Netherlands geography game

Guess the distance between two towns, grow the pole, drop it and land its tip on the target. A free daily distance game in the Netherlands.

Play the Netherlands Daily

New here? Netherlands becomes your home country, with its own daily and leaderboard. Already playing somewhere else? The button opens Netherlands for practice, and you can change your home country once a week.

What is PoleGuesser?

PoleGuesser is a geography game about distances. You stand in one of 100 towns and cities in the Netherlands, a target town is named, and you grow a red-and-white striped surveyor's pole until it is as long as you think the distance is. Then you drop it: the pole tips over towards the target, and the closer its gold tip lands, the more points you score.

Every day at midnight Swiss time there is a new Daily Pole in the Netherlands: the same 5 throws for everyone playing in the Netherlands, with a streak, a spoiler-free share text and a daily leaderboard. Practice is unlimited.

How it works

  1. Find the target. You stand in one town and a target town is named. In Visible mode it is marked on the map; in Blind mode you only have your geography.
  2. Grow the pole. Hold Grow (or the space bar) until the pole is as long as the distance. Every band has the same length, so you can count them.
  3. Drop it. The pole tips over towards the target. The closer its gold tip lands, the more points: up to 5,000 per throw.

All the details are in the guide to playing PoleGuesser.

Example throws in the Netherlands

Real distances between towns in the game, as the crow flies (great-circle distance), measured the same way the game measures them.

How far is Utrecht from Amsterdam?

35ย km as the crow flies, to the south-east. short

On the pole: 1 band = 10 km, so about 3.5 bands.

How far is Eindhoven from Rotterdam?

87ย km as the crow flies, to the south-east. medium

On the pole: 1 band = 10 km, so about 8.7 bands.

How far is Breda from Almere Stad?

92ย km as the crow flies, to the south. medium

On the pole: 1 band = 10 km, so about 9.2 bands.

How far is Enschede from Tilburg?

144ย km as the crow flies, to the north-east. long

On the pole: 1 band = 10 km, so about 14.4 bands.

How far is Groningen from The Hague?

199ย km as the crow flies, to the north-east. long

On the pole: 1 band = 10 km, so about 19.9 bands.

Throw distances in the Netherlands

Throws are scaled to the size of the country. In the Netherlands they go from 8ย km to 238ย km, and every game mixes all three kinds:

ThrowDistance
short8 to 38ย km
medium38 to 95ย km
long95 to 238ย km

For scale: the two towns farthest apart in the game, Vlissingen and Delfzijl, are 309ย km apart.

Towns in the game include Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Tilburg, Groningen, Almere Stad, Breda, Nijmegen, Enschede, Haarlem and 88 more.

Netherlands: questions and answers

Is PoleGuesser free?

Yes. Your home country's daily, the leaderboards, friends groups, challenges and practice in every country are free, with no ads and no tracking cookies. PoleGuesser Plus (coming soon) will be an optional one-time purchase for extras: the archive of past dailies, a World Tour through today's daily in all 27 countries, pole skins and a supporter badge.

How is the score computed?

Each throw gives up to 5,000 points, based on how far off you are relative to the distance: 10% off is about 3,000 points, 25% off about 1,400. So a short throw counts as much as a long one. A daily has 5 throws, so the best possible total is 25,000. In Golf scoring (practice) every kilometre you miss by is a stroke.

When is the new Netherlands daily?

Every day at midnight Swiss time (Central European Time), the same moment in every country. Everyone playing in the Netherlands gets the same 5 throws that day, and you get one attempt. Your progress is saved after every throw, so you can leave and come back.

Do I need an account?

No. You can play right away. To appear on the leaderboard you only pick a nickname. If you want to keep your progress on all your devices, you can sign in with Google, but you never have to.

Can I play with friends?

Yes. Make a friends group, share the invite link, and the daily leaderboard gets a tab with just your group. After a practice game you can also send a challenge link: your friend plays the same 5 throws and tries to beat your score.

Ready to throw?

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