🇬🇧 the United Kingdom
Four thousand years of British history in one guessing game: stone circles, Norman invasions, coal and steam, the Blitz and the pop explosion. Every round is a scene you have to date.
Britain layers every century on the same street. A single view can hold a medieval parish church, Georgian terraces, Victorian brick and a 1960s concrete deck — so the trick is finding the newest thing in frame and working backwards.
Architecture
Flint and stone parish churches with square towers are Norman to Perpendicular. Symmetrical sash-windowed terraces in brick or Bath stone are Georgian, 1714–1830. Red brick with polychrome banding, gables and terracotta is high Victorian.
Landscape
Dry-stone walls dividing green upland means the Pennines, Dales or Lakes. Hedged small fields and hollow lanes are the south and west. Terraced housing running straight up a hill with a mill chimney at the bottom is the industrial north.
Period tells
Blackened stone facades date a photo to before the Clean Air Acts of the 1950s–60s. Bomb-site gaps and prefabs are 1940s. Cars on the left throughout, and pre-1960s road signs use different fonts to the Worboys signage still used today.
A starting shortlist, oldest first. Every one of these makes a round that Britons can nail and everyone else has to work out.
Salisbury PlainAncient world
Thirty sarsen uprights hauled from 25 km away and shaped without metal tools.
Senlac Hill, East SussexMedieval
The day that replaced England's ruling class and rewired its language.
Pudding Lane, LondonEarly modern
Four days of fire destroyed 13,200 houses and cleared the way for Wren's city.
Rainhill, LancashireThe long 19th century
Stephenson's locomotive settled how railways would work — and started the railway age.
City of LondonModern era
The cathedral dome standing above the smoke became the defining image of British resilience.
British history touches ancient & classical, 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 the United Kingdom.
Ancient & classical
British moment here: Stonehenge sarsen circle raised (2500 BC).
Medieval & Renaissance
British moment here: The Battle of Hastings (1066). 1 playable 360° scene already built.
Exploration & revolution
British moment here: The Great Fire of London (1666). 2 playable 360° scenes already built.
19th century
British moment here: Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials (1829). 3 playable 360° scenes already built.
20th century
British moment here: The Blitz over St Paul's (1940). 4 playable 360° scenes already built.
10 panoramas from this country are already in the game. Each has a page explaining what you are looking at and how to date it.
Runnymede meadow, on the Thames near Windsor, England
King John of England meets with rebellious barons at Runnymede meadow near Windsor to seal the Magna Carta, limiting royal power.
Bankside, Southwark, London, England
The Globe Theatre on the banks of the Thames during the height of Shakespeare's career.
Pudding Lane, City of London, England
Flames rage through medieval London's timber buildings starting at a bakery on Pudding Lane, eventually destroying 13,000 houses.
Between Liverpool and Manchester, Lancashire, England
Early steam locomotives, including George Stephenson's famous Rocket, stand on display before massive crowds celebrating the opening of the world's first intercity passenger railway.
Hyde Park, London, England
Massive crowds gather at Joseph Paxton's revolutionary Crystal Palace in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851, the first international world's fair.
The Metropolitan Railway, Paddington to Farringdon, London
Victorian passengers wave excitedly as a steam locomotive pulls carriages through the brick-arched tunnel of London's revolutionary Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground passenger railway.
Pool of London, River Thames, England
Steam-powered barges churn through the Thames beneath Tower Bridge in the heart of London during the Edwardian era, with industrial smokestacks dotting the misty skyline.
Northfall Meadow, near Dover Castle, England
French aviator Louis Blériot's monoplane approaches the white cliffs of Dover after completing the first flight across the English Channel from France.
3 Savile Row, Mayfair, London
The Beatles perform their final live public performance on the Apple Corps rooftop in London, stopping traffic and drawing crowds.
Abbey Road zebra crossing, St John's Wood, London
The Beatles cross the zebra crossing outside Abbey Road Studios during the iconic photo shoot for their final studio album.
Ranked on each explorer's best five-round run as a share of the perfect score.
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.Stonehenge sarsen circle raised — what year?
Answer2500 BC
Thirty sarsen uprights hauled from 25 km away and shaped without metal tools.
2.The Battle of Hastings — what year?
Answer1066
The day that replaced England's ruling class and rewired its language.
3.The Great Fire of London — what year?
Answer1666
Four days of fire destroyed 13,200 houses and cleared the way for Wren's city.
4.Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials — what year?
Answer1829
Stephenson's locomotive settled how railways would work — and started the railway age.
5.The Blitz over St Paul's — what year?
Answer1940
The cathedral dome standing above the smoke became the defining image of British resilience.
6.Which came first in the United Kingdom — Stonehenge sarsen circle raised or the Battle of Hastings?
AnswerStonehenge sarsen circle raised, in 2500 BC.
The Battle of Hastings follows in 1066, 3566 years later.
7.Which came first in the United Kingdom — the Great Fire of London or Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials?
AnswerThe Great Fire of London, in 1666.
Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials follows in 1829, 163 years later.
8.Where in the United Kingdom would you drop the pin for Stonehenge sarsen circle raised?
AnswerSalisbury Plain
Thirty sarsen uprights hauled from 25 km away and shaped without metal tools.
9.Where in the United Kingdom would you drop the pin for the Battle of Hastings?
AnswerSenlac Hill, East Sussex
The day that replaced England's ruling class and rewired its language.
10.How far apart are the oldest and newest British moments in this collection?
Answer4,440 years
From Stonehenge sarsen circle raised in 2500 BC to the Blitz over St Paul's in 1940.
You don't need a photograph or a map reference. Name a moment — "Stonehenge sarsen circle raised, Salisbury Plain" — 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/united-kingdom
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 Britons 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 the United Kingdom'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 British 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 2500 BC to 1940 — from stonehenge sarsen circle raised through to the blitz over st paul's. 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 Britons would recognise instantly, like stonehenge sarsen circle raised. Approved suggestions get built into playable 360° rounds and credited on the page.
There are currently 12 playable British 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.
All game modes
Every free history game on the site, in one list.