Maps and games have been linked for centuries. From board games to tabletop games, and more recently, video games, maps have become a core element of play and entertainment. Across gaming formats, maps can establish settings, act as interfaces, and even drive gameplay. And while a map often facilitates a game, rarely is the map itself the game.
This interactive app from Ahmad Barclay flips that paradigm. It turns a map of any place into a slide puzzle game.
The game starts by searching for and selecting a place. This can be as small as a stadium or a park, or as large as a city or country. Then, you pick a map style. You can choose an artistic and more abstract Stamen Watercolor map, a navigational type of map from OpenStreetMap, or a real-world imagery map from Esri. Finally, you select the difficulty, or number of tiles that make up the game. This ranges from a 3×3 grid in the easy mode to a daunting 6×6 grid for a very hard difficulty.
Once the map is generated, the game begins. Based on your selections, you’re presented with a grid of jumbled tiles, with one blank space. Just like a physical slide puzzle, you move tiles one at a time until you’ve solved it. You can zoom in or out to change the map extent on the tiles. You can also share any puzzle with your friends by creating a customized link. And if you get stuck, the shuffle tool can help you approach the puzzle from a new perspective.
When you’ve lined up all the tiles, the screen fills with a burst of confetti before showing the final map. It’s a fun way to test your geographic knowledge and explore places. But be warned. It’s harder than you might think!
More to Explore
- Learn more about the history of maps and board games.
- Take a deep dive into the world of video game cartography.
- Browse more maps and visualizations from Barclay.
