More ways to explore
Follow your curiosity.
Keep a streak alive or see how much you can discover against the clock.
Country streaks, decade streaks or survival?
A trail is a run of historical photographs. Country and decade streaks test one kind of clue without a timer. Survival combines a year and a map pin, with two minutes for each photograph.
Starting a new trail requires an account and WhenWhere Plus. New here? Try the introduction with a free account.
Compare the rules before you play
Country streak
Study the photograph and choose its country from four answers. No map pin or year is needed. There is no time limit: each correct answer adds one to your streak, and a wrong answer ends the run.
Start with signs, landscapes and street details. Our photo location guide shows how to combine them.
Decade streak
Choose the photograph’s decade from four answers. A year such as 1967 belongs to the 1960s; you do not have to name the exact year or place. There is no timer. Correct answers keep the streak going, and one wrong answer ends it.
Look for several clues that agree, rather than relying on black-and-white or color alone. Read how to estimate a photo’s date.
Survival: against the clock
Choose both the year and the location. Submit before the two-minute timer expires and earn at least 6,000 of the available 10,000 points to continue. A lower score or an expired timer ends the run.
Time and place each contribute up to 5,000 points under the usual scoring rules. Each new photograph starts a fresh two-minute timer. The clock keeps running while you inspect the enlarged photo or leave the page; it does not pause when you switch tabs.
After an answer, see the year, place and original photo source. Choose Next photograph after a successful guess to continue. A run finishes on a miss or when you reach its last photograph. Your recent trails below let you reopen saved progress; reopening a survival round does not reset its timer.