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South Africa 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 South Africa.

Play the South Africa Daily

New here? South Africa becomes your home country, with its own daily and leaderboard. Already playing somewhere else? The button opens South Africa 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 South Africa, 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 South Africa: the same 5 throws for everyone playing in South Africa, 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 South Africa

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 Pretoria from Johannesburg?

53 km as the crow flies, to the north. short

On the pole: 1 band = 10 km, so about 5.3 bands.

How far is Bloemfontein from Vereeniging?

320 km as the crow flies, to the south-west. medium

On the pole: 1 band = 100 km, so about 3.2 bands.

How far is East London from Durban?

459 km as the crow flies, to the south-west. medium

On the pole: 1 band = 100 km, so about 4.6 bands.

How far is Port Elizabeth from Cape Town?

663 km as the crow flies, to the east. long

On the pole: 1 band = 100 km, so about 6.6 bands.

How far is Paarl from Pietermaritzburg?

1,173 km as the crow flies, to the south-west. long

On the pole: 1 band = 100 km, so about 11.7 bands.

Throw distances in South Africa

Throws are scaled to the size of the country. In South Africa they go from 42 km to 1,304 km, and every game mixes all three kinds:

ThrowDistance
short42 to 209 km
medium209 to 521 km
long521 to 1,304 km

For scale: the two towns farthest apart in the game, Cape Town and Thohoyandou, are 1,695 km apart.

Towns in the game include Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Pietermaritzburg, East London, Vereeniging, Bloemfontein, Welkom, Newcastle, Botshabelo and 88 more.

South Africa: 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 South Africa daily?

Every day at midnight Swiss time (Central European Time), the same moment in every country. Everyone playing in South Africa 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?

Play the South Africa Daily How to play

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