- Geography-based game recently held its world championship to find the expert of Google Maps
- Practise your English with our short listening exercises: play the audio linked below; answer the questions; and check the answers at the bottom of the page
Dutch player Consus was crowned champion in the first official world championship organised by Geoguessr. Photo: Instagram/geoguessr
Questions
1. Complete the following sentence using information from the podcast.
The inaugural Geoguessr World Championship held in Stockholm saw (i) _____ players competing for a prize pool of (ii) _____.
2. Who was crowned champion in the Geoguessr World Championship?
A. Dutch
B. Blinky
C. Consus
D. Georainbolt
3. When was Geoguessr created?
A. 2010
B. 2011
C. 2012
D. 2013
4. How many registered users does Geoguessr currently have worldwide?
A. 15 million
B. 50 million
C. 65 million
D. information not given
5. Which of the following describes how the Geoguessr game is played?
(1) Players need to put their cursor on the world map and click the correct location.
(2) Players use voice recognition to help them find landmarks.
(3) Players are given a random location on Earth and they have to figure out where it is.
A. (1) and (2) only
B. (1) and (3) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. all of the above
6. If you “scrutinise” something, you …
A. examine it very carefully
B. take a quick glance at it
C. do not pay much attention to it
D. pay absolutely no attention to it
7. Which of the following is not a clue or tip that top players use to identify locations in Geoguessr?
(1) markings on the ground
(2) car number plates
(3) position of the camera on Google’s cars
(4) colour of the soil
A. (1), (2) and (3) only
B. (1), (3) and (4) only
C. (1), (2) and (4) only
D. none of the above
8. Why is the position of the camera on Google’s cars different in Sri Lanka and Japan?
A. due to privacy reasons
B. due to the different type of vehicles used in these countries
C. due to the sort of cameras used
D. due to cultural preferences
9. Which word has a similar meaning to “uncanny” in the podcast?
A. normal
B. smart
C. predictable
D. extraordinary
10. How much time does it take for Trevor Rainbolt to identify a location in Geoguessr?
A. less than a second
B. exactly one second
C. slightly more than 10 seconds
D. less than a minute
11. How much time did Trevor Rainbolt spend every day playing Geoguessr during the pandemic?
A. eight hours
B. 12 hours
C. 18 hours
D. 20 hours
12. According to Trevor Rainbolt in the podcast, what does mastering Geoguessr require?
(1) research
(2) communication
(3) hard work
A. (1) and (2) only
B. (1) and (3) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. all of the above
13. Apart from playing the game, what else has Geoguessr inspired Trevor Rainbolt to do?
A. start writing travel blogs
B. become a geography teacher
C. travel to different countries
D. create his own location-based game
14. Where did Trevor Rainbolt travel to last year?
A. Brazil
B. Bosnia
C. Bahrain
D. Botswana
Answers
1. (i) 24: (ii) US$50,000
2. C
3. D
4. C
5. B
6. A
7. D
8. A
9. D
10. A
11. C
12. B
13. C
14. D
Script
Adapted from Agence France-Presse
Voice 1: Geoguessr is a game that challenges players to identify a location anywhere in the world after seeing one image. The best gamers who can do this in less than a second faced off in Stockholm last month. Twenty-four players competed in the first official world championship organised by Geoguessr, with a US$50,000 prize pool. Dutch player Consus was crowned champion after defeating French player Blinky in the grand finals.
Voice 2: Created by the Swedish trio Anton Wallen, Daniel Antell and Erland Ranvinge, Geoguessr was born on May 10, 2013, when it was published on a popular platform for coders. The game now has 65 million registered users worldwide. It is also frequently played by kids and in schools.
Voice 1: The idea is simple: a player is dropped somewhere in the world on Google Maps Street View and has to guess where they are. They put their cursor on the world map and click on the location they think is correct. The closer the player is to the real spot, the more points they get.
Voice 2: The world’s top players have come up with a range of clues and tips to help them identify locations after hours spent scrutinising pictures online. These can be black dots on Argentinian number plates, ground markings in Greece, vegetation, the colour of the soil, or even the position of the camera on Google’s cars, which is lower in Sri Lanka and Japan for privacy reasons.
Voice 1: Trevor Rainbolt, known online as Georainbolt, is one of the biggest stars in the Geoguessr game community for his uncanny ability to determine the location of a Google Maps picture in a tenth of a second – less than the blink of an eye.
Voice 2: According to the player, who is from the United States, mastering Geoguessr requires a lot of work and research – he admitted to playing about 18 hours a day during the pandemic! But that’s not all; the game has also made Rainbolt want to see the world in real life. Just last year, he went to Botswana, and his new-found love for countries continues to grow thanks to the game.