01. About Route Scouts

01. Gather your map book, pencil, and compass to become a Route Scout today!

02. Route Scouts is a casual walking game to map a secret route between your starting point and a destination based on intersections and turns, rather than distance and real geography. Each intersection of blue lines on the map sheets represents real world intersections along your path and the direction you go from the point of view when approaching the intersection.

03. The goal of the game is to learn about navigation, codes, and decode other Route Scout's routes to experience them yourself. Share the route codes you've made with friends, so they can follow in your footsteps all across the planet! The text includes shorthand notation for marking landmarks, and writing coded messages to your fellow Route Scouts.

04. A fellow Route Scout needs to know the starting location and initial direction to retrace your steps and find the destination!

05. Like geocaching of secret routes and destinations.

06. Released as CC0 Public Domain for you to take remix and hack as you see fit.

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02. Making Resources

01. You are welcome to make additional resources and tweaks to Route Scouts, we actually encourage it! From map icons and new grids to additional code methods and anything else you can imagine. You're free to create and share as you wish. 

02. If you make something, post a link to it in the comments below for others, and we will add it to a Route Scouts collection.

03. Finally, we grant explicit permission for you to print Route Scouts at home or with a commercial printer and use or distribute it in any manner you wish.  

04. Route Scouts is designed as an A6 or US-Booklet (8.5"x5.5")-sized, 48pg staple-bound zine with color or black and white interior, similar to a Field Notes journal.

05. To print at home: 

• Open the file in your favorite PDF viewer
• Open the print wizard, and select the "Booklet" option and print double sided.
• Starting with the cover page, fold the pages in half.
• Slot the folded pieces of paper together, in page order, with the cover on the outside.
• Finally, staple the pages together along the fold. You can also use a rubber band or tie a piece of string in the crease to keep the pages together.

03. The Route Scout Code

01. The Route is Sacred
A Route Scout never reveals a secret path to those who haven’t earned it. The Scout’s routes are for those they trust.

02. Mark with Care
Every sign, symbol, and clue must be clear to those who understand, and invisible to those who don’t. A misplaced mark can mislead, a well-placed one can guide for generations.

03. No Route Left Behind
If a path is made, it must be maintained or destroyed forever. Abandoned routes invite danger and deception.

04. Honor the Trailblazers
A Route Scout respects the paths made before them, never erasing or ruining another’s route without good reason.

05. Stealth Over Speed
A Route Scout values the art of moving unseen and unnoticed, for a route is only as good as its secrecy.

06. Truth in the Clues
A Route Scout never falsifies a sign or misleads in their routes unless 01 is broken and safety demands misdirection.

07. Leave No Trace, Only Footsteps
Nature is not an obstacle, but an ally. A Scout respects the land, the trees, and the paths, documenting what is meant to be found, not altering it.

08. The Best Route is the Hidden Route
The greatest path is the one that can be walked, yet remains a mystery to those who don’t know where to look.

09. Pass It On, But Choose Wisely
Knowledge of a route is a gift. Share it only with those who have proven they’re safe and earned their place among the Route Scouts.

10. Keep the Code
The Route Scout’s Oath is not written in ink, but carried in the heart. If you speak it, speak it true.