The Challenge:
The format is essentially the same as the TC06 format. The
Challenge will be more about FINDING and less about LOOKING. All
three teams will be going after the SAME set of caches and its each
region's goal to get to as many of them as possible! There will be
elements of speed, elements of strategy, elements of skill and
brainpower and maybe a bit of fun thrown in there too!
Here is the approximate schedule of the Challenge (subject to
change): At 7:00 am Saturday, the Regional Team Leaders will be
given the waypoints for all of the caches in the Challenge. This
will be in the form of a GPX file that was created from GSAK. It is
up to each regional team to decide how to load the waypoints for
their team. Regions can use this time to begin formulating their
strategies, organizing into squads, etc. At 9:30am on Saturday
morning, we will hold a BRIEFING to explain how to play the game
and how to score points for your region. It is required that
everyone attend this briefing. At this point, you will know all the
rules, all the secrets, everything you would want to know about the
game and how to accumulate points. At the end of the Briefing,
regions will be handed crucial items that are required in order to
earn points. The starting gun is fired the minute these items are
handed to the regions and you will be informed of the time you MUST
return your scoring items to the scorer's table. Late items will
not score points for your team. Scores will be tallied while the
participants are enjoying their lunch. Winners will be announced
later in the day. See the finalized schedule of events for the
weekend for exact times.
It is suggested that each region appoint a Team Leader. There
will be a number of ways to earn points for your team. There will
also be opportunities for lower-mobility cachers to contribute. On
the course, you will see a cross section of what you normally find
in Geocaching: some puzzles, some evil hides, some physical
challenges, some 1/1's, some SURPRISES, etc. It will not be
possible, or necessary, for each person to complete each cache, so
you puzzle haters can breathe a sigh of relief!
So bring your team, bring your fun attitudes, water, deet, a
snack, and don't forget your GPS!
The Teams:
The Texas Challenge competition is a competition between 3 teams.
These teams are SETX, Centex, and NTX. SETX encompasses the Houston
and surrounding areas, Beaumont area, and Pineywoods area. Centex
encompasses the San Antonio and Austin areas. NTx encompasses the
Dallas/Ft. Worth area. We realize that not everyone fits exactly
into one of these areas, and in that case, you are free to pick a
team. For that matter, if there is someone that lives in one of the
defined areas, it's ok to compete on a different team if you have
friends or relatives that you want to compete with, but most
cachers do choose to compete in the area that they live. If you are
unsure what area you want to compete, then you can let us know and
we can wait until we have more of the registrations in and place
you on a team that could use more hunters based on
numbers.