How to Play City Mapper

Overview

City Mapper is a visual geography quiz. Each round reveals a real city photograph alongside the city name and its population. Your task is to click the correct country on an interactive world map before the 30-second timer expires.

The game covers 100 cities spanning every continent — from megacities like Shanghai, Mumbai and São Paulo to regional hubs like Almaty, Accra and Medellín. The population hint gives you a sense of scale without giving away the location.

Step-by-step guide

1. 1
   Choose solo or multiplayer

   Tap Solo to play alone, or Multiplayer to challenge a real opponent. Both players see the same 10 cities drawn from a shared seed for a fair result.
2. 2
   Study the city photo and details

   A photograph of a city is shown alongside the city name and its population. The photo may show a skyline, a landmark, a street scene or an aerial view — all are real locations.
3. 3
   Find the country on the world map

   You have 30 seconds to locate the country that city belongs to on the interactive world map. Zoom in and pan to find smaller or less familiar nations. The timer counts down in real time.
4. 4
   Preview before confirming

   Hover over any territory (desktop) to see the country name and flag before clicking. On mobile, tap once to preview, then tap Confirm to lock in your answer.
5. 5
   See the result

   The correct country is highlighted. If you were wrong, the distance between your choice and the correct answer is shown so you can learn from the error.
6. 6
   Repeat for 10 rounds

   Cities are drawn at random from a pool of 100 spanning 68 countries and every continent — from Tokyo and New York to Nairobi, Santiago and Ulaanbaatar.

Scoring

Tips to score higher

• Use the population as a clue — a city of 25M is almost certainly in Asia; a city of 500k could be anywhere.
• Architecture and vegetation are helpful: tropical greenery + modern high-rises = Southeast Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Zoom into Central America, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia early — those countries are small and easy to click on the wrong one.
• If you recognise a famous landmark in the photo, confirm the country immediately — don't waste the 30 seconds.