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The QTF Challenge

My QTF Challenge was published in July 2011. I'll use this page to answer various questions that I've been asked about it.

What is a QTF?

QTF means "Quick to Find". This is explained in detail on the QTF Challenge cache page, but essentially it means that you found a puzzle cache within two days of it being published.

What counts as a puzzle cache?

Any cache with theUnknown cacheicon

How do you check the dates?

I look at the date of the Reviewer's "Published Listing" log (the icon) and compare that with the dates that it was found. So if it was published on May 13th then any finds up to midnight on May 15th count as a QTF. I call this the "QTF Zone"

What is the QTF Challenge?

You need to have found QTFs for each of the previous 12 months. When you've achieved this then you have until the end of that month to collect the cache. If you miss out then you have to wait until you've found a QTF in the following month. You might want to do that anyway if you were trying to improve your QTF score. Here are the current scores.

What is the QTF Score?

The QTF score for a cache is calculated by dividing 10 by the number of people in the QTF Zone. Only one cache counts per month, so if you've got more than one for a month you should choose the one with the fewest other finders, as that will give you the highest score. The maximum you can score in a month is 10. You can achieve that if you are the only person to find a cache in its first two days from publication (so for that cache you are the FTF and QTF). Do that for all 12 months and you get the highest possible score of 120.

 

How about an example

Here are my QTFs in the year leading up to when I published this Challenge. In August 2010 I had QTFs for two caches. One other person also found them in the QTF Zone so the score for both of these was 5. In September I was the FTF for a cache and nobody else found it within the first two days, so that scores 10. And so on...

Month Cache Title Published Found Finders in
QTF Zone		 Score
Aug 2010 Unknown cache"X" Marks the Spot 01 Aug 2010 View log 01 Aug 2010 View log 2 5
  Unknown cache"Leslie" 06 Aug 2010 View log 07 Aug 2010 View log 2 5
Sep 2010 Unknown cacheCricket Pitch Micro # 1 Chiddingfold (Re-Set) 04 Sep 2010 View log 04 Sep 2010 View log 1 10
  Unknown cacheKiller #5: Burned Alive 10 Sep 2010 View log 11 Sep 2010 View log 3 3.333
Oct 2010 Unknown cache# 25 Oct 2010 View log 26 Oct 2010 View log 2 5
Nov 2010 Unknown cacheMissing In Action III 08 Nov 2010 View log 09 Nov 2010 View log 1 10
Dec 2010 Unknown cacheglückliches nEUes jahr 31 Dec 2010 View log 31 Dec 2010 View log 5 2
  Unknown cacheFamous Surrey Residents #1 31 Dec 2010 View log 31 Dec 2010 View log 5 2
Jan 2011 Unknown cacheNJT's Pizza Mystery Cludo 02 Jan 2011 View log 03 Jan 2011 View log 3 3.333
  Unknown cacheBradley Fighting Vehicle 19 Jan 2011 View log 20 Jan 2011 View log 1 10
Feb 2011 Unknown cacheThe Birds Are Calling 02 Feb 2011 View log 02 Feb 2011 View log 1 10
  Unknown cacheSquigh 27 Feb 2011 View log 27 Feb 2011 View log 3 3.333
Mar 2011 Unknown cacheSonnet Mashup 02 Mar 2011 View log 02 Mar 2011 View log 2 5
  Unknown cacheBe Gone! 21 Mar 2011 View log 22 Mar 2011 View log 1 10
Apr 2011 Unknown cacheA Mean Lepidopterist 25 Apr 2011 View log 26 Apr 2011 View log 1 10
  Unknown cacheThe Wayfarer 29 Apr 2011 View log 29 Apr 2011 View log 2 5
May 2011 Unknown cacheAnthem To My Summer 05 May 2011 View log 05 May 2011 View log 2 5
  Unknown cacheP 16 May 2011 View log 16 May 2011 View log 3 3.333
Jun 2011 Unknown cacheA liddle middle riddle 05 Jun 2011 View log 05 Jun 2011 View log 3 3.333
  Unknown cacheComposing by Numbers #4 - Jargon Generator 14 Jun 2011 View log 15 Jun 2011 View log 1 10
July 2011 Unknown cacheEleven Plus Two 04 Jul 2011 View log 05 Jul 2011 View log 2 5
  Unknown cache-- --- .-. ... . + -.-. --- -.. . 22 Jul 2011 View log 22 Jul 2011 View log 2 5
Aug 2011 Unknown cacheMornington Crescent 11 Aug 2011 View log 13 Aug 2011 View log 3 3.333
  Unknown cacheA Number Game 13 Aug 2011 View log 14 Aug 2011 View log 3 3.333
  Unknown cacheNo! No! 29 Aug 2011 View log 30 Aug 2011 View log 1 10

Only one cache per month counts towards the total, so where there were two or more for a month I've selected the one with the highest score. These are shown in the table below. You can see that the total score is 92.

If these were somebody else's finds then they would have qualified for the Challenge on 5th-July-2011. Of course the cache has then to be collected at some point within the same calendar month (July in this case). If they weren't able to do that then its not all lost - they would simply have to requalify with a QTF in the following month.

Month Cache Title Published Found Score
Aug 2010 Unknown cache"X" Marks the Spot 01 Aug 2010 View log 01 Aug 2010 View log 5
Sep 2010 Unknown cacheCricket Pitch Micro # 1 Chiddingfold (Re-Set) 04 Sep 2010 View log 04 Sep 2010 View log 10
Oct 2010 Unknown cache# 25 Oct 2010 View log 26 Oct 2010 View log 5
Nov 2010 Unknown cacheMissing In Action III 08 Nov 2010 View log 09 Nov 2010 View log 10
Dec 2010 Unknown cacheglückliches nEUes jahr 31 Dec 2010 View log 31 Dec 2010 View log 2
Jan 2011 Unknown cacheBradley Fighting Vehicle 19 Jan 2011 View log 20 Jan 2011 View log 10
Feb 2011 Unknown cacheThe Birds Are Calling 02 Feb 2011 View log 02 Feb 2011 View log 10
Mar 2011 Unknown cacheBe Gone! 21 Mar 2011 View log 22 Mar 2011 View log 10
Apr 2011 Unknown cacheA Mean Lepidopterist 25 Apr 2011 View log 26 Apr 2011 View log 10
May 2011 Unknown cacheAnthem To My Summer 05 May 2011 View log 05 May 2011 View log 5
Jun 2011 Unknown cacheComposing by Numbers #4 - Jargon Generator 14 Jun 2011 View log 15 Jun 2011 View log 10
July 2011 Unknown cacheEleven Plus Two 04 Jul 2011 View log 05 Jul 2011 View log 5
Total = 92

Why might you want to delay collecting the cache?

You might be trying to improve your QTF score. My QTFs for the remainder of July and August give an illustration of doing just that.

You can see that I didn't manage to improve on the score of 5 for July, so I continued on into August. The big risk of doing this is that you might not find a QTF at all in that month. However by the 13th I had. Unfortunately it only scored me 3.333 as two other people also found it in the zone, which meant that the total QTF score had reduced to 90.333. That's another danger - you might be trying to increase your score but end up with it going down.

Then just before the end of the month I scored a 10, and that increased the total QTF score up to 97.

Month Cache Title Published Found Score
Sep 2010 Unknown cacheCricket Pitch Micro # 1 Chiddingfold (Re-Set) 04 Sep 2010 View log 04 Sep 2010 View log 10
Oct 2010 Unknown cache# 25 Oct 2010 View log 26 Oct 2010 View log 5
Nov 2010 Unknown cacheMissing In Action III 08 Nov 2010 View log 09 Nov 2010 View log 10
Dec 2010 Unknown cacheglückliches nEUes jahr 31 Dec 2010 View log 31 Dec 2010 View log 2
Jan 2011 Unknown cacheBradley Fighting Vehicle 19 Jan 2011 View log 20 Jan 2011 View log 10
Feb 2011 Unknown cacheThe Birds Are Calling 02 Feb 2011 View log 02 Feb 2011 View log 10
Mar 2011 Unknown cacheBe Gone! 21 Mar 2011 View log 22 Mar 2011 View log 10
Apr 2011 Unknown cacheA Mean Lepidopterist 25 Apr 2011 View log 26 Apr 2011 View log 10
May 2011 Unknown cacheAnthem To My Summer 05 May 2011 View log 05 May 2011 View log 5
Jun 2011 Unknown cacheComposing by Numbers #4 - Jargon Generator 14 Jun 2011 View log 15 Jun 2011 View log 10
July 2011 Unknown cacheEleven Plus Two 04 Jul 2011 View log 05 Jul 2011 View log 5
Aug 2011 Unknown cacheNo! No! 29 Aug 2011 View log 30 Aug 2011 View log 10
Total = 97

 

Copyright Colin Backhurst.
Last revised: August 23, 2016.