How a travel competition turned US geography into a high-stakes game of Connect 4
In short: Imagine playing a board game where the pieces are entire states and the moves require planes, trains, and buses. In the series Jet Lag: The Game, players navigate vast landscapes, enduring random curses and challenges to achieve geographical objectives, all while filming themselves without a production crew.
Launched in May 2022 by Sam Denby, Adam Chase, and Ben Doyle, Jet Lag: The Game transforms travel into a strategic competition. The series' mechanics are heavily influenced by playground games, board games, and even titles like Taskmaster. While the show's scale can involve circumnavigating the globe or playing tag across Europe, the core gameplay relies on navigating public transit systems in regions like North America, Europe, and East Asia. The series is primarily distributed on the streaming platform Nebula, where episodes appear a week before their YouTube release. To mitigate the environmental impact of their flights, the producers purchase Gold Standard carbon offsets at ten times the estimated emissions of the show.
The competition structure varies wildly by season. In the debut season, players competed in a geographical version of Connect 4 across 22 contiguous US states west of the Mississippi River. The goal was to claim four states in a row, either vertically or horizontally. To claim a state, players had to reach its capital and complete a randomly drawn challenge. In other seasons, the format has shifted to hide-and-seek in Switzerland, capture the flag in Japan, or even a massive road trip through New Zealand. The show has earned recognition through a 2023 Streamey Award nomination and a 2025 Webby Award in the popular-vote category. Some seasons even feature guest competitors, including creators like Tom Scott and Michelle Khare.
Strategy is often dictated by 'curses' and 'challenges'—randomly assigned restrictions that can hinder travel or force players to perform specific tasks. Players also manage budgets, such as the US$1,000 starting fund used in the second season's global circumnavigation attempt. Interestingly, the show maintains a lean production style; the competitors record everything themselves using handheld phones and wearable microphones, allowing them to focus entirely on the game's shifting logistics. The production team intentionally avoids using cars as a primary mode of travel because they believe cars are less strategically exciting than scheduled public transit. This preference for trains, planes, and buses helps define the show's unique logistical tension.
Opens the Intellect+ feed with this card first. Swipe up for the next one.
Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Jet Lag: The Game
- Also: Wikidata — Jet Lag: The Game · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — We Played Connect 4 by Travelling to Actual US States · CC0
To cite this card, link to https://intellectplus.co.uk/app/places-jet-lag-the-game.
How we source, check and correct cards: Editorial standards.
General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.
Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?
Related
More in Cities · More in Countries & Cities · Latest · A–Z · All topics
