Сотрудники Университета Северной Флориды соревновались в географической игре GeoGuessr

The University of North Florida Flight Deck hosted a GeoGuessr tournament for staff and faculty on Wednesday, Aug. 14. The tournament was part of “Feathering the Nest,” a dedicated week of community activities designed to energize and connect employees before the fall 2026 semester begins. Other festivities throughout the week included a campus cookout, Osprey karaoke, a competitive volleyball game, and an annual tradition where nearly 1,000 faculty and staff members gathered on the green to form the letters “SWOOP” for a drone-captured aerial photo. What is GeoGuessr? GeoGuessr is an online geography game where players are dropped into a random location on Google Street View. Using visual clues like road signs, architecture, landscape, and language, players must guess their position on a world map. The closer a player’s pin is to the actual coordinates, the higher their score. The game originally gained popularity after Swedish IT consultant Anton Wallén launched it in 2013, but it exploded globally during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, according to BrandWatch Bulletin. This momentum has since been sustained by viral content creators who share fast-paced geographic deduction clips on digital platforms, according to Benecia Paw. Testing geographic wit at the Flight Deck Competitors flocked to the Flight Deck, the Student Union’s premier esports hub open to all students, staff, and faculty, to test their geographic wit. According to Tom Screech, UNF’s esports project manager, 14 staff and faculty members initially signed up for the bracket, though 20 people ultimately competed. The grand prize was an exclusive Flight Deck T-shirt. Before the main competition, players participated in two distinct warm-up rounds. The first focused entirely on familiar campus locations, including the golf complex and Hicks Hall. The second round expanded the perimeter to include locations across the broader Jacksonville area, utilizing significantly shorter time limits to ramp up the difficulty. Following the warm-ups, the official tournament began. Players were given a strict 90 seconds to guess global locations over 10 rounds, navigating environments ranging from Athens and Switzerland to rural Ghana. The winning team consisted of Rodrigo Salhuana, an AV engineer, and Claire Campo, a student assistant at the College of Education and Human Services Dean’s Office. James Cunningwood, a UNF payroll coordinator, secured second place after successfully identifying a tricky location using text found on a public trash bin. Exhibition match After the primary tournament concluded, Cunningwood braved the stage alone to face the duo of Salhuana and Campo in an exhibition match. Utilizing a competitive “duels” format, closer guesses to the hidden location dealt direct damage to the opponent, with the first side to reach zero losing the match. The final match opened on a location in Brazil which both teams quickly recognized. However, Salhuana and Campo were closer with their pin drop, dealing an immediate 1,000 points of damage to Cunningwood. After several rounds, Salhuana and Campo secured the final win, leaving Cunningwood with only one point remaining. Building community at UNF According to Screech, this tournament marks the start of the Flight Deck’s regular community events for the upcoming academic calendar. The week also comes at a pivotal time for the university. As the fall semester officially opens, UNF is preparing for its largest student body to date, with total enrollment expected to top 18,500 students. To support this growth, the campus is onboarding more than 30 new faculty members in advanced fields like AI and cybersecurity, alongside launching physical upgrades like five new digital Group Collaboration Hubs in the Thomas G. Carpenter Library. ___ For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact [email protected].