History Quiz

Photo cortesy of Team 360.

How much do you know about the early days of geocahing? Take this quiz and find out!

1. Who created the first GPS system?

a) The European Union
b) The United States
c) The United Nations
d) The Soviet Union

2. Why was it not possible to use GPS for geocaching in the 1990’s?

a) It was too inaccurate.
b) The system had not yet been developed.
c) GPS devices were forbidden for private use.

3. Which American president made geocahing possible?

a) Bill Clinton
b) George W. Bush
c) Ronald Reagan

4. Geocaching started in the year 2000. But which date and month?

a) March 11th
b) April 20th
c) May 3rd

5. In which American state was the first cache hidden?

a) Oregon
b) New York
c) Illinois

6. What was the name of the person who hid the first cache?

a) Dave Ulmer
b) Jeremy Irish
c) Matt Stum

7. What was the original name of geocaching?

a) GPS Stash Hunt
b) GPS Box Hunt
b) GPS Treasure Hunt

8. What was Mike Teague famous for?

a) Creating a forum in which the rules around geocaching was discussed and largely formed.
b) Creating the first website listing geocaches.
c) Coming up with the name “geocaching”.

9. Geocaching.com was started in September 2000. In what ways did the site originally make money?

a) The creator used his own money.
b) Banner ads and direct donations.
c) Premium Membership was a feature on the site from the beginning.

10. Which of the following was not a controversial move from Grounded Inc. (now Groundspeak Inc), the company behind geocahing.com?

a) The monopoly control of the cache listings, previously monitored by a private person and not a company.
b) Trying to completely implement Letterboxing into geocaching.com.
c) The removal of many early caches that did no longer fit the new geocaching guidelines.
d) Censorship of posts made on geocaching.com by its members.

11. When and where was the very first official event held?

a) Austin, USA, March 24, 2001.
b) Sydney, Australia, September 5th, 2001.
c) Seattle, USA, December 1st, 2000.

12. What did Navicache.com become?

a) The first website to have maps showing the caches.
b) The first real forum for geocahing discussions.
c) The second largest cache listing site.

13. Why did Groundspeak try to sue Navicache.com?

a) For copying caches from geocaching.com.
b) For using the word “geocaching”.
c) For copying the site layout.

14. How much did a premium meembership originally cost on geocahing.com?

a) $20
b) $30
c) $40

15. Approximately how many members did geocaching.com have in the middel of 2003?

a) 150 000
b) 250 000
c) 350 000

16. When wass the first geocoin released?

a) October 8th, 2001
b) September 30th, 2001
c) January 2nd, 2002

17. Who was Robin Lovelock, and why was he frowned upon?

a) He used the hobby to promote his own business.
b) He plundered caches in the UK.
c) He stole geocoins and got the nickname “the coin thief”.

18. What year were attributes introduced?

a) 2003
b) 2004
c) 2005

19. When was the first International Geocaching Day held?

a) August 18th, 2009
b) august 19th, 2010
c) August 20th, 2011

20. TIEBREAKER: How many active geocaches were there on geocaching.com as of July 23rd, 2012?

You will find all the answers on our Quiz Answers page. For more about the early days of geocaching, check out our interview with Team 360 who placed a memorial plaque at the spot of the original cache.