Map Games

When asked to blog about maps the first thing that popped into my head was when I was in middle school, we were learning the states the create the United States and where they are in respect to each other. I am sure that there are still several of these "board games" left but for the most part a lot of these games are online. When I did a google search for map games it came up with a lot of these types of games, spatial recognition, or naming which shape is which state. There was also a game that puts you up against an opponent and each player guesses where the question is located on a world map. This also made me think of a map game I heard about but totally forget the name of. It consists of a bunch of people getting the coordinates to the first piece of the puzzle. Using these coordinates, the players set out and find this piece which has more coordinates inside. Many times these clues were at the top of a mountain or hidden underneath a bridge along a hiking trail. The winner would be the first person or group to find the last clue. I always liked the idea of this game because it sounded like it would be fun, outside interacting with nature, playing a game, and using maps. Another type of map that involves a game is the maps used in videogames themselves. An example of this would be the overview map in a Call of Duty game. I personally play this game from time to time and use the map all the time to figure out where the opponents and my teammates are. Not only are maps used in games to educate and entertain, they are also used as the main focus of a game.