Feeling a little antsy? How about jumping into a worldwide treasure hunt born in Seattle with more than three million points on a map?
Welcome to Geocaching, a giant, GPS coordinate-based game that’s headquartered and run in Fremont. The organization is celebrating its 20th anniversary on Sat., Aug. 20 with some local events — as good a time as ever to get in on the fun. Let’s start exploring.
🦜 Wait, so do I need to be a pirate to join?
Nah, leave the patch + shoulder parrot at home. Instead of a weathered pirate map with red Xs, geocaching treasure hunts use GPS to identify “caches” — usually a box that includes a roster signed by everyone else who found the spot (or prizes like stickers or buttons if you’re lucky). So, the goal of the game is not so much the actual booty you find — it’s to find as many caches as possible.
🥾 Lots of room to roam
After beginning modestly in 2000 with 75 caches, the game has grown in leaps + bounds. To give you a scope of how big it is, Geocaching includes:
- Caches in more than 191 countries, and on all seven continents (yes, Antarctica, too — what else do you do in the cold?)
- Over 361,000 people who have created a cache (anyone can do it)
- And more than 642 million instances of someone finding a ca
🔎 Ways to start hunting
- Download the app. There are more than 4,000 geocaches sprinkled throughout the Seattle area. Better get started if you ask us.
- Join the anniversary celebrations in Seattle. You can ask Geocaching founders your burning questions during a Q+A, learn about new tech, enjoy live music + meet other treasure hunters.
- Take a HQ GeoTour through Fremont. Print out your passport at home or grab one from Geocaching headquarters and make your way to each of the nine geocaches on the tour. It takes about 2.5 hours to complete, but there are plenty of tasty restaurants and neat shops along the way. Return to HQ afterwards for a gold stamp.
