FAQ
Frequently asked questions
The short answers. If something's missing, get in touch.
- What is When Where?
- When Where is a free browser game that shows you a real photograph and asks you to guess the year and/or place it was taken. There are four modes — Date, Location, Country, and Dual — and scoring rewards accuracy rather than speed.
- Is it free to play?
- Yes. When Where is completely free. It's supported by unobtrusive ads shown between rounds, and there's nothing to buy.
- Do I need an account?
- No. There are no accounts and no login. Your streak, best score, and settings are saved only in your own browser, so nothing is uploaded to a server.
- Where do the photographs come from?
- Photos are fetched live from open archives — mainly Wikimedia Commons and The Met's Open Access collection — and filtered to public-domain and Creative-Commons-licensed files. Each round's reveal screen shows the author and license.
- How is my score calculated?
- Date guesses earn up to 5,000 points on a curve that gives full marks within a year and decays with distance in time. Location scores by distance from the true spot. Country mode gives full points for the right country and partial points for the right continent. Dual combines date and location 50/50. Zooming into the photo lowers that round's maximum score.
- What is hard mode?
- Hard mode hides all place-name labels on the map, so you can't read the answer off the tiles. You can toggle it on any map-based mode.
- Does When Where collect my personal data?
- No personal data is collected by the game itself. Game progress lives in your browser's local storage. Third-party services (image hosts, map tiles, and ads) receive standard web request information such as your IP address. See the Privacy Policy for details.
- Can I play on my phone?
- Yes. When Where is fully responsive and works on phones, tablets, and desktops in any modern browser.
Still curious? Read how to play, the scoring rules, or contact us.