How to play
YearLens asks two questions about every historical photograph: when was it taken, and where? Here is how to turn small visual clues into a thoughtful guess.
1. Read the whole photograph
Begin with the broad scene: a busy city street, a rural landscape, a celebration or an ordinary afternoon. Then zoom in. Clothing, vehicles, shop signs, road markings and building materials can each narrow the possibilities.
Look for clues that agree with one another. A vintage car can still appear in a recent photograph; an old building can survive for centuries. Black and white alone is not a reliable date. Use the whole scene rather than a single object.
2. Choose a year and place your pin
Move the year slider or use its arrow buttons. On the map, zoom and pan to the place you think the photograph was taken, then click or tap to place a pin. You can move the pin before submitting.
On a phone, the map button switches between the photograph and the map. Pinch to zoom into the photograph, and drag it while zoomed. When you are ready, select Make guess.
3. See how close you came
Each round awards up to 5,000 points for the year and 5,000 for the location. Closer guesses earn more points. An exact year gets the full year score; location scoring gives the first 50 metres the same tolerance as an exact pin.
The results show the reference year, your distance from the correct place, the photograph’s description and its credit. A game has five rounds, for a possible total of 50,000 points. The final breakdown lets you revisit every round.
Choose your pace
Play without a timer when you want to inspect every detail. For a quicker game, set a time limit in 15-second steps, up to ten minutes per round. If the timer expires, the current year is scored automatically. A missing map pin earns no location points.
The settings also let you choose kilometres or miles and whether you must actively choose a year before submitting. That preference changes the input requirement; it does not change the scoring formula.
Find a way to play
- Solo challenges let you start another five-round game.
- The daily challenge uses a fixed set of five photos for its date. The archive lets you choose an earlier date.
- Photo collections group photographs into themed selections.
- Multiplayer rooms let friends join with a room code and play the same five photos. The host starts and advances the game; guesses are revealed together at the end of each round.
Local progress is stored in your browser. An authenticated YearLens session enables a profile, server-saved completed games and multiplayer rooms. Those records belong to YearLens.
Practise reading the clues
Try the photo guessing tips for two worked examples: what you can see, what it suggests and what the historical reference actually tells us. For differences between the games, read the YearLens and TimeGuessr comparison.
Keep your hands on the keyboard
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| ← / → | Adjust the year while the game has focus. |
| Space | Submit a valid guess or continue from round results. |
| M | Switch the photo/map view on narrow screens. |
| Enter on the focused map | Place a pin at the map centre. |
| Arrow keys on the focused map | Move the map; on a focused pin, move your guess. |
One last habit: read the reveal
The description often explains a detail you missed. Make time for it. The point of a historical photo game is not only the score, but the extra piece of context you take into the next image.
Photograph licences and credits are available on the photo credits page. Pour jouer et lire les règles en français, consultez le guide français de YearLens.