With Fortnite or currently Call of Duty: Warzone, the Battle Royale genre is incredibly popular. MeinMMO editor Noah Struthoff is also addicted to a Battle Royale, but instead of shooting his opponents, he defeats them as a cold-blooded geography nerd.
This game is about: In recent weeks, I have become downright addicted to Geoguessr. It’s a browser game where you get shown a location somewhere in the world via Google Maps. You can then move around using Street View and must figure out which country or city you are in.
There are various modes with different regions of the world. There is even a Battle Royale available, where you compete against other players and must discover your location particularly quickly. If you are too slow, you are eliminated.
In the Victory as a Geography Nerd
This is what Geoguessr looks like: There are tons of different modes to choose from. Do you want to travel only in Europe? Do you want to recognize only countries or the exact location? Do you want to be able to move around or just see that one picture? The selection is vast.
Once you have decided on a mode, you usually start directly with the first location. This is what it might look like:
On the right side of the image, you will then see a world map. If you think you have recognized the exact point, you can zoom in and select. The game will then tell you how far you were from the actual target.
This is how the Battle Royale works: In this mode, multiple players compete against each other. You have a total of 3 attempts to find the correct country. If you guess wrong 3 times or if enough other players were faster than you, you are eliminated.
In the end, it then goes to a 1-vs-1. Whoever recognizes the right country first wins the round.
A good overview of the course of a round in Battle Royale can be seen in this video:
How much does Geoguessr cost? Per day and email address, you can play exactly one round for free. However, this does not include rounds against other players, but only solo adventures.
If you want to play Battle Royale or more than just one round a day, you can subscribe.
This is how I became a geography nerd: The game excited me right from the first round. My great passion, besides gaming, is traveling. The Corona crisis is unfortunately greatly restricting that right now, so at least I can think of upcoming trips through a few pictures from other countries. It costs at least $1.99 a month.
In the first rounds, I was brutally defeated by my opponents and even in the solo rounds, I wasn’t particularly successful. I therefore watched YouTubers and noticed that there are even real leaderboards and records for Geoguessr. Several YouTubers are really successful there and can recognize their location from the smallest details.
I quickly learned some tricks and got better quickly. Let’s have a test. In which country in the world are we here?
At first glance, this looks like a completely normal city that can probably be found anywhere in the world. However, we are here in Brazil. How do I know that?
- The center line of the road is orange. This is usually only the case in America. All other continents are eliminated.
- Additionally, I see an advertisement in the background that is either Spanish or Portuguese
- The biggest clue, however, I find on the left of the bridge on the yellow wall. There is an internet address with the ending .br – that stands for Brazil (such tips with URLs can only be found by luck; they are often pixelated)
My nerd knowledge goes even further. Over the past few weeks, I have studied the countries that have left-hand traffic. This way I can recognize from the cars which countries are possible.
Additionally, there are some countries that do not have Google Street View at all. They also cannot be part of the game. This is particularly helpful when there are Arabic signs. Only 3 countries worldwide use Arabic signs and have Google Street View: Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan.
If you want to show off in front of your friends, and believe me, I have already done this, then tell them the following: Kyrgyzstan is the only country in the world that uses Google Street View and has a red stripe on the left license plate. So, if I see a car with such a red stripe on the license plate in Geoguessr, I know I am in Kyrgyzstan.
With all this knowledge and many more nerdy things that would exceed the scope here, I dominate the rounds in Geoguessr. I haven’t made it into the game’s holy leaderboard yet. But who knows, maybe that dream will also come true sometime.
If you are looking for more Battle Royale, in which you certainly have to shoot some shots too, then check this out:
The 10 best Battle Royale games in the ranking – From unpopular to popular
