For those following this thread, I sent a definition and a request to GT to add “Gadgetbox” to the glossary.

And being the great webmaster he is he did!

Love the concept, wish we'd come up with a new letterboxing-specific term (i.e. not so directly parallel to geocaching jargon) if this type of box becomes more prevalent. And I certainly hope it does! Keep making cool stuff, people! ;)

~µ

Love the concept, wish we'd come up with a new letterboxing-specific term (i.e. not so directly parallel to geocaching jargon) if this type of box becomes more prevalent. And I certainly hope it does! Keep making cool stuff, people! ;)

I believe that I was the one who suggested the keyword "gadgetbox". If someone suggested it earlier, I'd certainly be welcoming a correction.

I suggested it because the letterboxer who brought up the subject suggested that letterboxes be done like the geocaches called "gadget caches" (but he didn't know the term). Therefore, "gadget box" seemed like the natural change.

Nevertheless, there is a great desire in the community to separate letterboxing from geocaching. This doesn't come from just this suggestion of a keyword and a name for a new type of letterbox. I'm not creative enough to come up with a name/term that makes this separation. Please make suggestions. Let's pick a name before my suggestions solidify.

In case anyone thinks I'm writing this sarcastically, I'm not. I'm a programmer and I have been through plenty of code and document peer reviews. You learn to not be fragile in a peer review. Let's peer review this until all of the lemurs are dead!

Love the concept, wish we'd come up with a new letterboxing-specific term (i.e. not so directly parallel to geocaching jargon)

Given that these sorts of boxes were the specialty of the amazing "X Marks the Spot", and that they are kind of Xtreme boxes... how about "X-Boxes"? You can even use it to fool your kids into doing them with you by tempting them with "a new X-box game"...

I was a geocacher long before I made the switch to letterboxing. About 10 years. I’ve been to and hosted many events. Between ECP and I, we have put out over 1600 geocaches. That includes hundreds of puzzle caches and quite a few geocaches that need to be solved in the field.

Despite the fact that you can find the term gadget cache online in places I don’t consider the term to be the domain of geocaching. It’s not a common term in the caching community, other than with the general terminology for a “gadget”. "Field puzzle" is much more common. Adding box to the term certainly stamps it as a different animal, in my mind. At the very least it's descriptive.

I think Oberon_Kenobi’s suggestion of “gadgetbox” is a fine one and in my mind doesn’t have a geocaching connotation.

Just my .02¢ worth.

+1 to X-boxes. Perhaps not quite as explicit, but equally intriguing and a very important nod to a major figure in the development of American letterboxing.

Gadget caches seem to have some reach in geocaching, whereas there are but a handful of letterboxes with physical puzzle components at the box and even fewer with electronic, or "gadget", components. I think the lack of the name has been due to the lack of a need for one - there are barely any boxes out there (to my knowledge) that would be described as such. Again, I'd be very interested in seeing this arm of letterboxing flourish, and I've had a robotics- and AI-oriented event concept on the backburner for a few years now, so we shall see where that leads...

Do you know if there are any gadgetboxes listed yet? If so, and you want to give one a try, how do you search for one? I went to advance, traditional, and used gadgetboxes as a keyword and came up empty.

Do you know if there are any gadgetboxes listed yet?

I think that it is too new of a term for anyone to have planted one yet. However, someone could have jumped on the idea and made one to plant.

Also, someone could have done one before but just not used the keyword "gadgetbox", or put "Gadget Box" in the title.

I've got an idea for one to do, but I'll have to actually take time to make it. Then I have to decide on what stamp to carve. Should I just use some previous carve that I've made? Or should I carve something specifically for the gadget box itself, or the location?

Oberon is correct the term is too new. I would suggest in the future to leave off the traditional search term. x’s Orders boxes began life and traditionals but along the way he was told he couldn’t list them that way. They are still incredible puzzle/gadget boxes. I was fortunate my travels took me on a path one year that allowed me to be first to find all five as they were originally released. NC, TN, NY, WA and CA

I agree, the term is still too new for searches. Perhaps other boxers can share with the board some of the boxes they have found that would fall into that category?

The only "gadgetboxes" that I have found were by X Marks the Spot, and they were absolutely amazing. I believe they are now listed as personal travelers. We've only found one of the 5 Orders, and would love to be able to find some of the others someday. Unfortunately, it looks like some of the caretakers are now inactive.

If you do a google search on gadget cache, you get a fair number of hits. They are pretty fun to check out - some are quite elaborate!

I've spent far too many hours on YouTube rabbit holes admiring amazing gadget cache videos!

I've spent far too many hours on YouTube rabbit holes admiring amazing gadget cache videos!

Does that mean you'll soon be putting one gadget box in your area?

(Fingers crossed)

I have some stuff in the works... ;)

Thanks! I am super intrigued by these & can't wait to see some pop up nearby!

I think it depends on location, clue, and gadget. As with any fantastic LB, following theme through on all points makes it a higher sought after box.
But for me, any box I find that someone has taken time to lead me to is special. I would think using a previous stamp would be fine, especially since the gadgetbox will add to the uniqueness.

Should it be assigned a new name (non-caching jargon) before it takes off?

If so, what about the word
"Fuzzlebox" or
"Bumfuzzler"

"Fuzzle" means to confuse.
"Bumfuzzled" is a southern term meaning a state of being confused, perplexed. (You know, standing around, scratching your head, with a dumb expression on your face)

Is there a way to link terms in the search engine? Maybe they could be interchangeable. ...?

If so, what about the word
"Fuzzlebox" or
"Bumfuzzler"

While I'd accept the first one, the second one just doesn't work for me.

If you'll accept more suggestions from me, consider "widget box" or "gizmo box". Both widget and gizmo are synonyms for gadget, but these may provide enough distinction to be accepted by those who object to "gadget box" because it is too close to what geocaching uses. "Gismo" is also an accepted spelling variant, if you want to go even farther afield.

Personally, I liked "Fuzzlebox" the best too.
From your list, I really like "Gizmo box" too.
There's something about widget that I am not keen on.
Just a thought if GT felt it necessary to differentiate. I don't seek geocaches, so it is irrelevant to me. However, I can see how it might be good to distinguish between a LB & cache version.
Has anyone suggested this thought to Green Tortuga?

However, I can see how it might be good to distinguish between a LB & cache version.
Has anyone suggested this thought to Green Tortuga?

What do you mean? Gadgetbox has already been added to the glossary, though I prefer two words unless it is being used as a keyword.

However, some people haven't liked "gadget box" because it is too close to the geocaching term "gadget cache". That is why we're having this discussion on what to call this newly discovered topic. (The concept may have been around before, but naming it is new.)

Can everyone at least agree that it should end with "box"? If so, click "Agree". If not, then click "Disagree".

Should it be assigned a new name (non-caching jargon) before it takes off?

Since you responded to my post I’ll answer but I’m not in charge of it in any way. The discussion took off in the thread I linked to in my opening post in this thread. The discussion centered around how to find such a box if someone were to put one out. The suggestion was that it should be part of the box title (with which I agree). It was further suggested that if the term was in the title it should also be in the glossary so ‘boxers could look it up should they have any questions about it (with which I also agree)

In that thread Oberon Kenobi says he tried to put it into the glossary but couldn’t figure out how. So I announced I would ask Ryan. It wasn’t my idea, I was just trying to help. Now there seems to be this push to find a better name - even by OK himself. Honestly this seems a little unnecessary in my opinion.

Letterboxing has been around for quite a while and there isn’t a separate catagory for them. Nor at this time is there really a need for that. If they do “take off” there should be plenty of time for catagorizing and stuff.

I love gadget boxes and I plan to make and put some out. As it appears a few others participating in this thread might. Let’s hope so! But I think it will always be a very small subset of the hobby.

As I said, I’m not in any way in charge of it. I’ve made the case for the fact that “Gadgetbox” is not geocache-centric. Partly because of my history with caching (they prefer the term ‘field puzzle’) and partly because of the case laid out by Oberon Kenobi in the other thread. But if others believe it should have a different name, I say go for it.

though I prefer two words unless it is being used as a keyword.

I actually prefer two words myself, but I figured it would be less complicated overall since the one-word variation is more easily searched for. Keywords have to be one word, but even a search on the message boards will ignore the word "box" (it's too common and in practically every other post!) and "gadget" could get a lot of false positives. But a search for "gadgetbox" suffers neither of those problems.

So basically.... although I personally like the two-word version of gadgetbox box, I made it one word so it'll be more searchable.

As for what to call it.... I'm not really sure we need a name for it at all. We've gotten by without a special word for it for years and it's not very common. Being similar to the gadgetcache doesn't really bother me. I have nothing against geocaching or geocachers and we do have similar hobbies so if some of the terms we use are similar... so what? As far as I know, the term "muggle" was adopted by both hobbies completely independently of each other. And if we sway more geocachers into the letterboxing fold, it's that much easier for them to get up to speed with letterboxing terminology.

But mostly, I don't think it really matters in the grand scheme of things. A rose by any other name....

-- Ryan

I'm not really sure we need a name for it at all. We've gotten by without a special word for it for years and it's not very common.

I think that the idea is to make it more common and we should find something to call it.

A rose by any other name....

... Would still have thorns.

If you want to make the word more common, plant more boxes. Ideally, all over the globe. Then everyone will be talking about them and gadgetbox will be more common. 😀

I'm glad someone else mentioned the "X-Boxes" because he had some wonderful plants that were very much like these gadget boxes. I always liked the pun intended with the name too. :-)

Knit Wit

Dunno if anyone is still following this thread, but I just tagged one of my boxes as a gadgetbox.
"Tessellations" Box #280670


Although my box doesn't have any literal "gadgets", it does fit the glossary definition. I enlisted the help of the math tutors where I used to work to create a math puzzle which must be solved before getting the box. It's an on-site puzzle (not part of the clue) so I think it fits :)

It looks interesting. It is definitely one that I would go for if I lived nearby.