The TXGA Texas Challenge (known as The Challenge) began as a friendly competition between the major geographic regions of Texas. Each year a Texas Region is designated to host The Challenge under the guidance of the Texas Geocaching Association. All geocachers are invited to participate.

LIABILITY

Geocaching is an individual sport, as such it is important for each participant to know their own physical capabilities. While participating in the Challenge each person will be responsible for any damage caused by themselves and any person(s) under their supervision, including but not limited to children, elderly, mentally or physically handicapped individuals. This includes injury to self, others and damage to any vehicle(s) or property. The entity and members of TXGA, the host city, venue facilities will not be held accountable for participants.

REGIONAL PARTICIPATION

There are six regional teams from Texas competing in The Challenge; Central, East, North, South, Southeast and West. Regional teams are comprised of geocachers from across the state and beyond, not just geocachers from within that particular region. It is up to the player, not the team, to pick the region with which they will be competing. Remember, The Challenge is a fun and open competition for all registered geocachers, and teams must accept any geocacher who chooses to play for them.

Geocachers from outside Texas are welcome to attend and participate in The Challenge. If more than ten out-of-state players are from a specific geographical location, they are welcome to participate as a designated team representing their geographical location. If there is not a minimum of ten out-of-state players from a specific region, then all out-of-state players will participate as the Out-of-State team (OOS). If there are fewer than ten out-of-state players in total, then the out-of-state players must join a Texas regional team to compete.

A minimum of ten players are required to form a team.

TEAM CAPTAINS

All teams must name a Team Captain to be their representative before The Challenge. Team captains will have knowledge of competition registrants for their teams through the registration page. Captains are entitled and encouraged to contact registrants for team strategy discussions. Regional representatives are responsible for assigning team captains if they are not elected beforehand.

HOST TEAM PARTICIPATION

Host region participation is allowed, though individuals assisting in the planning of The Challenge competition are not allowed to participate with or assist their region’s team. These individuals include anyone with inside knowledge that could benefit their team, specifically anyone involved in the hiding of Challenge caches and the planning of the Challenge portion of the event. If proof is found of inside information of any region with members of the planning team, the competitors are disqualified, and their team is ineligible from winning.

DISQUALIFICATION

Any player found carrying multiple scorecards during the competition will have all scorecards in their possession repossessed and disqualified. Any player found tampering with caches will be disqualified. Any player found breaking local or state laws to obtain caches will be disqualified.

(Rules are subject to change – please review frequently)

• Players must handle their own score card at all times.
• Players found carrying multiple scorecards during the competition will have all scorecards in their possession repossessed and that team could be disqualified.
• Players found tampering with competition geocaches (including moving to a different location) are disqualified.
• Players found breaking local or state laws to obtain caches are disqualified.  
• Players receive their own scorecard at the beginning of The Challenge.  Scorecards must always be in the possession of the player with their name on the scorecard. If the scorecards are not received by cutoff time that player receives a 0.
• All scorecards in possession of teams at the start time are considered in play and subject to scoring rules.
• All players must obtain punches from at least three (3) activity geocaches.
• All puzzle geocaches require some amount of field work.
• Players must have their scorecard in their hand to be punched – if the geocache requires crawling or climbing a tree – you must complete that activity – you cannot bring the punch to the team or have one player complete the task with others’ cards.
• Punches not found after the competition or relocated are eliminated from all scoring.
• Point values of geocaches are hidden from players. D/T ratings are available.
• The lowest 20% scores from each team are not included in the final score averages.
• Scorecards must be turned in at the checkpoints provided before the designated turn-in time.  Late scorecards receive a 0.
• Teams are allowed support during the competition with activities such as transportation, communication and puzzle solving. These non-running team members cannot search for geocaches. If these team members are found actively assisting in locating a geocache in the field, the entire team faces disqualification.

FIELD OPERATORS

Field operators are people observing various areas to ensure fair play. They may be identifiable by a specific badge. Should one see foul play, they have the power to confiscate scorecards and disqualify players. Decisions made by field operators are final and may only be appealed to the Challenge Chairperson AFTER the competition. Field operators are allowed to use cameras and video equipment. Any electronic evidence will be kept private to challenge officials and not distributed for any reason. Any violation witnessed or recorded results in immediate disqualification of any player involved.