Organizing Events, Races, Legs & Checkpoints

How it's structured

PunchMonkey courses are built as a nested hierarchy. You work top-down: create the event, add one or more races, give each race its legs, and fill each leg with checkpoints.

Event
└── Race          (1 or more per event)
    └── Leg       (1 or more per race)
        └── Checkpoint   (0 or more per leg)

Nothing is visible to racers until you publish a race (see below). You can build the whole course privately and flip it live when ready.

Event — the container

The top level (e.g. "Spring Scavenger Hunt 2026"). One event per occasion. Options:

Entry code — leave blank for a public event, or set a code to gate it (private). See Setting up Teams.
Single Course — a shortcut for the common 1-race / 1-leg event; racers skip the race picker.
Teams optional — racers run solo under their own name instead of picking a team.
Info / promo URL — an optional "More info" link shown to racers (your own page).
Race Finder — optional NFC/QR/GPS so racers can discover the event "At My Location."

Race — what gets published

A race is the unit you publish. Publishing a race makes its legs and checkpoints available to racers and makes the event appear in racer lists. Other races in the same event stay hidden until you publish them individually.

Race Start / Race Finish — the tags that start the clock and trigger "Race Finished!". Set them by using Set as Race Start/Finish on a leg, or by typing the UIDs on Edit race. (Single Course races mirror their one leg automatically.)
Publish / Unpublish — review the summary, then make the race live (or hide it again).
Copy Link to Share Race — a link that drops racers straight into this race.
Info / promo URL — an optional "Race info" link shown to racers.

Leg — a section of the course

Each leg has its own Start and Finish, each claimable by NFC tag, QR code, and/or GPS (at least one method per side). A racer marks the leg started/finished there.

You can create a leg first and supply its Start/Finish later — including by importing a GPX/KML and tagging waypoints as Leg Start / Leg Finish.
Checkpoint ordering — Any (freeform) or Sequential (must be claimed in order).
Completion bonus — extra points for claiming every checkpoint in the leg.

Checkpoint — a place to claim

Checkpoints live inside a leg and are claimed by NFC, QR, and/or GPS (at least one). See About Checkpoints for the checkpoint types (Hidden, Message, Bearing, Website, Mystery).

Add Checkpoint one at a time, or Import GPX / KML to create many at once from a recorded course.
Display order — set by the up/down arrows or the Display order field; PunchMonkey keeps the numbers unique and contiguous (1, 2, 3, …).

Typical flow

Create the event (set entry code / flags if needed).
Add a race.
Add legs; set each leg's start/finish (type them, scan them, or import a GPX).
Add checkpoints to each leg (individually or via GPX import).
Set the race's Race Start / Finish (from a leg, or on Edit race).
Publish the race — now racers can find and run it.

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