I like that there are no actual rules. I can appreciate the challenge of not googling, but at the same time, doing the extra research is a large part of the fun for me. It has led me to wikipedia articles and other things full of interesting information about places I probably would not have read about otherwise, and I’ve learned about roads and road signs, plants, cars, etc. around the world. I mean, I know more about that stuff than your average American already, but I see games like this as a chance to learn even more, not to limit myself for the sake of a challenge.
Along the lines of this game, earlier this year the British Library had an online system where you were challenged to georeference scanned old maps: http://www.bl.uk/maps/ (my “score” is 131 on the “Participants” page if you want to find out my real name). It usually involved a whole lot of external research to figure things out - here’s one of the more difficult ones I did. It was great fun. Of course, I’ve done this professionally as part of my research - I’ve georeferenced hundreds of scanned maps.
