Ways to Play

Game With Friends

What Room Is the Item In?

One of the simplest ways to play Hereitis is to challenge your friends to identify which room contains an item.

Start by selecting a room. Delete the rooms you do not want to use for the game, or keep several rooms if you want a larger challenge. Then find several objects in the room and add them to your inventory.

The interesting part is deciding how you photograph each object. A picture does not always have to show the entire object. In fact, some of the most interesting games can be created by taking a picture that makes an object difficult to recognize.

Try Different Distances

Take a picture from far away. The object might be visible, but small compared with everything around it. Instead of taking a close-up picture of a chair, stand several feet away and include part of the room in the photograph.

You can also do the opposite. Take the picture extremely close to the object so that the player can see only a small portion of it. A close-up picture of a wooden surface might be part of a chair, table, cabinet, shelf, or another object.

Change the Camera Angle

Try taking pictures from unusual angles:

• From above.
• From below.
• From the side.
• From behind.
• At a high angle.
• At a low angle.
• From near floor level.
• From an angle that does not normally show the object.

Changing the angle can make a familiar object look completely different.

Change the Relative Height

The height of the camera can also change the difficulty. Take one picture while standing normally. Then try taking another picture while holding the camera very low, near the floor. You can also take a picture from a higher position.

The same object can look very different depending on whether the photograph is taken from above, below, or approximately the same height as the object.

Photograph Only Part of an Object

You do not always have to photograph the entire object. Take a close picture of one section.

• The corner of a wooden chair.
• Part of a table leg.
• The handle of a drawer.
• A small section of a box.
• The side of a piece of furniture.

The challenge is for the player to recognize the object from only a small portion of it.

Hide an Object in Plain Sight

You can also place a small object near or underneath a much larger object.

For example, place a penny underneath a sofa, on the carpet, and take a picture showing the area around it. The penny may be difficult to see, even though it is technically visible.

You could do something similar with another small object. The important idea is to make the object hard to notice, not impossible to find.

Create Your Own Rules

Part of the fun is creating rules before the game begins.

• The object cannot be completely covered.
• Players cannot touch or move the object while taking the picture.
• The object must remain in its normal location.
• The picture must be taken inside the room.
• The object must be visible somewhere in the photograph.
• Players receive only the photograph and the room choices.
• Players have a limited amount of time to answer.

You can make the rules as simple or challenging as you want.

Game With Yourself — Important Items

Hereitis can also be useful without another player. You can create a personal inventory of things that you frequently forget about or need to remember.

Start with one room. Delete the rooms you are not using, then look around the room for important items.

Think about things such as:

• Keys.
• Phones.
• Documents.
• Important equipment.
• Household items.
• Safety equipment.
• Items that are easy to forget.

Add those items to your inventory. Then move to another room and continue.

You do not have to finish everything in one session. Add a few items, take a break, and continue later.

Eventually, you will have enough information to play a game or simply use the inventory as a way to remember where things are located.

Game With Yourself — Hobbies and Collections

Hereitis can also be used for hobbies that involve many objects. Start with one room and create the rooms or areas that make sense for your collection.

You might have a room containing hobby equipment, tools, supplies, collectibles, or other objects.

Create categories that help you distinguish between different types of items. As you move through the room, add each item to your inventory.

You can add pictures and other media to help identify the objects. Category and subcategory information can be especially useful when you have many similar objects.

Continue adding rooms and items until you have documented your collection. The result can become both an inventory and a game.

Game With Your Kids

Hereitis can be used as a game while also helping children become familiar with important things around the home.

You might create questions about objects that children should know how to find.

• Fire extinguisher.
• First aid kit.
• Candles.
• Cell phone.
• Important household equipment.
• Emergency supplies.
• Emergency exits.

You can create a game where the child has to determine which room an item is in.

For younger children, use clear pictures and familiar objects. As they become more comfortable with the game, make the pictures more challenging.

You can also use the game to help children learn the layout of the home or another building.

Make the Pictures More Challenging

The photograph is one of the most important parts of a Hereitis game. You control the difficulty by controlling the photograph.

Distance

Try different distances from the object.

• Far away: The object becomes smaller and the surrounding room provides more distractions.
• Medium distance: The object can be seen, but the player still needs to examine the photograph.
• Very close: Only part of the object is visible.

Angle

Change the direction from which you photograph the object. A familiar object viewed from an unusual angle may become difficult to identify.

Height

Change the height of the camera. Try photographing the same object from floor level, normal standing height, from above, or from a higher location.

Changing the relative height can dramatically change how an object appears.

Close-Up Details

Try photographing only a small portion of an object. A small section of wood, metal, plastic, fabric, or another material may not immediately reveal what the complete object is.

This can be particularly effective when several objects in the room are made from similar materials.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Small objects can become challenging when placed near larger objects. For example, a penny can be placed underneath a sofa, on the carpet, where only a small portion of the surrounding area is visible.

The object should not be completely hidden if your rules require the answer to be visible. The challenge is to make the object hard to notice, not impossible to find.

Make the Game Easy or Difficult

There is no single correct way to create a Hereitis game. You can make the game easy, difficult, or somewhere in between.

You can also mix easy and difficult questions. Start with a few obvious objects and gradually make the questions harder.

Use Pictures, Audio, and Video

Pictures are not the only way to create a Hereitis game. You can also add audio and video to your items.

Try recording a short sound or video associated with an item and see whether players can identify it. You can experiment with different types of clues.

You decide how much information the players receive.

Keep Experimenting

The best Hereitis games may come from experimenting.

Take several pictures of the same object using different distances, angles, and camera heights. Look at the pictures yourself and ask:

If the answer is yes, try another angle.

If the answer is no, you may have created a good challenge.

Remember that the purpose is not necessarily to make every question extremely difficult. A good game can contain a mixture of easy, medium, and difficult questions.

The rooms, objects, pictures, rules, and challenges are yours to create.