jwalker9328: Crazy addictive travel game of the week

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Crazy addictive travel game of the week

Damnit we have work to do … but not before we have another go on this annoyingly difficult web-based game

You see a picture, and have to guess where it was taken.

A simple premise for a surprisingly difficult-but-not-impossible game, that threatens to destroy productivity levels in the CNN Travel office for the next week.

GeoGuessr.com throws up five random images from Google Street View and asks you to pinpoint them on a map.

You get scored depending on how far away you are -- the closer your guess, the more points you rack up.

It’s a bit like “Man Vs Wild” for mouse clickers. You get dropped in to a strange, often wild place, and have to navigate the area till you find civilization.

Come the 29th attempt, your score chart could look this good, too. Only instead of Bear Grylls vine-swinging through jungles, eating frogs and whip spiders, it’s pasty office rivals accusing each other of cheating while munching on Starbucks muffins.

Be prepared for reflex vocals along the lines of “Whaaa?” when you drop your pin into what is definitely, unquestionably rural Mexico, only to be told you were actually looking at a field in Hunan Province, China.

And be prepared to be lambasted if you spend too long scrolling through every image till you see a giveaway road sign.

“(Unnaturally descriptive expletive deleted) cheaters -- I want the record to show that my score was pure -- though I admit to playing about 20 times to get it,” said Chuck Thompson, CNN Travel’s editorial director, on hearing the news his PB was only good enough for third place.

Nothing like a bit of hateful competition between friends.

The CNNI league table currently looks like this: