Why Play Games?

[Willsmotorcycle]

Greetings to all you taggers and alphabetizers. The other night I was remembering some of the multi waypoint game rides I have taken over the years and realized they are just like touring, and thought I should ramble about it. Find the time, pick the destinations, plot the course, enjoy.

For me, a ride has three distinct parts, I enjoy them all equally. Picking a destination is always the hardest for me, there are so many great places to see and experience. When gaming, some of these spots have been pre chosen and then you have to find the new spot. Is there a town with a "T" on the way, a great roadside oddity, or something that exists all over the world so everyone can participate? I plot a course and put the destinations on paper and slip it in the map pocket.

Planning is great therapy for me, having three states to ride around in means I can ride all day picking up tags and alphabetizing places, and lets not forget to throw in some twisty roads, after all it is a motorcycle. With these day trips packing is much easier than a multi day camping trip. Usually consisting of some espresso in a thermos and a sandwich or two, don t forget to stay hydrated. I prefer to only stop for petrol and picts.

Participation is the name of the game, regardless of the destination, riding is riding. So go out there and find that oversized coffee pot and a town with a Z. It will all be fun and Raymond may move your tag before you get back home. Cheers all, thanks for playing.

 

[W0QNX]

The ride is the fun. So I like to have a reason to ride sometimes but not often I do have a reason. More participation would be a great thing in all the games. I've just started joining in to some of the "different" games that should be nation wide or world wide. I wish more would participate.

My main thoughts on the many games "tag drops".

Absolutely no reason to leave any guess work at all any more. So few want to ride and play and making it a keyboard search game makes it even less fun and way less participated. Just go ahead tell us near enough to exactly where the tag is located. GPS coordinates even if you want. Chances are nobody else is going to rush to beat you to any tag. More often than not it will be 2 to 4 guys in any area having all the "fun". There are state tags that haven't changed since I moved it 8 years ago.

Want to kill a game? Drop a tag that takes more than 30 seconds to find via Goggle map. Nobody will go for it.

As usual YMMV (your mileage may vary) but mine is way high cuz taggin'.

 

[Uncle Phil]

I like the 'letter' games because it is interesting to try to find 'obscure' communities that start with a particular letter then research the history of them.
It's amazing sometimes what you find out in the process.

 

[W0QNX]

Join us in the world wide A to Z Phil.

World-Wide A-Z (Round 4) | A to Z Game

Pretty much the same rules as the regular A-Z game. In this case it can be a State, Province or whatever that particular location uses to designate geographic areas/regions/etc. As with most of our games, it's considered a riding game, so lets try to only submit recent pictures... the...

www.st-owners.com

 

[Arellcat]

The ride is the fun. So I like to have a reason to ride sometimes but not often I do have a reason.

I always need some sort of objective when I ride: it can be the destination itself or somewhere, or something, en route to somewhere else. I can't just ride randomly or I'd end up either a thousand miles from home or not going out at all. But tile bagging is a thing amongst my cycling friends and the wider Strava and VeloViewer community, where you aim to complete as large an area as possible by visiting each notional square that your country is divided up into. There's no real reason that the same couldn't be done with an engine.

The other game I quite liked – and a better one for the otherwise objectiveless among us – is geohashing, which I learned from xkcd once upon a time. Combine the date and that day's DJIA, run your everyday 32-bit MD5 hash on it, split the hash into two and calculate the decimal equivalents and use them as the minutes part relative to your current (or planned) location's degree parts to generate a random location. Sometimes it's quite close to where you are, sometimes it isn't, and sometimes it's inaccessible!

 

[scootac]

Why does there have to be a reason to ride? Can't it be just for fun? I've played my share of tag games, but other times I just 'go for a ride'. Both trip my trigger. I have noticed tag game participation has dropped dramatically the past 2-3 yrs for whatever reason....Covid, aging riders, fewer folks entering riding....can't say.
To @Willsmotorcycle......you're missing a whole lot of reasons to ride if you're not stopping at restaurants to eat or for photos. IMHO.

 

[Larry Fine]

Combine the date and that day's DJIA, run your everyday 32-bit MD5 hash on it, split the hash into two and calculate the decimal equivalents and use them as the minutes part relative to your current (or planned) location's degree parts to generate a random location.

Huh?

 

[TPadden]

No game needed, I just check weather and look for a place to camp. Weather looks good; heading for Hardee Lakes County Park Tuesday...

Tom

Hardee Lakes County Park · 8950 5502 Ollie Roberts Rd, Bowling Green, FL 33834

★★★★★ · Park

maps.app.goo.gl

Hardee County, FL

www.hardeecountyfl.gov

 

[Arellcat]

Huh?

That's exactly my point: I have no idea either how to actually calculate it in practice (per here - it's computationally interesting, if nothing more than for the cryptanalytical angle). I would rely on finding some web page that is designed for geohashing that would just generate the location I'm supposed to aim at. Frankly, I think tile bagging is more fun because at least it adds to your total each time you visit a new square.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

That's exactly my point: I have no idea either how to actually calculate it in practice (per here - it's computationally interesting, if nothing more than for the cryptanalytical angle). I would rely on finding some web page that is designed for geohashing that would just generate the location I'm supposed to aim at. Frankly, I think tile bagging is more fun because at least it adds to your total each time you visit a new square.

This is as far as I got so far…

MD5 Hash Generator

A tool for creating an MD5 hash from a string. Use this fast, free tool to create an MD5 hash from a string.

www.md5hashgenerator.com

 

[Sadlsor]

Arellcat:
Combine the date and that day's DJIA, run your everyday 32-bit MD5 hash on it, split the hash into two and calculate the decimal equivalents and use them as the minutes part relative to your current (or planned) location's degree parts to generate a random location.

Larry Fine:
Huh?

Yeah, I'm with Larry here.
I just pasted Arellcat's quote into Google Translate, pressed Enter, and my laptop started smoking. Burning plastic is a nasty, foul smell.
Did she just return from 65 years in the future...?

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Combine the date and that day's DJIA, run your everyday 32-bit MD5 hash on it, split the hash into two and calculate the decimal equivalents and use them as the minutes part relative to your current (or planned) location's degree parts to generate a random location.

If a person gets a kick out of doing the math I could see the appeal of this. I'd rather throw a dart at a map.

 

[Mellow]

I live in a particularly boring area, with regards to riding, so I need a reason to get out and ride on a half day ride. The nice part about where I live (DFW) is, when I do go on vacation, I can go north/south/east/west and find some very fun riding.

It would be great to live in an area like NC, N.GA, parts of AR/MO, etc... where I could just go out for 100 miles and come back tired of all the twisties... but then I might never do any long rides or see other parts of the country given my vacation available throughout the year.

Even then, I'd probably want some destination or goal, I've never been good at just winging it... lol

 

[tnman]

I absolutely love the riding games! While I do long trips every year and have discovered all of North America I do enjoy moving the alphabet game along whenever I can. I would have loved to move it in every state but it just did not work into my plans. Like Joe said, sometimes when you live in an area that is not known for it twisties you need to come up with a destination. This game has inspired me to ride on days I probably would not have just to move a tag. I have also put a twist on the alphabet game where I have done every letter in the state in just one day. This is fun for me on the mapping side to see how short of a distance I can get all the letters down to. I enjoy researching and mapping more than most. As a result, I have done all the letters in 1 day in TX, OK, LA, MS, AR. I have several more mapped that I will do at some point. I have had some on the forum question or challange "keeping" back photos to post at a later date but I greatly appreciate Joe's support and philosophy of it's a reason to ride. I have done the RAT challenge for the Iron Butt Association and I am currently working on the I have been everywhere in TX song by Brian Burns that has over 90 cities strung out through the great state of Texas that will require about 5-6 days of riding to get them all.

I say all that to say, we are all different. Whatever motivates you to ride, you should do, for some (including me) Ice Cream is a motivator, for some it's a burger, the largest ball of twine, a small town that starts with X. What ever it may be, JUST RIDE!