Hot Potato VA-MD Lives Again

This bug is a replacement for the original Hot Potato VA-MD which had an unfortunate encounter with sharp teeth in 2008. If you've played the original Hot Potato game, check out the new expanded rules below.

The Hot Potato's goal is to promote friendly competition between the geocachers of Virginia and Maryland. And also, to give people an excuse to visit some caches a little farther from home.

How? With a game of "hot potato".

2017 YTD Score as of 9/17/2017: MD 0, VA 0.

Click here for a calendar visual and quarterly scores.

Click here for the bookmark list of visited caches.

Click here for the NoVAGO discussion thread on this TB.

And here for the MGS discussion thread on this TB.

At the end of each calendar year, the score will be tallied and a winner declared for the year.

The Score:

1. Highest Score wins.

2. For every day the TB sits in a cache in Maryland or is held by an MD player, the Virginia team earns 1 point. For every day the TB sits in a cache in Virginia or is held by a VA player, the Maryland team earns 1 point.

3. The TB will be counted as dropped in a cache on the date it is logged online at gc.com, and not the date on the log if it is earlier.

4. I will tally the score every quarter, on the 1st of January, April, July, and October and also keep a running total score from the date this TB is dropped.

5. In the event that a TB drop that does not meet the below rules (see out of bounds exception below*), it will be noted and scored as though it was still in its last valid cache drop. If either side considers a drop, or grab, invalid they should so say in plain English within 48 hours of the drop/grab. Later identification of invalidity of a drop/grab will result in scoring at my discretion and may result in the drop/grab being considered temporarily valid.

*(New for 2016:) If the TB is dropped in an out-of-bounds cache: the dropping team looses 5 points and no bonus points are received that might otherwise apply for the drop. AND, neither team scores while the TB is out of bounds. This also applies if a non player or a muggle grabs the TB and keeps it in their sock draw or takes it out of bounds: the team that last dropped or grabbed the TB looses 5 points and scoring stops until the TB is once again in bounds. If the TB goes out of bounds, either team may rescue it and place it back in play.

6. As of February 8th 2014, bonus points are available for drops and grabs that meet certain requirements. Bonus points may change over time however when new ones are introduced they will usually apply for at least one quarter and start at the beginning of a quarter.

7. Occasionally caches become temporarily inaccessible outside of the control of the CO that do not pertain to weather conditions. For example, Psycho Urban Cache #8 becomes inaccessible for a couple of months every year over Halloween due to the park's special Halloween events. Some parks close to the public for managed deer hunts. A Hot Potato dropper may not be aware of such upcoming closures and hence, if the Hot Potato is in a cache which becomes temporarily inaccessible due to offical park closures of more than 2 days, neither team scores during the closure period.

When determining bonus points:
1) Only moves of this TB owned by Vinny & Sue Team will be considered, and not the original Hot Potato VA/MD TB owned by Befuddled.
2) Once a team drops the spud (and receives applicable bonuses), more bonuses cannot be attained until the other team makes a move.
3) Bonus points are received per move, not per day.
4) Multiple bonus points can apply per drop.

Applicable from September 1, 2017 on:
The CITO Bonus: Points for picking up trash! 6 points for one or more 13+ gallon bag(s) of trash (3 points for a bag 1/2 that size) picked up when retrieving or dropping. Each team can score CITO points at each grab and each drop they make, with a maximum of 12 points possible per full move. (Trash does not have to be very close to the cache but can't be from your own house or car!) Photo of bag full of collected trash must be uploaded to a TB log to count. And, photo(s) of Mr. Potato helping to collect trash and/or the trash on the ground before being picked is encouraged.

Applicable from Jan 1, 2016 onwards: The (updated) lonely cache incentive: 3 points for drops in caches that have not been found for 6 or more months. EXCEPT, if a boat is required (or recommended as per the cache page description) to reach the cache, then to receive this lonely cache bonus, the cache must not have been found for 1 or more years. (The longer time required for boat caches is due to their typical inaccessibility in cold months.) 

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The rules:

1. Pick a team to play for, either Virginia or Maryland. You can pick either team, regardless of where you live. Just pick a team and stick with it.

2. If someone on the Virginia team finds the bug in a cache in Virginia, they should try to move the bug to a cache in Maryland. If someone on the Maryland team finds the bug in a cache in Maryland, they should try to move the bug to a cache in Virginia. In the interest of keeping the game moving, please only take the bug if you can place it in a new cache within two weeks.

3. The bug should always be in either Virginia or Maryland. Please do not take it out of these two states.

4. Play fair and no whining. Putting the bug in a cache that has a high level of difficulty is fair. Moving or modifying the cache containing the bug to make it harder to find is not. No claiming that you hid the bug in a cache in the other team's state, then keep the bug in your sock drawer for six months. I will, at my own discretion, invalidate drops that blatantly try to subvert the fairness and rules of the game.

5. The bug must be placed into an active cache and it must fit inside the cache container. Sitting it next to a container it does not fit in and claiming it is in the cache is not allowed.

6. A cacher is not allowed to place the TB in a cache that he/she owns. Any creation or use of secondary accounts on gc.com to get around this rule will be flagged unsportsmanlike and invalidated under rule 4 above.

7. Prior to 2016 multi-state caches (i.e. caches with stages in more than one state) were off-limits for this TB. From 2016 onwards they are no longer off-limits however the dropper must declare the state (MD or VA) that the physical container is in in which the TB was placed. (The state shown on the cache page of multi-state caches is not relevant to scoring.) This is to ensure moves are scored accurately.. Click here for a list of known multi-state caches.

8. Drops in caches with more than 1 stage are allowed and in any stage of a multi stage cache provided the TB fits in the stage container.

9. Each cacher may only move the Hot Potato ONCE every QUARTER every year. The quarters are defined as follows: Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec. A grab from a cache is counted as 1/2 a move and a drop is counted as 1/2 a move, each cacher gets one whole move per quarter, whether by a grab and drop or 2 grabs or 2 drops. Grabs from a cacher (instead of a cache) are not counted as part of a move. "Cacher" is defined by geoid, irrespective of how many people log caches under the geoid. Any creation or use of secondary accounts on gc.com to get around this rule will be flagged unsportsmanlike and invalidated under rule 4 above.

In addition, caching children of caching parents don't receive a turn in themselves... they can move the TB, but it will be counted as a turn of the parent cacher unless they are old enough to get to caches by themselves, either by public transport or driving, without parent involvement (and I expect this would be at around age 15 or 16). And, if anyone has setup a separate caching account especially for their caching pet, the same applies, they don't get their own turn (aside from it being counted as a turn of the pet owner)!

10. You may grab/drop it into a cache you have previously found, logging the grab/drop with a note.

11. For caches that have prerequisites (i.e. information from other caches to determine cache coordinates or cache challenge requirements) before logging a valid find, both grabbers and droppers of this TB must be able to log (or have already logged in the past) a valid find on the cache they grab/drop from at the time of the grab/drop (or in the case of grabbing, be the CO) unless the cache is a challenge cache that is hidden at the posted coords.

For caches with multiple physical stages, both grabbers and droppers of this TB must validly find (or have already found in the past) the physical stage of the cache which they grab/drop from at the time of the grab/drop (or in the case of grabbing, be the CO). For example, grabbing the TB from the final of a multi-stage cache by being given the final coordinates and skipping the earlier stages of the cache is not valid.