d.DodoHistoryCURIOSITY HAS A PLACE HERE
FREE PLAY · TIME DETECTIVE

Guess the year.
Follow the evidence.

A conservation turning point. A landmark publication. A documented last individual. Read the dispatch and place its event on the timeline.

How to play ↓
5 rounds · Year estimationNo accountNo timer
✦ Free guest play♧ Source-linked explanations◎ Keyboard alternatives↗ 10 dated events
YOUR LITTLE RITUAL

One small discovery. Every day.

Complete today’s globe challenge or daily mix. Every score counts. Your daily record stays on this device. Resets at 00:00 UTC.

Open today’s daily mix →
LOOK. THINK. DISCOVER.

How to play A moment in time

01

Read the dispatch

Identify the specific event. A book’s publication year is different from when an idea first circulated; a last-known individual’s death differs from an official extinction declaration.

02

Choose a year

Move the year slider or type an exact number from 1800 to 2000. The written input offers the same answer precision as the slider.

03

See time clearly

The reveal shows the documented year, your error in years, both timeline markers and a primary institutional source.

THE RULES, UP FRONT

How scoring works

Five rounds with up to 1,000 points each. Exact-year answers earn 1,000. Other answers earn 1,000 × exp(−absolute year error / 30), rounded. There is no time limit or speed bonus.

MORE THAN A SCORE

What you’ll discover

Build a connected timeline of natural history and conservation. Practice dating a precisely defined event rather than guessing when a broad process, such as extinction or scientific change, began.

A few clues for your first game

  • Use the historical person, publication or conservation context to narrow down a decade.
  • Read whether the question asks about a documented event or an official declaration.
  • Compare the actual and guessed markers after the reveal to improve your next estimate.
BEFORE YOUR FIRST DISCOVERY

Questions about this game

Am I dating historical photographs?

No. This version uses sourced written event dispatches. It does not pretend that illustrations or reconstructed images are dated archival photographs.

What years does the game cover?

The controls cover 1800–2000. The bank contains ten source-checked events from 1844 to 1975, including scientific publication, wildlife loss, national parks and conservation milestones.

What happens if I am a few years wrong?

The score decreases smoothly with absolute year error. For example, a ten-year error earns about 717 points using the published formula.

Ready to follow your curiosity?

5 rounds · Year estimation. Free guest play, with no time pressure.

KEEP THE DISCOVERIES COMING
Which came first?

Two turning points. Choose the earlier event and uncover the connection.

Explore the game →The daily expedition

A shape, a species, a habitat and a journey through time. One shared daily set.

Explore the game →Who am I?

Uncover a mystery animal from a trail of increasingly revealing clues.

Explore the game →

Explore beyond the game

Continue with DodoHistory’s animal directory and free learning tools. Each existing tool has its own permanent page.

Animal directoryAnimal size comparisonDinosaur time overlap toolUnit converterAll games

Source-checked games · sources checked October 31, 2026; independent expert review not claimed. Finite question banks rotate and eventually repeat. Modern coastlines are navigation references, not ancient continental reconstructions. Read sources and play rules.

PLAY WITH CURIOSITY

The evidence behind the fun.

Eight game mechanics plus a daily remix. Every answer has an explanation and source. The 82 question records and country targets rotate and eventually repeat; they are source-checked on October 31, 2026, not independently expert reviewed.

Country shapes are generalized modern Natural Earth boundaries (public domain). Distances and directions in Shape of the world are to representative country coordinates, not border distances. Hot & cold Earth uses nearest accepted land boundaries with a 40 km tolerance. It is a geographic puzzle, not an animal range map.

Scoring: up to 1,000 per round. Shape and hot/cold: 1,000 on attempt one, then minus 150 per extra attempt, up to six guesses. Species: minus 200 per extra clue; a wrong committed answer gets zero. Year: 1,000 × exp(−absolute year error / 30), rounded. Habitat and chronology: 1,000 correct, zero otherwise. Memory: 5,000 minus 150 per move beyond five, floored at zero. All rules appear before committing.

Use touch, mouse or keyboard. Globe movement is optional; a 2D map, place selector and coordinate form are available. Reduced motion disables reveal movement. Sound is off; there are no autoplay effects or speed bonuses.

Challenge links reproduce the same question set and order on compatible game versions. They are local, unranked and not tamper-proof. Share the link to invite someone to play the same set on DodoHistory.

Natural Earth · Public domain · Representative country coordinates · mledoze/countries · ODbL 1.0 · Adapted coordinate data · Three.js · MIT. Photographs used here retain the individual licenses listed in each reveal; historical reconstructions are labeled.
YOUR PERSONAL FIELD NOTES

Little discoveries add up.

Saved only on this device. These are personal play records, not a global leaderboard.

Reset these saved games?

This clears the game library’s current expedition, personal records and shared daily streak on this device. It does not change the original globe game or your tools or animal collections.

Leave this expedition?

Your progress stays on this device when browser storage is available.