Posts Tagged ‘international’

August 28, 2014

Munzee Player of the Week: Dan (iamfull)

Munzee is what you make it. Whether you’re scouting the urban streets for hidden QR codes or following an outdoor trail, Munzee has something for everyone. This versatility is what we love about the game and as we continue to grow, our players find more ways to play. This is what this week’s player of the week, Dan, loves most about Munzee. Since his first cap at the Noodles and Company in Charlottesville, he’s been hooked and as the game expands so does his experience. Learn more about Dan (iamfull) below!

cupolaWho are you?
Dan aka iamfull

Where in the world do you live?
Charlottesville, VA the home of Thomas Jefferson & The University of Virginia.

How long have you played Munzee?
Since April 22, 2013

How did you find Munzee?
I came across Munzee while browsing a category on Wikipedia called outdoor locating games. This was two weeks prior to my first find. I looked at the map & saw there were a handful at a new shopping centers in town. I had dinner with a friend at the new place & mentioned the game to her. We found a Munzee on a bike rack & then downloaded the app & got our first caps. Many thanks to Mooky for placing that Munzee!

grn boxWhat do you enjoy most about Munzee?
I like that Munzee can support many different styles of play. If you want to drive around the mall & cap LPM’s all day you can do that. Maybe you want to hike to the top of the hill overlooking town to enjoy the view & get the FTC on a virtual placed a year ago. I think just about anyone can find their own way to enjoy Munzee. I have been a member of the Maryland Munzee Mitlia since the first chuck level battle. It’s nice to have folks that support & encourage each other to reach our goals. The Munzee clan structure makes for some good-natured competition each month.

frozen niagaraWhat is on your wish list?
I’d love to have clusters back in STATzee. I think Daniel Fischer does a wonderful job with that site & I am happy to see it integrated into munzee.com. I’d also like to propose a badge for setting off 100 blast captures. It could be called the iamfull badge (just a little vanity on my part). The next step up could be for 100 blast captures each with 100 virtuals/mvm’s captured (the iamreallyfull badge).

Tell us about yourself!
I am a 41 year old male human. I occasionally have to work, but I try not to let that get in the way of my munzee habit.

Other hobbies include:
I was a cacher a decade ago, but eventually moved on to other things. After that I spent too many years sitting behind a keyboard playing video games & I’m glad to have a hobby that takes me outside again.

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

iik5

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!

August 26, 2014

Announcing the ALS Ice Cube Special Virtual

ALSBadge_720The 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. 

ALS_icon_128pxTeam 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 25, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: Video of the Munzee Marketplace

The Munzee Marketplace is up and running and we couldn’t be more proud of it! We promise we’ll get back to showcasing members of Team Munzee soon, but for today’s Meet Munzee Munday take a look at this video of the Marketplace. THe video highlights what the area looks like and showcases some of our products, so check it out!

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!

Deploying mysteries at Sydney Olympic Park May 2013 20130505_155816eWho 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.

Melbourne - Clan War End January 2014 IMG_20140201_171016eWhat 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.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA3. 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! SM Czechroo's Official Social Munzee

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!

August 18, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: The Munzee Marketplace (cont.)

Team Munzee has been hard at work getting the Munzee Marketplace up and running so for this Meet Munzee Munday, check out our progress. It’s all starting to come together and we hope to open very soon. So get to Downtown McKinney and visit the Marketplace!

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!

20140801_114203Who 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.

20140621_193219

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).

Screenshot_2014-08-07-12-51-40Tell 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!

Dale n Barb combined social munzee pic

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!

August 12, 2014

Podcast Episode 25: Back to the West Coast, Marketplace Opening Anticipation, and MHQ Bash

In this episode of the podcast, we talk about Rob’s travel plans, updates on the Marketplace and hint at some things to come.


This week in the Munzee Podcast, we talk about:

  1. Rob’s trip to Seattle, where Matt just got back from.
  2. The Munzee Marketplace is finishing up, and it’s looking good.
  3. The MHQ Bash is the weekend of September 26th. It will coincide with McKinney’s Oktoberfest and we’ve got a ton planned.
  4. We’ve got big plans for the Podcast and we hope to start videocasting and answering live-tweets when we record.
  5. Finally, we’re working on the servers on Wednesday, So DO NOT FREAK OUT if something seems off. Hopefully it will be seamless and you guys won’t even notice.

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

August 5, 2014

Podcast Episode 24: Matt’s back, the post-birthday blues, and Clan warfare

In this episode of the podcast, we share some #ScottThoughts, discuss this month’s clan wars and praise the higher powers that Matt is back to save the podcast. We also say goodbye to a huge part of Munzee, but look forward to the great things ahead.

This week’s topics:

1.  Weekend Munzee activity:  How did Munzee make it’s way into your weekend?

2.   Keep contributing to #ScottThoughts, #Munzee and #MunzeeFound, they really brighten our day!

3.  Winners from the Final FiestaThree celebration!  This might just help your post-birthday blues, here’s the winners from the final cap/deploy celebration.  Rob will contact everyone over the next week or so.  You can also message us at podcast@munzee.com

CAPTURES:

  • polkajen
  • Mooreule
  • Vlaju
  • jratzlaf
  • Cherrypi
  • ralphloewe
  • Jigge
  • Minerva123
  • mutti
  • Muaddib

DEPLOYS:

  • huggyd1
  • geeijo
  • Rongylab2
  • RuneMorgan
  • richspeer
  • Pardlerum
  • Baggio
  • Dixzon
  • mueckenfett
  • schmitzfam4

4.  The Munzee Marketplace is coming along swimmingly, Dylan and TJ put up some of the final walls within the structure, and Dylan’s carpentry skills have been put to great use with our reclaimed wood and rustic look within the marketplace.  Omi’s painting the town with color…Okay, actually she’s staining and sealing some of the final touches for the place, and TJ’s receiving some of the awesome speciality teas, coffees, and treats we’ll be serving at the marketplace.

5.  Clans!  We’ve covered clans during the “early podcast” days, but we provide a refresher to all our new players and players that want to enter the arena of clan competition.  Premium perks include the ability to start your own clan, another reason to go sign up for premium membership!

6.  We’re sending Rob off to another event! This time Rob will be at World’s Collide in Seattle on August 15th.  Check it out here:  http://calendar.munzee.com/MUNZGEOSEATTLE/ -Supposedly this is a pre-mega deal here, folks.  Show up and represent with Team Munzee!

7.  LeftOvers4Dinner signs off! Omi has taken a media position in the Southwest, and we all wish her well! Don’t be sad folks, #omigiggles and #Munzeefound are always within the hearts of the Munzee community.  It’s sad to see the podcaster go, but it’s great to see her grow!  Keep an eye on #wheresOmi, we’re sure there’s a Munzee deployed with every one of her adventures.

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

August 4, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: Scott Foster

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. This week we take a peak behind the veil at co-founder Scott Foster!

-4Name 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.”

-3I 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.

-2How 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.

-1What 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

Mystery Virtuals ON SALE NOW!

jjMhAWlg2-so5__wEKNhYcKcbw1SYRGW5PfCarZOb70After 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_720There 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!