![WikiMunzee](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/WikiMunzee.png)
Munzee is a
freemium scavenger hunt
''Scavenger Hunt'' is a 1979 American comedy film with a large ensemble cast which includes Richard Benjamin, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, Ruth Gordon, Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy McDowall, Robert Morley, Richard Mulligan, Tony R ...
game where QR codes have to be found at different places in the real world. The game is similar to
geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific l ...
but uses
QR code
A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about th ...
technology, in addition to device
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
location, to prove the find instead of a logbook. Launched in
McKinney
McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano and Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about north of Dallas.
The U.S. Census Bureau lis ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
in 2011, the game caught on first in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, along with
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. It is now played in more than 188 countries around the world, and there is at least one physical Munzee deployed on every continent, including
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
.
The QR codes are placed by players at places of interest and are often printed on weatherproof stickers. Previously, the places could also be marked by a
NFC
NFC may refer to:
Psychology
* Need for cognition, in psychology
* Need for closure, social psychological term
Sports
* NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game
* NCAA Football Championship (Philippines)
* Nati ...
tag, however this functionality was removed in 2018. These stickers are called Munzees. Both the finding and the hiding players receive points for deploying and finding Munzees. The QR codes on the Munzees are read by means of a
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
app for
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
or
Android.
The coordinates of the Munzees as well as the data of the players are managed via the central web platform.
Virtual Munzees are also available for purchase. These also appear in app lists and on maps, and they are "captured" by locating the app device within 300 feet of the designated location. The device must also be within 300 feet of a QR code Munzee to verify "capture."
History
A common misconception is that the idea for Munzee was inspired by
Geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific l ...
, a game in which participants search for a hidden cache using GPS technology. However, Munzee co-founder Aaron Benzick (having never been a geocacher) came up with the idea of using QR codes for a game in 2008, but smartphone technology and capability were not available at the time. Benzick, and co-founders, Scott Foster, Chris Pick, and Josh Terkelsen launched the game on July 1, 2011. The term Munzee was derived from the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
word for coin, Münze. Since the domain name munze.com was no longer available, an 'e' was added, which also resulted in what the company felt was a catchy name. The original idea was to use poker chips or rounded coins with QR codes.
Munzees
![MunzeeBrimbankPark](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/MunzeeBrimbankPark.jpg)
Munzees can consist of any material; they must have at minimum a QR-code and physically meet the conditions of the location (waterproof, weatherproof, etc.). Munzees either can be self-generated and printed or be purchased via the web store or through authorised distributors. Virtual Munzees can be purchased from the web store, or in-app.
To generate or to order Munzees one has to be logged in on the central platform with a unique username. When generating a Munzee, the platform creates a web link, over which the generated Munzee can be managed. This web link is represented as a QR code on the Munzee. A descriptive name and an arbitrarily long comment can be assigned to the Munzee as properties. Both are stored on the central platform (not in the QR code) and can be changed later.
After a Munzee is physically created, it can be assigned coordinates anywhere outdoors or indoor and then deployed via the app. Once the Munzee has been deployed it goes live on the map and is ready to be found or "captured" by other players. If a Munzee is damaged or removed, players can report the malfunction and after two reports the owner of the Munzee is given 30 days to rectify the problem; after which time the Munzee is taken off the map and archived. Additionally, dedicated players in the QRew or ZeeQRew programs are now able to replace other users' damaged munzees with generic stickers.
The coordinates of all globally mounted Munzees are managed on the game platform at munzee.com. Players navigate themselves to the general location of a Munzee by accessing the map with a smartphone. When they find a Munzee, they capture it by either scanning the QR code or being within a certain radius of the published coordinates. The smartphone app sends the data scanned along with current coordinates to the central system which records the capture. The finder and the player that deployed the Munzee each earn points. The points award to the person who deploys the munzee and who captures the munzee vary depending on the playing piece deployed.
Dissemination
As of May 2021, there are more than 11 million munzees worldwide in 240 countries, and more than 500 million Munzee captures have been recorded. There are also over 500,000 registered users.
References
External links
{{Commons category, Munzee
Munzee web platform
Outdoor locating games
2011 establishments in Texas
Navigation
Hobbies
Internet object tracking
Near-field communication