Turf Jargon Buster

Here are some explanations of many terms used in Turf.

See also the Turf FAQ page on this website. If you have any comments or questions, please email esoc.turf "AT" gmail.com

Aquamen – The Order of Aquamen medal is awarded to those who take a zone designed to be swum to (not available November to April, presumably because lakes in Sweden are frozen then and you can walk to the zone).
Assist – When two or more turfers enter a zone at the same time, the person with the shortest takeover time will take the zone. The other person gets an Assist – this gives them the takeover points, but no points per hour. An Assist can be done on any takeover and also on a revisit. Assists generally count towards medals in the same way as takeovers (NB: not Neutralizer).
Assist medal – Series of medals awarded for assisting a number of takeovers: 5, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2500, 5000, 7500, 10000, 15000, 20000, 25000.
Belt – Accessory for the turfman in the app, available to supporters who have won a World medal, in bronze, silver or gold as appropriate.
Blocked – When a zone is taken, it is blocked for a few minutes. It cannot be taken by another turfer during that time. A revisit blocks a zone for 5 minutes. A blocked zone is shown as striped in the app.
Block time – The length of time when a zone is blocked after you take it. No-one else can take the zone during this time. Your block time increases by 15 seconds each time you move up a rank.
Bridge medals – Series of medals awarded for taking 3 bridge zones within a time limit: Bridge Crosser - 30 minutes, Bridge Lover - 20 minutes, Bridge Fanatic - 10 minutes.
Chat – Function in the app allowing turfers to send messages to one another: chat windows are available for your local region, country or worldwide.
Chat region – Determines which local chat is displayed in a turfer’s chat window. This changes as soon as the turfer takes a zone in a different region, so is not necessarily the same as their home region.
Country medal – Awarded to the turfer who leads a country's toplist at the end of a round (i.e. they have the most points in their home country). There must be at least 30 turfers on that country's toplist for the medal to be awarded. The turfer will be awarded a Winner Zone even if there aren't enough turfers there for them to get the medal.
Crowdy medals – Series of medals for being an assister when a zone is taken. The medal reflects the number of assisters: Crowdy-1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233. NB: You need one more person than the number on the medal, because the person who takes the zone does not get the Crowdy medal.
Crown – Appears beside the name of a Region Lord (see below) on the toplists in the app. A crown can be worn by the turfman of a Region Lord in the app.
Daily – Series of medals awarded for visiting at least 5 zones every day for however many days are in the medal name: Daily-10, Daily-30, Daily-60, Daily-90, Daily-180, Daily-365. Takes, Assists and Revisits all count for these medals. NB: A day means 00:00 to 24:00 GMT, not local time.
Dark Ninja – Medal for taking at least 3 zones between 2am and 3am.
Darkest Ninja – Medal for taking at least 30 zones between 2am and 3am.
Dawn Ninja – Medal for taking at least 3 zones between 4am and 5am.
Diverse medals – Series of medals awarded for taking many unique zones within a round: Diverse - 250, Diversier - 500, Diversiest - 1000.
Eager medals – Series of medals for taking 10 zones within a time limit: Squirrel - 30 minutes, Beaver - 20 minutes, Weasel - 15 minutes, Ferret - 10 minutes.
Event – A turf competition in a defined area for a short period of time, with zones created for the duration of the event.
Fairy – Program that runs at the end of each round, adjusting the points values for zones according to the amount of activity they have had.
Follow mode – When the map in the app follows you as you move around. Tap the turfman at lower left to turn on follow mode; touching the map turns it off. (See also Turf FAQ “How can I centre the map?”)
FTT – First To Take, i.e. first turfer ever to take a new zone. (Brings kudos only.)
Ghosting – Turning the GPS off between zones. This means no one else can see where you are, and is considered bad form. It's more fun if you keep the GPS on. (See Turf FAQ “Should I change any of the settings?” for more on this.)
Ghost minute – Medal for taking a Holy zone between 00:00 and 00:01.
GPS bonus – A 5-second reduction in your takeover time if you leave your GPS on. It's good to leave the GPS on, so that other turfers can see where you are. Then they can avoid unnecessary blocking, and can perhaps approach you to carry out Assists.
Greed medals – Medal series for holding a given number of zones: Greed-5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 500, 1000.
Home country – The country in which a turfer has taken (or assisted in) the most zones during the current round. They appear on the toplist for this country – if viewing this on the Turf website, the appropriate flag is displayed beside their name. Note that this is not necessarily the country associated with their home region.
Home region – The region in which a turfer has taken (or assisted in) the most zones during the current round. They appear on the toplist for this region. If they have visited multiple regions in more than one country, their home region might not be in their home country.
Insomnia – Medal given for taking at least one zone in each hour for 24 hours.
Issue – A report of an inaccessible or dangerous turf zone. Raise an issue via issues.turfgame.com (See Turf FAQ “What should I do if a zone is inaccessible?”).
League – All turfers are automatically entered in the league, a series game (similar to football leagues), with promotion, demotion and random allocation to groups within each level at the start of every round.
Nerd synch – Taking two or more medals with just one take (can include ranking up). Requires careful planning and coordination.
Neutral – A neutral zone is one that has not yet been taken in the current round, shown in yellow in the app. There is a bonus of 50 points for taking a neutral zone.
Neutralizer – Medal awarded for taking at least 20 neutral zones in 5 hours. (Assists do not count for this medal).
Orderly III – Medal given for taking a Bridge zone, then a Holy zone, then a Monument zone in less than 20 minutes. NB: They must be in the right order, with no other zones in between.
PPH – Points Per Hour, the points awarded per hour for holding a zone.
Rank – A turfer’s rank determines their takeover time and block time. You start at rank 0 and get promoted (rapidly at first) as you earn more points.
Region Lord – The turfer who currently holds the most zones in a region (not necessarily their home region). This gives them a bonus of 5 seconds shorter takeover time.
Region medal – Awarded to the turfer who leads a region toplist at the end of a round (i.e. they have the most points in their home region). There must be at least 5 turfers on that region's toplist for the medal to be awarded.
Restless – Medal given for taking at least one zone in each hour for 12 hours.
Revisit – You can revisit a zone 23 hours after you took it, to gain half the takeover points. The zone is then blocked for 5 minutes. Note that revisits do not count towards most medals (exceptions are Revisiter, Trainer, and Daily).
Revisiter – Medal for revisiting at least 50 zones within 5 days.
Round – Turf is played in monthly rounds, starting on the first Sunday of each month. At the start of each round, all zones are reset to neutral, and all turfers’ round scores are reset to zero.
Roundpointer medals – Series of medals awarded according to the number of points accumulated during a round: 10k, 25k, 50k, 75k, 100k, 250k, 500k, 750k, 1M, 2M, 3M. These medals are not awarded retrospectively (but the 2M medal will be awarded retrospectively if a qualifying user wishes, "as an homage to outstanding efforts").
Round unique zones – Zones that a turfer has taken in the current round.
Stamina medals – Medal series awarded for taking many zones in 24 hours (not necessarily the same day): Stamina - 50 zones, Staminator - 100 zones, El Staminatore - 200 zones, Staminatrix - 400 zones.
Sword – Accessory for the turfman in the app, available to supporters who have a Dark Ninja (or Darkest Ninja) medal. Once you are a supporter, click on the lightning bolt in the menu, then Change Look to select the sword. Note: You cannot have both a sword and a tail.
Supporter – Someone who has donated to Turf to support development of the game and running the servers. Click on the menu (4 dots at the bottom right of the app screen), then the lightning bolt, for details.
Tail – Accessory for the turfman in the app, available to supporters who have an Eager Weasel (or Eager Ferret) medal. Once you are a supporter, click on the lightning bolt in the menu, then Change Look to select the tail. Note: You cannot have both a tail and a sword.
Take medals – Series of medals for accumulating takeovers or assists of any zones: 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, 2500, 5000, 7500, 10000, 15000, 20000, 25000, 30000, 35000, 40000, 50000, 75000, 100000, 250000, 500000. NB: If your qualifying take is an assist, the medal will be awarded on your next actual take.
Takeover – When a turfer goes to a zone, and stays there for the appropriate time, getting a message that they have taken the zone.
Takeover points – The points you’re awarded when you take a zone.
Takeover time – The time taken for you to take a zone. Your takeover time depends on your rank. It starts at 29.8 seconds, and reduces by 0.2 seconds for each rank. If you keep your GPS on, this reduces your takeover time by 5 seconds. And if you are Region Lord, this gives a further 5 seconds bonus.
Top hat – Accessory for the turfman in the app, available to supporters who are in the Elite League.
Toplist – Leaderboard, listing all turfers by points in the current round. Available for your current region, country or the world. Accessed from the home page of the website, or in the app by clicking the icon with a star above 2 lines, in the menu (4 dots at lower right).
TP – Takeover Points.
Trainer – Medal given for taking a Train Station zone every day for 30 days (a day is defined as 24 hours from midnight GMT). It doesn’t have to be a different zone every time. Revisits do count for this medal, but note that for several other medals, the medal is only awarded on an actual take, and that might apply to this medal too.
Turf Crew – A group of volunteers that helps run the Turf game. Crew members are entitled to have their turfman wear a black teeshirt in the app.
Turfnick – The username you chose when you registered with Turf.
Unique medals – Medal series for accumulating takes or assists of different zones – 15, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, 2500, 5000, 7500, 10000, 20000, 30000.
Warded – Third party website that provides various interesting and useful statistics from Turf. Can be accessed from the Info page of the Turf website, or from https://warded.se/turf/
Winner Zone – The turfer with the most points in their home country at the end of a round is awarded a Winner Zone wherever they choose in that country, and the zone is given this attribute (even if it fits one of the other types).
Zone types – A zone may have an attribute, some of which are relevant to medals. The types are: Bridge, Castle/Fort, Holy, Monument, National Park, Ruins/Ancient Remains, Summit, Train Station, Water Zone, Winner Zone, World Heritage.

LAST UPDATED: 2 October 2023

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