Over the Easter weekend, we played a version of hide and seek on a grand scale, namely in the public transport network of ZVV, in the Swiss canton of Zurich.

This game was very heavily inspired by Jet Lag: The Game, in particular their Season 9 (Hide & Seek Switzerland).

There were nine of us (four adults, five kids) participating. We split into two groups and set off. The rules we followed are detailed below.

To coordinate, we created a WhatsApp group where all the gameplay happened. This includes all the location tracking, questions, answers, curses, and proof of curse clearances.

We had also agreed that the runs would be capped at 3 hours, as we wanted both teams to have a turn. But it turned out that both groups were quite bad or unlucky at hiding. The two turns we played took 1.5 hours and 1 hour respectively.

I may tweak the rules a bit for the next time. The church photo question in particular seems worth much more than the 15 coins it currently costs.

Rules

We play hide and seek with two teams. One team starts as the hiders, the other as the seekers. We play in the ZVV network.

The hiders have 45 minutes to arrive at any public transport station. Time starts from the moment they are able to board the first public transport, or when they start walking/running if they decide to start on foot.

Only transportation that is part of the GA validity area can be used. All transportation must happen fully within the official ZVV network.

The last public transport stop within the 45 minutes defines the hiding area. It does not matter if that stop was reached with public transport or on foot. The hiding area is a 500-metre circle around that stop. Once the 45 minutes have elapsed, the hiders may not leave the hiding area. Hiders must take a picture of that stop (but not share with the seekers until they are found) as proof.

As soon as the seekers enter the hiding area, the hiders may not move any more. That hiding spot can not be more than 10 metres from an official public path. Also, the hiding spot must be publicly accessible without any entrance fee.

Seekers must share their geographic location with the hiders.

When the hiders are caught, they become the seekers and vice versa. It is then like a new game start, meaning all coins accumulated from questions reset back to zero, curses are reset, etc.

The winners are the team that was able to hide the longest.

Questions

The seekers can ask questions of the hiders. The questions must always be answered within 5 minutes (except for photos, see below). No questions can be asked if the previous one has not been answered yet.

Each question awards a number of coins which the hiders can use to buy curses.

Failure to answer a question within the allotted time resets the hiders’ coins to zero.

To avoid any misunderstandings, the hiders must include their current coins when answering, or when casting curses. This allows the seekers to disagree if they feel the hiders have counted incorrectly.

If a question requires the hiders to move, but they are no longer able to do so (because the seekers are in the hiding area), they must answer with “Unable to complete task”. No coins will be paid in this case.

Relative

These questions are used to identify the relative position of the hiders to the seekers.

They all pay 40 coins.

Latitude
Are you north or south of us?
Longitude
Are you east or west of us?
ZVV Zone
Are you in the same ZVV zone as us?
Start letter
Does the name of your transport stop start with the same letter as the one closest to us? Seekers must include their current stop in the question. This uses the most local name available. For example “Zollikon, Felbenstrasse” starts with an “F” for this, but the train station of Zollikon starts with a “Z”.
Inhabitants
Does your municipality have more or less inhabitants than our current one. Use the current data from English Wikipedia.
Hospital
Is the closest hospital to you the same as ours?

Radar

Are you within the specified distance of here (the seeker’s location)?

These questions pay 30 coins.

Possible distances to ask:

  • 100 metres
  • 200 metres
  • 500 metres
  • 1 kilometre
  • 3 kilometres
  • 5 kilometres
  • 10 kilometres
  • 20 kilometres
  • ???: pick your own distance. This can only be used once.

Photos

The hiders must respond with a photo. If the photo can not be taken inside the hiding area, the hiders must respond with “This does not exist in our hiding area.” As this still discloses worthwhile information, the coins are still awarded.

The time limit to take photos is higher. Hiders must still acknowledge the task within 5 minutes. But they have up to 15 minutes of time to send the pictures (accounting for having to walk up to 1 km).

Photos can be zoomed (maximum 5x) but not cut/cropped. Any identifying text, especially names of streets, stops, and stations, can be covered with a solid colour.

These questions pay 15 coins.

Tallest visible mountain
Send a photo of the tallest visible mountain based on your sightline
Largest body of water
Send a photo of the largest body of water in your hiding area
Town hall
Send a picture of your town hall
Train station
Send a photo of the nearest train station
Bus stop
Send a photo of the nearest bus stop
Church
Send a photo of a church visible from anywhere in the hiding area
McDonald’s
Send a photo of the closest McDonald’s
Kiosk
Send a photo of the closest kiosk
Supermarket
Send a photo of the closest supermarket
Restaurant
Send a photo of the closest restaurant
Museum
Send a photo of the closest museum
5 buildings
Send a photo where at least 5 buildings are visible

Precision

These questions are used to find the hiders once the hiding area is roughly known. Nevertheless, they may be used at any time.

These questions pay 10 coins.

Train station walking distance
How long would it take to walk to the nearest train station? Use the Google Maps walking distance calculator for this.
Metres from the nearest intersection
Rounded to 5, how many metres are you from the nearest intersection (of any two or more roads or paths)?
Street starting letter/number
What is the first letter/number of your nearest street?
Selfie
Without moving, send a picture of yourselves. All hiders must be in the picture.
Photo straight up
Send a photo with the camera facing straight up.
Same street
Are you on the same street as us?

Curses

Hiders can purchase curse dice for 50 coins per dice. Any number of dies can be purchased (e.g. also three or more). The total number rolled from the dies determines the curse being cast. If the number is higher than 12, then curse #12 applies.

Hiders must inform the seekers immediately of the curse which has been cast.

Seekers have to show proof of completing the curse using video/photo evidence.

  1. Chocolate Curse: Before you ask your next question, you must buy some chocolate.
  2. Dice Curse: To ask your next question, you must roll two dies and get a total of 8 or higher. You must wait 5 minutes before trying again.
  3. Slide Curse: A seeker must slide down a playground slide before asking the next question.
  4. Train Station Curse: The next question must be asked from a train station.
  5. Church Curse: The seekers must stand in front of a church when asking their next question.
  6. William Tell Curse: Before you ask your next question, you must knock an apple (or another object of your choice) off your partner’s head from a distance of 2 metres. If you miss, you must wait 5 minutes before your next attempt.
  7. Dice Super-Curse: To ask your next question, you must roll two dies and get a total of 10 or higher. You must wait 10 minutes before trying again.
  8. Cheese Curse: Before you ask your next question, you must buy some cheese.
  9. Museum Curse: The seekers must stand in front of a museum when asking their next question.
  10. Urban Explorer Curse: For the rest of your run, seekers cannot ask questions when they are on transit.
  11. Quay Curse: The next question must be asked from a boat/ship docking place.
  12. Change Location: The hiders have 45 minutes to change their hiding spot.

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