you love all day long? (Editors Note: The same is said about MHQ!)

Other hobbies include:
Caching, hiking, biking, kayaking and taking pictures anything that will get us outside doing things together. Munzee has really given us a new way to enjoy most of these activities all at once.

Dale and Barb were kind enough to share her social, so cap away!

-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!

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 28, 2014

Mystery Virtuals ON SALE NOW!

jjMhAWlg2-so5__wEKNhYcKcbw1SYRGW5PfCarZOb70 After a bit of a low key third day of the birthday month yesterday, Munzee is happy to announce a few things today. We said to expect the unexpected right? Players will now have the ability to deploy Mystery Virtual Munzees from within the app. In addition to using a computer to deploy the MVMs, you’ll be able to do it all from your phone, on location. Hopefully this will make the process a bit easier on players. But what are you going to deploy to test this new addition to Munzee?

Well we’re also happy to announce that Mystery Virtual Munzees are on sale NOW in the birthday section of the store. The MVMs have been knocked down to $5, but premium users will also get an additional 33% off all birthday items when they check out. There will also be a number of other items on sale in the birthday section. Mystery Virtuals will go fast though so get to buying quickly, because this sale won’t go on for long. CoachV will end the sale when he sees fit, so get to the store now.

PinataBadge_720 There has also been another influx of piñatas, so there’s no excuse not to get the mint, drop and lollipop before they disappear at the end of the birthday month. If there still aren’t any in your area, worry not. I’m sure CoachV will decide to throw a few more out by month’s end.

Also, be sure to check out the Munzee 3rd Birthday Video starring our players! After a weekend of Munzee Birthday celebrations, we’ve complied as many social media contributions as possible to show the world just how awesome Munzee is. If you stick it through you might also get a behind the scenes look at how some members of Team Munzee celebrated the birthday!

July 8, 2014

Podcast Episode 20: Flowing through the #FiestaThree

This week on the Munzee Podcast, Rob rocks the mic on more birthday announcements, Munzee’s 20 millionth capture and talks a little bit about the newly announced Munzee Marketplace.

This week’s topics:

1. Triple Points day: July 12th. Get your greenies ready! Starts at Midnight, MHQ Time. Not sure when MHQ Time (Central time) starts? Check out worldtimebuddy.com.

2. Munzee hit 20 captures! Then we hit an additional 19,999,980 million captures! The 20 millionth capture happened on July 3rd. Has anyone else noticed Munzee growing?

3. July 9th, we’ll have a special sale! On what? Listen in and find out what “The Rob” says.

4. First impressions: The media leaked it, so now we’re opening up about it. The Munzee Marketplace and what our vision of the Marketplace is for the city of McKinney and our awesome Munzee players. Bookmark the Munzee Marketplace Facebook page and keep an eye on all our updates:

https://www.facebook.com/MunzeeMarketplace

Munzee in the News: Check out the links below to see what the press is saying about Munzee.

McKinney Courier Gazette
RMH Spokane Blog

To check past, present and future Munzee Podcasts, visit www.munzeepodcast.com.

June 30, 2014

Happy Birthday Munzee!

Get ready to blow out the candles because it is officially Munzee’s 3rd birthday celebration, or #FiestaThree as we’ve come to call it around the office. As we celebrate our three years of outstanding achievements, we want to give back to the players that continue to give it their all year after year! This July we have a long list of events and announcements planned throughout the month, so be sure to stay tuned as we reveal more in the coming weeks. Remember, “three is a magic number”, so you may want to keep an eye out every three days this month!

We’ll have sales on special items throughout the month, so to start off we’d like to announce sales on the following items for beginning July 1 at 9 AM (MHQT, GMT-5) for 24 hours.

$3 Virtuals
$3 Socials
$3 Rovers

Take advantage of those discounted Rovers and get them out of their kennels. You’re going to need them if you want to get your hands on the exclusive Birthday Barker badge this July. You can get the badge in one of three ways:

If you interact with 3 rovers that you do not own
or If a rover you own interacts with 3 unique players
or If a rover you own reaches 33 miles of combined distance throughout the month

What’s a birthday without presents? We’ll have prize days throughout the month featuring physical, virtual and totally random prizes. Our first prize day is Thursday July 3rd (mid morning MHQ time) where players have a chance to get Blast Caps, Mystery Virtuals and… a SPECIAL NEW MUNZEE type to celebrate our July Birthday. Those who saw the July Clan Requirements may have heard a bit about this new sparkle in coachv’s eye, but check in Thursday morning to learn exactly what the new munzee is.

Of course we’ll have many, many more announcements throughout the month as well. It helps to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and the blog. Stay tuned to hear about a new special following the end of the Copa Do Munzo challenge, triple point days and an all-out worldwide birthday party.

Big stuff is happening, so happy hunting and happy birthday to Munzee!