GeoKnow › Challenge a friend
Challenge a friend
Play a GeoKnow puzzle, tap Challenge a friend, and send the link. Your friend plays exactly the same puzzle, then sees a head-to-head: you against them. No sign-up, no accounts, nothing stored on a server.
How it works
- Finish any game, daily or unlimited, on any difficulty.
- Optionally type a nickname (up to 12 characters). If you leave it blank you appear as “A friend”.
- Tap Challenge a friend. On phones and many computers this opens the share sheet. Otherwise the link is copied for you to paste into a message.
- Your friend opens the link and sees “Sam scored 34/50 on Hard - can you beat it?” above the same puzzle.
- When they finish, they see a win, draw or lose comparison and can tap Send it back for a rematch on a new puzzle.
Same puzzle, any day
GeoKnow puzzles are generated from a seed, so the same seed always makes the same puzzle. Normally the seed is today's date (UTC), which is why everyone gets the same daily puzzles. A challenge link carries its own seed, so a challenge sent yesterday still plays yesterday's puzzle. This is the only way to play a past daily puzzle; normal play always uses today's.
Games you can challenge a friend in
Longer Flight Route Ranking Code Quiz Plane Spotter Population Match Border Run Pinpoint Antipode Mystery Country Flag Mixer Outline Neighbour Rush Capital Hunt Shortcut Population Showdown Overflown
Privacy
The challenge lives in the part of the link after the #, which browsers do not send to servers. GeoKnow adds no cookies and no accounts. Your nickname is kept only in your own browser, so the box is filled in next time. Read the privacy page for the anonymous visit counters the site already uses.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an account or to sign up?
No. A challenge is just a link. Nothing is stored on our servers and we set no cookies for it.
Which games support challenges?
All 16 GeoKnow games: Longer Flight, Route Ranking, Code Quiz, Plane Spotter, Population Match, Border Run, Pinpoint, Antipode, Mystery Country, Flag Mixer, Outline, Neighbour Rush, Capital Hunt, Shortcut, Population Showdown and Overflown.
How does my friend get the same puzzle?
Every puzzle is built from a seed. The link carries the game, the difficulty and the seed, so your friend's browser builds the identical puzzle. For a daily puzzle the seed is the date, so a challenge sent yesterday still plays yesterday's puzzle.
What is in the link?
The game, difficulty, puzzle seed, your score and an optional nickname of up to 12 characters, all after the # in the address. That part of a web address is never sent to our server.
Can someone fake a score?
Yes. The score is in the link, so anyone can edit it. Challenges are for fun between friends, not for a leaderboard.
Does playing a challenge change my own daily puzzle or streak?
No. A challenge puzzle does not use up your daily puzzle, change your streak or your personal best. Your own saved results stay as they were.
What does Send it back do?
After you finish a challenge you see a head-to-head comparison. Send it back starts a fresh puzzle (a new seed) so you can play a rematch and then send your new score back.
How is a winner decided?
The higher score wins in every current GeoKnow game. Equal scores are a draw.
What if the share button does not open a share sheet?
On browsers without the share feature the link is copied to your clipboard. If that is blocked too, the link appears in a box so you can copy it yourself.
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