GC5B7FZ Scrabbling To "GEOCACHE"
Type: Mystery | Size: Micro | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Cache U and Sam_I_AM @ | Hide Date: 08/18/2014 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 32.000 W105° 03.500 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
   

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Note:  Cache is not at the above coordinates

Definition of scrabble: v. to scratch or grope around with one's fingers to find, collect, or hold onto something. (Kinda sounds like geocaching to me!)

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Congratulations everyone!  Thanks to a huge outpouring of support from the geocaching community, GEOCACHE is now the first word added to the official Scrabble dictionary by public vote.  

Earlier this year (2014) Hasbro, in conjunction with the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) held a contest to allow the public to pick a word that would be added to the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. Here were the 16 finalists in its add-a-word-to-Scrabble contest: 

Devotees of geocaching noticed that GEOCACHE was among the contenders.  Word spread quickly in the geocaching community, and thanks to geocaching's extensive social media presence on Twitter and Facebook, GEOCACHE crushed it's opponents:  BITCOIN in the round of 16, followed by COSPLAY in the quarterfinals, EW in the semis, and ZEN in the finals.  Said Eric Schudiske, social media and public relations manager for geocaching.com, "We didn't push the gas pedal all the way to the floor.  But we wanted to make sure our community was aware of a moment in time that we could be part of something larger."  

Naturally, members of NASPA are upset that an 8-letter word that will rarely be seen on a Scrabble board beat out much more useful words such as "ew" and "zen".  To quote Scrabble player Michael Bassett:  "I'm angry that my weird, nerdy hobby has been coopted by other people's weird, nerdy hobby."

To offer an olive branch to our weird, nerdy brethren, here's a little puzzle with a Scrabble theme. The hide itself shouldn't require too much scrabbling... The cache is at N40 31.ABC, W105 03.DEF

 

1. According to the NASPA code of conduct, physical abuse is a Classification A Code Violation.

2. Scrabble was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 20BD.

3. The word GEOCACHE (without any bonuses) is worth WX points. Add W and X to get C.

4. The theoretical maximum highest opening word score in Scrabble uses the word "MUZJIKS" and is worth 1E8 points.

5. The tile "K" is worth Y points.

6. The first World Scrabble Championship was held in 19Z1.

7. F = Z minus Y.

You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.

Additional Waypoints

07/05/2019 By Spooty
Just a note, since I didn't actually search for it.
When I showed up, I slightly misread my GPSr, and parked a little ways away. Unfortunately, the muggle who drove in behind me seemed to park right next to GZ. I tried to wait him out for 5+ minutes, but he just sat there, on his phone or something. I'm pretty muggle-shy anyway, so I'll just come back on a much quieter day and time, since I'm fairly sure where the cache container is.

06/14/2019 By marmotandgoatcachers
Woo hoo - I solved this puzzle a few months ago but had it hidden away in my geocaching book until there were enough mystery cache solutions in there to qualify for another challenge cache I've had my eyes on. Fortunately, today was the day to turn those puzzles into smilies so I set out to run some errands and find some caches. I enjoyed reading about my go-to family game in order to solve this puzzle. The actual hide was easy to find. Unfortunately the log was extremely damp so I couldn't even open it without damaging the wet sheets. I did my best to squish the log dry. I'm not sure how it got so wet but I opted not to return it to the bag in the hopes it'll dry out faster so the next person can sign it. Anywho - thanks for the fun puzzle and hide !

12/11/2018 By tdanderson2
I solved this quite awhile ago and headed out today with bike&hike77 to pick up some of these puzzle caches. Thanks for the puzzle and for the cache!

12/11/2018 By Bike&Hike77
Today was a decent day outside so we decided to log a few puzzle caches we had completed. This one was in fine shape not too hard to locate and fun to solve. Thanks SL

11/12/2018 By Pyrusticia
Another quick find on our way home. The puzzle was solved ahead of time. Love this game, and it's great to see an old hobby and a (relatively) new one meeting like this! Unfortunately the log was frozen...the owner should probably replace the bag that the log is in (we didn't have one with us). The hide location was also home to both a (thankfully abandoned) wasps nest and a large mass of spiderweb. Fun times, thanks for the cache!

07/01/2018 By Team Grubb
We wanted to go out caching yesterday, but a series of four or five hailstorms in a row kind of thwarted our efforts. :) Beautiful weather today, though, and the area around the cache container was completely deserted (not too surprising, since it was a Sunday afternoon). We enjoyed the clever puzzle which led us to the final location. The theme (Scrabble) is a personal favorite of mine, as well (loved Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis - highly recommended in the unlikely case you haven't read it). Log is soaked, BTW. Very hard to sign. Could use a little maintenance there. But we really enjoyed the cache. Thanks!

05/28/2018 By grizzlycacher
Staying nearby while visiting Fort Collins for the weekend. Made this find before leaving today. Log was soaked, but was able to sign it.

04/02/2018 By estrek
After a nudge from the CO, I was able to get the smiley. SL Thanks, Cache U and Sam_I_Am!!

03/29/2018 By ArkF
Thanks for the cache. Solved the puzzle a while back and finally got around to making the find. Enjoyed the theme and the logbook.

02/24/2018 By quinnster212
That’s the tiniest log book I’ve ever seen. Thanks for the fun mystery cache!