A Worldwide Treasure Hunt: Geocaching

People say technology is keeping people inside more and more, but there’s one game that has only gained in popularity thanks to the increasing accessibility of GPS technology. Geocaching is an outdoor recreational game where players use either a GPS receiver or a smartphone to find a set of coordinates.

The coordinates are a location of a “cache” which is usually a waterproof container that contains a logbook, in which the geocacher signs his or her code name. Players can go to a number of websites like geocaching.com to find “waypoints” near them, which include the location and description of the cache.

In true treasure hunting fashion, caches often contain items, which are usually personal mementos like coins, toys and books, which are free to take as long as another item is left behind. “Hitchhikers” are items like Travel Bugs and Geocoins meant to be taken and dropped off at another cache, often tracked and with the goal of reaching a particular destination.

Geocaching bears a strong resemblance to letterboxing, a much older game utilizing stamps left in mailboxes. Given the ubiquity of cellphones today, geocaching has caught on around the world, with several websites supporting the community such as opencaching.com and terracaching.com, which involves more intense outdoor caches.