What is Payphone Tag? It’s the ultimate screen-free game for explorer nerds:)

Sometimes people do the dumbest things, and then you get nerdy folk who create the coolest ideas – that are really just for nerds, but also a great screen-free option for parents and their kids to play on weekends I reckon. It’s called Payphone tag. So – what is Payphone tag?

It’s a game you can only play using Telstra PayPhones around Australia and I’d say it’s akin to Pokemon Go, requiring you to get out and about to really participate in the fun!

How does PayPhone Tag work?

Honestly, it couldn’t be simpler. You go to PayPhoneTag.com – generate your own unique NAME and PIN. Great thing, this is entirely anonymous, no handing over emails or creating passwords, it’s just a randomly generated PIN for you and a randomly generated name too.

Once you’re “logged in” you simply go to any PayPhone you see, pick it up, and dial 07 5623 8255 – which on the dial pad spells out 07 LOAD TALK . You’ll hear a message saying enter your code – type in your PIN and boom, Agent Logged in.

You now own that PayPhone, but, it’s like a game of capture the flag, someone else can come steal it from you. That’s the fun of it. Capture enough payphones and you’ll essentially rope off an area, that becomes your turf. More turf, more phones, more points, the higher you go up the leaderboard.

There is no outcome, no prize, no purpose other than to compete.

You are competing against hundreds of other Aussies. In the last 7 days over 500 people have been actively playing PayPhone Tag.

Across the entire community of players over 56% of all Australia’s 13,791 Payphones have been tagged, so it’s quite possible there’s one in your area that hasn’t been captured yet! I “QuickTorch” was the first to capture the PayPhone at Thornleigh Railway Station – yay:)

With half an hour to spare today in the City I captured about a dozen phones around World Square then Central, where payphone banks were a motherload.

To get even more competitive, you can team up with friends too. I’ve asked Members of the EFTM Man Cave to join me, we can only have 8 in a team!

Is PayPhone Tag Competitive?

Oh you bet your life.

Within minutes of me capturing those Central Station phones someone stole them back.

And I stole so many of one player’s phones we are now sworn enemies – in the game. Looking at you SolarFalcon!

Loads of fun!

What on earth inspired this?

Well, according to the info page, the creator “bought a phone number and wanted to do something fun with it. This project started as an excuse to learn new skills and put to use a dataset of Australian payphone locations I’d collected. The result is this game“.

But the best part, is this line “Get outside, explore your city, and capture some payphones. That’s really all there is to it.“

Love it, well played sir, well played.

Oh, and because Telstra Payphones are FREE to use, this whole game is FREE!

Enjoy!

Update, I’ve claimed pretty much the entire area around the EFTM office, not sure I have the energy to hold onto it:)