GeoSense

I go through phases in which I try to immerse myself in whatever theme, food or activity is of interest. I once ate sushi everyday for a summer. I watched as many heist flicks as I could in one week. During one phase I was into geography - my boyfriend at the time and I were obsessed with the Odyssey globe game and with this game - Geosense. A simple game with a web 2.0 feel to it, Geosense tests your knowledge of where cities around the world are generally located. The game gives you a location and you click on where you think it approximately might be (within 10 seconds). Then it tells you how far from the target you ended up being. You can play solo or with a stranger. Everything about this game is easy... except for the game itself sometimes - especially when you're given a city in Russia (that isn't Moscow or St. Petersburg) because there's a lot of surface area to choose from...

After ten attempts I was, on average, more than 4000 kilometres off target. On the one hand this suggests that I should be deeply embarrassed at having no clue whatsoever about what lies beyond my own doorstep. On the other hand, it demonstrates that I am, my American home notwithstanding, a True Englishman; we've never cared for foreigners that much and aside from commiserating with them over their unfortunate foreignness, never taken much interest in where they are unless they have something we need. A pleasurable few minutes spent, though I doubt I will accept the challenge of a head-to-head with another visitor. Unless they're English, of course.

Great online game for geography nerds. It's pretty simple - the computer gives you a name of a city and country (say, Xi'an, China) and you click on a world map where you think the city is, and the computer tells you how far off you are and then gives you points based on how close your guess was.

To play the game go to www.geosense.net and click on the "visit" link on the bottom of the page. If you want to play against a friend (more fun if you play for money), just have them sign on at the same time and "link" them.