The map is the visible part of a geography game. The scoring rule is the invisible part, and it decides which answers are worth thinking about. If a game scores by distance, the best answer is the one closest to a target. If it scores by rarity, the best answer is the one few players name.
The five tiers
Farflung groups every accepted country into five tiers. Common is the representative answer. Farflung is the gem. The tiers are editorial, not mathematical: they describe how obvious a country is for a particular clue, not how large or how far away it is.
| Tier | Distance | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 40 km | The answer most players reach for first. |
| Uncommon | 55 km | A second thought, and a better one. |
| Rare | 70 km | A country that takes a little digging. |
| Elusive | 85 km | The answer that makes people look twice. |
| Farflung | 100 km | The gem. The answer almost nobody names. |
A country can be Common for one clue and Farflung for another. Germany is Common for a German language clue, but it is a plausible answer for several other clues where it is not the first association. Rarity is a property of the answer in context, not a fixed label on the country.
Why fixed distances
The kilometre values are fixed per tier. That keeps a round comparable: a clue with many small island answers is not worth less than a clue about large continental countries. The score is asking “how surprising was this answer?” and a fixed scale answers that question consistently.
The alternative, a true geographic distance, would reward the shape of the map rather than the player. A pin on a remote island would score more than a pin on a neighbouring country even if the island answer was obvious. That is a different game, and a less interesting one.
The gem economy
A gem is the least obvious accepted answer in a clue. It is usually the Farflung tier, but the important word is accepted. A gem is not a trick answer or a technicality. It is a country that genuinely fits, just further from the first association.
That is why a good round feels like a small act of map reading rather than a trivia recall test. You are not trying to remember an obscure fact. You are trying to see the same fact from one more angle.
What the score does not measure
It does not measure how fast you are. The daily round has no timer. It does not measure how many countries you can name. It measures how often you find the answer that fits but is not immediate. That is a narrow skill, and it is learnable.
The maximum is 500 km: five Farflung answers. Most good rounds land somewhere in the middle, with a mix of safe tiers and one or two surprises. A perfect round is rare enough to feel like an event, which is the right shape for a daily game.