About Whence
Whence is a daily geography game about surprising origins. Everyone gets the same five items each day.
The kiwi fruit is from China, the tulip from Central Asia and the word “robot” from Prague. Each answer is the place where the thing first appeared or, for a word, where its source language was spoken when the word was coined or borrowed.
Scoring
We measure the great-circle distance from your pin to the edge of the origin area. Inside the area is a perfect 100; the score then fades smoothly with distance.
Privacy
No accounts, no cookies, no analytics, no trackers. Your progress is stored only in this browser. Photos load straight from Wikimedia Commons. Read the privacy policy
Sources
Every item links to a source. Map data: Natural Earth (public domain). Photos: Wikimedia Commons.