Puzzle Caches - Defined

Puzzle caching is going to take a whole series of articles to cover.  To start off, I'll simply define what a Puzzle Cache is (also known as a Mystery or Unknown Cache).  There is still a cache container hidden out there somewhere, just like a traditional cache.  And just like the Multi-Cache, the coordinates published on the Puzzle Cache listing are not for that container (there are a couple exceptions that I'll discuss at a later date).  The Puzzle Cache listing quite often uses totally fake coordinates on the listing.  These coordinates may or may not have anything to do with the cache.

The cache owner has somehow hidden the real coordinates, usually on the cache listing itself.  There may be a common puzzle, such as a Sudoku grid, that you solve and has certain boxes highlighted or referenced somehow that give you the coordinates to the final cache.  The complexity of the puzzle is purely up to the imagination of the puzzle maker.  Be warned... there are many Puzzle Caches out there with poorly written listings that are so vague that it may be a pure shot in the dark as to figuring out how to "solve" the puzzle.  Fortunately, the majority of puzzles will have an apparent road to the solution and you need only do some research or math to figure out the solution.

In future articles, I will be breaking down the Puzzles in great detail and working through the processes you need to go through to solve most Puzzle Caches.  Baby steps.  First we have a few more basic Geocaching topics to address before we get into the nuts and bolts of puzzle solving.  Stay tuned.