Player of the Week: Oliver Tausch

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

Who are you?
I’m Oliver Tausch, but the Munzee community knows me as “tau”.

Where in the world do you live?
I live in Delbrueck, North Rhine-Westphalia, Good Old Germany, but my real Munzee homezone is Paderborn about 20km from my home.

How long have you played Munzee?
I signed up in July 2012.

How did you find Munzee?
I was on a job in Los Angeles with my coworker Piglett78. He already played a GPS-based game but got a hint from a friend to try out Munzee, so I did, too. On a Sunday, we had some free time and went to 1849’s homezone. It was the weekend H2OKLAN passed 100,000 points with a big event close by. It was unbelievable. I thought I would never get to 100k in my life. We were afraid of going to this event as we were absolute beginners. Piglett78 and I spent half a day on capping greenies. We searched for one for about an hour. A security person came by because we looked some kind of suspicious. We tried to explain what Munzee is all about, and finally we were allowed to continue our tour. At the end of the day, I reached the unbelievable amount of 175 points!! We felt like heroes and made it on the leaderboard the next day.

The next months, I deployed my first Munzees and found out that another player was living on the same street (PappaPad). I got in contact with him and some other players living in our area. When Clan Wars were introduced, we founded the “Team Delbrueck” Clan. Some time later, in October 2013, we won the battle with an all-time record of more than 800K points. In November, only one month later, Munzee launched the MVMs and our record was broken straight away. I wish Fitbit had been integrated at that time as we all probably reached the equivalent of several marathons that month to get that far. Capping was more or less reduced to physical codes those days. During this battle, we built up one of the biggest Mystery clusters in the world with more than 1200 physical Mysteries. It took us months of planning with lots of barbecues and beer to get it organized.

What do you most enjoy about Munzee?
As I said, we started with only one clan. These days, I’m managing six clans with players from all over Germany and Switzerland. With every new battle, each player decides which level(s) he/she would like to go for, and I try to puzzle them into six teams. This give a high flexibility for everyone respecting the individual potential for each battle. We grew to a great community and most of the players have stayed with us for a very long time. Many of them I’ve met personally at events. I find this very exciting as their real faces always look differently than what you imagine is behind the Munzee name.

I love getting out and exploring cities all over the world “from a Munzee view”. Achieving the different battle levels pushes me forward. As I’ve spread my Munzees in many different countries, I like to see who caps them.

What is on your wish list?
The Clan Requirements should be published one or two days earlier. This would help people like me to manage their clans.

I would really like to see an official virtual garden in our Lippesee area. Nowadays, players from outside the big cities and Munzee hotspots need to travel a lot to get points and other advantages. In this case, people from big cities would need to come and visit us.

I also would like to see a virtual replacement of a physical munzee (special) which is in maintenance mode. As my munzees are spread all around the world, it is kind of hard to maintain. A virtual which adopts the type of the munzee in maintenance mode would be perfect.

Tell us about yourself!
Born in the “Summer of ’69”, I grew up and went to University of Paderborn. I have a beautiful wife and two kids, a thirteen-year-old daughter and a ten-year-old son. They both play Munzee, too, and my wife finally “got used to it”.

I’m a Master (Dip. Ing.) of electrical engineering and Director of Electrical Engineering and IT in a mid-size company in Delbrueck. My job makes me travel around the world frequently to meet customers and visit our agencies. That’s why I like Rovers are part of the Munzee game. Instead of hanging out in hotel bars, I try to go out and Munzee.

Other hobbies include:
Some years ago I used to be a semi-professional soccer player. Now I just play for fun and concentrate on coaching my son’s soccer team. I like bicycling, hicking, and taking a break in the sauna. I’m very involved with
 carnival (well, my whole family is) which is very popular in the area I live in.

Any last words?
I really feel honored to be a POTW, now and say THANK YOU to everyone who was involved in my nomination. “Team Delbrueck and friends”, you are fantastic guys, and it’s a pleasure to play with you day after day! Hope we stick together for a long time and still “fight” many battles!

tau also included some socials, so cap away!