Google does some amazing things on the web. We’ve already seen plenty of examples of what their teams of skilled designers and coders can achieve using modern web technologies with Chrome Experiments like this, this or this. Smarty Pins is the latest from Google that has me hooked.
Smarty Pins is a trivia-based game powered by Google Maps. Once you start a new game, you are given clues about a particular place or city and the map narrows down to the area around that location. To answer, you have to drag the Big Red Pin to that exact location and submit it. You start off with 1609 kilometers (or miles, depending on where you are) and 15 as bonus. You lose kms for every wrong answer. For example, if the answer to a question was New York, NY and your dropped your pin 300 kms away from it, you lose 300kms from 1609 and proceed to the next question. You gain kms when you answer a question correctly. The game ends when you run out of kms.
The website has some really wonderfully crafted animations and is a joy to play. Mr. Pegman also makes an appearance. This is a great way to not only learn new trivia about different places across the globe, but also try out the new Maps.
Go ahead, check out Smarty Pins. You won’t be disappointed.