LEBANON - Three Linn County business people have put a new twist on the popular sport of geocaching, in which players use Global Positioning System coordinates to find hidden items.

Soon, players will be able to win $100 or more, depending on how quickly they can locate a small plastic tube that contains a prize certificate. Tim Mattson, who lives between Sweet Home and Lebanon, is spokesman for GPS Cache Quest, which will release its first list of coordinates Wednesday at 6 p.m.

"I tried geocaching a year ago and then didn't do it again until three months ago," Mattson said. "I love it because it gets me out of the house and into nature. I have gotten to see so many places I hadn't seen before. I've been in places where it's almost silent."

Mattson said the sport allows people to break away from computers at work, or their television at home. It's something that can be done by the entire family, and it's not expensive. A small wrist-worn GPS can be purchased for as little as $100. Players can win back that amount with just one find, he said.

Cost to participate is $19.99 per month, Mattson said. Caches will be released at various times and days to give people with a variety of work schedules an opportunity to participate. As more subscribers sign on, caches will be hidden by geographic area so people don't have to drive long distances to participate.

If a cache isn't found, the prize will grow by $100 every 30 days until it is found, Mattson said.

"We want people to find them. We guarantee they will be within 20 feet of where we say they'll be," Mattson said. "The goal is to get people out of the house and to have some fun. My 5-year-old son loves going geocaching."

Mattson said the general public would be surprised if they knew how many times they walk past a hidden cache. "There are an estimated 2,500 caches already in place. They might be in a fence near a store or under a park bench," Mattson said. "We went fishing recently and then returned a few days later to find a cache just feet from where we had been."

All of the game caches will be placed on public land and will not be buried. Finders must be subscribers to claim the prize.

Coordinates will be sent to subscribers by e-mail, Web site posting or cell phone text message. A single person will be used to hide the caches and the company owners will not know the coordinates until after placement. There will be 10 caches placed per month.

"We've already had interest from people as far away as New York," Mattson said. "We plan to work where ever there is interest. If that's Portland or Idaho, that's where we'll go."

To learn more about GPS Cache Quest, call (866) 476-6354 or visit its Web site at www.

gpscachequest.com.

Alex Paul can be reached at 812-6076 or alex.paul@lee.net.