How to play
Study. Select. Reveal.
Every Then & There round asks you to identify a historical scene in both time and place. There are no multiple-choice answers: use the evidence in the reconstruction, make your own year guess, and decide where the event belongs on the map.
01
Study
Explore the reconstructed scene before making a decision. Scan the whole view for architecture, clothing, uniforms, weapons, transport, signs, materials, terrain and technology.
02
Select
Choose the year that best fits the evidence, then place your pin on the map. You can revise both choices until you submit the round.
03
Reveal
Compare your guess with the real year and location. The debrief explains the moment, shows your accuracy and identifies clues worth remembering.
What clues should you look for?
People and clothing
Silhouettes, hats, armour, uniforms and everyday dress can narrow a scene to a century, conflict or political setting.
Buildings and materials
Timber streets, fortifications, industrial brick, concrete, glass and road surfaces help separate periods and regions.
Tools and technology
Printing presses, firearms, telegraph wires, vehicles, aircraft and lighting reveal what could or could not yet exist.
Landscape and layout
Coastlines, rivers, hills, harbours, street plans and landmarks often provide stronger location evidence than a flag.
How scoring works
Each round awards points for year accuracy and location accuracy. The closer your date is to the scene's year, and the closer your map pin is to the recorded location, the more points you earn. Both parts matter, so recognising the event is only the beginning.
The Daily Challenge contains five scenes and combines them into one final score. Everyone receives the same challenge for that day, so leaderboard comparisons are based on the same set of evidence. Random play also uses five-round games, but draws scenes for practice rather than an official daily result.
Accounts, streaks and leaderboards
You can play without an account. Signing in lets you save an official Daily Challenge score, build current and longest streaks, appear on leaderboards, record highscores and develop your historical rank in My Chronicle.
Daily answers are deliberately kept inside the game experience. Complete the challenge before discussing specific scenes so other players can approach the same evidence without spoilers.
Ready to read the past?
Start with today's shared five-scene challenge, or warm up in random play before putting a score on the leaderboard.