North America from the air
45 cities across 2 countries — 8 the game rates easy, 23 standard, 14 expert.
Placing a city in North America
Placing the region is the first and cheapest decision you make in a round, and getting it wrong costs you the whole guess. In North America the giveaways are the combination of landscape and building pattern rather than any single landmark: once you have seen San Francisco, New York, Chicago from above, the family resemblance across the rest becomes obvious.
The cities the game rates expert here — Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Louisville, Memphis, San Antonio — are the ones without a signature feature. On those you are reading grid texture, tower distribution and the shape of the edge where the city stops.
United States
- Atlanta Reads as: tree canopy and skyline.
- Austin Reads as: river bend and hills.
- Baltimore Reads as: inner harbor.
- Boston Reads as: harbor and old core.
- Charlotte Reads as: uptown grid.
- Chicago Reads as: lakefront grid.
- Cleveland Reads as: lakefront downtown.
- Dallas Reads as: flat metro grid.
- Denver Reads as: plains and mountains.
- Detroit Reads as: river border city.
- Honolulu Reads as: coast and crater.
- Houston Reads as: bayou sprawl.
- Indianapolis Reads as: monument circle grid.
- Kansas City Reads as: river and rail yards.
- Las Vegas Reads as: strip and desert.
- Los Angeles Reads as: basin, hills, freeways.
- Louisville Reads as: ohio river curve.
- Memphis Reads as: riverfront bluff.
- Miami Reads as: waterfront towers.
- Minneapolis Reads as: lakes and river.
- Nashville Reads as: river downtown.
- New Orleans Reads as: crescent river.
- New York Reads as: islands, dense towers.
- Orlando Reads as: lakes and suburbs.
- Philadelphia Reads as: rivers and dense grid.
- Phoenix Reads as: desert valley grid.
- Pittsburgh Reads as: three rivers.
- Portland Reads as: river bridges.
- Sacramento Reads as: river capital grid.
- Salt Lake City Reads as: mountain basin.
- San Antonio Reads as: riverwalk core.
- San Diego Reads as: bay and peninsula.
- San Francisco Reads as: Bay, bridges, hills.
- San Jose Reads as: silicon valley basin.
- Seattle Reads as: water, downtown spine.
- St. Louis Reads as: arch and river.
- Tampa Reads as: bayfront city.
- Washington Reads as: mall and monuments.
Canada
- Calgary Reads as: prairie skyline.
- Montreal Reads as: island city.
- Ottawa Reads as: river capital.
- Quebec City Reads as: old city bluff.
- Toronto Reads as: tower and lake.
- Vancouver Reads as: harbor and mountains.
- Victoria Reads as: inner harbor.