Played on foot, in real streets
OnTheRun
One team runs.
Everyone else hunts.Real-life hide and seek across your whole city.
The hiders get a head start to vanish into the streets, then the seekers are let loose. It ends one of two ways: a tag in person, or the hiders outlast the clock and win.
A game in progress
Getting a game going
Only the host does the work below. If someone invited you, tap their link and wait for the host to pick your side.
Tap Play now
No account, no email, no password. The app opens a lobby with a five-digit code. You are the host, so you set the play area, the rules and the teams.
Draw the play area
Draw the boundary on the map with your finger. Two streets or the whole city, your choice. Everyone plays inside the line.
Set the rules, or don't
Set four things: the head start, the gap between reveals, the freeze length and the end time. Skip them all and you play with 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 5 minutes and 5 hours.
Get everyone in
Send the link, read out the code, or show the QR. Players standing near you see your lobby without a code.
Split the teams
Drag names between hiders and seekers. Star one hider as the broadcaster, who sends every reveal. Players who join after the start become seekers.
Then the chase
The head start
You run. The seekers wait and watch a countdown. The default 20 minutes gives you time to reach a tram and cross three neighbourhoods.
You have to give yourself away
The broadcaster sends a reveal every 30 minutes. A pin on your exact location first, then a photo of your surroundings, turn by turn. You do not pick which one.
Every reveal freezes you
After each reveal you stay inside a 100-metre freeze zone for 5 minutes. The seekers run toward you while you wait. Leave early and every seeker gets your location.
Leaving the play area costs you
Cross the boundary and you get 15 seconds to return. Stay out and the app sends every seeker your exact location. The ping repeats every 2 minutes until you go back inside.
One tag ends the game
A seeker tags a hider in person. One tag catches the whole hider team, so keep together. Reach the end time untagged, with every task done, and the hiders win.
Hiding is easy.
Staying hidden is not.
The rules the host sets
You set these in the lobby. Once the game starts, the rules lock.
Head start
20min
How long the seekers wait before they start hunting.
Between reveals
30min
Set 10 minutes for a hard game.
Freeze length
5min
You stay inside a 100-metre freeze zone after each reveal.
Game length
5hrs
Set any end time you want.
Dares that give you away
The host sets up to 10 tasks. The hiders have to clear every one before the end time. Each task needs a photo, and the photo goes straight to the seekers. Finish a task and you show the seekers where you have been. Leave one unfinished when time runs out and the seekers win.
Pub crawl
"Buy a drink for someone you've never met."
Tourist trail
"Strike the same pose as any statue."
Daredevil
"Ten push-ups in a busy public spot."
Wholesome
"Pet a dog. Ask first."
Chaos
"Wear your jacket backwards for one whole block."
Play now, or book it for Friday
Pick a day and a time, set a meetup place on the map, and let everyone say whether they are coming. It lands in their calendar and keeps itself in step if you move the day. When Friday arrives, the app pulls everyone back into the lobby.
Afterwards you get the whole thing back: the routes both teams actually took, every reveal that was sent, and the exact moment it fell apart for the losing side.
What the app will never do
Show anyone your live position. Not the seekers, not the host, not us. The only thing that leaves your phone during a game is a reveal you chose to send, or a ping you earned by breaking a rule. Routes appear once, in the recap, after the game is over.
Ask who you are. No account, no email address, no password, no signing in with anything. You type a name for the game and that is the whole of it.
Follow you around afterwards. Location is read while a game is running, not before and not after. No ads, no data brokers, no tracking you across other apps.
Need your screen on. The game runs from your pocket with the phone locked. Just do not force-quit it mid-chase.
Questions people ask
How many players you need, whether it works in your city, what the seekers can see, and ten more.
Support
Something broken, or a question about a game? Email ontherun.app.info@gmail.com and a human will answer.
If you are reporting a problem, include the version number from the bottom of the app's Settings screen.
Play safe
On The Run happens in real streets, usually at speed, usually while looking at a phone. Watch the traffic. Do not trespass. Keep your eyes up, and stop if a situation stops being fun.