Geocaching HQ needs GoLI’s help! GoLI has been asked to beta-test Geocaching HQ’s new Group Geocaching and we need all GoLI members to opt in! What is Group Geocaching? Well, Geocaching HQ came up with a way to have a separate leaderboard on geocaching.com for defined groups of geocachers. That group-specific leaderboard can be used to assign points to individual cachers in the group based on a bunch of different caching activities. HQ believes that Group Geocaching can attract businesses looking for ways to boost healthy employee interactions as it is a good fit for organizational team-building, as well as an attractive wellness perk. Geocaching HQ has asked us to help them out and participate with a GoLI-specific leaderboard! We are still determining the scoring system, but we know that it will start at the end of February-ish. Not only will the GoLI leaderboard be an instant way to show off your Long Island geocaching greatness, we will also have a raffle with cool prizes for those that finish at the top of the leaderboard! BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! This is open to ALL GoLI members and it doesn't matter where you live or cache. It doesn't even matter if you're a basic or premium member because during challenge period all participants will have premium member access! HOW COOL IS THAT?! <<< BOOM! DROPS THE MIC >>> I know what you’re thinking – how much is this gonna cost me? Get this, in exchange for hooking us up (having a geocaching.com founder as a GoLI member has its perks ... thanks, Brian!), all that Geocaching HQ requests is that those that opt in agree to provide HQ with much needed feedback on the Group Geocaching experience … and we all know how good Long Islanders are at giving an opinion, so we can totally handle that! We will provide additional details as we get closer to the challenge, but for now we simply need to know which GoLI members want to opt in. So, everyone that wants to be involved please raise your hands now … actually, that’s not helpful. What we need you to do is to opt in by one of many means – Facebook (post on the GoLI page, send a message via messenger or respond to the Facebook poll); geocachersofli.org (send a note via the website or post on the forums); via email to geocachersofli@gmail.com (either send us an email or respond to the email we send you); or mention it to Ben or Jamie when you run into them (perhaps at the GoLI January Get-Together & Bowling event on January 18th (GC8H779)! Please include your cacher name and email address in your correspondence. We must send Geocaching HQ the list of opt in caching names and emails by February 7th. Once you are part of the GoLI Geocaching Group, there is nothing you need to do except for find caches and watch your score grow. Let’s get a 100% participation rate to help Geocaching HQ as a thanks for shaping our game! Who’s in?!

GEO-BOWLING ANNOUNCEMENT: The GoLI Team has decided to allow both finds AND HIDES to count towards geo-bowling scoring. This is both to encourage and reward new hides and also in consideration of those who have found pretty much every cache in the area already. Similar to the way finds are counted, the hide (or event) must be posted in the corridor of days in which you get credit for that hide, so make sure Admin knows when you'd like to post any new hides (or else you risk having it be posted outside of the appropriate scoring days).

There’s a new GoLI challenge that starts October 30th and it’s called GoLI Geo-Bowling! The goal of GoLI Geo-Bowling is the same as regular bowling: get the highest score by knocking down as many pins as you can in 10 frames. To knock down pins in GoLI Geo-Bowling, players must log certain types of caches during certain time periods. The time periods are the “frames”. Scoring will generally follow standard bowling scoring. Read the GoLI Geo-Bowling Rules and Q&A for important details (don’t worry – it’s a much easier game than the battleship thing). The frames and cache types are listed below. Note that the period of November 3rd thru November 30th for Frame 9 (Event Attended) is the only Frame that overlaps with other Frames. Frame 1 (October 30th - November 2nd): Any cache found (including Adventure Labs or webcams) or event attended (1 cache = 1 pin) Frame 2 (November 3rd-6th): Traditionals (1 cache = 1 pin) Frame 3 (November 7th-9th): Letterboxes (1 cache = 2 pins) Frame 4 (November 10th-13th): Wherigo (1 cache = 2 pins) Frame 5 (November 14th-16th): Virtuals (1 cache = 5 pins) Frame 6 (November 17th-20th): Earthcaches (1 cache = 5 pins) Frame 7 (November 21st-23rd): Multis (1 cache = 1 pin) Frame 8 (November 24th-27th): Mysterys (1 cache = 1 pin) Frame 9 (November 3rd - November 30th): Event Attended (1 event = 5 pins) Frame 10 (December 1st-7th): Any cache found (including Adventure Labs or webcams) or event attended = 1 pin The player with the highest score wins. We will announce the winners and hand out prizes at a GoLI Bowling event in January. The prizes are: · First Place: $60 gift certificate to the geocaching.com shop and a Gold Medal with travel bug. · Second Place: 1-year Geocaching.com premium Membership and Silver Medal with travel bug. · Third Place: Bronze Medal with travel bug. · Everyone else: a pat on the back and a whole lotta nothing except a fun geocaching experience.