In the early ’90s, the combo of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? and GeoSafari games instilled in me a lifelong curiosity about the world’s lesser-known countries — the further away and harder to pronounce, the more exotic in my mind. I want to believe today’s elementary schoolers are using GeoGuessr to develop similar interests. The web-based video game consists of five rounds in which the player is virtually dropped somewhere random in the country, continent or world (you can set it to whichever) on Google Street View. Poke around for clues — the side of the road cars are driving on, the language the signs are in, types of vegetation, flags flown and so on — and once you think you know where you’re at, you drop a pin and are awarded points according to how close you are. You might lose hours of your life to GeoGuessr, but it’ll resharpen your geography game big-time with all the rabbit holes it sends you down. It’s a perfect activity for these times of homebound wanderlust, and also makes you really consider what a crazy thing Google Street View is, maybe for the first time since it was introduced back in 2007. Visit geoguessr.com to play. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN
