Dense city centres
Cities is the dense-built mode: the scatter around each anchor point is reduced, so the panorama almost always lands downtown rather than on the way out. More signage, shopfronts and people means more to work with.
In city mode the scatter around each anchor is cut by nearly two thirds, so the panorama almost always lands among buildings rather than on the way out. More signage, shopfronts, people and transport means more to work with, which makes it one of the friendliest modes for beginners.
Downtown there is almost always some: shop names, adverts, house-number plates. Even an unfamiliar language identifies itself by alphabet.
Web addresses on windows and vans end in a national zone. It is the fastest route to the country.
Public transport type, taxi colour and route numbers at stops differ between cities far more than architecture does.
Downtown, text is the main source: shop names, adverts, route numbers at stops. Even in an unfamiliar language, a domain on a sign (.pl, .cz, .br) settles the country instantly.
A city centre gives you many cues, so a second check pays off. Found a sign in the right language? Pin down the city via a route number or street name and turn three thousand points into nearly five.
If you land on a blank block, head for a junction: downtown they come thick and fast, and two hundred metres almost always reaches something readable.
| A domain on a sign | Web addresses end in a national zone: .pl, .cz, .br. The fastest route to the country. |
| Route number at a stop | Tied to a specific city and often to a district. |
| Taxi colour | Varies between cities more than between countries: yellow in New York, green and yellow in Mexico City, black in London. |
| Type of public transport | Trams, trolleybuses, metro and elevated rail are unevenly distributed. |
| Local chain logos | Banks, supermarkets and mobile operators are almost always national. |
| House number plates | Format and colour are standardised nationally. |
| Rounds per game | 5 |
| Time limit | none |
| Camera restrictions | none |
| Anchor points | 147 |
| Available in duels | yes |
| Hints | yes |
A direct hit is worth 5000 points per round, and the score falls off exponentially with distance. A five-round game is worth up to 25,000. Distances are measured on the server against its own copy of the locations, so a result cannot be forged from the browser.
| Miss | Points per round |
|---|---|
| direct hit | 5,000 |
| 1 km | 4,998 |
| 10 km | 4,975 |
| 50 km | 4,877 |
| 200 km | 4,524 |
| 500 km | 3,894 |
| 1,000 km | 3,033 |
| 2,000 km | 1,839 |
| 5,000 km | 410 |
| other hemisphere | 34 |
What the pool for this mode is made of:
| Europe | 29 |
| Asia and Oceania | 26 |
| The Americas | 20 |
| Africa and the Middle East | 10 |
| Russia and the CIS | 62 |
Only in scatter: the same anchors, but a smaller offset from the city centre.
Usually yes — a city centre has more tells than a highway.
Occasionally, but the pool is deliberately biased towards dense areas.