Jet Lag The Game: Hide and Seek

Here's a little diagram to help illustrate how matching questions can work:

IS YOUR NEAREST MOUNTAIN THE SAME AS MY NEAREST MOUNTAIN?

This category can be useful at any point in the game, though seekers often need to move to maximize their effectiveness. It is important to note: if locations are not within a map's boundaries, players must operate as if they do not exist. For example, if the seekers asked if they shared the same nearest commercial airport as the hider, but the only commercial airports were outside the map's boundaries, it would return a null answer (null answers count as answered questions, and hiders get to draw cards).

If there is any ambiguity, an airport is considered commercial if you can view flights to/from it via Google Flights.

Important: Seekers may only ask this question while riding public transit.

The answer is yes if the transit the seekers are currently riding will stop at the hider's station. For clarity, best practice is for seekers to screenshot all the stations their transit will stop at and send them to the hider.

If the seekers are on a limited-stop/express train that passes through the hider's station but does not stop at it, the hider should answer "no." A "yes" answer is only given when the seekers' train would stop at the hider's station.

Number of characters (hyphens and spaces count) in the station name as defined by your mapping app. If the app includes the word "station," that counts.

A street or path is considered to have ended when it acquires a different name. This includes changing from, say, "Jet Lag St. East" to "Jet Lag St. West."

If the street or path is unnamed, it's considered to start or end wherever it has an intersection.

This is the biggest formal category of division. For the US, it would be states. In Switzerland, cantons. In Japan, prefectures.

A more detailed level of division. In the US, this is counties. In Switzerland, districts. In Japan, subprefectures.

One more level down. In the US, Switzerland, and Japan, this would be a municipality. Municipality borders can be occasionally difficult to define, so it's up to the seekers to clarify any ambiguity.

Some places have no fourth administrative division, but many larger cities do. For example, New York City has boroughs. Zurich has districts. Tokyo has special wards.

Anything correctly classified as a mountain by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

An area of land that is in one piece, not broken by a waterway. If the hider is on a landmass that is entirely surrounded by the landmass the seekers are on, it counts as a match.

We urge players to be reasonable about this. There's interesting geography discussion to be had about what's a landmass and what isn't. If your geography has any weird edge cases, we encourage you to discuss them beforehand! In game, as always, it is up to the seekers to clarify any ambiguity when they are asking a question.

Anything correctly classified as a park by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

There's a possibility that measuring to the map icon can lead to strange outcomes—for example, if you are in a very large park but far from the center, you may be several miles from that park's map icon. You might be closer to the icon of a smaller, nearby park. This can mean that you are forced to say that your nearest park is the small one even though you are literally in the bigger park. Nonetheless, measuring to the map icon is the best, most objective way we've found to handle these questions, so we encourage sticking to this system even when it produces these edge case outcomes.

Anything correctly categorized as an amusement park by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as a zoo by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as an aquarium by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

An outdoor golf course. Miniature golf does not count. Driving ranges do not count. Measure distance from the map icon.
We urge seekers to clarify their understanding of what counts when sending this question.

Anything correctly categorized as a museum by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as a movie theater by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as a hospital by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as a library by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as a foreign consulate by your mapping app. Exclude honorary consulates. Measure distance from the map icon.

Here are two little diagrams to help illustrate how measuring questions can work:

COMPARED TO ME, ARE YOU CLOSER TO OR FURTHER FROM A COASTLINE?

COMPARED TO ME, ARE YOU CLOSER TO OR FURTHER FROM AN AIRPORT?

These questions are always useful, helping to slice the search area in unique ways. It is important to note: if locations are not within a map's boundaries, players must operate as if they do not exist. For example, if the seekers asked if they were closer to or further from an international border than the hider, but there were no international borders in the map's boundaries, it would return a null answer (null answers count as answered questions, and hiders get to draw cards).

If there is any ambiguity, an airport is considered commercial if you can view flights to/from it via Google Flights.

Different countries sometimes have different definitions of high speed rail so it is worth using whatever definition is locally applicable. Otherwise, we recommend following the EU definition: minimum speed of 250 km/h (155 mph) on lines specially built for high speed and of about 200 km/h (124 mph) on existing lines which have been specially upgraded.

Includes light and heavy rail; metros/subways count.

Enclaves count!

This is a border between the biggest formal category of division. For the US, it would be states. In Switzerland, cantons. In Japan, prefectures.

This is a border between the next level of division. In the US, this is counties. In Switzerland, districts. In Japan, subprefectures.

This refers to a player's altitude.
You can find this using your phone's compass. Fair warning: sometimes the compass is wrong, so don't rely too heavily on this being 100% accurate.

Any named body of water on your maps app, excluding pools.

Defining where a coastline begins is a famously difficult geographical question. Here is the definition we have developed—we're not saying it's perfect, but at least it is objective.

For our purposes, a coastline is defined as any place where land meets either the ocean, a great lake, or a body of water that flows directly into the ocean or great lake via a waterway that is never less than 1 mile across.

We recommend you don't rely on this to be super precise, and that you consult with each other if there's any weirdness.

Anything correctly classified as a mountain by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly classified as a park by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon. As noted in the park matching question, this could lead to strangeness. If you are in a large park, a mile from the park icon, you might have to say you are a mile away from any park despite the fact that you are in a park. Nonetheless, we believe measuring to the icon is the cleanest and most objective system.

Anything correctly categorized as an amusement park by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as a zoo by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as an aquarium by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

An outdoor golf course. Miniature golf does not count. Driving ranges do not count. Measure distance from the map icon.
We urge seekers to clarify their understanding of what counts when sending this question.

Anything correctly categorized as a museum by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as a movie theater by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as a hospital by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as a library by your mapping app. Measure distance from the map icon.

Anything correctly categorized as a foreign consulate by your mapping app. Exclude honorary consulates. Measure distance from the map icon.

Here's a little diagram to help illustrate how radar questions can work:

ARE YOU WITHIN 100 MILES OF ME?

These questions are a good way of verifying whether you are in a right general area, or crossing off a particularly dense part of the map.

It's important to note that radars are asking about your location, not your hiding zone. If the radar would encompass part of your hiding zone, but not your location at the time of answering, it would be a miss.

When starting a thermometer question, you should inform the hider that you are starting a thermometer and send them your current location (recommend sending a pin through Google or Apple Maps). Then, after traveling a sufficient distance (measured as the crow flies), send them your new location. If the new location is closer to the hider's current location, you are hotter; otherwise, you are colder.

Here's a little diagram to help illustrate how thermometer questions can work:

AFTER TRAVELING 10 MILES, AM I HOTTER OR COLDER?

These questions are a good way of determining whether you are moving in the right direction.

Photo questions are useful for getting a general sense of where the hider is, or for confirming you've arrived at the right station (but you cannot use Google Street View to assess photos or verify stations from afar).

Must stand directly outside a station entrance. If multiple, choose one. Must include roof and both sides, with the top of the building in the top 1/3 of the frame.

Must include both sides of the street; background not required.

Must include the entire tree.

Tallest building from your perspective, not objectively tallest. Must include top and both sides. Top must be in top 1/3 of the frame.

Selfie mode, perpendicular to ground, arm extended, default lens, no zoom.

Place phone on ground, shoot directly up, no zoom.

Same as above, but must stand directly outside a station entrance.

In general, the transit station itself cannot count as the tallest building visible from the station, unless unrelated (e.g., MetLife building atop Grand Central Station).

Street/path must be visible on mapping app; trace intersection to intersection (use photo editing app or tracing on paper).

Bottom to up to four stories.

No zoom. Take picture through the window from outside.

No zoom, perpendicular to ground. Must stand 5 feet from any obstruction.

No zoom. Stand at the end of the aisle, shoot directly down.

5' x 5' section with 3 distinct elements. The litmus test: can someone match it if they visit the spot?

5' x 5' section with 3 distinct elements.

Must be continuous, include 5 turns, no doubling back. North-south oriented. Must be traceable on a map.

Tallest from your perspective. Max 3x zoom; top in top 1/3 of frame.

Max 3x zoom. Must include both sides or horizon. Partially counted if only a portion is inside.

Bottom to up to four stories.

Here's a little diagram to help illustrate how tentacle questions can work:

Which zoo within 15 miles of me are you nearest to? (You must also be within 15 miles of me)

These questions are most useful near the end of the game as a high-cost but high-density option. You can imagine that by asking such a question, you turn all the specified locations into tentacles, reaching out to catch the hider. One of them will grab the hider and return an answer.

Anything correctly categorized as a museum by your mapping app.

Anything correctly categorized as a library by your mapping app.

Anything correctly categorized as a movie theater by your mapping app.

Anything correctly categorized as a hospital by your mapping app.

Drawn as colored lines in Google Maps.

Anything correctly categorized as a zoo by your mapping app.

Anything correctly categorized as an aquarium by your mapping app.

Anything correctly categorized as an amusement park by your mapping app.