MapTap

MapTap replaces the flat map with a textured globe that spins in the dark, and asks you to place your finger as close as possible to a named place. The tutorial has you do a dry run before revealing the rules: each day has five new places. At the top of the screen, an arcade-style SCORE counter, the day number and its date; with each placement the game shows the place name, the distance in kilometers and the round score.

1. Spin the globe to bring the right part of the world facing you.
2. Zoom in to gain precision; the tutorial insists on this.
3. Tap the chosen spot: the game immediately shows the targeted place, the distance and the score obtained.
4. Complete the five places of the day; the total score accumulates in the top banner.

Placing a point on a globe you have just spun yourself does not taste the same as clicking on a map: you lose edge-of-screen reference points and must rebuild your orientation each round. The feedback in kilometers is blunt and honest; it states exactly how far off you were, which makes you want to play the next round again, zooming more.

Feedback is immediate and numeric: after a practice placement the screen shows the name of the targeted place, a distance in kilometers and a round score, all displayed on the globe itself. The SCORE counter in the top banner remains at zero until the real game has started; the tutorial does not count.

Core play

The game offers a single default daily puzzle: spin the textured globe to orient the target area, zoom for precision, then tap to place a point. Each day presents five places; each placement immediately reveals the place name, the distance in kilometers and the round score, and the top banner accumulates the total score while showing the day number and date. A tutorial (with a practice run) and guest play are available. There are no alternate game modes.

• The globe is a true sphere, not a projected map: you spin it rather than scroll, and high latitudes are not stretched like on a Mercator, which changes reference points for northern Canada or Russia.
• The score depends on distance, so zooming before tapping is better than tapping quickly: a few degrees of error at the scale of the whole globe can cost you thousands of kilometers.