Sense of Direction Test

The research game Sea Hero Quest asked players to memorise a map with checkpoints and then steer a boat to them, and sometimes to shoot a flare back towards the start [1]. Our game is our own: a hedge maze at night, with its own maps and rules. It keeps the two research measures: how long your route was compared with the shortest one, and how far off you point.

In a small study, how well 60 young adults did in the Sea Hero Quest wayfinding levels matched how well they found their way in real streets in London and Paris (correlations of 0.46 and 0.57) [3]. That was shown for that game, not for this one.

• 5 levels, getting bigger. Each starts with the whole map for 8 to 12 seconds: your tent, the way you face, and numbered flags. Start walking whenever you are ready.
• Then walk to the flags in order, from memory. You only see the circle of your lantern, and the view turns with you: forward is always up.
• After the last flag (or when the 45 to 75 seconds of a level run out), point back to your tent and confirm.
• Controls: arrow keys or W, A, S, D on a keyboard; on a phone, the buttons under the view (hold to walk or turn). To point, drag around yourself or use the turn keys.
• A short practice walk with the lights on comes first (you can skip it). After each level, the map shows your route and where you pointed.

Every run has new mazes. Each maze has a few loops, so there is more than one way to a flag.

• Route efficiency: the shortest route through the flags divided by the distance you walked, averaged over the levels. 100% means the shortest route every time. If time ran out, the shortest way still left counts as walked.
• Pointing error: how many degrees your arrow was off the straight line to the tent, averaged over the levels. 0° is exact; pointing at random would be 90° off on average.
• By level: the bigger levels have more flags and are harder.

Once enough people have played, your result also shows how you compare with other players of this game. These are other visitors of this site, not a representative sample.

• Age: in about 560,000 players from 57 countries, performance fell steadily from age 19 [1]. A later review of 3.9 million players found the same near-linear decline from the early twenties [2].
• Sex: the average male advantage was small, from d = 0.09 in Norway to 0.48 in Argentina [1].
• Where you grew up: in about 400,000 people from 38 countries, those who grew up outside cities did better, and people did best in street layouts like the ones they grew up with [4].

These are averages over huge groups. They say little about one person, and our game is different from Sea Hero Quest, so don't compare your numbers with theirs.

This is a game on a screen, not a clinical test. A good or bad run doesn't mean anything about your health. Getting used to the controls matters at first, which is why there is a practice walk. Your score also depends on your device and on how much you play games. Compare with your own next try.