Fancy yourself a Muni junkie? Need a cute fix of civic pride? I’m addicted to Muni Routle, the simple, free online game that is causing a local sensation. Once a day, players are given a random snippet of a Muni line, and then tasked with guessing exactly which line it belongs to.
For instance, here’s today’s clue (January 7):
You have five chances to guess which route this is a part of, choosing from a menu of dozens of light rail, bus routes, and cable car lines the civic transit service provides. If you guess wrongly, the route you guessed will appear in red, so you can see how close (or far, as is often my case) you were.
“Muni Routle is a daily quiz game, like Wordle, for guessing SF Muni routes,” Muni Routle creator River Honer told 48hills. “It’s free and completely unmonetized, and the code for it is available online. I made it because I love Muni and want to make things which inspire excitement about transit.”
I spoke with River a bit about creating the game, and celebrating an essential part of San Francisco culture..
48 HILLS What was your original inspiration for ‘Muni Routle’? Was there an “a-ha” moment for you?
RIVER HONER The original inspirations were Metrodle and Worldle, which are transit and geography guessing games. I don’t play the original word game, Wordle, but play these almost daily. I actually live in London at the minute and work for the BBC. I care a lot about public services as someone who works at the public broadcaster, and my dream job is in transit. I have been back in the city a lot this year, and wanted to do something to connect with the city and to celebrate Muni while here. I knew I wanted to make an SF version of these apps because Muni is so iconic and beloved by San Franciscans.
48 HILLS Were there any challenges in creating and coding the game?
RIVER HONER It was not very challenging to code; the hardest part was figuring out a way to make a game that works for the Muni network. For the London Underground, the stops are iconic. For Muni, we only have named underground stations, and bus stops are just named after intersections, like 9th and Irving. I had been thinking about how to make a game like this for a while in a way that would work for Muni, and once the idea for line shapes hit me, I built it in a day. I tested it among friends to find bugs and make tweaks, and it felt like a good balance of difficulty and fun.
48 HILLS What do you hope the game will inspire in players?
RIVER HONER I hope the game inspires people to talk about Muni more. Muni is important to the culture of the city and I wanted to make something to celebrate it. I also wanted to make something for us transit nerds who are obsessed with transit. And I think this game is a way to make more transit nerds, or even just transit fans. I think that’s something the city needs, due to the risks of cuts to Muni services.
48 HILLS What’s your favorite Muni line?
RIVER HONER My favorite line is the 33. I used to take that line all time back in the 2010s when I went to SFSU, studying urban planning. It has a really useful route and great views.
