Play hide and seek in real life with your phones

Outdoor hide and seek works best when seekers can narrow down a big area and hiders have a reason to move. In Hunting Game's Hide and Seek mode, chasers search without seeing the runners on the map, and the play zone shrinks as the game goes on, so nobody can hide forever.

Hide and Seek is a Pro mode. Only the host needs Pro; everyone who joins plays free.

In the app, the hiders are called runners and the seekers are called chasers.

How Hide and Seek mode works

• Runners get a head start to hide. It's 2 minutes by default, and the host can set it from 10 seconds to 5 minutes.
• In the app, everyone sees only their own team on the map, with no distances. Chasers never see the runners, and runners don't see the chasers either.
• The play zone always shrinks toward its middle, down to a size the host picks. Anyone outside it gets a warning on screen (and an alarm, if notifications are on) and has 30 seconds to get back in, or they're out. So hiders near the edge have to move.
• Power-ups are off in this mode, so it's pure searching.
• A catch works like it does in Manhunt: the chaser types the 4-digit catch code shown on the runner's phone. Chasers win by catching every runner. If one runner is still free when time runs out, the runners win.

Without a shrinking zone, a good hider can sit still for an hour and never be found. When the zone gets smaller every minute, the best hiding spots end up outside it, and hiders have to break cover.

Hide and Seek or Manhunt?

Both modes use the same teams, join code and catch codes. The difference is what each side knows. In Manhunt, chasers see the runners on the map every few minutes (every 2 minutes by default), runners get a compass, power-ups are on and a play zone is optional (with Pro). In Hide and Seek, chasers never see the runners, power-ups are off and the zone always shrinks.

Hide and Seek games are shorter: 10, 20 or 30 minutes or 1 hour, with 30 minutes as the default. Manhunt is free for up to 4 players; Hide and Seek needs Pro for the host.

Pick Hide and Seek when you want quiet, patient searching. Pick Manhunt when you want people running.

Set it up in 4 steps

1. The host creates a game and picks Hide and Seek.
2. Pick the length: 10, 20 or 30 minutes, 1 hour, or your own length up to 48 hours.
3. In the lobby, draw the play zone as a circle or any shape with at least 3 points, choose how small it gets by the end, and set the head start, which is the hiding time.
4. Share the 5-digit join code. iPhone and Android players join the same game. Everyone taps Ready, and the host starts the game.

Start with everyone near the middle of the zone, so the hiders can reach any part of it during the head start. The zone shrinks toward its middle, so the last minutes play out there too. Pick a middle away from roads and water, like a lawn or a square, not a road junction or the edge of a pond.

How big should the zone be?

With the default 2-minute head start, a zone about 600 meters (2,000 feet) across lets everyone reach the edge from the middle. Then adjust for the group:

• 4 to 6 players: a park or school grounds, 200 to 400 meters across, and a 20-minute game.
• 10 to 20 players: a neighborhood or a campsite, 500 meters to a kilometer across, and the 30-minute default.
• 30 players or more: a bigger area and the 1-hour preset, so the chasers have time to sweep it.

If the chasers keep winning in the first ten minutes, make the zone bigger or the head start longer. If every game ends with runners still hidden, make the final size smaller.

Safety

You choose where and how you play, so you're responsible for your own safety and for following the law. Agree on these before the head start:

• Keep danger out of the zone. Busy roads, railways, water, building sites and private property stay outside it.
• Never hide in anything that can close or lock, like a car, a trunk, a shed, a container or an old fridge, and never anywhere you could fall or get stuck.
• Agree on a meeting point and a stop word that ends the game for everyone.
• Don't count on the map. GPS can be wrong or late, and Hunting Game is not a navigation, safety or emergency service. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.
• Under 18? Agree with a parent or guardian where and when you play, and don't play alone or after dark.

Big groups

With Pro, one game holds up to 100 players. Only the host needs Pro, and everyone else joins free on their own phone. For a camp, a school trip or a youth group, read manhunt for groups for a session plan and what to sort out with parents first.

Without Pro: the closest free option

In Manhunt mode (free, up to 4 players), set location updates to every 5 minutes and agree on a boundary out loud. Chasers still see runners at each update, so it plays more like manhunt than pure hide and seek.

Two settings get you closer. Set what runners see to Nobody, so the hiders don't know where the chasers are either, and switch power-ups off, so nobody can Scan the hiders out of their spots.

Your location

Your location is shared from when you tap Ready (or make the game) until the game ends for you, with the players in your game as their role allows. Anyone with the join code can watch the game on the Hunting Game website. In Hide and Seek, the website shows no positions at all, so it can't give the hiders away. Keep the code inside your group anyway. Live positions and routes are deleted about 5 minutes after the game ends. The Privacy Policy has the details.

Questions

How do you play hide and seek with GPS?

Everyone carries a phone with the same game open. The hiders get a head start, and then the seekers search inside a play zone on the map. In Hunting Game's Hide and Seek mode, the app never shows the seekers where the hiders are. It draws the zone on the map and uses GPS to check that everyone stays inside it while it shrinks, so the seekers can't search forever and the hiders can't hide forever.

Can the seekers see the hiders on the map?

No. In Hide and Seek mode, the seekers never see where the hiders are, in the app or on our website. Everyone sees only their own team. The shrinking zone is what pushes the hiders out of their spots, and a catch is the code on the hider's phone, so you don't need anyone to referee.

Is there a free hide and seek app?

Hunting Game is free to download and free for up to 4 players in Manhunt and Family modes. The Hide and Seek mode needs the host to have Pro. Everyone who joins the host's game plays free, so one subscription covers the whole group.

What age do you need to be?

You need to be 13 or older to use Hunting Game. The app asks for a date of birth when you first sign in. Players under 18 should agree with a parent where and when they play, and should not play alone or after dark.

How long should a game of hide and seek last?

30 minutes, the app's default, suits most groups. Go to 1 hour for big areas or big groups. For a longer game over a whole town center, set your own length of 2 to 3 hours.