Real-world hide-and-seek works best when the rules are clear before anyone starts moving. Near gives the group a private room, a shared map, questions, and consent-based location tools; the players still make the decisions together.
The basic idea
One team hides and one team seeks inside an agreed area. The seekers narrow the search with questions, map information, and travel decisions while the hiders follow the room’s rules. This makes a location-based game feel like hide-and-seek rather than a race to inspect someone’s private location.
A simple round
- Agree on the people and place. Choose players who want to participate, set a time limit, and choose a public, legal area that everyone can reach safely.
- Create a private room. The host chooses a game size and a playable border. Share the room code only with the players who are joining.
- Choose teams and consent to location sharing. Near only uses live location after a player joins a room and agrees to use it. A player can stop sharing or leave.
- Hide during the countdown. The hiding team stays together, remains within the border, and chooses a place that does not require trespassing or unsafe behavior.
- Ask and answer questions. Seekers ask the available question cards. Hiders answer honestly under the agreed rules without exposing more private information than the game requires.
- Narrow the map and travel together. Apply useful answers, use distance or direction tools, and keep attention on traffic, transit rules, and the people around you.
Use a clear playable border
A good border is large enough for movement but small enough that questions can make a difference. Draw it around places people can legally visit, and agree what happens if a player reaches a closed path, private property, or a location that is unsafe in the moment. Near can show the border and help with walking or public-transit directions, but it does not replace local judgment.
Questions and map tools
Questions should reduce uncertainty without becoming a request for an exact address. Near can turn answers into map constraints and offers Radar, Thermometer, Matching, distance rings, places, and directions as game tools. The hider’s exact position should remain private until the agreed end of the round.
Safety is part of the rules
- Do not drive, cross traffic, trespass, or enter a dangerous place while playing.
- Keep a phone available for ordinary safety and emergency communication.
- Do not use Near as supervision, emergency tracking, or proof of someone’s exact location.
- Stop the round if weather, health, traffic, or another person’s safety changes.
Want the feature overview first? Read what Near does, or open Near when your group is ready to create or join a room.