As much as geocaching is about the new, the innovative, and the creative, a large part of the game is about nostalgia. Many players continue to use GPS devices as a nod to the game’s origins, and many still know the company behind geocaching as Groundspeak! When it comes to hobbies, nostalgia is all around. So, if you’re looking to go back in time, grab your quarters and press “Start” on our Geocache of the Week: Retro-Games (GC976P1).

Arcade games have laid the foundation for immersive gaming like geocaching to exist, and their influence continues to show in gaming culture to this day. Games like Super Mario, Pac-Man, and Snake went through years of testing and various iterations to become the popular games that are still loved today. Geocaching duo TeamNetzZwerg decided to highlight these beloved games in a 7-stage Multi-Cache that takes players back to the 1980s and reminds them of a time when gaming looked very different.

No quarters are needed to boot up this Multi-Cache journey, but some preparation will be key to begin. Players are advised to bring a charged power bank, USB cables, and a mobile phone charging cable, as many of the stages are electronic and will require external energy sources to start.

Head to the posted coordinates and locate the QR code to begin your adventure. According to Dirk, one half of the TeamNetzZwerg team, “On the search for a suitable hiding place, we found this beautiful forest by chance, which offered plenty of space for more geocaches or stations. This led to the decision to create a Multi-Cache.”

The first electronic stage takes players back to a classic jump-and-run game, controlled by only a single button. In this game, you will jump over obstacles as they cross your path, until you earn a score of 400 points. A special prize reveals itself to the skilled player who defeats the game: coordinates to the next waypoint.

The next stage presents a change of pace, as one will not find an electronic game. Rather, a wooden Pac-Man puzzle holds the coordinates for the next waypoint. As TeamNetzZwerg states, “It was important to us from the start that the geocache should be a mixture of technical gadgets and traditional boxes, so that the fun of searching is not neglected.”

The coordinates from this stage lead players to their next electronic puzzle, Simon. Based on the game ‘Simon Says,’ players need to remember the sequence of colors that light up on the game board to move on to the next stages. The following stages feature an iconic Pac-Man villain, Blinky, and an electronic puzzle based on one of the first-ever cell phone games, Snake. Again, skill and strategy will be put to the test at these stages, as the end of the game is in sight.

Once you receive a 1-Up from the Super Mario stage at Stage 6, you can make your way to the final boss, Mauersteine. Representing the Atari-age game Breakout, players must move an on-screen paddle to destroy blocks and clear the wall. Once you clear the entire wall, the code for the cache will appear, and you can finally enter your username in the high score table (logbook).

According to Dirk, “The idea for this Multi-Cache came up more than four years ago when I was programming microcontrollers like Arduino. After trying out various electronic games and friends playing them enthusiastically, it was clear to us that we should publish them as a geocache.” Dirk and his wife Sabine placed Retro-Games in 2021 but have been placing other immersive caches around Bayern since 2017, accumulating over 800 Favorite points.

Since its publication, Retro-Games has received 124 Favorite points and overwhelmingly positive feedback in the posted logs. Sabine and Dirk enjoy reading the stories behind the logs, many of which reflect on the nostalgia the games have brought back.

Though your journey with Retro-Games may be complete, it’s far from Game Over for this geocache, as it still has plenty of lives left to live. We hope that you achieved your high score with this find and relived some of the nostalgia that these early arcade games represent.

Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world. Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.