Player Guide

The 3 Golden Rules

Somewhere out there, a stranger is about to have a wonderful day — and you get to be the reason why. GeoTraders is where the joy of geocaching meets the generosity of art abandonment: you make a little treasure, hide it in the world, and leave it for someone else. Everything in this guide comes down to three golden rules.

What makes a treasure

It isn't about cheap or expensive, handmade or bought. It comes down to one question: was this made or chosen to be found?

A treasure is something that exists on purpose, to give a stranger a moment — handmade, rare, unusual, or full of character. A drawing, a painted stone, a little carving, a fridge magnet from a holiday, a curious object with a story. Its value is emotional, never monetary. Garbage is the opposite: a discarded utility object whose job is done — a bottle cap, a scrap of packaging, a broken part — mass-produced, interchangeable, and clearly never chosen for anyone.

The test — the Finder's Smile. Before you place anything, picture the moment a stranger picks it up. If they smile, wonder, or think "someone made this," it's a treasure. If they'd frown and look for a bin, it isn't. And intent can redeem a common thing: a plain rock is nothing, but a painted rock is a gift. The question was never what a treasure is made of — only whether someone cared enough to make it worth finding.

Creating a treasure

• Make something worth finding. Use the test above — it should be a gift, never junk.
• Build it to last. It has to survive rain and seasons — sealed plastic, honest metal, or wood, stone and paper that's been painted or protected. A treasure that rots just becomes litter.
• Give it a permanent code. Every treasure carries a code that stays with it for life — marked right on the piece, or on a label that won't come off. The code is its identity; without it, it can't be logged, traded, or followed.
• What goes on the label. At a minimum: the treasure's code and the game name, geotraders.app, so whoever finds it knows what they've found and where to go. Adding a QR code to the treasure's secret link (you'll find it in the item's details in the app) is encouraged — one scan opens it in the app, no typing.
• Make the label survive outdoors. Print it, laminate it, punch a hole and reinforce it with a small metal eyelet, then hang it with a ball chain or sturdy string. For a flat piece like a drawing, skip the chain — stick the label to the back and laminate the whole thing into one weatherproof piece.
• Keep it hand-sized. A treasure should fit comfortably in a closed hand — small or flat travels best. The easier it is to pocket and tuck away, the further it goes and the more people it delights.
• Tame loose labels. A label swinging from a chain is a headache to hide. Wrap the treasure and its label together in a strip of paper and tape a small neodymium magnet to the bundle — it becomes a neat little container you can carry, stick, and hide in one motion.

Placing a treasure

• Somewhere safe to reach. No climbing, no crossing, no risk — for the finder or for you.
• Clear of traffic. A road sign is a fine anchor, but only one you can reach on foot, away from live traffic. If collecting it would mean stepping into the road, choose another spot.
• On human-made infrastructure — and let a magnet guide you. Signs, bridges, walls, posts. Magnets make placing easy, hold against the wind, and double as a test: if a magnet won't grip, it's often a sign the spot is wrong (a tree, a natural surface) and the treasure shouldn't go there.
• Resting is fine too. Not everything needs a magnet — some treasures can simply sit securely, say on top of a post or along a beam, as long as wind and weather won't turn them into litter.
• Off private property. No private land, and nothing attached to someone's fence, gate, or wall.
• Never on living things. No trees, no plants.
• Never in protected nature areas — even on human-made infrastructure inside them. They're complete as they are.
• Never modify the spot. No carving, drilling, gluing, or breaking. If a place needs changing to work, it isn't the place.

Finding & trading

• A find means holding it and logging its code. You've truly found a treasure when it's in your hand and you've scanned or entered its code in the app.
• Take it — never keep it. Keeping a treasure pulls it out of circulation and denies everyone else the game. This is the one rule that makes us traders, not hoarders.
• Carrying isn't keeping. Holding a treasure while you hunt for the perfect next spot is part of the fun. Just re-place it within a reasonable time rather than letting it sit on a shelf — and move it a real distance, not a few steps from where you found it.
• Hide it somewhere new, following all the placing rules above.
• Leave a trade. Strongly encouraged, not required: leave a treasure of your own in the same spot or nearby. Give as you take — it's the generosity that keeps the trail alive.
• If it's gone, report it. Weather, cleanup crews, and non-players will occasionally claim a treasure. If it's not there, mark it missing in the app so the map stays honest — a little attrition is part of a game played in the real world.

Magic items (virtual treasures)

Not every treasure is a physical object. A magic item is a virtual treasure that travels as nothing but a code — the code is the item. Every rule above still applies; the only thing that changes is how you carry the code.

• As a label, exactly like a real treasure's — printed, laminated, and hung or stuck as above.
• Or written straight onto a stone or a piece of wood with a permanent marker. This is the one exception to the placing rules: because a coded stone or stick is itself a piece of nature, it may be left in nature — rested on the ground, tucked among rocks — without ever becoming litter. Keep it safe to reach, off living plants, and out of protected nature areas.

Read the Terms of Use

This guide covers the essentials, but our Terms of Use go into more detail about what's expected of every player. We strongly recommend reading them — they cover safety obligations, prohibited activities, and your responsibilities while using GeoTraders.