🇺🇸 the United States
Colonial ports, civil war fields, immigration halls, civil rights marches and launch pads. American scenes are widely photographed — which makes precise dating the real challenge.
The United States dates itself by infrastructure. Balloon-frame timber, cast-iron storefronts, streetcar tracks, neon, then interstate overpasses — each arrived on a known schedule and stayed visible.
Architecture
Cast-iron facades and fire escapes are 1860–1900 East Coast. Adobe with vigas is the Southwest. Clapboard with a wide porch is small-town anywhere. Glass curtain-wall towers begin in the 1950s; strip malls and parking aprons are post-1955.
Landscape
Grid roads to the horizon over flat cropland is the Midwest. Red rock mesa is the Colorado Plateau. Live oaks with Spanish moss is the Deep South. Pines and fog on a rocky coast is the Pacific Northwest.
Period tells
Streetcar rails still in the road with no streetcar mean between 1930 and 1960. Tailfins are 1955–1961. An interstate on tall piers through a downtown is 1956 onwards.
A starting shortlist, oldest first. Every one of these makes a round that Americans can nail and everyone else has to work out.
Independence Hall, PhiladelphiaEarly modern
Delegates approved the text on 4 July and mostly signed it in August.
Gettysburg, PennsylvaniaThe long 19th century
Three days, 50,000 casualties, and the turning point of the Civil War.
New York HarborThe long 19th century
Twelve million arrivals passed through the great hall over six decades.
Edmund Pettus Bridge, AlabamaModern era
Televised violence on the bridge forced the Voting Rights Act through Congress.
Pad 39A, Cape KennedyModern era
A 111-metre Saturn V lifted three men toward the first crewed lunar landing.
American history touches 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 States.
Exploration & revolution
American moment here: Declaration of Independence signed (1776). 4 playable 360° scenes already built.
19th century
American moments here: The Battle of Gettysburg (1863), Ellis Island opens (1892). 6 playable 360° scenes already built.
20th century
American moments here: Selma to Montgomery march (1965), Apollo 11 launches (1969). 9 playable 360° scenes already built.
20 panoramas from this country are already in the game. Each has a page explaining what you are looking at and how to date it.
Plymouth harbour, Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts
The Mayflower anchors off the snowy Massachusetts coast as Pilgrims prepare to establish their settlement.
Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts
The Pilgrim village at Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, seven years after the Mayflower landing.
Griffin's Wharf, Boston, Massachusetts
Colonial protestors, some disguised as Mohawk Indians, dump tea chests into Boston Harbor at night.
McConkey's Ferry on the Delaware River, Pennsylvania
General George Washington leads Continental Army troops across the icy Delaware River on Christmas night.
Mission San Antonio de Valero, San Antonio de Béxar, Texas
Mexican forces surround the Alamo mission during the 13-day siege in San Antonio, Texas.
Promontory Summit, Utah Territory
The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet at Promontory Summit, Utah, completing the First Transcontinental Railroad.
Menlo Park laboratory, New Jersey
Thomas Edison demonstrates his revolutionary incandescent light bulb at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
Madison Square Park, Manhattan, New York
New Yorkers stroll through Madison Square Park where the torch-bearing arm of the unfinished Statue of Liberty is displayed to raise funds for its pedestal.
East River, between Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York
Thousands of pedestrians, horse-drawn carriages, and boats celebrate the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The National Mall, Washington, D.C.
The marble obelisk of the Washington Monument rises above a 19th-century National Mall as workers complete the final stages of construction.
Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
The Wright Flyer lifts off the sand dunes at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, achieving humanity's first controlled, sustained flight.
San Francisco, California
Residents flee through rubble-filled streets as fires rage across San Francisco following the devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake.
Ford Motor Company works, Michigan
Workers on the moving assembly line at Ford's vast factory complex build Model T automobiles inside a sprawling industrial hall.
Broad and Wall Streets, Manhattan, New York
Anxious crowds gather outside the New York Stock Exchange as Black Tuesday triggers the Great Depression.
Times Square, New York City
Ecstatic crowds flood Times Square celebrating Japan's surrender and the end of World War II.
Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool, Washington, D.C.
Over 250,000 people gather at the Lincoln Memorial for the historic civil rights demonstration.
St. Louis riverfront, Missouri
Cranes and workers carefully lift steel triangles into place as the two legs of the Gateway Arch curve toward each other above the Mississippi River.
Max Yasgur's dairy farm, Bethel, New York
Over 400,000 people descend on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York for three days of peace and music.
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, California
Athletes and spectators fill the streets near the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during the XXIII Olympiad.
Liberty Island, New York Harbor
Historic tall ships parade past Lady Liberty during her 125th birthday festivities in New York Harbor.
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.Declaration of Independence signed — what year?
Answer1776
Delegates approved the text on 4 July and mostly signed it in August.
2.The Battle of Gettysburg — what year?
Answer1863
Three days, 50,000 casualties, and the turning point of the Civil War.
3.Ellis Island opens — what year?
Answer1892
Twelve million arrivals passed through the great hall over six decades.
4.Selma to Montgomery march — what year?
Answer1965
Televised violence on the bridge forced the Voting Rights Act through Congress.
5.Apollo 11 launches — what year?
Answer1969
A 111-metre Saturn V lifted three men toward the first crewed lunar landing.
6.Which came first in the United States — Declaration of Independence signed or the Battle of Gettysburg?
AnswerDeclaration of Independence signed, in 1776.
The Battle of Gettysburg follows in 1863, 87 years later.
7.Which came first in the United States — Ellis Island opens or Selma to Montgomery march?
AnswerEllis Island opens, in 1892.
Selma to Montgomery march follows in 1965, 73 years later.
8.Where in the United States would you drop the pin for Declaration of Independence signed?
AnswerIndependence Hall, Philadelphia
Delegates approved the text on 4 July and mostly signed it in August.
9.Where in the United States would you drop the pin for the Battle of Gettysburg?
AnswerGettysburg, Pennsylvania
Three days, 50,000 casualties, and the turning point of the Civil War.
10.How far apart are the oldest and newest American moments in this collection?
Answer193 years
From Declaration of Independence signed in 1776 to Apollo 11 launches in 1969.
You don't need a photograph or a map reference. Name a moment — "Declaration of Independence signed, Independence Hall, Philadelphia" — 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-states
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 Americans 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 States'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 American 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 1776 to 1969 — from declaration of independence signed through to apollo 11 launches. 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 Americans would recognise instantly, like declaration of independence signed. Approved suggestions get built into playable 360° rounds and credited on the page.
There are currently 22 playable American 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.