Hide & Seek
Hide & Seek is a 3D hide and seek game you play in the browser, on a phone, a tablet or a computer. You hide, and Franklin, a Labrador, counts on the porch and then comes looking. He never cheats: he only knows what he can smell, see and hear.
How to play
He counts on the porch while you run for a hiding spot. Then he hunts, and you have to still be hidden when the timer runs out. Stay hidden and the next round starts with your score carried over. Get caught and you are back to round one.
On a touch screen, a fixed stick in the bottom corner moves you; push it out to the edge to run. The buttons beside it crouch and throw, or flick on the other half of the screen to throw with an aim arc. On a keyboard: WASD or the arrows to move, Shift to run, C to crouch, space to throw, 1 to 3 to pick a toy.
How the dog finds you
Every step you take leaves scent, and the wind carries it. Franklin works that scent with his nose down, so hiding downwind of him matters. He also looks along clear lines of sight and listens for feet.
Moving is what he notices first. Crouch in tall grass and he cannot see you, but he can still smell you. Running near him is loud. Trails are fast but you are easy to spot on them, and the woods are the best cover on the map.
He checks the obvious places first, because that is where kids always are.
Toys, squirrels and other distractions
You get a ball, a stick and a squeaky toy to throw, and fewer of them as the rounds go on. Throw one far away, then hide the other way.
Squirrels, deer and a bobcat live around the meadow and the woods, and Franklin is very easy to distract. Every time he gives up the search to chase a squirrel, that is time you get back. It is also the joke.
Difficulty and scoring
Two dogs: Puppy, a slower, easier dog for little kids, and Good Dog, the real one. Each round you get less time to hide, he searches for longer, and he gets better at it.
Staying hidden is worth 900 points plus time, 60 for each toy you did not need, and 220 more if he came within seven metres and missed. Ground covered pays 2 points a metre either way. Twenty easter eggs are hidden around the map at 60 points each, with a 500 bonus for all twenty, and they count even if he catches you. Your best total is kept on your device.
Play with friends
Open FRIENDS, create a game and send the link. Everyone lands in a lobby, the host starts the round, and Franklin hunts all of you at once for three minutes. Getting caught costs you a few seconds on the sidelines, not the round.
Up to three players can talk to each other while they play. Nobody needs an account; the link is enough.