Posts Tagged ‘team building’

March 17, 2015

Munzee Player of the Week: Raymond Keegstra (ReeJ)

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 Raymond Keegstra (ReeJ), and he caught “the Munzee virus” almost two years ago.

 

Who are you?
My name is Raymond Keegstra aka ReeJ, a proud Munzee player in clan “Phoenix Rising”. 

Where in the world do you live?
I live in IJhorst a little village near Zwolle. (A famous Munzee city of The Netherlands)

How long have you played Munzee?
700+ days, I got the Munzee virus around April 30, 2013. (I had previously created an account, but not yet played)

How did you find Munzee?
On April 30, 2013 I saw a big QR code on a commercial info sign.  This was not a Munzee, just a commercial URL QR-code. It reminded me directly of a story my friend had told me a few months before about Munzee.  While standing there I immediately installed the Android App,  just 2 meters beyond the big QR was a real Munzee. This was my first 5 points and the beginning of Munzee for me.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
I really enjoy meeting other players and having a great time playing together. Also, the nice trips in the Netherlands and Germany (especially Cologne) with friends of my old clan.   Oh, let’s not forget the Clan Wars! Together as a team making it to the end of the month; winning a lot of Maces/Longsword/Ruby and other toys.

What is on your wish list?
To stay the Number 1 in the Netherlands 😉 and of course a trip to America. Seriously ….I want to go to the Franklin Munzee Bash event / April 17,18 – 2015 to meet the friends of my Clan “Phoenix Rising”. (but i need a sponsor!)

Tell us about yourself!
I’m a network engineer of Caase.com (Worldwide Microsoft Cloud Partner of the Year 2014). The father of 2 lovely boys Roel (3) and Joris (1) you can see them in the pictures. Not to forget my lovely girlfriend Wietske, who is the biggest anti-munzee person in the world, but always there for me! She loves cycling more!  (Please feel free to add many munzees at mountain area’s so Wietske and I can combine our hobbies on holidays)  😉

Other hobbies include;
When I’m not munzeeing you can find me on the beach or forests for a hike. (Then Wietske is near me….haha….) And of course other geolocation games, working with computers and Smartphones!

ReeJ also included his social, so cap away!

March 6, 2015

Munzee Player of the Week: Michael Bailey (TNT)

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 Michael Bailey (TNT) and he’s been playing long enough to get an early bird’s badge and then some. Although he may want to see some changes to the game (while maintaining its roots) he’s stuck around this long and doesn’t see an end in sight. At least not while there’s Clan Wars to be won! Read on to learn more about TNT!

Who are you?
potw5 My name is Michael Bailey. In the munzee world, I’m known as TNT.

Where in the world do you live?
I currently live in NW Arkansas – specifically, Bentonville — The home of Walmart.

How long have you played Munzee?
Practically from the beginning — July of 2011. At that time, there were less than 10 munzees in the entire state of Arkansas. When I joined, the founders were still at their full time jobs. I remember the first few versions of the Android app as developed by chrispix.

How did you find Munzee?
I read about it in a forum for that other game. It sounded interesting, so I signed up.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
In the beginning, it was the chance to get outdoors and “find” things without having to fight the ticks, along with the competition among players. The competition has diminished with the introduction of so many special types of munzees, but now I really enjoy the clan wars. My competition is with the requirements to make sure I can score enough points and do enough to achieve the level I’ve committed to.potw1

potw2What is on your wish list?
1) I would like to see the game go back more towards its roots (getting out and physically capping), which it has done the past few months with the emphasis on greenie requirements.

2) I’d like to see some of the features that were in the last beta version of the app put into the release version of the app.

3) I’d like to see some of the things that have been started brought to a completion. Things such as rovers with badges for mileage traveled etc., (also, the process could be streamlined) and finishing the fitbit integration with badges.

4) A reworking of the levels. In the beginning, achieving 10000 points was a major milestone and I don’t think it was ever anticipated that more that a few would ever achieve 100,000, so the levels were based on that assumption. Now, several people have gotten 100,000 in a single day and 25,000 is not very difficult at all. So, time to rework the levels.

potw4Tell us about yourself!
Born and raised in the great state of Maine, I enlisted in the military at least partly to get away from the harsh winters (such as the one they’re currently experiencing). In 2003, I retired from the Air Force after 22 years. After living in San Antonio a few years, my wife (NanaB) and I moved here to NW Arkansas. We’re a few hours travel from our wonderful grandchildren in NW Louisiana and also only a days travel to either MHQ or Franklin TN.

Other hobbies include:
Who has time for other hobbies with Munzee? Seriously though, over the years, I’ve had many of them. I have a private pilots license, I’ve scuba dived, I’ve flown RC airplanes. I’ve been a license amateur radio operator for over 30 years. I woodwork and have a degree in computer science.

TNT included his Social so cap away!

TNTSocial

February 27, 2015

Announcing New Hotel Badges

We’re pleased to announce that our haunted hotel munzees have now hired an equally eerie staff to help run the various institutions that have spread across the map. These new badges are for achievements with hotels (not motels) including renting rooms and deploying hotels.

February 12, 2015

Munzee Players of the Week: Shannon Hutchison and Caley Fox (WhompCanada)

Munzee promotes staying active through adventure. We’re proud of Munzee’s ability to get people to investigate unknown areas, learn about the game and grow the map. This week’s Players of The Week challenged themselves to bike across Canada and interact with strangers along the way and what better way to do that than to Munzee? We proudly sponsored Celaey Fox and Shannon Hutchison in their Whomp Nation Canadian Coast To Coast journey. Read on to learn more about WhompNationCanada!

1240457_500576850026628_1167963340_nWho are you?

Shannon Hutchison and Caley Fox. We met at Rocky Mountain school of Photography in the summer of 2012.

Where in the world do you live?

Shannon lives in Calgary, AB, Canada and Caley lives in St. Louis, MO, USA.

How long have you played Munzee?

Caley has played Munzee since 2011, and when we decided to start Whomp Nation we created a joint Munzee account in March 2013.

How did you find Munzee?

Caley found out about Munzee when he was shooting photos for his sister and happened to see a QR code in a tree. He’s become very enthusiastic about it ever since.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?

We enjoy Munzee because it gives us an excuse to get out and explore strange places. It was also great meeting all of the Munzee people we met as we travelled across the country!1186198_496550050429308_1097723683_n

Tell us about Whomp Nation:

Whomp Nation is a project Shannon and Caley made to discover more about Canada. We shot off in April 2013 to pedal across Canada on two tandem bikes joined together and ended in mid-September. We documented the people we met, the land, and participated in fun Canadian events. It was an interactive experience that people could follow via social media each week.1150979_492732700811043_647481447_n

What spurred you guys to start this?

Shannon originally wanted to walk across Canada, but we decided on our crazy Tandems so we could pick up Hitchhikers! We figured why not and it inspired us to go on this crazy trip.

How did you incorporate Munzee into this trek?

Munzee was a great way of tracking where we had been during our trip. It also lead to amazing Munzee hunting in Quebec!

1093781_495936610490652_15686689_o

Tell us about yourselves:

Shannon and Caley are both professional photographers. Shannon also work as teacher.

What’s Next?

We’re really hoping to do another trip like this last one, just not sure to where yet! (Editor’s Note: May we suggest a trip down south? Perhaps McKinney, TX?)

WhompCanada included their Social so cap away!

whompsocial_360

Whomp Nation also produced a time lapse video of their trip, so give it a watch.  You can also look back on their whole experience at www.whompnation.com.

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!

February 11, 2015

From Corporations to Crops: A Story of #HeartHealth

Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in the United States, so as we celebrate American Heart Month it’s important to listen to the stories of those around us. The following story is from Kevin Becker, owner of Shutt’er Down Ranch- a partner of the Munzee Marketplace. Although Kevin may work in the fields all day raising chickens, building greenhouses and maintaining the ranch, it wasn’t always this way. 

Kev2Small “I spent my entire adult life in the middle of corporate America. Each week was two or three new cities with no sleep, no exercise and a room service diet,” Kevin said. “All this changed on one of those trips in 2010 when my 49-year-old heart decided that enough was enough.”

Two days later Kevin’s three children watched as their father headed into open heart surgery. The surgeon explain that there was a 25 percent chance that Kevin wouldn’t survive.  

“I decided right then and there that I was going to take control of my health,” Kevin said. 

He kept that promise and a year later Kevin, Seth Thomas, and Cory Sparks started Shutt’er Down Ranch in Farmersville, TX. It’s been five years since that wake up call and Kevin is 50 pounds lighter and his heart is as healthy as ever. Kevin attributes his success to changing the way he eats. He altered his diet to all natural or organic foods whenever possible, and now runs a business producing the very same food he eats.

“I had no idea that it would be so difficult to find all natural foods, not to mention the outrageous costs,” Kevin said. “I’m so excited to be a part of Shutt’er Down Ranch and helping change the way people eat organically.”KevSmall

The Munzee Marketplace is proud to partner with Shutt’er Down Ranch and bring healthy, cost-effective food to the people of North Texas. The Marketplace already has a hard time keeping SD Ranch’s cage-free, organic chicken eggs in stock and there are plans in place to expand this partnership even further. One of the first steps in living healthy is looking at the food you eat, so take Kevin’s story to heart and take care of yours. 

February 9, 2015

Munzee Videocast Episode 12: Rob V. Bob

Our twelfth videocast has been converted to audio, so click the link and listen on!

http://munzeepush.munzee.netdna-cdn.com/Munzee%20Videocast%2012.mp3

You can also re-watch the videocast HERE.

This week we talked about:

  • Eventzee Launch
  • Eventzee Specials are on the Munzee map
  • Candy Heart Virtuals are no longer on sale, but they’ll be on the map through mid-march
  • Clan Wars Update

Remember to join us Fridays at 3 pm (MHQ Time) for the live videocast where you can interact with us, ask questions and see us stumble over our words! To learn more follow us on Google + and if you missed last week’s videocast click HERE.

We’ve also created a NEW WEBPAGE strictly for the Videocast. Here you can watch the past and present podcasts anytime and it also allows downloads to iTunes! If you’d like to subscribe to the Munzee Podcast on iTunes go to File > Subscribe to Podcast > enter http://www.munzeepodcast.com/feed/podcast/. If you want to interact live with the Videocasts and ask questions, you will still need to join us on our Google+ page,

 

January 23, 2015

Munzee Videocast Episode 10: Rob goes Down Under, so Scott goes Behind the Wall

Our tenth videocast has been converted to audio, so click the link and listen on!

munzeepush.munzee.netdna-cdn.com/Munzee%20Videocast%2010.mp3 

You can also re-watch the videocast HERE.

This week we talked about:

  • Rob is in Australia, so Scott helped out
  • Eventzee has been submitted for approval
  • Trail Munzees
  • We’re working on a new side app for Munzee points

Remember to join us Fridays at 3 pm (MHQ Time) for the live videocast where you can interact with us, ask questions and see us stumble over our words! To learn more follow us on Google + and if you missed last week’s videocast click HERE.

We’ve also created a NEW WEBPAGE strictly for the Videocast. Here you can watch the past and present podcasts anytime and it also allows downloads to iTunes! If you’d like to subscribe to the Munzee Podcast on iTunes go to File > Subscribe to Podcast > enter http://www.munzeepodcast.com/feed/podcast/. If you want to interact live with the Videocasts and ask questions, you will still need to join us on our Google+ page,

January 22, 2015

Munzee Player of the Week: Zack Barnett (ZandK)

Munzee is perfect for the whole family. It gets you outside, pushes you to adventure and explore with your loved ones. Every day we see new Munzers brought into the game following their parents in the hunt. This week’s Player of The Week thought the game seemed silly when his parents introduced it to him, but now he’s hooked. Zack Barnett (ZandK) now has his own daughter out searching for munzees and she’s sure to follow in her father and grandparents’ footsteps. Read on to learn a bit more about ZandK!

Who are you?
Zack Barnett aka ZandK

Where in the world do you live?
I currently live in Ogden, Utah. However, being active duty Army I move often, which allows me to spread the Munzee wealth.

How long have you played Munzee?
I started playing Munzee in February of 2013.

SLC Meet and GreetHow did you find Munzee?
My parents; Michael and Kelly; 2psnapod1 and 2psnapod2 started talking about it. I thought it was the dumbest thing ever, who wants to walk around and scan a little sticker? Reluctantly, I downloaded the application. Within a few days I learned that Munzee was an excellent way to make monotonous runs fun. Immediately I started planning running routes that allowed me to capture the munzees in my area. A few weeks later I started deploying as I had already cleared the Munzees in my area!

Munzee pic 2What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
I enjoy that Munzee can be done anywhere. I typically travel a lot without my family, Munzee allows me to fill in that void while I am away and pass the time. Munzee is also an excellent way for me to exercise and stay in shape for my Army duty. Adding the Fitbit to my Munzee addiction allows me track the benefit of the game. I really enjoy the “urban” aspect of the game, I can always get a chance to capture or deploy no matter where I am going. I enjoy the ability to get quick points while passing through airports via virtuals but I enjoy walking and running from light pole to light pole or gator to gator most 🙂 Even though I focus on the “urban” aspect of Munzee, the game has still taken me to many neat areas that I wouldn’t have typically experienced had it not been for Munzee. Some of my favorite places have been the Troll under the bridge and the gum wall in Seattle, Washington.

What is on your wish list?
(1) From the inception of the clan wars I have always wished for a separation of clans either by country or by level. Much like intramural sports where the clan would sign for a level. For example we would have divisions such as an “A” division, a “B” division, and a “C” division. The clan wars would still utilize the same requirements but they would compete for the top spot amongst their division, this would allow some of the lower clans without big point opportunities the ability to win their division. If they won the lower division they would be required to then compete in the next higher division the next war.

(2) I would love for Fitbit or similar fitness trackers to be implemented into the game more. Of course badges for activity levels would be very welcomed.

(3) Restructuring of point levels. After level 100 it is much more difficult to level up.

Paityn MunzeeTell us about yourself!
I am happily married to my awesome wife Kelsea (KandZ) and have two children, Paityn and Cameron. Paityn is also an avid Munzer but only plays with Momma and Papa. I am an Active Duty Army Captain and am currently in my 11th year of service. I followed in the footsteps of my father who retired a few years ago with over 28 years of service! I am originally from Wisconsin and even though I have lived in many states I still call Wisconsin home. Go Packers, Go Brewers, and go Marquette Golden Eagles! Oh, and the Badgers when they are not playing Marquette. 😉

One of the greatest areas I have played Munzee in is Washington State. With help from a fellow Munzer Divernick and KandZ we created a Munzee trail spanning two states at length greater than 7 miles. The trail included every munzee type possible. The trail starts in Vancouver, Washington and crosses the I-84 bridge in to Portland, Oregon. In March of 2014 I was blessed with the ability to travel to California for Munzee Madness III. This was an awesome time in which I was able to meet most of team Munzee (the old team). This only solidified my addiction of Munzee and made me want to play more and more.

In the Summer of 2014 I was moved by the Army to Utah. When I arrived the Munzee population was strong, but not quite as strong as Washington/Oregon. So I started growing the map. In order to draw more and more players in the area I organized the states first Munzee event the “SLC Meet and Greet.” We had 11 attendees, 2 of which had just joined the game! Since the event the area has grown tremendously.

Other hobbies include:
In addition to Munzee I am a very family oriented man. I enjoy spending as much time as I can with my family as I am often away for long periods of time. I also am a very avid sports fan. I love watching all sports live or on TV. Playing sports (basketball, golf, bowling, softball, etc) is also something I enjoy greatly. Playing Settlers of Catan (Seafarers, Cities and Knights, and Traders and Barbarians) with friends and family also ranks high on my hobby list. Other hobbies I enjoy frequently include; woodworking, winemaking, and fixing things.

ZandK included his Social  so cap away!

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!

 

January 20, 2015

Munzee Videocast Episode 9: The Trail Less Travelled

Our ninth videocast has been converted to audio, so click the link and listen on!

http://munzeepush.munzee.netdna-cdn.com/Munzee%20Videocast%209.mp3

You can also re-watch the videocast HERE.

This week we talked about:

Remember to join us Fridays at 3 pm (MHQ Time) for the live videocast where you can interact with us, ask questions and see us stumble over our words! To learn more follow us on Google + and if you missed last week’s videocast click HERE.

We’ve also created a NEW WEBPAGE strictly for the Videocast. Here you can watch the past and present podcasts anytime and it also allows downloads to iTunes! If you’d like to subscribe to the Munzee Podcast on iTunes go to File > Subscribe to Podcast > enter http://www.munzeepodcast.com/feed/podcast/. If you want to interact live with the Videocasts and ask questions, you will still need to join us on our Google+ page,

January 16, 2015

Trail Munzees are available now!

trailGreenFor those who made it through all 5 episodes of Rob’s adventures in the “Tale of Trails” web series, we’re sure you’ve been on the edge of your seats waiting for more information about the new Trail Munzee. Well the time has finally come- you can buy your 5 pack of Green Trail Munzees in the online store now! For $5 you get one complete Green Trail made up of 5 Trail Munzee credits. Each of the munzees can be deployed within a 5 mile radius of the starting point. Each munzee must be deployed at least 1000 feet from other Trail munzees.

The Trail Munzee is a credit applied to your account and used for conversion of regular “greenie” munzees. A previously deployed greenie can be converted to a trail munzee only if it has had zero captures. You can see your available credits at www.munzee.com/credits.

For more information on the conversion/deployment process check out this video with President Rob Vardeman:

You will receive 5 points per deploy of a trail Munzee, but your trail will not become live until you deploy all 5 munzees.

When capping a trail only the first munzee will be visible on the map, but as you capture each Trail Munzee the next in line will appear for your to follow. If you stumble upon a Trail Munzee that is not next in line you will receive an error message.

As you cap the trail the points you receive will increase as you progress.

  • Stops one and two are worth 5 points for capture and owner cap on.
  • Stops three and four are worth 10 points for capture and owner cap on.
  • Stop five is worth 30 points for capture for completing the trail, and 30 points for owner cap on for creating a good trail.

The goal of the Trail Munzee is to move beyond the light pole, the street sign, and the parking lot. Create a trail that leads other players to something worth seeing. Lead them on a tour of your favorite local places. Take them to places that are off the beaten path. This purchase will allow you to blaze your own trail!