Pin the World is the daily pin-drop geography challenge: five real places, one map, up to 1,000 points. Each round names a city, capital, landmark or natural wonder; your job is to pan and zoom a beautiful label-free terrain map and drop your pin exactly where you think it is.

Lock your pin in and the truth appears: the actual location, a line to your guess, the distance, and your points. Land within 25 kilometres and you bank a PERFECT 200. Every round also teaches you something, and the game ends with a “What you learned” recap: all five places on one map, each with a fact worth keeping.

The same five places go live for the whole world at 00:00 UTC, so scores are comparable and shareable, spoiler-free. No account, no app, no tracking: your streak and stats live in your own browser. When the daily is done, practice mode deals unlimited rounds, with region filters from Africa to Oceania.

Pin the World Game

How to play

Read the round card: the place’s name and what kind of place it is (hard rounds also tell you the continent).
Pan and zoom the terrain map, then tap to drop your pin. You can drag it to fine-tune before committing.
Hit “Lock it in” to score the round: the real location appears with the distance and your points.
Play all five rounds. Within 25 km is a PERFECT 200 points; the further off you land, the fewer you score.
Share your score card, check the “What you learned” recap, and come back tomorrow to protect your streak.

Scoring explained

Each of the five rounds is worth up to 200 points, for a daily maximum of 1,000. A pin within 25 kilometres of the target scores the full 200. Beyond that, points fall off smoothly with distance: roughly 190 at 100 km, about 150 at 550 km, about 75 at 1,800 km, and only scraps past 5,000 km. The scoring rewards two skills: knowing roughly where a place is, and reading the terrain well enough to pin it precisely.

Game modes

Daily challenge. Five places, identical for every player worldwide, refreshing at 00:00 UTC. One attempt per day: your score joins your streak and stats, and the share card lets you compare with friends without spoiling the answers.

Practice mode. Unlimited rounds drawn from the full place pool, with a region filter (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania) and a 5 or 10 round session length. Practice never touches your daily streak.

Why a terrain map beats a blank one

Most pin-drop games give you a flat, featureless world. Pin the World renders real elevation as you zoom: mountain chains, river valleys, deserts, coastal shelves, even the relief of the ocean floor. That turns precision pinning into a skill: you can follow the Andes to Santiago, find the gap in the Alps where Innsbruck hides, or land on Kilimanjaro by its lonely volcanic cone. The map stays honest though: no place names, no borders.

The place pool mixes about 270 recognisable cities and capitals with more than 100 landmarks and natural wonders, tiered by difficulty. Every daily set gives you two easier picks, two mid-tier tests, and one deep cut for the geography connoisseurs.

Frequently asked questions

Are the five places the same for everyone today?

Yes. The daily set is seeded from the UTC date, so every player worldwide gets the same five places in the same order, and a new set appears at 00:00 UTC. Shared score cards always refer to the same puzzle.

Do I need an account?

No. The game is completely free with no sign-up. Your streak, best score and averages are stored privately in your own browser.

How exact do I have to be?

Within 25 kilometres counts as a PERFECT 200 points, which is generous enough that finding the right city wins the round. Zooming in before you lock in almost always pays: the difference between “right country” and “right valley” can be a hundred points.

Is this like PinDrop or GeoGuessr?

It plays in the same family. Compared to similar daily pin games, Pin the World adds a zoomable physical-relief map for precise pinning, works with no account at all, and ends every game with a fact recap, all free and open data.

Where does the map and place data come from?

Elevation comes from the open Mapzen terrain tiles hosted by the AWS Open Data program, coastlines from Natural Earth via the world-atlas project, cities from Natural Earth’s populated places, and the landmark facts are curated by Mappr. Everything is free, open data with attribution shown in the game.

What happens when I finish?

You get your score out of 1,000, a spoiler-free emoji share card, your streak and stats, and the “What you learned” recap showing all five locations on one map with a fact for each. Then it is practice mode or tomorrow’s five.