Hop Haul

Hop Haul is one of the daily geography puzzles on Ten Minute Games, a small shelf of games made by Istvan Kreisz. Everyone gets the same round each day, it changes at midnight UTC, and it plays in the browser with no sign-up.

Each day deals a hand: a start country, a budget of 7 to 12 border hops, and a few closed countries that are hatched on the globe and cannot be entered. From the start country you add neighbours one at a time. The chain, which the game calls a caravan, can grow from any country it already touches, so it may branch rather than run in a single line.

The round has five tabs, each with its own measure: population, land area, GDP, GDP per person and Olympic medals. Each day says whether a tab wants the most or the fewest, so a route that is right for people can be wrong for land. Your chain is scored against the best possible one for that hand, and reaching 90% of it counts as solved.

Where games like Travle ask for the shortest route between two countries, Hop Haul is about choosing which neighbours are worth the hop. It suits players who know the map well enough to see around a closed border, and who like a puzzle with a measurable best answer. Past days stay free to play, and results and streaks are kept in your browser.