Conquering territory without giving away your home

Every run, walk or bike ride you record with the app colours the squares you touch. That’s your territory, and others can take it from you. It turns a loop around the block into a game. But a map with your routes on it also shows where you start, and that’s usually your front door.

Privacy zones. Set up to three circles around your home, your work or your gym. Inside such a circle, others don’t see your squares, and for them a shared route only starts outside it. You see everything, and everything still counts.

Choose who sees your territory. Everyone, only your gym, or only you. Even with only you you still conquer squares; it’s just that nobody else sees them.

Sharing is per run. A route only appears in the community if you choose that when saving. A run you discard never leaves your phone.

It stays exciting. A square stays yours for thirty days. If you don’t come back, it belongs to nobody again. You get a nudge before that happens, and if someone takes squares from you, you can challenge them for the neighbourhood: for one week, whoever holds the most squares wins.

In a neighbourhood challenge, squares in a privacy zone count for nobody. That way nobody can use your home to win, and you don’t have to defend your front door.

Why we built it this way. Because a game that shares your location is only fun if you decide what you share. The default is cautious, and you open up what you want.