Adventure game catches on all over

Organizers stash treasure for the hunters to try to find using GPS units.
WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) -- When a group of high-tech treasure hunters scattered throughout the woods of southern Ohio's Pike County, they used global positioning devices to find their booty.
The adventure game, called "geocaching," is catching on across the country.
The hand-held GPS devices allow hunters to find the coordinates of longitude and latitude where treasures, or "caches," are hidden.
About 40 participants in Saturday's hunt were searching for Harry Potter collector cards stashed by organizer Maggie Herlensky of Waverly, who had posted the coordinates online beforehand.
The registered nurse and her husband, a firefighter, have been geocaching for about a year. Herlensky said the game draws them away from their computers on their days off.
"This is 'outdoor geek,' but it also helps get the indoor geeks out," Herlensky said, laughing.
Hidden in public places
She spent more than three hours on Friday hiding the game's 45 caches. Treasures for the game, often trinkets such as key chains, toys and coins, are usually hidden in clear plastic cases or other containers in public places like parks and cemeteries.
"I've had more fun setting this up, I swear," Herlensky said. "I said, 'I don't even care if anyone shows up.'"
Two of the hunters searching the woods for Herlensky's caches were 12-year-old Luke Winter and his father, Bill, who drove 80 miles south from suburban Columbus for the hunt.
"He likes the mystery of finding [caches] and I like the outdoors, so it's a good combination for us," Bill Winter said. "It takes us places where we'd never ever go before."
Success!
The father-and-son team had found five caches by early afternoon, which brought their total to more than 300 discoveries in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.
People of all ages can get hooked on the excitement of the game, said Jeremy Irish, the Seattle-based founder of www.geocaching.com.
"People love the idea of going out and exploring their own back yard," Irish said.
"The discovery is the exciting part of geocaching. It becomes habit-forming."