One of the more fun types of caches involve solving puzzles or games, these often don't require any special skill other than a familiarity with the type of puzzle involved. Sometimes they can be really straightforward like a simple suduko, but sometimes cachers like to increase the difficulty to make up for such a simple solution.
For some of the number games you might be able to find an online solver, (but that's cheating!), otherwise you might find it easier to either print out or copy down the puzzle in order to complete it. Occasionally you'll find an actual physical puzzle which requires solving.
To solve these you will need to work out what puzzle you're trying to solve and then have the patience to solve it. You'll normally need to use the results of the solved puzzle and apply it to a set of coordinates. Sometimes the results are the coordinates.
Some local caches which involve games and puzzles include the vexing PacMan by thetallnomad (GC6NB1B), Muzha / 木柵 by AJ&Rose (GC791BZ) and the second cache in Steve4nlanguage’s Queen series (GC70DD8).
PUZZLE GYM SERIES
GAME GUESSWORK
WHAT'S THREE DOWN
ACROSS
5 - GPS
8 - The orange ones. Caches which ask the finder to go to two or more locations before they can log the find.
9 - A type of cache which has become a very big series in the UK. All caches in this series are very small and placed in Christian religious sites around England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. As of the date of writing, there were a total of 9710 active caches in this series with a further 1789 which are either disabled or archived.
11 - An activity similar to geocaching which was started in the 1800's in England. Players use clues to find hidden container, each container has a stamp which the player uses to stamp their own book.
13 - GZ - the actual location of a cache.
14 - TFTC, a short way to thank the CO for his or her work. Personally I think that this is an acceptable way to sign off at the end of a log, but totally unacceptable if only these four letters are written.
16 - A name used to describe geocaches which are hidden close to a road so that you an just park your car or scooter, find the cache and drive away again.
17 - A set of coordinates which aren’t for the GZ, but which might be helpful in finding where you need to go, (such as the location of a trailhead or car parking).
18 - A cache which has several stages, (the orange ones).
20 - TNLN
22 - BYOP - an attribute used on the pages of most small caches.
25 - A common hiding place for caches hidden in forests or nature trails - an unnatural collection of rocks stacked on top of each other.
26 - CITO - both an annual event cache organised in locations globally and a type of geocaching habit which asks players to remove any rubbish they find whilst searching for a cache.
28 - A small, metal, waterproof container (normally attached to a key chain), which is often used for micro caches. The intended use of these containers is for storing pills. The name comes from the company which manufactures a lot of these, however there are many companies which make something similar.
29 - Caches which are allowed to stay (for as long as the CO maintains them), even though that type of cache no longer exists. For example Virtual Caches or Webcam Caches.
30 - A series of easy traditional caches based along a path allowing cachers to boost their numbers quickly. Hong Kong has a lot of these.
31 - A local volunteer who checks all new geocaches to make sure they meet community standards before they are published. Our local volunteer here is Crow T Robot.
32 - An item which is moved from cache to cache. Each of these has a unique tracking number so cachers can record it's journey. Anyone can take one of these out of a cache as long as they return it to a different cache in a reasonable length of time.
DOWN
1 - A person who doesn't know about or play geocaching.
2 - A skill which is required for retrieving caches at GZs where there are many mugs.
3 - Items left in a geocache which can be traded.
4 - A type of box which geocaches like to use since the top clips down on four sides making it waterproof.
6 - TNLN
7 - A grandfathered type of cache. These caches don't have a physical container and they were usually placed at locations of some special interest. (GCC435 is our nearest one here.)
8 - The word used to describe a cache that has been found or removed by a non-geocacher.
10 - DNF - the type of log no one wants to make.
12 - The city where geocaching HQ is based.
15 - FTF - being able to write these three letters causes a disproportionate amount of smugness.
19 - You, me, any of the other players of this game; a person who geocaches.
21 - The smallest cache type.
23 - A photo or hint which tells you the location of a cache.
24 - The sixth sense, this gets stronger and more powerful with every Found It smiley.
27 - How a cache is described when it is permanently taken off the map.
