During quarantine, we’ve all certainly reached the peak of boredom, so some of us have found joy in playing games, whether it be alone or with friends. Instead of a normal card or board game, my friends and I have made what I think is an interesting game to explore the outdoors from within our homes.

As I certainly missed exploring the outdoors, I wanted a way to adventure the world from my computer, and it turns out Google Earth was the perfect solution. The desktop version of Google Earth, Google Earth Pro, allows for a fullscreen bird’s eye view of any building, and it’s even in 3D! It’s truly amazing how much of the world has been mapped and saved on computers, and it’s almost uncanny walking around a virtual copy of Port Coquitlam.

Below is a screenshot from Google Earth:

This brings us to the game my friends and I played, virtual, extreme I-Spy…

The rules are simple, one person sends another a screenshot from Google Earth, and the other tries to find the exact location, utilizing any hints they are given. Of course, you could add elements such as points and a time limit to your liking. The way my friends and I played was by finding a picture online and racing to see who could find it first, this allows for both players to be playing at the same time.

For the sake of standardization, here are some rules for the version of the game with turns…

1. The Chooser finds an image of a place and gives the Finder one hint about it’s location
2. The Finder is able to ask one question per minute (for a total of 3 questions) regarding the place, however, questions that narrow the possible location to a finer point, such as “what street is this on?” are not allowed.
3. The Finder has 3 minutes to find the location and upon finding it, is given 2 points, plus an additional point for any unused hints (no points are lost for an incorrect or missing guess).
4. These steps are repeated for the next player, where the Finder then becomes the Chooser.
5. The first player to pass or hit 20 points wins, however in the event of a tie on 20, the game will continue until one player passes the rest by more than 3 points after everyone has had an equal amount of turns (so one person must have made a perfect guess, while the others didn’t in order to win on the next round).

I think the best part of this game is the fact that if you ever find a place you’d like to visit, you can put a pin down and navigate there when quarantine is finally over. Overall, I think this is an interesting game that we have made, and an excellent way to enjoy BC’s beauty safely.