# Geoguessr **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 20, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831 "2013-05-20T16:06:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/21 "2013-05-20T23:56:54Z")
I’m getting a lot of “totally nondescript highway” pictures. I guess if I were a botanist I’d have better luck with those. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/22 "2013-05-21T04:28:31Z")
1. Totally addictive. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/23 "2013-05-21T05:17:40Z")
I kind of suck at it, though I’m getting better at working certain things out. Two of the ones I’ve gotten were utterly easy, though… 1. It dropped me right in front of the local post office in McBee, South Carolina, so I was able to get pretty close just dropping the tag in SC. 2. Landed on a city street, turning around to try and orient myself, three of the first four signs I was able to read had the following words, in the order I saw them - Northern, Alaska, and Juneau. ‘Gee, wonder if I might be in Juneau, Alaska…’ And, yeah…lots of ‘wow, highway…that there’s a lot of road…’ And when the best one can do to narrow it down is ‘I think I’m in Russia’, ‘Canada, yep’, or ‘Well, that’s totally Australia’…well, you can be correct to that extent, and STILL quite a ways off. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/24 "2013-05-21T06:54:30Z")
So many “empty forest road in the middle of nowhere, Canada” :). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/25 "2013-05-21T07:35:10Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I just scored 27,554 points which I believe is my personal best. > I also got one .004 KM away. In other words, ~12 feet. It was worth 6,479 points. I just got 6478 points for 0.013 km distance. I guess the points stop scaling at a certain point. Mine was a Russian statue. Had no luck trying to type in the Cyrillic inscription, but with a bit of hunting I was able to match the birth/death date to a Russian aviator with a monument in Nizhny Novgorod. Kinda neat. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/26 "2013-05-21T08:35:16Z")
Mostly fun, except for “nondescript road in the middle of the desert”, “nondescript road in the middle of the forest”, and “nondescript road in the middle of the tundra”. Last time I played, I started, 5 times in a row, on a logging road in Romania. The first time, I was able to find a sign that had the name of the forest on it; the other times, I drove down the road until I found a village, then looked at an intersection. The fourth and fifth times I got a logging road in a row, I just clicked near one of the green blotches on the map of Romania and got a good score. My best was .0077 KM I believe. Edit: Er, that might be .077. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/27 "2013-05-21T10:59:43Z")
How is it cheating to look up store names and intersections? Isn’t that kind of the point? Drive around and look for clues? ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/28 "2013-05-21T12:29:53Z")
I got [11,963](http://www.geoguessr.com?v=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%3D%3D) on my first try. I can’t tell Greek from Cyrillic, apparently. This is a fun game. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/29 "2013-05-21T12:59:09Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > How is it cheating to look up store names and intersections? Isn’t that kind of the point? Drive around and look for clues? With and without Googling makes it a different game, it’s not necessarily cheating to Google. It’s rather a lot easier to get a high score when you go outside the framework of the game itself to look up street or business names. You still get in trouble with the deserted logging road, but I feel as though doing all the guessing in my head is more fun than looking up the signs I see. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/30 "2013-05-21T13:34:26Z")
You guys think the nondescript roads are hard? Just wait until you get a nondescript patch of snow with nothing in sight but snowmobiles. That could be anywhere north of the arctic circle. As it turns out it was in Svalbard. Yes, Google street view has pictures of a snowmobile trail in f\*cking Svalbard. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/31 "2013-05-21T13:35:25Z")
16041, no googling. I lucked out with the map showing a town in Sweden, but got boned over a Russian location that was way farther north than I would have expected, given the lack of pine trees, and I got a Tasmanian coast location, but picked Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/32 "2013-05-21T14:02:33Z")
Definitely two different games. With Google it’s a detective game and a test of Google-fu. Without Google it’s more a test of botany, geography, language skills and landmark knowledge. I think I generally prefer the “without Google” variant because I feel much more impressed with myself when I can pinpoint an area to within a thousand miles or so based on clues like language and foliage. I still manage to consistently confuse “middle of nowhere Canada” with “middle of nowhere southeast America” somehow, though. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/33 "2013-05-21T14:13:29Z")
Dirt road in the desert with English signs and cattle ranches? Australia, you say? Botswana. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/34 "2013-05-21T14:41:12Z")
I just got a Botswana, and chose South Africa. The business logo with a star in the south end of the African continent was a big help, otherwise I was probably going to go with a british tropical island of some sort. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/35 "2013-05-21T15:25:38Z")
Woot! 14105. Of course, half of that came from the last one, where it plopped me down within view of A) a big blue water tower that read “South Padre Island”, and B) a clearly-signed intersection with a Whattaburger. Quick scroll of the Texas coast, and boom. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/36 "2013-05-21T17:06:28Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Dirt road in the desert with English signs and cattle ranches? Australia, you say? > > Botswana. Haha, yes…I had that happen with South Africa. Which was kind of amusing to me, since the first time I met a South African, I thought he was Australian, because the accents are so damned similar… ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/37 "2013-05-21T17:31:05Z")
I just scored [17,095](http://www.geoguessr.com?v=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%3D%3D). I apparently suck at Russia and its former territories. I can’t wait to see how bad I will be in Asia. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/38 "2013-05-21T17:50:27Z")
Been playing for a few days now, but I think I just hit a high score with 11,000ish. On one of my other games I got dropped in exactly the same place as I did on my first game (no confusing Texas for Australia that time), so they must have a finite amount of locations picked out, I just can’t believe I got dropped in the same intersection looking at the same building twice in the 10 games or 20 games that I’ve played. Also, [xkcd: Geoguessr](http://xkcd.com/1214/) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/39 "2013-05-21T17:51:49Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > So many “empty forest road in the middle of nowhere, Canada” :). Funny how that looks exactly the same as ‘empty forest road in the middle of nowhere, Russia’. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831/40 "2013-05-21T18:14:53Z")
Testing this out, I got 17433 with this [Map](http://www.geoguessr.com?s=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%3D) anyone beat that without googling? Comments I got Texas and Alaska pretty much dead on, got as close as I’d ever get in Brazil and Russia, and missed North Dakota by a 1000 miles! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geoguessr/658831.md?page=3)