Posts Tagged ‘mobile’

September 17, 2014

Introducing the Official Munzee Virtual Garden!

Inspired by the beautiful virtual gardens our players have grown across the map, Team Munzee is proud to announce the first official Munzee Virtual Garden! Located approximately 5 miles from MHQ, we hope for this to be a highlight when players visit us in McKinney, Texas. Like all of the other gardens out there we want our players to be a part of this monument, so Munzee is offering a very limited amount of pins in the store until supplies last.

For $10 you can be a part of this virtual garden, which will spell the word “Munzee” on the map. No work is necessary on your part to deploy this virtual pin, it will be assigned coordinates and deployed at time of purchase. You may edit the name and notes if you choose. LIMITED TO ONE PER PLAYER ACCOUNT.

When you purchase the Munzee Virtual Pin you get:

Limited Edition badge, only available to those who purchase a pin.
Points: 10 to owner on deploy. 10 to owner as residual on each cap. 10 to capper.
A limited edition pin permanently deployed automatically by Munzee on your account.

These pins will be very popular especially with the Garden’s proximity to MHQ and the upcoming Oktoberfest, so what if they all sell out? No worries, Munzee has plans for additional official gardens to be deployed all over the world in the coming months. More details soon. Team Munzee was so impressed with the unofficial virtual gardens built by players that we simply wanted one of our own. Unofficial gardens are greatly appreciated and will continue to be an integral part of the overall game. This is intended as a nod to the creativity of our players in an official manner.

Oh and before we forget, this garden will also serve as the introduction of a new shimmering pin you’ll only find somewhere over the rainbow. Remember, you’re not in Kansas anymore…

–

GemVirtEmerald128

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 28, 2014

Podcast Episode 26: Open For Business, 2 Million Deploys ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and MHQ Bash

In this episode of the podcast, we talk the opening of the Munzee Marketplace, celebrate our 2 millionth deploy and Rob gets a bit frozen.

This week on the Munzee podcast we talk about:

The Munzee Marketplace Opening and how the first week has gone.
We’ve hit our 2 Millionth deploy. Congrats patnanz!
The ALS Ice Munzees have frozen over Downtown McKinney!
Don’t forget that the MHQ Bash is the last weekend of September.

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

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 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!

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!

August 11, 2014

Meet Munzee Munday: Rob Vardeman

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. It may have taken him all day to finish his questionnaire, but he’s a pretty busy guy. It’s Munzee President Rob Vardeman!

Name and Title:
Rob Vardeman, President of Munzee Inc.

Where are you from?
Born in West Texas (Odessa) but jumped around the state several times, and a 4-year stay in California, before finally landing in Allen Texas. I’ve lived in Allen for 22 years, about 5 miles from our amazing location for Munzee HeadQuarters.

How did you find Munzee?
August 13th 2011, just over a month after Munzee launched I was out playing two other location games. I was headed for a long trail, but stopped at a windmill to find a container. As I approached GZ I noticed a tag zip tied to the structure flapping in the breeze. Odd but unimportant in my current search. I found the container a few feet away, took care of business, and turned to leave. Then I noticed the tag had a QR code on it and said “Scan for points”. Being a gamer, and having just installed a QR code reader on my phone a few weeks earlier I scanned it and was taken to the Munzee website. I found out I needed to create an account to play this game, so I did. It was love at first cap. I spent the next 5 hours, and over 100 miles driving to all the nearby Munzees collecting my 5 points. Over the next few weeks I started to interact with “snicker” via email because I was unable to find some of his daughter’s deployments. He basically made fun of me (sarcastically) and said I needed to improve my “geo-senses” if I couldn’t find something hidden by his little daughter. LOL. It kicked my Munzee hunting into high gear when I figured out I was interacting with a co-founder and the president. Eventually capping Munzees in his neighborhood lead to meeting him so I took my shot and told him I would work for Munzee one day. I had a vision for what it could be used for and where it could go! I became addicted to chasing special icons and points. I was a fanatical player and made it all the way to #7 on the global leaderboard before I finally got added to the team. The rest of the story is history. 🙂

How long have you worked for Munzee?
After 9 months of bugging Aaron and Scott to let me help, I began volunteering for Munzee in June of 2012 as my summer started for my teaching job. My title was Business Development, Community Support, and Player Interaction (or something like that). Over the next 6 months I worked hard to prove my worth and earn my spot, while working full time as a 5th grade Math teacher. In December 2012 I presented a plan to Aaron that would move me to full time contractor status with Munzee due to increasing needs for work to be done during “normal business hours”. While the plan was risky, I had faith and knew it was the right move for Munzee, and Aaron agreed. In January 2013, things really started to take off, after finally finding a supplier for vinyl stickers. It was 9 months later when Aaron and I talked through the future path for Munzee and he handed off the reins of Munzee Inc to me. October 4th 2013 was a life changing day for me and a game changer for Munzee. Since that time we’ve grown by leaps and bounds, increasing to 8 full time employees, 3 part time, and a fast growing worldwide community of players! Every day I’m amazed at our growth as a company and a game. I’m proud to lead our team as we venture out into new arenas and press on as THE 21st century scavenger hunt.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
Munzee is family. I truly see it that way. From hanging out with players at events, to interacting via email or Facebook groups I have always enjoyed spending time with my Munzee family. Hearing stories of need and how Munzee has made a difference, like in the case of my buddy David Reed, I believe in giving back to the players and their communities. It’s part of the reason I love to travel to events so much. Without the players, and their love for Munzee, we would be nothing. That’s something at the forefront of every choice we make at MHQ. The theme of 2014 is “Expect the Unexpected” and I think we’ve lived up to it at this point. The addition of new Munzee types, special contests, new badges, special events, and the marketplace show we aren’t afraid to keep things fresh. Munzee is home of the “Play it your way” special, and we will absolutely continue to innovate and give players new experiences in the years to come.

Famous last words?
When we moved into our first MHQ in January the three of us had quotes on the board. Mine is “I’ll be excited with one”. Sometimes we get carried away with bigger, faster, better, and the things that could be. But I’m excited with one. One person at an event, one deploy in a small town, one event in a new location, one shipment to a new country, one new player. It takes one to get the ball rolling. We’re seeing amazing growth in so many new places all around the world and it all started from one person in that area. Thanks also to the One who protects and guides me daily through this life I’m blessed to live and to my supportive family for allowing me to chase this dream. #MunzeeOn

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!

Name 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.”

I 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.

How 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.

What 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