Geocachers of Long Island is psyched to announce our latest game: The Great GoLI Giveaway ! GoLI will be hiding Great GoLI Giveaway Raffle Tickets in certain caches throughout Long Island. Each raffle ticket can be redeemed for a GoLI Challenge Achievement Pathtag (or other GoLI swag if preferred) and an entry into the Great GoLI Giveaway Raffle at a future GoLI event. GoLI will publish one clue for each name of a cache that has a raffle ticket on both the GoLI Facebook page and at the forums of geocachersofli.org as a comment to this post . PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR GUESSES TO THE CLUES ONLINE. When a ticket is found, the finder should write a note on the cache page to alert others that may be planning to visit the cache in search of a ticket and post a selfie with the raffle ticket on the GoLI Facebook page (or send it to geocachersofli@gmail.com and we’ll do it for you). There is a limit of 2 raffle tickets per GoLI membership. The first clue will be announced within the next few days, so be on your toes! A copy of these rules and Q&A can be found at the end of this post and in the "files" area of the GoLI Facebook page. Got questions? Here’s a Q&A – Q: Yet another cool challenge? Aren’t you guys exhausted? A: Yes and yes, but we love it! Q: Is it OK to get a raffle ticket from a cache that I previously found? A: Yup – doesn’t matter whether you’ve already found the cache. Q: What cache types will the raffle tickets be in? A: It can be any cache type that has a physical container. Q: Assuming I find the right cache, will you make finding the ticket part of the challenge? A: No, the tickets will be easily found in or near the cache. Q: So, it must be a container that fits a ticket! I am going eliminate all small-sized containers! I’m already kicking butt in this silly little game of yours! A: I wouldn’t do that smarty-pants. The tickets will be easily found in or near the cache. Q: But if a ticket is in a Mystery cache and it’s a puzzle that I haven’t solved, won’t the people that already solved it have an advantage? That’s not fair! A: As we have said before, life is not fair. If this is the first time you’re realizing that, I am glad we helped with your adulting. Q: You say the clue is for the name of the cache. What else is the clue for? A: Umm, nothing. It’s a clue to the name of a cache that holds a raffle ticket. Unless it’s reflected in the cache name, it is not a clue for the location, size, type, difficulty, terrain or GC code of a cache. There will not be more than one clue for each cache that holds a ticket. Each clue stands alone and only is a clue to one cache. Q: What if no one ever figures out a clue and the ticket stays there all lonely forever and ever? A: We reserve the right to throw out more hints if it gets crazy long, but don’t expect it to happen! Q: So, the clue will give me the entire cache name? A: Perhaps. Some clues will just reflect part of the name of the cache and some clues will be for the entire name of the cache. Q: Will there be some sort of checker so I don’t waste my time if I am wrong? A: Nope. Look at it this way – it’s yet another reason to get your butt off the couch. You’re welcome! Q: But what if there is more than one cache that fits the clue?! A: Well, you better get movin’. Those caches aren’t going to check themselves. Q: Hold my horses - you expect me to run out and look for a cache based on a guess from a clue that may only be for part of a cache name and I have no way of knowing if I am right or wrong till I get there? A: Only if you want to get a chance at a Great GoLI Giveaway Raffle Ticket . Q: I found one! What do I do now? A: Congratulations! Write a note on the cache page to alert others that may be planning to visit the cache and post a selfie with the ticket on the GoLI Facebook page (or send it to geocachersofli@gmail.com and we’ll do it for you). Then pat yourself on the back and brag to all your geo-friends! Q: How often will you publish clues? A: About 2 times per week, but you never know when an extra one will be thrown out there. Q: How many clues will you publish? A: Somewhere between 15-20. We are purposefully giving a range to give ourselves flexibility as the game goes on. Don’t worry, we’ll let everyone know when the last one is coming. Q: Is this one of those things where the same people win all the time because the clues are published at the same time each week and some people don’t work the same schedule as me and they have an advantage and nothing ever works out for me and it’s so unfair and I get so mad that my eyes get bloodshot and my clenched fists shake as I stifle a scream?! Because if it’s that way, I am not even going to bother with your stupid crappy game for jerks! You know what, you can take your friggin’ game and shove it up your… A: Whoa whoa whoa… take it easy, buddy. We’ll do our best to change it up. Try some self-soothing techniques, pal. Perhaps visit your “pharmacist” and get something to calm down. That anger can’t be healthy. Q: If I give MoDaRiMa money, will he give me the location of a raffle ticket? A: No. He is a man of integrity. Q: If I give Bigedyben money, will he give me the location of a raffle ticket? A: Most Likely. He’s totally buyable. Q: MoDaRiMa wrote these rules, didn’t he? A: 100% correct, but we need to say thanks to Ciarmer for his tremendous help with all GoLI challenges and to The Caching Dead NY for his help with this one! Q: So, all the caches are in Nassau or Suffolk County, right? Ya know, because “Long Island” is just Nassau and Suffolk and this is the Geocachers of LONG ISLAND. A: Well, actually there will be one cache in Queens this time. We’re hoping *Jeremy* won’t meet you at the border and arrest you, but if he does, we don’t know each other. Q: How many raffle prizes will there be? A: Don’t know yet, but it will be a least 3 and hopefully more. Q: What if another cacher and I get to a cache at the same time? Who gets the ticket? A: That’s for you two to figure out, not us. Perhaps the Thunderdome - two cachers enter, one cacher leaves… Q: I am going to win it all and get every raffle ticket! A: Nice try – there is a limit of two raffle tickets per GoLI membership. Q: Well, then I am going to solve all the puzzles and post the answers online so everyone knows how smart I am! A: Don’t be a jerk. We will delete any posts that give guesses to a clue. We will also put your name on the Wall of Shame at the GoLI worldwide headquarters – right next to those strange foreigners who discover trackables without ever seeing them. I mean, what’s the point? Q: Is this challenge just for Supporting/Donating GoLI Members? A: Yes. While we want EVERYONE to enjoy the many benefits of a local organization, paid membership is necessary for us to fund the costs of challenge prizes, events and other special initiatives. Visit www.geocachersofli.org to learn more about membership, or ask MoDaRiMa or Bigedyben. Q: I think something different would be better! A: Great! Send us a note at geocachersofli@gmail.com and let us know about it! Q: I have a question that you didn’t answer yet! What shall I do? A: Well, don’t be shy – post it on Facebook so everyone can see how we reply!

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).