Munzee is a freemium scavenger hunt game for your smartphone where places have to be found in the real world. The game is similar to Geocaching but uses QR code technology, in addition to device GPS location, to prove the find instead of a logbook. Simply download the free app, scan the munzees you find, and score points.

 

The places are marked by other players using QR codes, which are hidden and often printed on weatherproof stickers. The places can also be marked by a NFC tag. 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 app for IOS, Android or Windows. 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. 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." 

 

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. NFC Munzees and Virtual Munzees can also be purchased from the web store.

 

To generate or to order Munzees one has to be logged in on the central platform with a unique user name. 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 is hidden anywhere outdoors 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. The coordinates of all globally mounted Munzees are managed on the game platform at www.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 scanning the QR code. 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 Regular Munzee is the ‘normal’ munzee that is used the most. The owner gets 5 points for deploying and 3 points everytime it’s logged by a finder. The finder gets 5 points once for logging.

 

The Mystery Munzee is something of a conundrum. No one knows when this special munzee shows up for sale in our store but when it does, it goes fast! Be sure to follow us on social media or in the forum for the latest announcements about mystery Munzees! If you find one of these to capture, you will be rewarded with a random amount of points  between 5 and 50. While you may get 35 points for capturing it, your buddy capturing it after you may only get 5.

 

This physical munzee is only available to premium members and is worth 50 points to deploy it, 10 points every time someone captures yours and 10 points to the person who captures it. You can only get one of these per year and it will be mailed to you after signing up or renewing.

 

If a munzee receives two or more “Unable to Locate” or “Needs Repair” journal entries without a successful capture it will be flagged as being in “Maintenance Mode”. This will email the owner of the munzee that urgent repairs are needed to this munzee and it will be flagged with a yellow pin on the map. This will alert other players that the status of this munzee might be questionable.

 

To take the munzee out of maintenance mode, it needs to receive a successful capture or be scanned by the owner of the munzee. If the munzee is in fine condition but is just hard to find, the owner can validate this by scanning the munzee code, though a warning in the Munzee notes would be good that it is difficult to find.

 

If after 30 days the munzee is still in maintenance mode, it will be undeployed from the map. The owner will lose the initial deployment points until repairs are made and the Munzee is redeployed. If it is to be permanently retired, it can then be archived by the owner.

 

The NFC munzee features Near Field Communication technology which utilizes wireless data transfer. Instead of using your camera to read a QR code, an NFC capable phone can capture an NFC munzee simply by being held close to it. The NFC tags are very thin stickers and allow for very creative types of hides. To capture or deploy an NFC munzee, your phone must support NFC technology. There are millions of Android phones shipping a week with NFC support and it is rumored that the iPhone 6 will be support NFC. Want to check and see if your device is NFC capable? Download the latest version of Munzee from Google Play, and try to deploy a Munzee. If you get an option to deploy NFC or deploy QR code, then your phone is capable; if you go straight into scanning mode with the camera when you tap deploy, your device does not have NFC support. 

 

Capture: To capture an NFC munzee, a player must simply hold their phone within a few centimeters of where the NFC tag is located. Your phone has to be turned on and unlocked but the Munzee app doesn’t have to be running. Your phone will automatically open munzee when it detects the NFC tag. NOTE: You must have NFC enabled on your phone and it must be supported by your phone. NFC uses very little battery consumption as opposed to GPS which is a huge. There are no battery life concerns with leaving NFC enabled.

 

Deployment: An NFC munzee is deployed the same way a regular munzee is deployed. Inside the app, go to the Deploy Munzee section and your unique munzee code will be written and locked onto the NFC game piece.

 

Scoring: Same as regular munzees

 

The Diamond Munzee is a special type of munzee that is available to be purchased in the store in limited quantities with release dates determined by Team Munzee. Unlike previous game pieces, the Diamond Munzee is a digital purchase. Once you purchase Diamond Munzees, your account will receive credits that can be applied to new or existing munzees.

 

Deployment/Activation: A Diamond Munzee credit can be activated on your munzees that have been deployed or are in your undeployed section. To do so, go to your munzee user account and click on the Deployed or Undeployed tab. Then click on a munzee name to go to the details page. Under the “Admin” tab you will find a blue button labeled “Convert  to Diamond Munzee” if you have available Diamond Munzee credits on your account. Only standard munzee types may be converted to a Diamond Munzee. Mystery, Virtual, Premium,  Social, NFC, Business and other special munzee types can not be converted to a Diamond Munzee. Once you convert a munzee to a Diamond it can’t be undone. To view how many Diamond Munzee credits you have remaining, click on the “Specials” tab under your user account.

 

Capture: A Diamond Munzee capture awards you a special munzee capture icon. If you have captured the munzee before it was converted to a Diamond, you are not able to capture it again.

 

Scoring: Deploying/Activating: 60 bonus points in addition to the standard deployment points. Capture: 20 points total that are randomly split between the owner of the munzee and the person who captures it. Both parties will always get at least 5 points. If you convert an existing munzee to a Diamond, previous captures by players do not earn the Diamond points or special capture pin. Only new captures after the munzee was converted to a Diamond will count. If you undeploy or archive a Diamond Munzee, your 60 bonus points are not taken away. Clan scoring: The 60 point Diamond bonus only counts for clan points if it is applied to a munzee that is deployed during that clan period. Capture points   count for both parties during the current clan period regardless of when munzee was deployed or converted to a diamond.

 

The Social Munzee is a fun way to capture munzees anywhere. They can be deployed on your website, a bumper sticker on a car, on a t-shirt or any other place you can imagine a QR code being visible. Your imagination is the limit! All premium users will be given one Social Munzee for free. You can purchase additional Social Munzees in the store. Besides being location-less and mobile, the Social Munzee can be branded with your own custom logo (500 pixels x 500 pixels). Each user then has a Social Wall showing off  logos of Social Munzees they have captured. 

 

Deployment: A new tab is visible on your user page called “Social”. From here you can see a list of your Social Munzees and edit the details as well as a check-box to turn them off and on. This page will also show your QR code image that you will share with friends to be captured. You can save it, post it on your Facebook page, print it on your  business card or put it on a billboard. We can’t wait to see what clever ideas you can come up with!

 

Scoring: Because the Social Munzee is location-less, the reward for capturing it is not points. We don’t want people cheating and running up their score without actually going  places for the reward. So instead, we are rewarding your social experience with the captured badge being displayed on your social wall.

 

The official Virtual Munzee is a special type of munzee that allows you to get points by capturing munzees that only exist virtually and not in the physical world. While you can place them anywhere, they are designed to be used in areas where it isn’t practical for a regular munzee to be placed such as places where you don’t have permission to place a physical munzee.

 

Capture: To capture a Virtual Munzee, a player must simply move to within 300 feet (about 90 meters) of the area where it is located and use the “Capture this Virtual” button in the app. There is no QR code used, so there is nothing physical to find.

 

Deployment: A Virtual Munzee is deployed from the website by clicking the checkbox and then the pin is dragged to the location you would like. Once it is captured for the first time it is then locked into the general area and can have its pin location tweaked within a 500ft radius of where it was first captured.

 

Scoring: Deploy: 5 pts; Capture: 5 pts; Having your own virtual captured: 3 pts

 

Munzee Game Web Platform - http://www.munzee.com

Munzee Store - http://store.munzee.com/Game-Pieces/

Munzee Blog - http://www.munzeeblog.com/