Anyone heard of this "Turf" game?

[Edwardoka]

I do wonder about that, but just how could someone fake it. A drone with their phone attached? It'd make some of the zones near me an awful lot easier to get to.

My average speed's atrocious when I'm going through zones - 28 miles today at 10mph.

It's really easy to make phones spoof their location, so it would work for stealth turfing, but I'm not sure how feasible it is to do it via software that would keep updating the spoofed location by e.g. following a GPX route at x mph.

At the end of the day it's an excuse to get out and in that context cheating seems daft

 

[Slick]

It's really easy to make phones spoof their location, so it would work for stealth turfing, but I'm not sure how feasible it is to do it via software that would keep updating the spoofed location by e.g. following a GPX route at x mph.

At the end of the day it's an excuse to get out and in that context cheating seems daft

Right ok, I've heard enough. It's been an horrendous start to the year as I'm sure you are aware and as the wind and rain today has finally washed away the snow and ice, I thought I would download this game and see how it works. It did say there would be a tutorial once you have chosen your username but I didn't get one so, how does this work? Can I just ride to work tomorrow and pick up a few zones or do I have to stop to claim them? The answer to that will determine if this is turns out to be the app which has lived on my phone for the shortest time ever.

 

[Edwardoka]

Right ok, I've heard enough. It's been an horrendous start to the year as I'm sure you are aware and as the wind and rain today has finally washed away the snow and ice, I thought I would download this game and see how it works. It did say there would be a tutorial once you have chosen your username but I didn't get one so, how does this work? Can I just ride to work tomorrow and pick up a few zones or do I have to stop to claim them? The answer to that will determine if this is turns out to be the app which has lived on my phone for the shortest time ever.

You need to be detected as being in the zone area for less than a minute. Your phone will give you an audio alert when you enter a zone and another when you capture it. You gain points for a capture, half as many points for a revisit, plus a number of bonus points per hour that you hold it, which starts at +1 per hour for zones that don't see much traffic but it ramps up the more frequently a zone is taken.

 

[Slick]

You need to be detected as being in the zone area for less than a minute. Your phone will give you an audio alert when you enter a zone and another when you capture it. You gain points for a capture, half as many points for a revisit, plus a number of bonus points per hour that you hold it, which starts at +1 per hour for zones that don't see much traffic but it ramps up the more frequently a zone is taken.

Ah, it my mean slowing down a bit in certain places and there's a yellow square screaming at me to take it but it looks like a school playing field so might mean a very early morning visit so I don't look like an even bigger weirdo.

 

[DCLane]

@Slick - there's one near me which is in the entrance to a mosque. The biggest mosque in Western Europe.

I got some odd looks when I got that zone last month.

 

[Edwardoka]

Ah, it my mean slowing down a bit in certain places and there's a yellow square screaming at me to take it but it looks like a school playing field so might mean a very early morning visit so I don't look like an even bigger weirdo.

Yeah there are definitely places where you don't want to be seen to be hanging about, conversely there are some where you don't want to be seen at all. Last night's walk led me to a pretty sketchy area

When at home, if you have the app open, make sure the yellow man icon is greyed out otherwise you're broadcasting your location to everyone who is looking at the map. You can press and hold it to turn it off.

On the plus side I now know in which town you live, so you can request lots of new zones for me to steal

 

[Slick]

Yeah there are definitely places where you don't want to be seen to be hanging about, conversely there are some where you don't want to be seen at all. Last night's walk led me to a pretty sketchy area

When at home, if you have the app open, make sure the yellow man icon is greyed out otherwise you're broadcasting your location to everyone who is looking at the map. You can press and hold it to turn it off.

On the plus side I now know in which town you live, so you can request lots of new zones for me to steal

I've not long moved and hopefully will be on the move again when this lockdown ends. I have spotted a couple in the next village over where I used to live where I could cause a bit of mischief.

Thanks for the tip about broadcasting my location, I don't want to make life any easier than I have to for interpol.

 

[DCLane]

I got 7 more of my local rival's at lunch-time: I was going to take the cross bike and I'm glad I didn't. How he managed to get his electric MTB round I don't know; lots of deep slushy mud, big climbs/drops on/off rocks and a couple of tight squeezes. He'd left tracks though so must have made it, although I think he did it over 2 days with different routes in/out. Basically it was a climb up/down over rocks and through mud either side of here:

 

[Edwardoka]

Just opened the map because I'm about to head out and grab some before sunset and who do I see capturing their first zones?

Edit: no @Slick turn back you just missed one!

 

[Edwardoka]

Watching someone else's beacon feels voyeuristic and wrong, but also a bit like Treasure Hunt or the Interceptor, where's a helicopter when you need one? Take me down, Mikey!

 

[DCLane]

Spotted @Slick (turn your little man off!) but not @Edwardoka unless you're under a different name.

It's more popular in Scotland than elsewhere, but Yorkshire/Humber has definitely got a lot busier in the past 6 weeks.

 

[Edwardoka]

Spotted @Slick (turn your little man off!) but not @Edwardoka unless you're under a different name.

It's more popular in Scotland than elsewhere, but Yorkshire/Humber has definitely got a lot busier in the past 6 weeks.

Yep, different username - "EdgarP".
I was ready to go out and then noticed that my rival was out and heading in my direction, so I decided to wait until they got closer to see what they had planned. Will be going out after dinner.

And yes, @Slick, turn off your beacon!

 

[Edwardoka]

Yorkshire/Humber has definitely got a lot busier in the past 6 weeks.

Someone's been busy

Right, my rival is heading back to his home area. Time to evade broken glass and burned out cars

 

[DCLane]

@Edwardoka my intention's been to take my rival's local area to keep them busy. Last month they took my local area and kept theirs, leaving me to constantly get my local area back. This month I'll be taking theirs as soon as they get it; that way they'll get frustrated at having to keep getting their 'local' ones back

Once the warm weather comes I'll be back doing longer distance. This is getting me outside for now.

Oh, and I rolled up to a zone where a drug deal was taking place yesterday in South Leeds.

 

[Slick]

Just opened the map because I'm about to head out and grab some before sunset and who do I see capturing their first zones?

Edit: no @Slick turn back you just missed one!

Yeah yeah yeah, ok I hear you both, turn the wee guy off.

I knew I missed a couple but got to leave some for another day.

I just took a couple to try it, even got the one by the school grounds as I realised it was closed. Changed route a bit to grab a couple by the water but don't think I'll be doing that again as I'm definitely a roadie and never comfortable when up to the axles in mud. There is one at the back of the airport but I think it's in the building site at the new bridge so might have to get creative with that. Can see this getting addictive.