3 Fun GPS Games for the Family
July 21, 2011, By Steve McFarlane 0 comments
Global positioning system (GPS) is one of those technologies that you wonder how you ever lived without it once you’ve used it. This powerful technology became available to civilians not so long ago and is available anywhere in the world 24 hours per day.
Though the system is invaluable in many important ways, there are also a lot of games now being played with handheld GPS units, and most of them are addictive and fun. Most GPS games depend on the player to be able to read coordinates and to have some basic knowledge of direction. The following is a list of GPS games that are both fun and educational.
Geodashing
The main premise of geodashing is to search for waypoints or dashpoints, which are randomly generated by a computer. These dashpoints are located in areas worldwide and posted to a geodashing site. The fun thing about the game is to find as many dashpoints as possible within a certain time limit.
The individual or team that finds the most dashpoints wins. The anticipation of finding where the next dashpoints are going to be is half the fun of the game, and as one geodashing site says, “Getting there is all the fun.” If you are interested in playing the game and want a thorough breakdown of the rules, check it out at GPS Games.
Geocaching
The basic premise of this game is to locate hidden containers (or treasures), called geocaches. Geocaching is high-tech treasure hunting at its best; the main objectives of the game are to find and claim the cache (treasure), leave another cache and to record the discovery in a logbook. These caches can be placed in locations that are challenging to find, but the locations should be physically and legally accessible.
Participants interested in playing can fill out an online form at a site like Geocaching.com, providing information such as the difficulty of finding the cache, what is in the cache and the coordinates. The actual items in the cache vary and are left to the discretion of the participants. So far, participants have placed items ranging from a simple logbook to more generous caches like books, CDs, vinyl records and jewelry.
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