GeoGuessr is a website where you are thrown into a random spot in the world on Google Maps streetview, and you have to try and guess where you are.
It’s fun to play just by itself, to see how close you can get, but it’s even more fun when you put a spin on it: writing a description of each random area you’re given.
During the last stream, chat and I played a game of GeoGuessr. Just like when we’ve done this before, we were given five random locations anywhere in the world, and we had to guess where they were.
And for each one, we had to write a short description of the area, trying to make it as vivid and detailed as possible.
Here’s some highlights of what me/chat came up with for each location, with some of my favorite phrases bolded.
Location #1: Tasmania
Moss covered the bumpy ground like a thick, scratchy blanket draped over the face of a sleeping giant. The nose, eyes, lips, each of them small bumps in the earth that burst into living fireworks of ferns and herbs. A deep forest, so dark green it was nearly black, blocked out the rest of the giant’s body from view, inviting daring explorers to stop their car on the crunchy gravel road, to come search for the Heart of the Jungle.
—MeCenturies have the trees in this park survived, almost never ending in their reach towards the heavens. A prehistoric paradise lush with foliage, the thick underbrush is as wild as the creatures housed within.
—DragonflyghterThe rubble road coursed through the land like a scar, stitching the two sides of the lush foliage together with medical precision. Gravel spilled onto the greenery like splatters of blood, invading the soft, gentle moss with gray splinters of stone.
—EricaDeelMoss mounds meet feet, on well travelled cobble streets. This state reserve is well kept, pine prisoners; windswept. Kind captors tend and tend the forest with fine comb, their home away from home, that native spirit. Foliage folds ferns. Peace is kept by day, yet dangered dusk does prey. Roots reach the path, only to meet their tenders wrath; trimming not maligned, but for passers’ peace of mind.
—RealSayakaMaizono
Location #2: Jammu and Kashmir
The mountains were so tall, so imposing, that their sheer majesty elevated the entire landscape around them. They made even the smallest plants at their base seem like trees; little mossy stains on rocks appeared as whole fields of grass and shrubs. But then, with a closer look, those plants were trees; those stains were entire fields. However tall the mountains seemed at first glance, the reality was far, far more monumental.
—MeA massive gash between mountains. Bleeding no longer; only a dried riverbed remains, sustaining life no longer.
—cozyrogersDust clung to the air and thickened on the tongue, and yet the wind was still. Rocky guardians watched over the remains of the scarce green patches that blotted the wilderness. The stories they could tell of the river that once cooled their feet and quenched their thirst. These firm giants peered ever upwards, wishing upon the clouds above them to grant them even the tiniest drops of relief.
—DragonflyghterSteep channels cut through the barren mountains, cleavages carved by the violent motion of water that would never deign to rest in these unwelcoming hills. Raw rock piled upon itself in folds, wrinkles forming an immutable record of the chaos of their creation. The lifeless landscape dominated a high valley, the hills turning a flat, sandy river into a small moat and an oasis of trees into so many stunted shrubs.
—bobicusBarren stale slate weeps by beating sun. Baking asphalt bleed from empty veins, liquids lost in these great plains. Unending emptiness inspires curiosity; why god showed such little generosity. Stubborn small stains of green pollute nature’s dreary scene. Those featureless mountains grant great views but feature no future. Unmoved, they remain, left to their fate.
—RealSayakaMaizono
Location #3: Russia/Georgia Border
The waterfall was nature’s buttcrack, perfectly split down the middle of two round, rocky cliffs. Green shrubs popped up all around its bouldered cheeks, like fungus that needed to be washed away. The dense, shadowy woods that surrounded the river served as a warning for what would happen if nature let this bout of infection spread: their smooth, stony body would be devoured by green parasites, thirsty for every last drop of their life force.
—MeThe forest did not dapple the light of the sun. No, what sun made it to the ground did so in error, a needlepoint through the thick fabric of leaves. Dark, yet welcoming, cool and fresh, one could lose the perspective of the city in these woods. Lose the claustrophobia of ever-crowding buildings and replace it with the thick comfort of the trees. Lose the easy paths of the grid and wend one’s way through ever-shifting paths. One could go so deep in this forest, lose so much of the city, that one might forget how to return.
—bobicusSounds of splashing splinter into a symphony as water falls into waterfalls, then falls again into water. A creature’s choir competes, singing songs to the beat, neverending echoes through nerve-rending trees.
—cozyrogersGravel greets green in this postcard scene. Travelers stand-in as insects, dwarfed by nature’s fortress. As lifeblood ebbs, breathless vistas of exotic beauty reveal themselves. Rugged rocks play at their own game; the great pebble race. Small stones sway by river’s bliss, their smoothness bestowed with water’s kiss. Under cloud and day, this hidden site will stay.
—RealSayakaMaizono
Location #4: Mongolia
Poverty and opulence. Both were set down upon the wide open grassy field in this middle of nowhere, with no concern for connecting them with any coherence. A dirt road carved only by sparse tire tracks alone, led into the village of mismatched, tawdry rainbow-colored shacks. Its hobbled, wooden fence morphed into a red-walled city plucked from ancient China. Pointed roofs of the royal buildings enshrined inside stood up tall and proud, second only in height to the mountains behind them. And to the gold-tipped, white shrine that watched over it all.
—MeThis image looks like how a sitar and banjo played at the same time would sound
—JewelKnightsBuildings squat in the distance, distinctly curved roofs recalling the halls of the forbidden city, once so full of the emperor’s servants, now so full of tourists. But there are no people here, and the red-colored wood fence that surrounds the complex is a pale imitation of the fortifications of Beijing. It encircles nothing but ungroomed pasture. This place had importance once, as the golden obelisks on the short hills indicate. But the discarded coke bottle lying on the ground shows us another story.
—bobicusA cornucopia of clashing cultures, confusing to the senses. To the west, a trailerpark of shanty huts dot the grass like sprinkles on mint ice cream. To the north, a temple of marble and gold stretches towards the sky, like a lighthouse in a snowstorm. To the east, a one-to-one replica of China’s Forbidden City looms, its numerous red walls capped by countless slanted shingles. To the south, bare farmland brushes against the horizon, beaten back by distant hillocks.
—cozyrogersOpen country roads begets a Cinderella of a village, peering out towards the extravagance of the temples beyond. Though the stories that lie within are unlikely one of rags-to-riches. Among the colorful huts, slightly discolored with age, it’s here that simple lives are woven in the tapestry of this tight-knit community. And where riches can be found in the unlikeliest places if one was to look within rather than beyond.
—Dragonflyghter
Location #5: Mozambique
The trees’ branches grew zig-zag as if nourished by magic itself. Petrified lightning bolts, no longer cracking fire, but rustling gentle leaves. They were watched over by calm huts, with prism-shaped thatched roofs so long and white they looked as if they were draped in furs from woolly mammoths. Welcoming orange warmth glowed from within them, inviting guests to stay a little longer. To reach into their wallet for another night.
—MeA neatly groomed grove of mangroves accented the pathway, evenly spaced in double file on either side, their trunks decorated by paper lanterns that burned bright even during the day. Ahead stood two twin mansions, poorly disguised as huts; their grass-top disguise did little to mask the warm glow of firelit hardwood radiating from within.
—cozyrogersBamboo slats provide a path from coast to resort, protecting tourist’s feet from the wet of the dark soil beneath. Mangrove tree garden the path. Trunks grow in bunched multitudes; strong branches grow broad leaves out of natural gnarls. Grounded lanterns mark the wooden steps leading to the platformed huts–no flood will conquer the cozy security of these thatched huts, rooves like upturned boats, dripping with thatch of nipa palm leaves.
—bobicusTangled limbs intertwined, tangled with enchantment. A single light hanging from one, a lantern to guide fairies to home. The white tassels of the roof rustles with the calming sea breeze, the scent of moisture melding with the spongy grass. The lonely shop urging wild hearts inside with enticing wares.
—Dragonflyghter
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Featured image: Pakutaso