Part 2 of my botanical tea challenge is dropping into the cup, again featuring some major tea growing regions of the world.
In combination with the first challenge you should develop a decent grasp of the major tea growing areas of the world. Unlike the first challenge, this set of 5 locations doesn't feature as much English influence as although they were largely responsible for the spread of black tea around their empire, they weren't huge fans of green tea. The influence of Chinese tea growing practices is still very strong though.
These rounds are not easy to pinpoint (no-one managed a 25k for the first cup, and very few people got more than one 5k) but if you know where tea is typically grown you should at least be able to get a good region guess in. And if you don't, then the country should at least be somewhat obvious.
Link to challenge 12 series 30. Congratulations to noth Angoose52 and to FinalSpork for top spot (3 points, 13 yards) and to LaDecadence and Geography Noob for second place (2 points, 15 yards). All other 25K's get one point. Table is updated below.
The previous challenge had the least engagement in 360 challenges, with just 47 taking part, of which only 19 25K'd. If the lack of interest is because of the World Cup, I can make them every three days over this period if you prefer. If it's because it's coming towards the end of the challenge, don't forget that the top 10 carry points over into the overall tally, so there's still plenty to fight for! As in who could win this series, it's neck and neck: Brussels Waffles and Stranded on the Moon could both win it if they get 3 points, but depending on how they do, moonradio, LaDecadence, and Ruffinnen could still catch them up! But as I said before, there's plenty of points up for grabs, so keep focused!
Today's is fairly straightforward and shouldn't cause too many problems. Even so, as always: take your time; there's no extra points for doing it quickly.
This is the twelfth (and last) of the thirtieth series based on my own GeoDetective map. No moving, no time-limit (take your time!). There is always a clue somewhere that will help you pinpoint the location, some are easier than others. Feel free to leave walkthroughs in comments or ask where the clue was if you missed it, but always use the spoiler tag so as not to spoil it for others! Official coverage only.
Below are the results so far after the first week of Series 6. Close game so far I would say:
And here is the 5k table. One thing I did this week is start compiling a spreadsheet for records. I still have some left to go through and check (like furthest closest guess that was asked about this week), but I did most of the cumulative records. This allows me to confidently say that Ruffinnen set a record for 5k points in a week with 25 (previous record was 19 by plouky during Week 2 of Series 5). This is thanks to a 25k as well as a couple NM 5ks, pretty neat stuff.
How it works
Each day there will be a set of 3 challenge links, one for each game mode (Move, NM, NMPZ). There will be a world map, region map, and country map. Each day the map and game mode will rotate. Moving modes will be 3 min, NM will be 1 min, and NMPZ will be 30 sec, unless noted otherwise. On the weekend, I will post more unique/challenging maps. For each challenge link, 1st place is worth 5 points, 2nd place is worth 3 points, and 3rd place is worth 1 point. In the case of a tie, the tie will be settled by distance and then time. 5ks will also be tracked separately and are worth 1 point in moving, 3 points in NM, and 5 points in NMPZ. Updated scoring tables are posted after each week. No external assistance allowed. If you wish to talk about any of the rounds or locations in the comments, feel free to do so with a spoiler tag. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.
More About Today's Maps
Below are the links to the maps featured in today's challenges if you wish to read more about them or play them yourself:
Each day there will be a set of 3 challenge links, one for each game mode (Move, NM, NMPZ). There will be a world map, region map, and country map. Each day the map and game mode will rotate. Moving modes will be 3 min, NM will be 1 min, and NMPZ will be 30 sec, unless noted otherwise. On the weekend, I will post more unique/challenging maps. For each challenge link, 1st place is worth 5 points, 2nd place is worth 3 points, and 3rd place is worth 1 point. In the case of a tie, the tie will be settled by distance and then time. 5ks will also be tracked separately and are worth 1 point in moving, 3 points in NM, and 5 points in NMPZ. Updated scoring tables are posted after each week. No external assistance allowed. If you wish to talk about any of the rounds or locations in the comments, feel free to do so with a spoiler tag. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.
More About Today's Maps
Below are the links to the maps featured in today's challenges if you wish to read more about them or play them yourself:
Link to challenge 11 series 30. Congratulations to both Stranded on the Moon and to bitlympics for coming top (3 points, 11 yards), and to all three of plouky, Lyloor and Brussels Waffles who all come second (2 points, 12 yards). All other 25K's get one point. Table is updated below.
Today's has a couple of hard rounds, and a nice surprise in R2. But if you struggle, rest assured that R5 is a really easy one to end up on. And, as always: take your time; there's no extra points for doing it quickly.
This is the eleventh of the thirtieth series based on my own GeoDetective map. No moving, no time-limit (take your time!). There is always a clue somewhere that will help you pinpoint the location, some are easier than others. Feel free to leave walkthroughs in comments or ask where the clue was if you missed it, but always use the spoiler tag so as not to spoil it for others! Official coverage only.
Each day there will be a set of 3 challenge links, one for each game mode (Move, NM, NMPZ). There will be a world map, region map, and country map. Each day the map and game mode will rotate. Moving modes will be 3 min, NM will be 1 min, and NMPZ will be 30 sec, unless noted otherwise. On the weekend, I will post more unique/challenging maps. For each challenge link, 1st place is worth 5 points, 2nd place is worth 3 points, and 3rd place is worth 1 point. In the case of a tie, the tie will be settled by distance and then time. 5ks will also be tracked separately and are worth 1 point in moving, 3 points in NM, and 5 points in NMPZ. Updated scoring tables are posted after each week. No external assistance allowed. If you wish to talk about any of the rounds or locations in the comments, feel free to do so with a spoiler tag. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.
More About Today's Maps
Below are the links to the maps featured in today's challenges if you wish to read more about them or play them yourself:
Congrats to those who got 25k on last week'sย Theme Challenge #66: plouky, fbrasseur, Daniblonds, FtoT TinOF, Jesse, Guybrush Threepwood, and Ruffinnen. The overall average among 71 players was 20,995. That's the highest average score on any of my challenges, and it comes only two weeks after the previous highest average.
This week's challenge will play a little tougher. It's also the challenge which took me the longest to design.
As a quick reminder, this is a moving challengeย without external assistance.
Here'sย a spreadsheetย with all of my past theme challenges.
Please feel free to post your thoughts and reactions below (in spoilers when necessary). I'll also provide my own comments.
๐ฒ๐ฝ 5k's: charliebobo82, Erwan C,Giovanni1798p, Ruffinnen, GleefulGlacier, maxermax2, adaisyx, FinalSpork, Dr. Niamor, DeLillo, Zapken, Ben Dez, No Love Deep Web, basil_ollie; Closest: No Love Deep Web, 6 m
๐น๐ญ 5k's: None; Closest: Quinten Monteny, 100 km
How it works
Each day there will be a set of 3 challenge links, one for each game mode (Move, NM, NMPZ). There will be a world map, region map, and country map. Each day the map and game mode will rotate. Moving modes will be 3 min, NM will be 1 min, and NMPZ will be 30 sec, unless noted otherwise. On the weekend, I will post more unique/challenging maps. For each challenge link, 1st place is worth 5 points, 2nd place is worth 3 points, and 3rd place is worth 1 point. In the case of a tie, the tie will be settled by distance and then time. 5ks will also be tracked separately and are worth 1 point in moving, 3 points in NM, and 5 points in NMPZ. Updated scoring tables are posted after each week. No external assistance allowed. If you wish to talk about any of the rounds or locations in the comments, feel free to do so with a spoiler tag. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.
More About Today's Maps
Below are the links to the maps featured in today's challenges if you wish to read more about them or play them yourself:
Link to challenge 10 series 30. Congratulations to Brussels Waffles for top spot (14 yards, 3 points) and to Ruffinnen for second place (15 yards, 2 points). All other 25K's get one point. Table is updated below.
Today's is again quite doable, and again I think R4 will be the toughest. Though, as always: take your time; there's no extra points for doing it quickly.
This is the tenth of the thirtieth series based on my own GeoDetective map. No moving, no time-limit (take your time!). There is always a clue somewhere that will help you pinpoint the location, some are easier than others. Feel free to leave walkthroughs in comments or ask where the clue was if you missed it, but always use the spoiler tag so as not to spoil it for others! Official coverage only.
Each day there will be a set of 3 challenge links, one for each game mode (Move, NM, NMPZ). There will be a world map, region map, and country map. Each day the map and game mode will rotate. Moving modes will be 3 min, NM will be 1 min, and NMPZ will be 30 sec, unless noted otherwise. On the weekend, I will post more unique/challenging maps. For each challenge link, 1st place is worth 5 points, 2nd place is worth 3 points, and 3rd place is worth 1 point. In the case of a tie, the tie will be settled by distance and then time. 5ks will also be tracked separately and are worth 1 point in moving, 3 points in NM, and 5 points in NMPZ. Updated scoring tables are posted after each week. No external assistance allowed. If you wish to talk about any of the rounds or locations in the comments, feel free to do so with a spoiler tag. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.
More About Today's Maps
Below are the links to the maps featured in today's challenges if you wish to read more about them or play them yourself:
๐ณ๐ฆ 5k's: None; Closest: Giovanni1798p, 18 km
How it works
Each day there will be a set of 3 challenge links, one for each game mode (Move, NM, NMPZ). There will be a world map, region map, and country map. Each day the map and game mode will rotate. Moving modes will be 3 min, NM will be 1 min, and NMPZ will be 30 sec, unless noted otherwise. On the weekend, I will post more unique/challenging maps. For each challenge link, 1st place is worth 5 points, 2nd place is worth 3 points, and 3rd place is worth 1 point. In the case of a tie, the tie will be settled by distance and then time. 5ks will also be tracked separately and are worth 1 point in moving, 3 points in NM, and 5 points in NMPZ. Updated scoring tables are posted after each week. No external assistance allowed. If you wish to talk about any of the rounds or locations in the comments, feel free to do so with a spoiler tag. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.
More About Today's Maps
Below are the links to the maps featured in today's challenges if you wish to read more about them or play them yourself:
I dislike tea in all varieties. Black, green, milk, bubble, bags, spilled. There's nothing you can throw into a cup of hot water that will improve on clean, cold water. Except freshly ground coffee beans.
My personal prejudice aside, knowing where tea is grown in the world can help to identify where you are, usually somewhere between the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. Usually. Also this is part one of two because there are a lot of tea places in the world and I figuratively threw away one of the rounds in this challenge for a joke.
This challenge also has more of a historical angle than a botanical one. It largely shows where the Brits decided to grow and export tea after discovering that they liked hot grass water enough to "steal" it from the Chinese.
3 minutes per round, moving yes, cake yes, tea no.
Each day there will be a set of 3 challenge links, one for each game mode (Move, NM, NMPZ). There will be a world map, region map, and country map. Each day the map and game mode will rotate. Moving modes will be 3 min, NM will be 1 min, and NMPZ will be 30 sec, unless noted otherwise. On the weekend, I will post more unique/challenging maps. For each challenge link, 1st place is worth 5 points, 2nd place is worth 3 points, and 3rd place is worth 1 point. In the case of a tie, the tie will be settled by distance and then time. 5ks will also be tracked separately and are worth 1 point in moving, 3 points in NM, and 5 points in NMPZ. Updated scoring tables are posted after each week. No external assistance allowed. If you wish to talk about any of the rounds or locations in the comments, feel free to do so with a spoiler tag. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.
More About Today's Maps
Below are the links to the maps featured in today's challenges if you wish to read more about them or play them yourself:
Link to challenge 9 series 30. Congratulations to both Stranded on the Moon and to Soma DMT who both come top (3 points, 15 yards), and to Ruffinnen for second spot (2 points, 16 yards). All other 25K's get one point. Table is updated below.
Today's is fine. I can see a lot of people 25K'ing it, but who will be closest? None of the rounds stand out as being harder than the others. But, as always: take your time; there's no extra points for doing it quickly.
This is the ninth of the thirtieth series based on my own GeoDetective map. No moving, no time-limit (take your time!). There is always a clue somewhere that will help you pinpoint the location, some are easier than others. Feel free to leave walkthroughs in comments or ask where the clue was if you missed it, but always use the spoiler tag so as not to spoil it for others! Official coverage only.
After a long ado, congratulations to FinalSpork for being the overall winner of Series 5. Below are the winners for each gamemode:
Moving: Plouky
No Move: Angoose52
NMPZ: FinalSpork
Thank you to all that have played this series, especially to those that tune in regularly. This series was quite close at the top towards the end. Below are the final standings:
As for the pinpointing, we had a close, high-scoring battle for 1st. All three scores in the Top 3 would have set a series record. We also had our first (and only) NMPZ 5k this series as well. But congratulations to Ruffinnen for winning the pinpointing challenge, with plouky in close 2nd. Below is the final 5k table:
Series 6
Series 6 will run from June 15th to July 12th. As of today, everyone's points are reset back to 0, as usual. No major changes to the formatting or scoring. This series I will try to keep rural maps out of the moving mode while I work on making some new region maps for next series. I already finished a couple, but there's still quite a few more left to do. I will also consider possibly instituting a slightly increased 5k radius for country maps, but I'm unsure about that one still.
How it works
Each day there will be a set of 3 challenge links, one for each game mode (Move, NM, NMPZ). There will be a world map, region map, and country map. Each day the map and game mode will rotate. Moving modes will be 3 min, NM will be 1 min, and NMPZ will be 30 sec, unless noted otherwise. On the weekend, I will post more unique/challenging maps. For each challenge link, 1st place is worth 5 points, 2nd place is worth 3 points, and 3rd place is worth 1 point. In the case of a tie, the tie will be settled by distance and then time. 5ks will also be tracked separately and are worth 1 point in moving, 3 points in NM, and 5 points in NMPZ. Updated scoring tables are posted after each week. No external assistance allowed. If you wish to talk about any of the rounds or locations in the comments, feel free to do so with a spoiler tag. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.
More About Today's Maps
Below are the links to the maps featured in today's challenges if you wish to read more about them or play them yourself:
Link to challenge 8 series 30. Congratulations to Johanna and Geometriko who both come top for the first time in one of these challenges (3 points, 18 yards), and to all four of moonradio, LaDecadence, Angoose52 and tcn who all come second (2 points, 19 yards). All other 25K's get one point. Table is updated below.
Today's again is quite straightforward challenge, and again R4 will be the hardest of the five (I think). And, as always: take your time; there's no extra points for doing it quickly.
This is the eighth of the thirtieth series based on my own GeoDetective map. No moving, no time-limit (take your time!). There is always a clue somewhere that will help you pinpoint the location, some are easier than others. Feel free to leave walkthroughs in comments or ask where the clue was if you missed it, but always use the spoiler tag so as not to spoil it for others! Official coverage only.
Each day there will be a set of 3 challenge links, one for each game mode (Move, NM, NMPZ). There will be a world map, region map, and country map. Each day the map and game mode will rotate. Moving modes will be 3 min, NM will be 1 min, and NMPZ will be 30 sec, unless noted otherwise. On the weekend, I will post more unique/challenging maps. For each challenge link, 1st place is worth 5 points, 2nd place is worth 3 points, and 3rd place is worth 1 point. In the case of a tie, the tie will be settled by distance and then time. 5ks will also be tracked separately and are worth 1 point in moving, 3 points in NM, and 5 points in NMPZ. Updated scoring tables are posted after each week. No external assistance allowed. If you wish to talk about any of the rounds or locations in the comments, feel free to do so with a spoiler tag. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.
More About Today's Maps
Below are the links to the maps featured in today's challenges if you wish to read more about them or play them yourself:
Each day there will be a set of 3 challenge links, one for each game mode (Move, NM, NMPZ). There will be a world map, region map, and country map. Each day the map and game mode will rotate. Moving modes will be 3 min, NM will be 1 min, and NMPZ will be 30 sec, unless noted otherwise. On the weekend, I will post more unique/challenging maps. For each challenge link, 1st place is worth 5 points, 2nd place is worth 3 points, and 3rd place is worth 1 point. In the case of a tie, the tie will be settled by distance and then time. 5ks will also be tracked separately and are worth 1 point in moving, 3 points in NM, and 5 points in NMPZ. Updated scoring tables are posted after each week. No external assistance allowed. If you wish to talk about any of the rounds or locations in the comments, feel free to do so with a spoiler tag. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.
More About Today's Maps
Below are the links to the maps featured in today's challenges if you wish to read more about them or play them yourself:
