This is the tenth in a series of microcaches hidden by the father-and-son Gamer Duo. We subtitled this one "Beat Me To It" for several reasons. For one, even though we had been planning this cache for several months, in the interim someone else in the geocaching community planted a hide very similar to it, so they beat us to the idea. Another reason is that we had to move it three times... the first location was near an Anaddicted cache, the second near a Silly Gilley cache...so twice someone beat us to our chosen location. Then, when it finally found a good hiding spot, it was located in a tree that caught the attention of both the neighbors and the Pinecrest Police...so we were running the risk of them beating us if we left it there. There's one other reason, but telling would be giving too much away. One might think that by now we'd give up, but we're trying to give our son a lesson in "sticking to it until you get it right."
The cache is now located in an obvious geocaching tree...you'll know it when you see it. While it's located off of a very busy road... 117 Avenue...we've had no problem parking on the grass right next to the tree in question, and the likelihood that neighbors will complain is significantly lower at this location. While one might argue it's a park-and-grab, it's not by any means a simple one...! Just, please remember, place EVERYTHING you move while you search for the cache back where you found it, even if it seems irrelevant. In its last location, one of the searchers removed all the camo that was covering the cache and forgot to put that camo back...fortunately for us (but unfortunately for the cachers in question), they overlooked the cache itself!
There are several important features of these micros:
1) The containers for some Microgamer microcaches may be very unconventional (others would call them "Guile" or "geosense-buster") caches. Thus, we strongly urge you never to overlook anything or toss ANYTHING aside without examining it first and to always replace things EXACTLY as you found them, with whatever camo might have been in use. If you turn over a leaf...put it back...you never know if it might be in play for this cache. Slowness, caution, and an eagle eye are key.
2) We suggest that you bring tweezers along with you on the caches...for some of the containers, the best way to easily remove the log smoothly is with a tweezer (we've taken to bringing a tweezer with us on all caches, in case those dreaded sharp stickies grab ahold of our sneakers, pants, or legs, so we consider tweezers a must-have utensil for geocaching!).
3) Bring your own pen!
4) While each MicroGamer cache is a standalone cache, each is also a tie-in to Gamer's Quest 10, a puzzle cache hidden on April 17, 2008. Originally, there was a die and a copy of a miniaturized playing card within the cache container. While they may no longer be in there, what you WOULD have seen is listed below under the "additional waypoints". That additional waypoint is NOT needed to find Microgamer 10a, but it IS essential information if you are seeking Gamer's Quest 10.
Happy hunting and good luck!
Beat Me To It Again. Launch pad of the Fruit Loops! See the link in their April 8, 2013 log for a hilarious video of their search for this cache! 