Have You Seen George?

Anyone else go looking for him? Better yet, has anyone else found George? I go in spurts, crazy little addicted bursts, where that's all I do. Even bought myself a stamp for my birthday to speed along my innocent fun. The stamp was actually hubby's idea.

So, Where is George? He traveled from Lancaster, OH to Chicago, IL in 68 days and 27 minutes, for a total of 307 miles. He averaged 4.5 miles per day. I just got the email a little while ago.

I can't remember when I got started on WheresGeorge.com, but I got away from it for quite a while. Heck, I can't even remember how I got turned on to it... Could have been a marked bill. Now, when I get a chance, I mark and enter the bills, hoping for a hit. I've been hit pretty frequently here lately. One of my bills made it from New Mexico to Florida. But it took over 6 months... LOL Silly as it may seem, it's kind of exciting to see where your bills end up. I've also found a few bills with WheresGeorge written on them, which is almost as exciting because you can see where you're money's been, and sometimes people will enter details to tell you what George has been up to.

You can enter $1's, $2's, $5's, $10's, $20's, $50's, and $100's. I've entered each kind of bill, except for the two dollar bill, because I haven't come across any.

My tips if you start entering bills on WheresGeorge, at least use a colored pen, or thin colored Sharpie-type marker or buy a stamp. Something in red or orange is usually the most noticeable. Make sure the ink is dry before you put your bills away! I've smudged a few. :( Write along the edges of the bill without "defacing" the bill (the legalities of this are found here.) Pass the big bills out first, so you can collect smaller bills that you can also enter.

There are some specific rules for participating, but they aren't horrific rules, just some common sense stuff to discourage cheaters.

Things you SHOULD do:
1. Enter the bills on WheresGeorge.
2. Mark the bills, without defacing them.
3. Spend the bills as you would normally, while shopping, buying gas, giving tips at restaurants, etc. This is called "natural circulation."

Things you should NOT do:
1. Mark enter and mark bills then give them to friends and/or family to re-enter on WheresGeorge. This kinda takes the fun out of seeing George go places.
2. Take bundles of bills, enter them, mark them, the "dump" them at a bank or any other merchant or institution.
3. Some folks get together to trade marked bills to increase the chances that their bills will be widely distributed and re-entered elsewhere. If you attend any of these and trade bills, you are not allowed to enter the bills that you traded for. Your job is just to help George travel.

WheresGeorge keeps track of your entries, hits you make and hits you receive, there's a report page that shows you all of your stats and the amounts of each bill you enter. They even give users a George Score. You can enter a profile and look at the profiles of others.

If you've never been there, it's worth looking at, and it's clean, free entertainment the whole family can enjoy.

(PS: I'm not making any money from this, just sharing the fun. It's all free.)

UPDATE! Another of my Where's George bills has been found. This time, a $5. I think it's the first hit on a 5 dollar bill I've ever had.