How to play
Each day you get five places to find on a world map that has borders but no names. Drop a pin, confirm it, and score up to 1,000 points depending on how close you are. A perfect day is 5,000.
Playing a round
- Read the clue at the top. It tells you the kind of place (country, capital city, river, mountain or landmark) and names it, for example “Tap inside Albania” or “Mount Elbrus, the highest summit of the Caucasus.”
- Find the spot. Drag to pan. Pinch, scroll or use the + and − buttons to zoom.
- Tap the map to place your pin. Tap somewhere else to move it. Nothing counts yet.
- Press Confirm guess. The map shows your pin, the answer and a dashed line between them, along with the distance and your points.
- Press Next to continue. There is no timer, so take as long as you like.
How scoring works
Inside 25 km you get the full 1,000. Beyond that, points fade smoothly with distance:
| Distance from the answer | Points |
|---|---|
| 25 km or less | 1,000 |
| 100 km | 963 |
| 500 km | 789 |
| 1,000 km | 614 |
| 2,000 km | 373 |
| 5,000 km | 83 |
| 10,000 km | 7 |
Distances are measured along the curve of the Earth, not across the flat map.
Countries are scored differently from everything else. Any pin inside the country’s outline counts as 0 km and earns 1,000. If you land outside it, the distance runs to the nearest point of its border, so big countries are not unfairly hard to hit. Capitals, mountains, landmarks and rivers are scored from a single point. For a river, that point is its mouth or delta, which is also what the clue describes.
Two ways to play
Play today gives everyone the same five places for their local calendar date. A day always has a country, a capital, a river or mountain, and a landmark, plus one extra from one of those groups, and never two places tagged to the same country. Your progress is saved after each confirmed guess, so you can leave and come back to the next round. Finish all five and the button becomes “See today’s result”; each day can only be played once.
Endless practice serves random places from the full list for as long as you like, avoiding the last 100 you have seen. Press Finish practice to see a summary. Practice does not touch your stats or streak and is not saved.
Your home screen tracks days played, current and longest streak, best score and average score. These count daily games only. A streak continues if you finish on consecutive days and lapses once you miss a full day. Share result gives you the date, your total and a colored mark for each round, with no place names, so it will not spoil the day for anyone.
Tips for better scores
- Hedge when you are torn. Points fade slowly, so a pin halfway between two likely spots still earns a decent score. A pin 1,000 km off is worth more than half marks.
- Aim for the middle of a country. Anywhere inside is perfect, so there is no reason to risk the border.
- Zoom in before the final tap. On a capital or landmark, the difference between 25 km and 100 km can be lost in a single finger-width on the full world view.
- Follow rivers to the sea. You are looking for the mouth, not the middle of the river.
- Do not trust the map’s proportions near the poles. It is a flat projection that stretches the far north and south, so a pin there may be closer in real distance than it looks.
- Remember the map has an edge but the world does not. Places on either side of the Pacific edge can be near each other, and the distance calculation knows it.
Questions players ask
When do the new places appear?
At midnight on your own device’s clock. Someone in another time zone may be a day ahead or behind you.
Can I change my guess after confirming?
No. You can move the pin as often as you like before pressing Confirm guess, but not after.
I was inside the country, so why is there a line to a star?
The star marks a central point so the answer is easy to see, and the country is highlighted too. Your score still uses the outline, so inside is 0 km however long the line looks.
Can I play with a keyboard?
Buttons work with a keyboard, including zoom, but placing a pin needs a mouse, trackpad or touch screen.
Does the map take a side on disputed borders?
No. Boundaries are drawn for gameplay only. Countries used as answers are the 193 UN member states, and landmarks and capitals in contested areas are left out. The About page has more detail.