How to play Pin the City
Play Pin the City
The rules
- A game has 10 cities, shown one at a time.
- Tap the map where you think the city is. That is your pin, and you cannot move it.
- Then you see where the city really is, the distance from your pin and the points.
- The closer the pin, the more points: up to 1000 for each city.
- At each level the 10 cities come from at least four regions of the world, with at most two from one country.
- There is no timer.
How to play here
- Tap or click a point on the map.
- On a keyboard, use the arrow keys to move the crosshair 1 degree, or 10 degrees with Shift, and press Enter or Space to place the pin.
- After a pin, tap Next city or press Enter.
Difficulty levels
| Level |
The city population of each city |
| Easy |
2 million people or more |
| Medium |
500,000 to 2 million |
| Hard |
150,000 to 500,000 |
| Expert |
fewer than 150,000 |
Strategy
- Find the country first: a pin in the right country is often within a few hundred kilometres.
- Think about the coast: many large cities are on a coast or a big river.
- Do not leave it far away: a pin 1,000 km off still scores about half the points.
FAQ
- How are the points counted?
- Each pin scores up to 1000 points: 1000 when it is right on the city, about 936 at 100 km, 717 at 500 km, 513 at 1,000 km and 135 at 3,000 km. The best possible score is 10,000.
- How is the distance measured?
- It is the great-circle distance from your pin to the city, in kilometres.
- How is the level decided?
- By the city population of the cities: the people who live in the city itself, not in its whole metropolitan area. Easy cities have 2 million people or more, medium 500,000 or more, hard 150,000 or more, and expert cities are smaller.
- Can I move my pin?
- No. Your first tap is your pin.
- Are there new cities every day?
- Yes. Each day and level has its own set of 10 cities, picked from all the cities of that level. A city can come back on another day. Earlier days are in the archive.
- Where do the map and the city data come from?
- The map is from Natural Earth. The city data is from GeoNames and Wikidata.
- Do I need an account to play?
- No. You play right in your browser, with no sign-up and no cookies. Your progress is saved in your browser.
