Switzerland 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 Switzerland.
- 73 towns
- Throws of 8 to 250 km
- 5 new throws every day
- Free, no sign-up
New here? Switzerland becomes your home country, with its own daily and leaderboard. Already playing somewhere else? The button opens Switzerland 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 73 hand-picked towns and villages in Switzerland, 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 Switzerland: the same 5 throws for everyone playing in Switzerland, with a streak, a spoiler-free share text and a daily leaderboard. Practice is unlimited.
How it works
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Switzerland
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 Winterthur from Zürich?
19 km as the crow flies, to the north-east. short
On the pole: 1 band = 1 km, so about 19.3 bands.
How far is Lausanne from Genève?
51 km as the crow flies, to the north-east. medium
On the pole: 1 band = 10 km, so about 5.1 bands.
How far is Biel/Bienne from Luzern?
81 km as the crow flies, to the west. medium
On the pole: 1 band = 10 km, so about 8.1 bands.
How far is St. Gallen from Basel?
135 km as the crow flies, to the east. long
On the pole: 1 band = 10 km, so about 13.5 bands.
How far is Lugano from Bern?
156 km as the crow flies, to the south-east. long
On the pole: 1 band = 10 km, so about 15.6 bands.
Throw distances in Switzerland
Throws are scaled to the size of the country. In Switzerland they go from 8 km to 250 km, and every game mixes all three kinds:
| Throw | Distance |
|---|---|
| short | 8 to 40 km |
| medium | 40 to 100 km |
| long | 100 to 250 km |
For scale: the two towns farthest apart in the game, Genève and Scuol, are 325 km apart.
Towns in the game include Zürich, Genève, Basel, Lausanne, Bern, Winterthur, Luzern, St. Gallen, Lugano, Biel/Bienne, Thun, La Chaux-de-Fonds and 61 more.
Switzerland: 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 Switzerland daily?
Every day at midnight Swiss time (Central European Time), the same moment in every country. Everyone playing in Switzerland 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?
More countries
- 🇦🇷 Argentina
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czechia
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇵🇱 Poland
- 🇵🇹 Portugal
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
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