I planned to add some home-made JavaScript Orienteering games to my blog. Sounds fun to make, and to play. Something with maps, where you have to find the location of a tiny snapshot of the map. And a puzzel, where you have to select the control description icons for a certain spot on the map. And a map where you have to draw what you think is the best route, and afterwards, get a simulated time based on the underlying map colors. Or a jigsaw puzzle of a map. Like this:

But first, I decided to look what is already out there. I have bought once Catching Features, which is sort of the complete orienteering experience on your PC. A lot of fun when you can’t go out for some reason. It pretty well resembles the stress when orienteering for real. But here appear to be many more tools.
I wish I had an Android smartphone, then I could play Virtual Orienteering, or pCM Orienteering.

But there are other Orienteering computer games as well. Have a look for example at:

• Webroute: Here you can draw what you think is the best route, on a map, and compare with others. Seems to be used a lot, but not by many Dutch people.
• Control Descriptions Quiz, where you can exercise your knowledge on control symbols.
• Map reading Quiz, where you can rehearse with map features.
• On ARDF-games, you can play with virtual ARDF receivers, a kind of orienteering where you use radio waves to locate the controls.
• This one is also fun: you have to watch the head-camera video, and locate where you are on the map. Sounds like a fun idea for a Geocache.
• Memory training: this one shows you a map for some seconds, and then you have to run the same route, along many crossings, to get to the end point, by what you remember of the map.
• And if you like to play online puzzels, with Orienteering as theme, then this section of the Hamok Orienteering Handbook could be interesting.

But of course, the real game is outside. I found some good sites with training exercises, some of which you can do on your own when there is no nearby race, or no training. For example here, on O-training.net, or this huge list, also from the Hamok Handbook.

Although there are not many regional races nearby during the summer season, there seems to be enough to do. So let’s quit writing my blog, and start playing.

More links:

• http://www.fortnet.org/icd/
• http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Sports/Orienteering—the-Maps-the-Sport-57551.html
• http://www.sporcle.com/games/Steerpike/orienteering-control-descriptions
• http://www.fortnet.org/icd/mst/index.html
• http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/page/games
• http://www.octavian-droobers.org/index.php/coaching/on-line-quizzes