🇨🇺 Cuba
Havana was the assembly point for Spain's treasure fleets, which is why it is walled, and the fulcrum of the Cold War, which is why its 1950s streetscape survived intact. Few countries date so cleanly from the cars in the frame.
Cuba's collection needs 2 more rounds before it opens. These are live today.
Cuba is flat-to-rolling sugar country with limestone hills in the west, and a capital whose fabric essentially stops in 1959. Colonnades, peeling pastel plaster and mid-century American steel are the three things you will always see.
Architecture
Continuous street-front colonnades with tall shuttered doors are Havana, 1750–1900. Stained-glass fan lights over doorways — mediopuntos — are a Cuban specialty. Art Deco and streamline moderne blocks are 1930–1955, and the Soviet-style prefabs on the outskirts are 1970s.
Landscape
Steep round limestone hummocks — mogotes — over red tobacco soil are Viñales in the west. Endless cane with royal palms standing singly in the fields is the central plain. Wooded ridges rising sharply in the east are the Sierra Maestra.
Period tells
American cars with fins are 1955–1959 models but the scene can be any year after; look at what is beside them. Soviet Ladas and buses point to 1975–1990. Billboards with slogans rather than products place you after 1961.
A starting shortlist, oldest first. Every one of these makes a round that Cubans can nail and everyone else has to work out.
Plaza de Armas, HavanaEarly modern
The city relocated to a deep bottleneck harbour and became the mandatory gathering point for the fleets home to Seville.
El Morro, Havana harbourEarly modern
Eleven months of British rule opened the port to free trade and changed Cuban sugar for good — traded back for Florida.
La Demajagua, ManzanilloThe long 19th century
A sugar planter freed his slaves and declared independence, starting a ten-year war.
Havana harbourThe long 19th century
Two hundred and sixty-six sailors died, the American press supplied the verdict, and Spain lost its last American colonies.
Malecón and Camp ColumbiaModern era
Batista had flown out on New Year's Day; the caravan arrived a week later to crowds along the seawall.
Cuban history touches medieval & renaissance, exploration & revolution, 19th century and the 20th century. Each of those eras has a timed round of its own — the same centuries, but questions drawn from every country in the library, so you find out whether you can date the rest of the period as confidently as you can date Cuba.
Medieval & Renaissance
Cuban moment here: Havana moves to its harbour (1519).
Exploration & revolution
Cuban moment here: The British take Havana (1762).
19th century
Cuban moments here: The Grito de Yara (1868), The USS Maine explodes (1898).
20th century
Cuban moment here: Castro's column reaches Havana (1959).
Dates, order and places from the moments above. Answers are printed underneath — cover them with a hand if you want to test yourself, or read them out for a quiz round.
1.Havana moves to its harbour — what year?
Answer1519
The city relocated to a deep bottleneck harbour and became the mandatory gathering point for the fleets home to Seville.
2.The British take Havana — what year?
Answer1762
Eleven months of British rule opened the port to free trade and changed Cuban sugar for good — traded back for Florida.
3.The Grito de Yara — what year?
Answer1868
A sugar planter freed his slaves and declared independence, starting a ten-year war.
4.The USS Maine explodes — what year?
Answer1898
Two hundred and sixty-six sailors died, the American press supplied the verdict, and Spain lost its last American colonies.
5.Castro's column reaches Havana — what year?
Answer1959
Batista had flown out on New Year's Day; the caravan arrived a week later to crowds along the seawall.
6.Which came first in Cuba — Havana moves to its harbour or the British take Havana?
AnswerHavana moves to its harbour, in 1519.
The British take Havana follows in 1762, 243 years later.
7.Which came first in Cuba — the Grito de Yara or the USS Maine explodes?
AnswerThe Grito de Yara, in 1868.
The USS Maine explodes follows in 1898, 30 years later.
8.Where in Cuba would you drop the pin for Havana moves to its harbour?
AnswerPlaza de Armas, Havana
The city relocated to a deep bottleneck harbour and became the mandatory gathering point for the fleets home to Seville.
9.Where in Cuba would you drop the pin for the British take Havana?
AnswerEl Morro, Havana harbour
Eleven months of British rule opened the port to free trade and changed Cuban sugar for good — traded back for Florida.
10.How far apart are the oldest and newest Cuban moments in this collection?
Answer440 years
From Havana moves to its harbour in 1519 to Castro's column reaches Havana in 1959.
You don't need a photograph or a map reference. Name a moment — "Havana moves to its harbour, Plaza de Armas, Havana" — and the builder fills in the year, drops the pin, writes the factoid and paints a 360° scene you can stand inside. Publish it and it joins this collection for everyone.
Step 1
One line is enough — an event, a place, a year you half-remember. Or let the AI draft five moments around a theme.
Step 2
The year, the exact coordinates and a one-sentence factoid come back filled in. Everything stays editable.
Step 3
A 4K 360° panorama of that place in that year, ready to spin around inside the game.
🇨🇺 Put your own scene on /play/cuba
Credits cover the AI: 1 to auto-fill a moment, 3 to draft five at once, 25 for each 4K panorama. Your map stays yours — you choose whether it's public, unlisted or private.
Moments Cubans want to see in the game. Vote them up — the top of this list gets built next.
Each round drops you into a 360° scene from Cuba's past. Look around for clues — architecture, clothing, technology, landscape — then place the scene on the world map and pick the year. You score up to 5,000 points a round: closer in distance and closer in time both pay. Five rounds make a game.
No. You can play Cuban rounds straight away with no sign-up. Signing in saves your XP, keeps your character progressing through history, and puts you on the leaderboards.
The collection spans 1519 to 1959 — from havana moves to its harbour through to castro's column reaches havana. New moments are added as the community suggests them.
Yes, completely free. There is no paywall on rounds, the daily challenge, or the leaderboards.
Yes — that's how the collection grows. Suggest any moment Cubans would recognise instantly, like havana moves to its harbour. Approved suggestions get built into playable 360° rounds and credited on the page.
There are currently 1 playable Cuban rounds, shuffled so each game is different. The pool grows every time a community suggestion is built.
Daily Challenge
Five fresh rounds every day, same for everyone.
History quizzes
Short quizzes across eras, empires and events.
Community maps
Panorama collections built by other players.
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Every free history game on the site, in one list.