What is Strata?
Strata is FlightQ's daily 3D city-geography game. A real mystery city begins as bare terrain, then gradually reveals weather, water, roads and buildings as you make city guesses. You read its landscape and map structure rather than using a street-view image or a fact clue list.
How to play Strata
- Choose the US + Canada or Worldwide city pool.
- Study the opening topography for coastlines, relief and overall footprint.
- Enter a city guess from the search field.
- Use the reported distance and the newly revealed map layer to narrow the next guess.
- Name the city before all five guesses are used.
Reading the feedback
A wrong city guess reports its distance from the answer and peels back the next 3D map layer. The sequence is topography, weather, water, roads and buildings; the final building layer shows real footprints and heights. This means every miss produces both directional geographic feedback and a richer visual clue.
Game modes
US + Canada
A smaller pool covering major metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada.
Worldwide
A broader global pool of curated recognizable cities.
Tips and strategy
- Read terrain before choosing a city: coastline shape, valleys and ridgelines remain visible before later clues arrive.
- Use the distance result to move by region, then let weather and water eliminate lookalike cities.
- Save skyline-driven identification for late guesses; buildings are deliberately the final layer.
Common questions
How many guesses do I get in Strata?
The official rules give you five city guesses.
What does a wrong Strata guess show?
It shows the distance to the target city and reveals the next map layer: weather, water, roads or buildings.
Do I need an account to play Strata?
No. Every daily puzzle is free and no account is required; premium adds unlimited practice and other features.
Does Strata work on a phone?
Yes. The 3D map runs in a mobile-first browser, and FlightQ also lists iOS and Android apps.