“Trouble in Tinseltown” – Insider Tips to Hosting a Geocaching Event

Copy of "Hush Hush" magazine

Molly Shock, aka mshock, teaches the basics of hosting a successful and fun geocaching event. It’s part party-planning and all logistics. Find out how to make the event something to remember, how much time you’ll need to prepare and other insider tips. Watch the video below for a three-minute tutorial from Molly on tips for making your own themed geocaching event a success.

Molly’s marque event to date has been Trouble in Tinseltown – A Puzzle Rally Event (GC2993W).

An Event Cache is where local geocachers or geocaching organizations decide a time and location to meet and discuss all things geocaching. The attendees often go geocaching before or after the Event Cache.

Crime scene map from "Trouble in Tinseltown"

Molly’s event was no different, but the geocaching that occurred that day took puzzle caching to a whole new level. Molly spent four months orchestrating the elaborate themed geocaching event. “Trouble in Tinseltown” guided more than 80 cachers through a fictitious scandal, betrayal and murder in a  Hollywood whodunit.

Teams of geocachers discovered 15 caches by solving puzzles. They accumulated clues which ultimately provided the answer to the question, “Who killed Noah Boddy, where and with what?”

Each team received a copy of “Hush Hush” magazine [pictured above] which Molly wrote to provide a detailed back-story for the event. Then teams received these instructions at the start of the caching: “Solve the puzzles, find the caches, record the facts, bring the murderer to justice!”

Clipboard with "facts" for the event

Molly also created an elaborate crime scene map, a dossier and a clip board full of facts. Correctly using and deciphering each item brought teams closer to solving the crime.

You can still get a sense of the event. Most of the 15 puzzle caches that Molly placed are still active.

Hostess, Molly Shock

Molly’s tips for a successful geocaching event include:

– Design an event that lasts no more than eight hours

– Make caches challenging, but not frustrating

– Make it self-sufficient, provide clues (for a penalty)

– Let friends help

– Take cachers to a safe, interesting place

– Practice the event

– Have fun!

Geocachers who wish to attend the event but not look for caches should be able to attend as well. They can be spectators or extra “props.” They can also simply hang out, enjoy the crowd, trade Trackables and the usual.

Find out even more tips by watching an interview with Molly below.