Rules

Game Start

Before the game starts, order is chosen by random1. The first hider has 30 minutes to find their hiding zone2.

Hiding Zone

The hider can use their legs and public transit to travel to any transit station within the map’s boundaries. Once the hiding period has concluded, the hider must stay within their hiding zone for the rest of the round.

The hider’s hiding zone is centered around a public transport station in the game map, and extends 500 meters from it3. The public transport station must be serviced by LPP at least once an hour4.

The End Game

Once the seekers have entered the hider’s hiding zone–and are no longer on a mode of transit–the end game will begin. At this point, the hider may no longer move freely; they must stay put in a publicly accessible hiding spot until they are found5. During the end game, some questions may be impossible to answer due to restrictions on the hider’s movement; in these cases, a null answer is considered a valid answer, and the hider would still pull a card6.

Hiding Spots

Hiding spots can be anywhere within your hiding zone, but they must be somewhere that is publicly accessible7 during all game hours8.

Your hiding spot must also be within 3m of a marked path or road on Google Maps and must be accessible without leaving the hiding zone.

Your hiding spot is considered final the moment that the end game starts. If you aren’t where you want to be when the seekers enter your hiding zone, too bad – wherever you’re standing at that moment is your hiding spot9. If for whatever reason you aren’t somewhere publicly accessible when the end game starts, you must immediately go to the nearest possible publicly accessible spot and stay there instead. If you get forced to move, notify the seekers and move to the closest possible location. Photo questions must be resent.

Round End

The hider is considered found once the seekers are within 2m of them and have spotted them. If the seekers are near the hider but haven’t yet identified them, then the seeker hasn’t been caught. At this point, the hider’s clock is stopped, and all time bonus cards currently in the hider’s hand are added to their time total.

After the hider is caught, the new hider is permitted up to 10 minutes for any final planning before their hiding period begins. During this time, the new seekers should reshuffle all cards back into the deck and hand it off to the new hider, turn on their trackers, exchange the investigation book, and ensure the new hider’s tracker is turned off. They will begin the next round from the last hider’s hiding spot.

The new hider has 40 minutes to find their hiding zone.

Game End

After each player has completed a hiding round, the player with the longest single hiding run is declared the winner.

Miscellaneous

If the game is not finished by 7pm, the game is paused until the next defined date of play.

You may not use Google Street View or similar. You may not intentionally search for images of specific location (if an image appears while doing general research, it is fair game, however, you may not swipe through images, etc.)

Footnotes

  1. Approximately 10 minutes before the game starts.
  2. During this time, the seekers should turn on their trackers.
  3. If part of the hiding zone extends out of the game map, that area is excluded from the game.
  4. The hiding zone may be centered around a public transport station that does not meet this criteria if a different public transport station in the hiding zone does.
  5. Once the endgame has been triggered by the seekers being off transit in the hiding zone, the endgame stays active (and the hider can’t move) until the hider is found. If the seekers enter the hiding zone without realizing and leave the zone again, the endgame still stays active. The hiders doesn’t have to announce this fact unless asked a question that would require them to move.
  6. All questions other than photo questions that must be taken from a particular location should be possible to answer during the end game.
  7. You cannot, for example, hide in a bathroom stall, or someone’s house. This does not mean that your hiding spot has to be on literal public property, but rather that the seeker’s must be able to access it at any point during the game. You should also make sure that staying in your spot for an extended period of time will not raise any suspicions or create the potential for you to get kicked out–for this reason we’d suggest avoiding stores or other businesses, even if they’re open during all game hours.
  8. All hours you will be playing, excluding rest periods.
  9. Unless you have been trapped by a photo question.