The first Caribou Coffee in Edina, Minnesota, now closed. (Photo by Bobak Ha’Eri, 2011 CC-By-SA-3.0)

The first Caribou Coffee opened in Edina, Minnesota, in 1992. Last December, it closed. But there are still plenty of other Caribou Coffee locations to visit. Geoguessr Challenge #12 examines some of these other locations in three separate games. The first draws from the 302 remaining Caribou Coffees in Minnesota, selecting five locations in northern Minnesota (defined as any place at or above Highway 2).

Of the 483 Caribou Coffee locations in the United States, 119 are in the states that border Minnesota. The second challenge looks beyond these to the remaining 62 locations that are a bit farther away. In each of these rounds, the entire state has fewer Caribou Coffees than the eight locations in the Twin Ports. For two rounds, it’s the only location in the state.

The Caribou Coffee shown above is the only one in the state. Play the challenge to find out which state. Photo by the author.

The final challenge takes things a bit further, both figuratively and literally. While it started in Minnesota, Caribou Coffee now has more locations outside of the United States than it does in Minnesota. Specifically, there are 312 locations across 10 countries outside of the U.S., assuming the corporate website information is accurate and current. The final challenge looks at Caribou Coffee locations in five of these countries. While getting the exact location will be quite difficult in each of these rounds, every round gives some clear indication of the country (although in one round that allows you to only move in and around the store, you really have to look for it).

Each of the three challenges has a time limit of four minutes per round.

Game 1: Caribou Coffee in Northern Minnesota

Game 2: Caribou Coffee across the U.S.

Game 3: Caribou Coffee Around the World

How to Play Geoguessr

GeoGuessr can be played on a laptop or desktop and on Android or IoS mobile devices with the GeoGuessr app. Just click on the link that fits how you play and create an account to start playing.

Every game consists of five locations based on a theme chosen by the game creator. You are shown a Streetview image stripped of all the informational labels that are normally overlayed onto the image. Unless the challenge specifically restricts it, you can move around and look for clues like street signs and business names to find out where you are. The image below shows a basic overview of the Geoguessr screen layout and controls.

Once you think you know the location — or are nearly out of time — you use the inset map to place your marker where you believe the round started. After you hit “Guess,” you will see how close you were to the correct location and how many points your guess earned. The closer you are to the location, the higher your score, with a maximum score of 5,000 points. On a map that covers a small area, like the Gary-New Duluth neighborhood, being off by a few blocks will cost you a lot of points. On a map that has locations from around the world, you will get nearly all the points just for finding the right city. The maximum error for a perfect score also changes by map size, but in general if you are within 50 feet (15 meters) you will always get the full 5,000 points.

Not often, but every now and then, GeoGuessr gets a little buggy. If the underlying Streetview imagery has changed since the game was made, sometimes it repeats the last round, gives a black screen, or doesn’t allow a guess to be made. If that happens, please let me know and I’ll update the challenge.

At the end of the five rounds, an overview screen shows your score for each round in addition to your guessing time and how far off you were from the correct location. The correct locations and your guesses are also shown on a map and you can click on any of the round numbers to review the locations. Additionally, the final screen in a challenge will show how you rank compared to the top scorers of the challenge. When choosing your user name, keep in mind that your user name and score per round will be visible to other players of the challenge.

If you have feedback on this challenge or ideas for future challenges, please share them in the comments below.