Think you know Muni? Like, really know it? Now you can put your street smarts — and streetcar smarts — to the test every day with The Standard’s first official guessing game, Routle.
We first reported on Routle in December, sharing the story of the London-based software engineer and transit nerd River Honer, who created the addictive game in a single day as an homage to a city they love. Now we’re rolling out the game as an exclusive partnership, playable on both The Standard’s mobile and desktop sites.
It works similarly to Wordle, but instead of giving players six chances to spell a five-letter word, Routle offers up a San Francisco transit line against a plain white background. You have five chances to guess which route it is.
Incorrect answers are laid out in red, gradually forming a skeleton Muni map that offers geographic hints. Couldn’t get it? Come back to The Standard tomorrow and try again. The game is randomized for all 60 or so of the city’s bus and streetcar lines, from the 1 California to the T Third Street.
Routle isn’t too difficult — at least, not if you know the 5 Fulton from the 12 Folsom/Pacific. Honer has constructed a route-planning app called Muni on the Go and collaborated on other software in the public interest, like a vacancy-mapping app intended to demonstrate the feasibility of building social housing. They modeled this game after playing a similar one for London, Metrodle.
For the next year, Honer will be working on other games for The Standard, possibly even versions of Routle for other cities. Subscriber-only Routle features (such as a leaderboard) are also in the works, so become a Standard member and get in on the action.