The free daily challenge
Five photographs. A new daily discovery.
WhenWhere’s free daily history game asks you to guess both the year and the place. Everyone receives the same five photographs for the UTC date.
Sign in, play five rounds and place two answers for each real photograph: a year and a map pin. There is one saved attempt per account for the day. A new selection arrives at midnight UTC. Finish before that deadline for the daily streak and leaderboard eligibility.
What can I play without a subscription?
The daily five-photo challenge is free with an account. Saved progress, XP, daily streaks, basic statistics and score sharing are included. You do not need Plus to see each answer, basic caption and original photo credit after your guess.
With your free account, the introduction offers a separate set of five photographs to learn the controls. You can resume your saved introduction or revisit its answers from your account.
Plus adds unlimited random games, historical collections, previous daily challenges as practice, expanded Behind the photo stories and challenge hosting. Friends can accept a hosted challenge with a free account. The membership page shows the current plans and full billing totals.
When does the daily challenge reset?
The reset is 00:00 UTC, shared worldwide. Your local midnight may be different, and a local daylight-saving change can alter the corresponding clock time. The game’s daily countdown is the useful reference while you play.
| Situation | What to expect |
|---|---|
| You finish all five rounds before midnight UTC | The completion can count toward that day’s streak and leaderboard, subject to your visibility choice. |
| You begin before midnight but finish afterward | You can finish and review the saved game, but it does not earn that day’s streak or daily leaderboard entry. |
| You return to a completed daily | You review the saved result rather than get a new competitive attempt at those photographs. |
| You open the daily after the reset | The new UTC date has its own selection and saved attempt. |
A daily selection is shared, not personalized to your time zone. Photographs may appear again across days; a new daily does not promise five never-before-seen photographs.
One saved attempt, with room to think
The daily does not put a separate countdown on each round. Study the photo, zoom in and adjust both answers before locking the guess. A submitted guess is final. Refreshing or reopening the same daily resumes the account’s saved attempt rather than granting another try.
Locked guesses are saved to your account. An unsubmitted year and pin are different: the game can restore that draft in the same browser tab when browser storage is available, but it does not sync the draft across devices. For a reliable stopping point, finish and lock the current round.
If a connection fails after submitting, reopen the saved game to check its result. Avoid assuming an error message means the server did not save your answer. The game protects a locked round from being replaced with a different guess.
Keep the progress; choose whether to compete publicly
A five-round game offers up to 50,000 points: 5,000 for the year and 5,000 for the place in each round. The scoring guide explains the two parts. A good date estimate can still help when a location is difficult.
Your My journey page is the place to review saved results and progress. The daily leaderboard is optional. Opting in makes your player name and eligible daily score visible; it does not make your email public. Keeping a score private does not stop you learning from the result.
You can copy a completed score to share it yourself. For fair comparisons, let a friend finish before discussing the actual years or locations. A high score is more meaningful when everyone had the same chance to notice the clues.
Make each daily useful, even when the score is low
Before submitting, put your reasoning into one sentence: “This looks like a port, the sign suggests this region, and the vehicles point to this period.” After the reveal, keep one thing you got right and one clue you missed. That turns a result into a reusable observation habit.
Tomorrow’s challenge gives you another chance to apply it. If you want help before the next round, watch the gameplay demo or start with the beginner’s photo-clue guide.
Your next clue is waiting.
Five photographs. Create a free account and start exploring.