A world of little clues
Somewhere out there. Where, exactly?
A free geography guessing game. Explore real photographs, follow the clues and drop your pin.
No account needed Solo preview · five rounds per game
Exploration
Walk it, look around, zoom in
Every round is a real place you can explore before you place your pin.
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Walk the route
Arrows drawn on the photograph walk to the real photographs linked along the street, or press W and S. Each one opens facing the way you were already looking, and Return to start goes back to where the round began.
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Look around
Drag the photograph to turn on the spot, or use the arrow keys, and read the language, plates, plants and shadows that give a place away.
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Zoom in
Zoom right in on the details: a sign unreadable at first is often legible two steps closer. Whatever you find, your guess is measured from the round’s starting photograph.
How a round works
Look. Guess. Discover.
Three moves, one round — then four more.
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Look
A real photograph opens somewhere in the preview catalogue. Look around and zoom in on the details that give a place away: language, plates, plants, architecture, poles and the direction of the shadows.
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Guess
Place a pin on the map and move it as often as you like. Pan, zoom in for roads and city names, and confirm when you are ready.
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Discover
The reveal shows the source location, the distance from your pin and the points it earned. Five rounds in five different areas, then a game summary.
The expedition
Five rounds. Your rules.
Explore a finite preview catalogue of 18 reviewed sample areas — 109 real panoramas from 16 countries across five continents — five rounds at a time.
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Five rounds
One game is five rounds, each in a distinct area. Opening the game starts a fresh random set each time, and free play prefers the areas you have played least recently, avoiding the previous game’s opening photograph when there is an alternative. Your most recent previous game is kept in this browser, and Resume previous game in the Solo menu brings it back after a confirmation.
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Walkable route
Arrows on the photograph step to the linked real photographs, forward and back, and Return to start goes back to where the round began.
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Optional timer
30, 60, 90 or 180 seconds per round, or no clock at all. A running timer never pauses.
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Up to 25,000 points
A round is worth up to 5,000 points: a pin within about 100 metres scores the maximum, then the score falls away with distance.
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Real photo credits
Every scene is a real camera image from a Panoramax contributor, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 and credited in the game.
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Browser-local passport
XP, levels, badges and recent games are saved in this browser.
Your passport
Make every guess part of your journey
Every round you guess earns experience, and experience moves your level along. Finishing a five-round game adds a completion bonus on top.
Badges mark the milestones, and your recent games are kept as a short history of where you have been.
- First Detour · first game finished
- Five Horizons · five games finished
- Close Call · a pin within 25 km
- Pinpoint · 5,000 points in one round
Saved in this browser. Account sync is not available.
Questions
The things people ask first
Is PinPonder free?
Yes. The game, the map and the passport are free to play, with nothing to buy. This preview shows no advertising and runs no analytics.
Do I need an account?
No account required. Your progress is saved in this browser.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The game and these pages work on small screens in portrait or landscape, and nothing needs a mouse hover. A five-round game downloads a few megabytes of photographs and map data, so Wi-Fi is friendlier than mobile data.
Can I walk around before I guess?
Yes. The arrows drawn on the photograph walk to the real photographs linked along the street, forward and back, and you can look around and zoom in as much as you like. Return to start goes back to the round’s starting photograph, and your guess is always measured from that starting point.
A timer, if you choose one, keeps running while you explore. Free play draws its five rounds from a finite preview catalogue of 18 reviewed sample areas — 109 real panoramas from 16 countries across five continents — so it is a preview rather than worldwide coverage. How to play has the full rules.
Where is my progress stored, and can I delete it?
In this browser, as local data for this site: the game you are playing now, your most recent previous game, any daily attempt you started, your passport and your last chosen setup. The Solo menu can export it as JSON or clear it in one confirmed step, and clearing your browser's site data removes it too.
Privacy and storage lists what is kept.
Are the photographs real, and is the artwork AI-generated?
The photographs are real: every scene you guess from is a real camera image from a Panoramax contributor, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 and credited in the game.
The expedition illustrations on this site were generated with ChatGPT and are decorative only — never a clue, and never evidence of where anything is.
Five rounds are waiting
A new place. A fresh set of clues. Your next guess.