Archive for January, 2016

January 20, 2016

Munzee 3.1 Has Arrived! (Updated)

UPDATE: Google Play now has version 3.1.1 available for download. Thank you for your patience.

UPDATE: We are aware of an issue with 3.1 for Android phones. We are currently working to correct the problem and push a new update to the Play Store.

The departure from Munzee 2.X.X to Munzee 3.0 was a big one not only for gameplay, but for Munzee as a company. Today, we are releasing the first major update, Munzee 3.1 Included in Munzee 3.1 is:
Munzee Fitness
Part of Munzee is getting outside and being active. Many of our players (and staff members) use fitness trackers of all sorts. Munzee fitness allows integration between fitness services and Munzee to view activity and compete with other players.

The first activity tracking service to be supported is Fitbit. More will follow shortly. We want to be able to support as many tracking services as our players use. You can watch a video about how to integrate Fitbit (and later other) services with Munzee Fitness here. (You can also connect Apple Health to Fitbit to track your activity if you don’t have a wearable. You can find out how by watching this video.)
Daily, Weekly, and Overall Fitness leaderboards can be found in the “Leaderboards” section of the app. They can also be found online here. NOTE: Because many fitness trackers track in local time, the Daily leaderboard is TWO DAYS behind, i.e. the leaderboard that you see on Tuesday will be showing the leaders from Sunday. This allows for everyone to finish their fitness day locally and allows for more fairness to everyone around the world.
Fitness Badges have also been added to Munzee. Two lines, the “Daily Fitness Badge” and the “Lifetime Fitness Badge” have been added. Each line starts with three badges to earn. They can be found on the badges page online and in-app.

Map Optimization
The map has been optimized to use less data when loading pins.

Closest Events Page
The navigation tab now includes “Closest Events” which allows you to find events near you! You can find all of the events on the Munzee Calendar. We also encourage you to host your own event! If you’re interested in doing so but not quite sure where to start, email events@munzee.com to find out more!

Message Archival
Message threads can now be archived by swiping left on them from the inbox.

Improved Scanner
The newest SCANDIT scanner has been added.

We’re very excited about these new additions and updates, and we have plenty more in store for you.

In conjunction with Munzee 3.1 and the launch of Munzee Fitness, we’re having a Fitness Challenge. From Friday, January 22nd through Sunday, January 24th, you’ll have the chance to win a Fitbit Flex (or equal store credit value) just for playing Munzee. Check out the Munzee Fitness Challenge blog post for all of the information!

We hope you enjoy Munzee 3.1, and Munzee on!

NOTE: Though the app has been pushed to production, it may take time to propagate to your location’s App or Google Play Store. Please be patient if you don’t see it immediately.

January 20, 2016

Announcing the Munzee Fitness Challenge

In connection to the release of Munzee 3.1 and the introduction of the new Munzee Fitness feature, we are hosting a weekend deploying challenge for a chance to win a Fitbit Flex!

The rules of the challenge are simple:

Every player who deploys a minimum of 60 greenies from Friday January 22 until Sunday January 24 will be entered for a chance to win. Three winners will then be chosen at random to win one of the following prizes:

Fitbit Flex or store credit value
$25 Munzee Store Credit
$10 Munzee Store Credit

The challenge will begin at 12:00 AM MHQ Time on Friday and go until 11:59 PM Sunday night.

Munzee Fitness incorporates health tracking wearables into the app to track your daily and lifetime steps. Munzee encourages our players to get out and about in the real world, while promoting both active lifestyles and mobile technology use. Although the Munzee Fitness feature currently only connects to Fitbit devices, there are plans to include more devices in the near future.

Get steppin’ with Munzee Fitness today!

January 19, 2016

Double Point Weekend for Everyone! (Updated)

Update: Adding Cap-On to 2X Points and Miss Wheelchair Garden to Munzees included.

Hey Everyone!

After the insanely awesome Double Point Weekend for MunzPak Subscribers and Premium Members, we’re gearing up for the Double Point Weekend for all players!

Dates: Friday, January 29th at 00:01 through Sunday, January 31st at 23:59

Munzees Included (2X Points for Capture, Deploy, and CapOn):

Emeralds
Virtuals – All Colors
Mystery Virtuals – All Colors
Greenies
All Clan Weapons
Hotel
Motel
RMH Virtuals
Nomads
Unicorns
Accessible Munzees
Miss Wheelchair Garden (Ohio, USA)

We were so amazed by the effort and passion we saw from players this weekend. It was great to see so many of you out and playing. We were also extremely impressed by the number of points that everyone was earning.

So, we will be extending the Daily Scoreboard line of badges to include 50K Day and 100K Day! They will be retroactively awarded, so if you haven’t earned them yet, Double Point Weekend will be a great weekend to attempt them! A separate post will be made when these badges go live online and in the app.

Thanks for your support, and Munzee on!

January 18, 2016

What A Weekend!

You all are amazing! This past weekend saw many great things and we couldn’t be happier! Let’s recap some of that and talk about some new ongoings:

New Capture Record: You set a new record for number of captures in a single day! This past Saturday (January 16th) saw over 700,000 captures!
Double Point Weekend: MunzPak Subscribers and Premium Members had a double point weekend and they certainly took advantage of it. It almost makes us wonder if we should extend the Daily Scoreboard line of badges…
New Store Test: There were a few hiccups with the new store soft opening, but that’s to be expected. Overall, we feel it went very well. We’ll be updating you soon with more information about when it will be fully launched.
RMH Virtuals: Your response to the RMH Virtuals was amazing. We’ll be announcing total numbers and our donation soon.
Florida Events: Rob spent some time attending events in Florida this weekend and wanted to thank the hosts and attendees! He even got in the spirit and dressed up some 😉
RMH Virtuals and Travel Collide: You may have noticed Flat Robs are on the map right now. Well, Rob couldn’t miss the “David Rings the Bell” Event in Spokane, so he flew out early this morning to get there. He’ll be out of office today and tomorrow, so that means a couple of things:
- Flat Robs will be on the map until tomorrow (Tuesday, 1/19) at 23:59 MHQ time.
- Flat Robs will also be on sale during this same time.

We’ve got a lot more planned for you, so keep an eye out! Thank you again for the amazing weekend, and Munzee on!

January 15, 2016

Munzee for Good: RMH Virtuals Return

In May 2014, we launched the RMH Virtual. This special was inspired by Derik Reed and his family. Derik’s son David was diagnosed with ALL, T-cell Lukemia in October 2012. While Munzee provided Derik with a way to relax, both of his children played with him. As a community, Munzee raised and donated $25,000 to the Ronald McDonald House of Spokane, Washington through the purchase of the RMH virtuals. We contacted Derik earlier this week to see how everything was going:

“David continues to exhibit no evidence of disease, but we have followups monthly for at least a year, and less frequently after that. He is a 4th grader, and is doing well academically. His sister joined him at school, and is kindergarten. They ride the bus, and love school. We have a larger yard, and now have 16 chickens, and a bigger garden space. David is waiting for the all clear to get ferrets (he has not been able to have that type of animal living in the house due to his compromised immunity). We hope to do David’s wish trip this summer—he wants to go see Winter the dolphin in Florida (from A Dolphin Tale).”

On January 18th, David Reed will complete his final chemotherapy treatment and ring the bell as a childhood cancer survivor. In the spirit of our 2016 theme, we are celebrating this by re-releasing the RMH virtual, both on the map and in the store.

Previously Deployed RMH Virtuals

Any RMH Virtual that was purchased during the first release will be put back on the map. You CANNOT move previously deployed RMH Virtuals. If you had one in your undeployed list, it will show up again and you will be able to deploy it. As for capture, you CANNOT recapture RMH virtuals that you have already captured.

New RMH Virtuals

The RMH Virtual Munzee is a special limited time Munzee purchase. On sale from January 15th at 14:00 until January 17th at 23:59 (MHQ time) only. Each RMH Virtual is $1, and proceeds will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House of Spokane. These are ONLY available in the new Munzee store. They can be purchased directly at this link.

The RMH Virtual points will be similar to a diamond Munzee. Players will earn 10 points for deploying the munzee. The owner and capper will split 20 points when captured, with a minimum of 5 points for either player. Example: Player A captures and receives 7 points, the owner receives 13 points. Player B captures and receives 8 points, the owner receives 12 points. The maximum for owner or capper is 15 points. The minimum is 5 points.

Four badges may be earned through your purchase and support of the RMH virtual munzee. Badges received for owning 4 RMH munzees, 8 RMH, 20 RMH, and 40 RMH munzees owned. If you have previously deployed RMH Virtuals, these will count toward previous numbers (eg if you deployed 15 RMH Virtuals during their original appearance, you only need to deploy 5 more to earn the 20 RMH Deploy Badge). There will also be a new badge for capture or deploy of a RMH virtual.

RMH Virtual munzees will remain on the map from the date of deployment until January 31, 2016 at 23:59 MHQ time (CDT). And they WILL be included in the Double Point Weekend.

January 15, 2016

Announcing the 2016 Munzee Theme…

2014: Expect The Unexpected.

For players who were around in 2014, you’ve certainly heard these words in one form or another. President Rob Vardeman chanted this mantra at many meetings, events and podcasts in Munzee’s third year of business. We were striving to keep things fresh, surprise our players and grow as a company. Often this also meant surprising the MHQ staff with quick turnaround on projects and unexpected campaigns.

2015: New Year. New Perspective.

In 2015 we aimed to flip everything on it’s side and approach our game in new ways. From retiring the MVM to transferring to hybrids apps in the long-awaited 3.0 release, we changed the way we looked at the company. 2015 saw the creation of Zee, Eventzee, Runzee and the acquisition of Wallabee- all different ways of playing mobile games.Not to mention the continued success of the Munzee Marketplace and the creation of Green Pin Produce. It was a year of big changes, but admittedly there were some growing pains.

At the end of 2015 we as a staff thought hard about the successes and missteps of our four years in business. We analyzed what worked, what didn’t, and what we would have to do in 2016 to continue the success of our brand. No matter our expectations, no matter which way we looked at it, the success of Munzee all came down to one thing: You, our community.

2016: Growing Innovative Communities Rooted In Fun.

More than a theme, 2016’s mantra is a combination of a goal, a mission and a vision. It’s time for us to get back to our roots, which is our strong and devoted community of players. Although our community spans the globe and grows every day, we want to ensure that our relationship and our communication is maintained with players of all Munzee Inc. games. Of course there will always be branches that break and sometimes the weather may rustle a few leaves, but like the mighty oak tree, we will continue to grow as long as we maintain strong roots.

As all branches of our company grow our communities grow as well. Because without the roots of our community we cannot grow, innovate and evolve as a business. Thank you on behalf of all Team MHQ- we’re excited for what 2016 has to bring.

January 14, 2016

New Munzee Online Store Soft Opening

When the Munzee store originally launched in February 2013, it was a new and exciting way for quality Munzee stickers and products to be sold. It also allowed us to try new things and you, our players, to grow the map and game like we never expected. Almost three years later, however, that store just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Towards the end of last year, we began looking into alternative options for a new store. After months of research and testing, a new option was chosen, and we got to work building it out. Now, it’s time to test it.

From Friday, January 15th at 14:00 CST until Sunday, January 17th at 23:59 CST, the new Munzee store will be live for a soft opening. The new store can be found here or at https://munzeestore.myshopify.com/ and will ONLY be active during that time frame. After the soft opening, we will assess what works and needs to be changed, and we will announce when we will be switching over for good!

You never know what new things you may find in the store, so check it out tomorrow! Thank you for all of your support, and grow the map!

January 13, 2016

Munzee Videocast #39

Join Rob and Matt for the first Munzee Videocast of 2016! They’ll be live on-air talking about what’s going on in the Munzee Universe and taking your questions!

Date: Friday, January 15th

Time: 13:00 CST

Links: To participate and ask questions, you can join us here. To watch via YouTube, you can go here.

Don’t miss out!

January 12, 2016

Team Munzee Tuezday: Robbie McGuire

Here at Munzee we’re constantly encouraging our players to meet and greet and build the personal relationships that make this game so great. Our team continues to grow and we’re excited with the addition of Robbie McGuire.

Name and Title: 
Robbie McGuire, WallaBee Community Outreach and Player Support

Where are you from? 
Whittier, CA

Tell us about yourself:
I grew up in a family of five. I was home-schooled through high school, graduated from Biola University, and married a few months later. My wife and I just moved to Texas at the turn of the year.

How long have you worked for Munzee?
A little over a month now…? (Editor’s note: I’m not sure of the uncertainty in his answer. Yes, we’ve been proud to have Robbie on our staff for almost two months as of publication.)

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?
I enjoy the ability to do what I love. Munzee/WallaBee allows me the opportunity to help others the way I would want to be helped.

What are some of your other hobbies?
I like playing video games, playing ultimate frisbee, tinkering with various forms of artwork, and so much more.

Any last words?
Thanks for being part of such a great community!

January 11, 2016

Double Point Weekend!

This weekend, current Premium Members and MunzPak Subscribers from December and January will have a Double Point Weekend! This event will take place from 00:01 CST on January 15th until 23:59 CST on January 17th!

If you fall into one (or both) of these categories, you’ll be receiving an email shortly with all of the information regarding which Munzees will be worth double points. If you’re not a Premium Member or MunzPak Subscriber, you still have time to get in on the weekend! The cut-off date for access is January 14th, so don’t miss out!

You can become a premium member here or join MunzPak here!

-Matt

Presidential sneaky note: Here’s the details. shhhhhhh… #DontTellMatt

2x Points Munzees:

All Jewels
Regular Virtuals
Mystery Virtuals
Greenies
Clan Weapons
Premium Munzees
ACCESSIBILITY MUNZEES!
Social Munzees 😉
RMH Virtuals

#SomeoneToldRob

Edit 1: Deploys and Cap Ons will also be doubled.

Edit 2: ALL colors of virtuals and ALL colors of mystery virtuals.

Edit 3: Why did Edit 1&2 mysteriously disappear? They are back now.

Edit 4: ACCESSIBILITY MUNZEES! (added to list above)

Edit 5: Matt’s back fixing Rob’s spelling mistakes.

Edit 6: Adding the RMH Virtuals