It's a
geographical guessing game that drops you into a location somewhere on Earth, using Google street maps, and lets you try to figure out where you are. You can navigate up and down the roads, turn around and zoom in to check out your surroundings. You get five chances to guess five different places and then the game ends and you see your score and a map of your guesses. Warning, it's addictive.
There seem to be two ways to play: look around a little, check out the trees, the buildings, the language on the signs and take a wild guess whether you're in Norway or Madagascar or New Zealand.
Luck plays into it. You might really have to guess if you land in a spot like this:
But if there are more details, like landmarks or signs with town or business names, you can use Google in another tab to search and figure out EXACTLY where you are.
I'm told that's cheating, but I don't care. Here's the best I've done with five lucky scenes with lots of detail and method #2 so far this evening, having discovered the game an hour or two ago::
Or you can just be a tourist and wander around and look at things and find out what it looks like in a small town in Poland with wooden gingerbread on old buildings and schoolchildren waiting for a city bus or a strange hostile city in Russia where the concrete buildings are too cold and large and the spaces between too forbidding and exhausting or a coastal village in Mexico where the sea laps on the sand and the wind blows constantly against the palms. That's fun too.
18 comments:
So addictive. Been playing it for a few days. At first I was doing a lot of random guessing, which was fun, but then I decided to see what I could accomplish if I spent a lot of time looking for clues, but didn't google anything. Not to toot my own horn, but I've gotten pretty good at figuring out exactly where I am without using Google, just using the map they provide. It can take 30-45 minutes per map though. Here's my strategy:
1) Click around until you find some signs or some language to give a hint as to continent or even a country. "Kudu Burgers?" It's Africa. Asian language? Usually can tell which language is which, otherwise look for other clues. Look at what side of the road people drive on and what kind of cars they're driving. You can take some hints from the flora of the area but it's really non-specific. Usually with enough clicking I'm able to narrow it down to a region.
2) Keeeeep clicking until you find a sign identifying the highway or a the name of a nearby town. Then start scanning the map of the region you chose for that highway name or town name.
3) Return to the original location and use local landmarks to figure out where you are exactly.
With this strategy I've been able to get about 80% of the maps within 1 kilometer. Some of them are impossible - I had one that was in the woods of Finland, and I clicked through maps for an hour before I found a town sign, and then couldn't find the town within a reasonable amount of time and gave up. My favorite success stories were a random image from the middle of nowhere on the Alaska Highway in British Columbia, and a scenic view of the ocean in Taiwan, that I figured out by zooming in on a brochure in a shop that mentioned Northeast Taiwan. Anyway, if you have time, try to get as close as possible without using Google. It's a fun challenge.
This is funny. It appears that all of us have independently been playing this game obsessively.
You guys are aware that you can challenge others to beat your 5 round score, right? At the end there is a link that you can copy and then paste to someone else, and then they do the same 5 places as you and try to beat your score. I'll do one and paste the link in these comments in a couple minutes.
Also, this is pretty helpful:
http://support.google.com/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=68384
There are 2 things that really screw me up with this game. The first is not being able to tell the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, which causes me to frequently guess Mexico and Brazil incorrectly. The other is figuring out how to tell South Africa and Australia apart in the absence of signs written in Afrikaans.
Don't know nuthin' 'bout geogssrre but check out the bing.com picture today. And the boxes that pop up when you scroll over it. It's Armed Forces day, apparently. Thanks to all who serve.
Great, thanks guys. Just what I need, another addictive internet game.
Yeah. I'm still stuck on sudoku. Evil: 2:43.
http://www.geoguessr.com?s=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%3D%3D
Okay, copy and paste that link if you want to challenge my score. I did use Google for this one, btw.
Well, phooey. I was doing great -- just a point or two ahead of you but ahead all the time -- until I got to the ruined city. I was stymied. Finally guessed Iraq. How did you figure out it was in Israel? And what is its name, anyway?
http://www.geoguessr.com?v=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%3D
Well, I used Google's street view coverage map to eliminate a lot of places, including Iraq. Then after clicking around for a long time, I found a sign that said "reconstructed byzantine house." Typed that into Google and found a result in Advat, Israel that looked similar. There were also some signs that looked to me like the Hebrew alphabet, as best as I can tell at least.
I clicked around forever and never saw a single sign! Though I did see that guy that followed the Google camera person everywhere. I guess I'd better start relying on the Where is Street View map. Anyway, New Zealand is beautiful . . . and so is Norway!
You (Caleb) won the challenge with 31435 points against 31189.
No Google.
If you click around long enough in the ruins you'll find an israeli flag flying in the parking lot. I guessed randomly in Israel after that and was just slightly closer than you.
The first one was easy once you found a highway sign. The 2nd one was really, really hard, took me over an hour. The third I had done before, but figured it out that time without google so I gave myself credit this time. A pretty hard one, though. 4th one was super easy, the sign in front of you immediately tells you where you are.
http://www.geoguessr.com?v=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
Caleb, you said you'd done the New Zealand one before. Does the game use the same exact locations over and over again or does it drop players randomly into someplace on Street View every time?
It has a finite number of locations and they do repeat. I've frequently wondered if they vet the locations to make sure they can be figured out.
There are a couple that are just snapshots, no movement is possible. I've had one that was somewhat easy to figure out, and the one I'm working on now is essentially impossible.
I had one with a snapshot on a beach that I could not figure out. There were flags so I should have been able to, but I could NOT find them.
Disappointing that it uses finite locations.
I do like using Google alongside more than trying to get along without it, because -- for me -- half the fun is learning things I didn't know about the places. Here's one I just did WITH Google that was fun because it ranged all over and didn't double up regions as the game often seems to do:
http://www.geoguessr.com?s=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%3D%3D
Well, tried to beat your score Mom, but I screwed up the 3rd one. I had just figured out that I was near route 95 and a town called Cambridge, and was scrolling along the map looking at town names when I accidentally hit the "Make Guess" button. Oops.
http://www.geoguessr.com?v=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%3D
Can't stop playing this game...
Here's a round I just did. A very hard set. I had to resort to some light googling for the first one, and it was only enough to get me on the same highway, halfway across a continent.
http://www.geoguessr.com?s=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%3D%3D
xkcd on geoguessr:
http://xkcd.com/1214/
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