How GeoParty works

You are dropped somewhere in the world in Google Street View. Look around, collect clues and put your pin on the map where you think you are. The closer your guess, the more points you score.

A round step by step

1. You start at a random spot in Street View. Depending on the mode you can move, look around and zoom.
2. Open the map and drop your pin where you think you are. On a phone, tap “Open map” first.
3. Lock in your guess before the time runs out. The default is 90 seconds; in a party the host sets the time.
4. The map then shows where you really were, how far off your guess was and how many points it scored.

A game has up to five rounds. At the end GeoParty shows the final standings, with a podium in a party.

Scoring

Every round is worth up to 5,000 points for distance, plus any bonus. A guess within 25 metres gets full points. Beyond that, points drop with distance, relative to the size of the map. That makes the small Switzerland map as tricky as the world map: in Switzerland, 30 kilometres off still scores about 1,800 points; on the world map the same holds for about 1,100 kilometres.

On the World and Big cities maps you also get +250 points for the right continent and another +500 points for the right country, so up to 5,750 points a round. The Europe map has the +500 country bonus.

Game modes

• Classic: move, look around and zoom. The best way to start.
• No moving: look around and zoom, but you cannot walk. Make do with what you see from the start.
• NMPZ (no move, pan or zoom): just look. No moving, no turning, no zooming. The mode for experts.

Game variants

• Hotspot (co-op): instead of a pin, everyone draws a circle on the map. The smaller the circle that holds the location, the more points for the whole team.
• Scavenger hunt: find categories such as “yellow car” or “church tower” anywhere in Street View, tick them off with the current view, then review each other’s finds.

Solo, against others or as a party

• Singleplayer: play at your own pace, no account needed.
• Solo Unranked: join a queue and play against others who want a game right now.
• Solo Ranked: like Unranked, but the result counts for your Elo rating. Requires an account.
• Party: start a party and invite up to four friends with the code or link. You play the same locations at the same time and see who got closest.

Elo and leaderboards

Every map has its own leaderboard. Solo Ranked and parties (not friendly games) with several signed-in players and at least three rounds change your Elo rating: beat others and you climb, lose and you drop. The leaderboard also lists the best games. Hotspot and scavenger hunt do not count for Elo or statistics.

Tips for beginners

• Driving side: if cars drive on the left you may be in the UK, Ireland, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India or Thailand.
• The sun: in the northern hemisphere the midday sun is in the south, in the southern hemisphere in the north.
• Script and language: Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Thai or Japanese characters narrow the region down at once. Letters like å, ł or ő give away the language.
• Signs and ads: phone numbers with area codes and web addresses ending in .ch, .de or .fr are often the fastest clue.
• Plates and roads: licence plate colours and shapes, centre lines (yellow in the Americas) and roadside bollards differ from country to country.
• Landscape: vegetation, soil colour, mountains and building styles narrow down the climate and region.

You will find more clues for each map on the map pages.

Play for free