How to Get All 10 Souvenirs! #PlanetaryPursuit

Want to make sure you can earn all 10 souvenirs available from Geocaching.com between March 19 and April 8? Well I'm here to help you on your stellar mission.

I've got 5 simple tips that will get you your 10 souvenirs, or my name isn't Buck Rogers!* 

#1 - Build Your Crew!

First things first - if you're going shoot for the stars (or the souvenirs) you'll need to build your team. Remember the Mary Hyde events and activities from last year? Well it's the very same system for the Friend League support to get you ship-shape and on your way.

Make sure you check in on your own Friend League page to ensure that your crew is set up by going to:
Dashboard > View Friends >  Get motivated with your friend league!

(pro-tip - just click the last "your friend league" link, and then bookmark it so you have a quick way to get there in the future!)

Do you already have a great crew amassing huge points? Awesome! If not, just click the "Add Friends" green button and send some friend requests to your geocaching buddies. 
For more tips on great Geocaching Friends etiquette, check this post from last summer!

#2 - Know the Score!

Next important thing to know is HOW to get those valuable points! This simple table from Geocaching.com explains what you most need to know.

Action	Point value
Log a Found it on any geocache (Traditional, Virtual, Webcam, Wherigo)	5
Log a Found it on a Multi-Cache or Letterbox Hybrid	10
Log a Found it on a Mystery Cache or EarthCache	15
Attend any event	15
Drop off trackable	4

#3 - Start the Countdown!

T minus 19... 18... OK, you get it. Take a look at your calendar, and message some of your friend league - see if you can't pick a time to get out caching together between March 19 and April 8. 

You can send messages individually on the My Friends page using the  "Send Message" link on each friend's "card" on the page.

But it might be even easier, if you are already all on Facebook or Twitter, to start a group chat for planning purposes.

#4 - Find Unexplored Space with Your Crew!

You've got the team, you've got the dates, but where to go? Make sure the adventure gets max points for everyone by using the Geocaching.com Search page. 

Enter an area to start your search from and you'll get the initial list. But now click on the Filters green button, and make sure to click the radio buttons for "I Haven't Found" and "I Don't Own."

That done, next thing to do is enter in the names of your space crew in the "Not Found By" box.

Now click the Search button again and you'll see the caches that will maximize your teams points!

#5 - Earn Nine for Ten!

So you know how to get points, but what are your targets? Why the planets of course! OK, the souvenirs named after planets! And to help you out here's the next great table Geocaching.com provided so we can all know the score(ing system).

Souvenirs	Points needed on the Friend League (individual)
Planetary Pursuit: Earth	5 points
Planetary Pursuit: Venus	10 points
Planetary Pursuit: Mercury	20 points
Planetary Pursuit: Mars	40 points
Planetary Pursuit: Jupiter	65 points
Planetary Pursuit: Saturn	100 points
Planetary Pursuit: Uranus	200 points
Planetary Pursuit: Neptune	300 points
Planetary Pursuit: Pluto	500 points
Official Space Explorer	Collect all planet souvenirs (500 points) and earn this meta souvenir.

Note that as like other souvenir events in the past, the tenth souvenir is "automatically" earned by achieving the prior 9. 

Pay attention that these are individual points in Friend League, so you'll have to earn those points yourself to get the souvenirs, not total points in your League.

*full disclosure - my name isn't Buck Rogers, but these are still great tips!

Most importantly - get out there and cache safely, and cache often!
The LANMonkeys

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3 Easy Tips to Get the Most of Geocaching Friend League

So Geocaching.com has been successful in launching the 2017 Summer challenges; the Mary Hyde Pirate-themed adventure, and leveraging that to move their game platform to an increased state of social media impact. 

That's where Friend League comes into play. By now I'll assume everyone has heard of Friend League, but perhaps we don't all know how to get the most from it. So let me provide you with 3 quick and easy tips to help you get the most out of it this summer.


Tip 1 - Get Rewarded Quickly 
It is apparent that the goals for achieving points in Friend League will likely change weekly, much like they have for past summer souvenir earning programs. 

But right now, the best strategy seems to be to build a team of at least 10 friends and monitor social media for early posts from Geocaching.com, Geocaching bloggers, or podcasters for early tips on what the following weeks' point strategy will be. 



 
It does seem that the points earning period will always include a weekend so that is also helpful to make sure you can earn the minimum points required. 



Tip 2 - Make Friends Responsibly
Since you really shouldn't need more than 10 active geocaching friends to gain your souvenirs there's no need to reach out to people you don't know with undefined friend requests. So what am I asking you to do here?

When you send your friend request, by default it will say "I'd like to become friends on Geocaching.com." 

Consider adding a bit of your own text here, ideally how do you know the person? When did you last meet? Why do you want to be Geocaching.com friends?

In a recent Twitter survey I conducted, about 70% of Geocachers asked said they would not accept a friend request from someone they don't know. So let's respect each other and take the extra two minutes when sending a friend request to make it meaningful.


Tip 3 - Everything is Awesome When You're Part of a Team 
Remember that officially the only thing you are working towards as a League is to earn the souvenirs. Unlike "Clans" in other geolocation gaming, you aren't competing against each other within the group or against other groups for redeemable prizes. 

One of the things I think Geocaching.com is trying to avoid is the aggressiveness that comes into play due to competitiveness to earn in-game credits. This is not the case in Friend Leagues; you are only collaborating within your league so that you all get the souvenir available that period. And that souvenir is available to each as long as you gain the minimum points required.


So tune in to the bloggers, vloggers, and podcasters for fast updates, focus on building a team of friends you know, and leverage teamwork, collaboration, and fun, rather than competing against each other to get the most out of this summer's Mary Hyde geocaching adventure.

But most importantly remember to cache safely, and cache often! 
The LANMonkeys.