Guessing the date AND location of a photo (Timeguessr)

You saw me have a lot of fun with Chronophoto a couple of weeks back, but here we have a game that allows you to try and pinpoint the exact year AND location of various photographs. Some of them are famous photos, some aren't, but either way it allows for some really wholesome detective work and there is potential for what I've already dubbed a "double whammy" of insane guesses (distance and date!)
Try this game out: www.timeguessr...
..and please like and subscribe if you haven't already!

[@_gusowen]

Hi, creator of the game here. Glad you enjoyed it!! I've been working on a multiplayer version of the game in the last few days so keep a lookout for that. I'll sort out the score as you play thing too.

[@xp3r670]

Yo shoes raggedy asl

[@Tateygb]

Great game dude, keep up the good work

[@nicholaslarson3778]

Good job!

[@jackl1590]

Good stuff Gus, really glad the game is getting the attention it deserves!

[@Hxttrick]

Amazing game! That logo looks so very cool, weird question, but mind sharing the font?

[@Annies_mini_marvels]

love how you moved the camera into exactly the worst spot for reading the descriptions 😆 great video

[@flatnicable]

It wouldn't be a Tom video without Tom's "ugly mug" blocking some sort of important information lol its part of the deal

[@mchammer5026]

certified tom davies moment

[@ratsbath]

Better to block the description than block the photo or map, imo!

[@jlt131]

i'd agree if he made sure to clearly read the description for each one for us. but maybe he could squeeze it between the description and the map? maybe not. it's probably best where it is.

[@dudee499]

@@jlt131 It's not necessary all together

[@RhettJesusHarambe]

On the first round I just knew you were going to hit make guess without choosing a year

[@xJacquelineBx]

same lmao

[@alexandergustafson599]

The fact that he didn't just guess Kiel hurt my soul

[@charlesthin4621]

Yep. Geowizard, he's called. But hey, we still love you Tom.

[@alexandergustafson599]

@@charlesthin4621 I actually prefer Tom's content over say, zigzag or rainbolt, because he's just more casual and doesn't rely on the meta too much, which for me can feel like a cheap way of playing the game.

[@Hick25]

@@alexandergustafson599 i was thinking that too after his last couple of brutalist architecture videos

[@xDoubleJOx]

Greetings from Kiel! It was kind of mean though because the ending "er" is added, cause of grammer reasons. Plus without the Signe I never would have guessed Kiel or 1963!!!

[@alexandergustafson599]

@@xDoubleJOx But that's a fairly common thing in German grammar isn't it? Take Berliner Dom and Frankfurter flughafen for example.

[@TwodeeTwodimensional]

I like that it gives a description of the photo, unlike that other game.

[@wanukasfobia6007]

That first picture is quite famous.

[@namboozleUK]

I think a lot of people had this photo in the early 2000s from Ikea

[@pangadajski7687]

It is famous. It also says a lot about this photo that Tom, who didn't know it, quite easily understood what it means anyway

[@MelvinDorkus]

Pretty sure it inspired an entire level in call of duty world at war

[@Axman6]

One of the more interesting details of this photo is the guy at the bottom right wearing multiple, allegedly stolen, watches.

[@JakeKilka]

Yep, it's on the cover of at least three books in my shelves

[@anomalist2097]

Pointing out Rick Beato got an unexpected laugh out of me, well done.

[@masonmacalka5717]

when one favorite youtuber calls out another favorite

[@AS-xj9cy]

beato the goat. Surprised tom new but he makes music too so makes sense

[@eltiburon1983]

"Kieler Weinfest" is german and means "Winefest of Kiel", which is located in the city of Kiel :) the "-er" ending is just the grammatically correct ending

[@beorlingo]

Been there, done that. No I didn't,but I was (there)!

[@jensjager7764]

@@0.1lite46 You mean like “Londoner” or “New Yorker”?

[@beorlingo]

@@0.1lite46 they do have the genitive 's

[@annabelholland]

best part is that that photo not only tells the year it was taken but even the location. How would adding 'er' or to describe something/one work in cities other than major cities (ie, London, Paris, New York). Like how would you describe something from Birmingham or manchester for exampe?

[@leob4403]

"That's my brothers" I believe that s is the genitive case used in English?

[@RazorbackPT]

Another suggestion for the creator is to allow for sharing a link to the same round so we can all play along.

[@samcreel]

Or cheat

[@izybit]

@@samcreel These photos are all public so a simple right click is enough to google search it and find all the info.

[@johnq2266]

*Alongk

[@kennethmacalpin7655]

Timeguessr is better than Chronophoto because it explains what the photo is afterwards. Chronophoto just leaves you hanging.

[@ChrischLBaby]

For the Oslo one: it was fairly easy to tell it's Norwegian because Swedish uses a Z or a C for words like zone, centrum, etc. while Norwegian uses a soft S.. sentrum, senter, sone, etc. Im originally from Germany (quite close to Kiel) but live in Oslo now so I guessed the Berlin, Kiel and Oslo one immediately :D

[@nisseheim4996]

Like with most things, fairly easy if you know it.

[@martinh1309]

Also gågate is spelt differently in swedish

[@MarcusH...]

@@martinh1309 "shedish" is that spoken in sheds?

[@martinh1309]

@@MarcusH... yes primarily

[@16m49x3]

It's also in the middle of the main street of the biggest city next to the cathedral

[@NuclearArcticFox]

Picks the wrong building. Nails the right date. Classic Tom.

[@Zzyyxx22]

Rick Beato was an unexpected shout out on a geography game!

[@LHyoutube]

14:45 - This photo isn't so shocking when you realise they also worked without any kind of safety harnesses. So having a lunch break without safety harnesses is unremarkable (and probably safer than working) in that context.

[@MaquiladoraIII]

I've also wondered about the position of the photographer.

[@tomcatst2467]

Tom on the journey to master time after mastering space

[@_phiaa]

timeguessr is a fun game, I think I've mastered it, hope the creator adds more images, they're all too rememberable now!! looking forward to see how you do tom

[@janhanchenmichelsen2627]

Like in some other languages, the Germans often add suffixes to place names, to mark possession, origin or location. Here "Kieler Weinfest" just means "the Kiel Wine Festival". Maybe more known: "Münchener" is something from, or in München (Munic). Like the dark lager beer. Frankfurter is the sausage from Frankfurt. And so on. So, next time you spot an unknown German place name, try removing some letters from the back.

[@Badner83]

English speakers always do this wrong!!! :( Also in Football... I'm a supporter of "Karlsruher SC" and they always call the city "Karlsruher". They just don't get that it's actually "Karlsruhe" and the R is just an added suffix. The same for example in Italy, where "Udinese Calcio" is from "Udine" - or France, where "Olympique Lyonnais" is from "Lyon"...

[@janhanchenmichelsen2627]

@@Badner83 "Maybe it’s because he’s ... a "Londoner" ;-) (I know GW is a Brummie!)

[@stewartzayat7526]

@@janhanchenmichelsen2627 ah, the famous city of Londoner!

[@allan8910]

or "ich bin ein Berliner"?

[@Commietaku]

It's a combination of being unfamiliar with place names and their adjectives and being unfamiliar with the nuances of place adjective use in different languages. What's interesting is how English seems to add suffixes based on size or relative independence. While English almost always uses suffixes with nation names when they become adjectives, it's rarer for regions, and even rarer for cities and towns, even when demonyms exist.

[@TheGhostOfFredZeppelin]

Didn't know you watched Rick Beato! Loved this game btw, a really good mashup of Chronophoto and Geoguessr in my opinion! Edit: btw "Gate" is Norwegian for street as you probably know but "Gata" is the Swedish version and "Gade" for Denmark so they're all very similar but easy to differentiate between if you know that. Same with the Norwegian "Vei", the Swedish "Väg" and Danish "Vej" which all mean "road".

[@msachin4885]

"Ok im just gonna look at these people to see if they look _Bavarian_ " Tom Davis 2023

[@ArthurB26]

I thought that sounded dumb too but then I realized he probably meant clothing 😂

[@Proxoor]

the fact that he doesnt know that those soviets are standing on the Reichstag is quite impressive

[@paulsmenis5630]

When you accidentally said the soviets were liberating Berlin and the way you backtracked cracked me up😂

[@wickedsamurai3323]

They did liberate Berlin. It was Nazi territory until the Soviets came and defeated them.

[@saltatio1545]

Well, here in germany it is called "Tag der Befreiung" ("day of liberation"). So he was quite spot on ^^ And the first photo ist also very famous (in germany at least). It easily rivals the one with the steelworkers. And one notices that germany is not represented on GeoGuessr because he didn't recognise Kiel as one of the bigger cities in germany (it is the capitol of Schleswig Holstein, one of the 16 german states).

[@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

@@saltatio1545 Since when is Germany not in GeoGuessr? I played it with friends quite a lot and we did have some German places. You usually recognize it, because everything is censored.

[@saltatio1545]

@@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei I dont really play GeoGuessr a lot myself. I know that there are german maps, but I never ever (or nearly that ^^) saw a german location in any video of Tom which had places from around the world. All tries he had in the world map and the bad architecture and so on. I cant remember any german location. Thatswhy I think he just is not used to names of german middle sized cities.

[@matroqueta6825]

@@saltatio1545 I had seen the picture many times and knew it related to WW2. However, up until today I thought it was taken in the aftermath of the battle of Stalingrad.

[@GriffinK10]

“Kieler” gives the city “Kiel” away. I have to admit I was quietly cursing you out watching that :)

[@jahngunnar]

As a Norwegian from Oslo, I was screaming at you on the fourth picture. On the last one, I also wass thinking of Empire State Building, so not just you. This was a fun challenge

[@arciks11]

Little trivia about that first photo. soldier next to the flag soldier has two wristwatches on his wrists, which makes it very likely he looted one if not both of them. And Soviet sources that would share the photo would edit one of the watches out.

[@5925-p1b]

More than the uniform, the helmet was telling, it's clearly from WW1. He could easily be 82-83 when the photo was taken.

[@88porpoise]

The helmet is more recognizable, but the uniform is more reliable if you are somewhat familiar. The M1917 was used pretty extensively in WWII. Most notably fighting in the Phillipines. A veteran of that campaign I could totally see wearing such a helmet.

[@PseudoPolish]

I was surprised when you couldn't guess the city of Kiel :D I love to scroll Google Maps sometimes and I find that city pretty distinctive because of it's historical heritage of bordering with Denmark

[@Bismarck-S]

I just know of it and I don't know why, and I'm Swedish

[@ZwaartEntertainment]

@@Bismarck-S In 1814 the treaty of Kiel was signed between Denmark and Sweden granting Norway to Sweden. Maybe that's why.

[@leob4403]

​​@@ZwaartEntertainment I think its rather that Kiel is the typical border/port city where Swedish people buy beer and such. Theres a ferry going daily between Gothenburg and Kiel

[@PurpleCastles]

Oh interesting. That would maybe also explain why the town of Kiel here in Wisconsin is pretty close to the town Denmark (also in Wisconsin)

[@PseudoPolish]

@@PurpleCastles Yeah, it makes sense for sure. By the way, there're lots of interesting toponymy in US if you look carefully on the map

[@EPICJASKA]

I feel like second monitor for obs would ruin one of the key elements of this channel. I love it.

[@ConradOPrice]

One of the men in the first photo is shown with two watches. The Soviets edited the photo before publishing it to remove one of the watches - to make sure it looked like they were liberating Berlin rather than looting it.

[@JayEmSea]

That Ken Dodd line was brutal but hilarious!

[@kdmkevin5146]

as a norwegian i got shooked when I saw that 4 picture. Every oslo resident knows exactly where that is or at least the nearby area

[@ArthurB26]

Do you know the context of the photo? He didn't read it. I'm guessing it's a refugee/asylum seeker from Africa sleeping on the streets?

[@kdmkevin5146]

It just seems like a normal street begger, asylum seekers in norway have good accommodation. Most beggers in norway are either romani/gypsies or just drug addicts.

[@instrumentalisto8193]

I just discovered the game, and played before watching your video. I just made 47K score. One was a very very obvious one. Details are the key. Love to discover games via your channel. Thanks buddy!

[@Destroy666x]

The "Kieler" one was obviously in Kiel, a big port city in Germany, surprised Tom didn't know it.

[@lilil8434]

"Libera.. oh i don't know the right word" It is just depressing how people see it this day.

[@-Medici]

Somehow I knew right from the start, that you'd forget about the date on the first try 😅

[@JackReacheround]

I love your missions, but i especially love the no roads missions, brings me back to my childhood hopping through yards and being hooligans.

[@Seag-Gaming]

First time I've heard a brit ask "What's that in miles?"

[@PbNewf]

Literally the second the you opened the map on the first one I said "he's 100% going to forget to guess the year" would have bet my life on it, and would have won.

[@chriswyatt9869]

Right away I knew when and where the first one is. Quite a famous photo

[@cinnadala]

hey! just a bit of history on the Berlin round if you're interested in the significance of that photo! bit of history leading up to the photo: it was quite literally a race for Berlin Hitler was in a huge downward spiral, he was losing and Berlin was a shell of itself. Berlin civilians were left homeless while also trying to hide from other armies. the leaders had a meeting, TL;DR on that one, they decided to divide Germany once the war was over, between 4 countries, French Zone, British Zone, Soviet Zone and American Zone, but they ALL wanted Berlin, so Berlin had its' own divide so they could all have a piece of Berlin. the British army were being led by Churchill in the West, of course they also wanted to be first in Berlin, Stalin made it out to seem he didn't care for Berlin when he learned of Churchill being on the move again, so he tells the other leaders he didn't wanna take Berlin, but he was telling his army the opposite, because obviously he desperately wanted to take it, just like the others. but Stalin also had an ulterior motive for Berlin, atomic bomb information, which nobody else knew about as it was owned by Hitler. THE PHOTO: Stalin took Berlin, their most important mission after that was to get that photo on the Reichstag on May 2nd, the photo's taken by a Jewish war correspondent named Yevgeny Khaldei. the flag was sewn by a Jewish friend. which in itself has a lot of significance to it. there's a lot of damage that the Soviet Union did charging through Germany to the German civilians, it's horrible stuff i think you can all imagine what they did without me needing to write it here. ALSO, there is a documentary (on Netflix) called 'WWII In Color: Road To Victory' which discusses a lot of the battles and defeats and victories of WWII, interesting stuff if you'd like to watch.

[@russellmcphee72]

The helmet Tom! 😄 A US soldier in a UK style helmet. Love this video, thank you.

[@Courier6ix]

That’s what I was thinking as well, I didn’t think there was those type of helmets in ww2

[@russellmcphee72]

@@Courier6ix The Brits used the same but upgraded styles in WWII as well. The Russians had something similar of the Brodie helmet.

[@AlienTreeGuy]

@@Courier6ix The British still used them in WW2, but the Americans had moved on to the more half-bowl M1 helmet.

[@vaenii5056]

The United States used Brodie helmet early in the Second World War as well. It was called M1917. The modernized version was M1917A1 and it went into production as late as 1941. The real giveaway are the chin straps.

[@Toshi2k]

Always glad to see Ken Dodd making an appearance.

[@Jamie_kemp]

12:03 Well that was a reference that I wasn't expecting

[@meu02136]

It’s ironic because the woman in dire straits wants money for nothing

[@dirkvandaele4466]

Fun fact: the picture of having lunch on a steel beam is a publicity stunt. The are sitting on a beam high above ground, but that is not how they ate lunch. The picture of the sovjet flag in Berlin is also a publicity stunt. The picture was taken after the fighting was done. The smoke in the background was added afterwards for dramatic effect. And the two watches on the arm of the men was edited out as hero's don't steal watches.

[@loquacious-]

big ups for the vid and glad you made the STORROR collab possible! now we need you to do a parkour vid with them tom!

[@Guus115]

Just looking at that picture of the workers on the beam makes me panic

[@Sal.K--BC]

#2 - My first thought was that it's a WW1 uniform, and maybe he's one of the last WW1 survivors.

[@Hertog_von_Berkshire]

"Kieler" is just "Kiel" used as an adjective. In German, adjectives, even those derived from proper nouns, must agree with their subject. So the photo was taken in Kiel. I can't quite work out why it's "Kieler Weinfest" and not "Kieles Weinfest", which would make more sense as it's das Fest? No doubt some grammatical point that I have forgotten at some point in the last 50 years.

[@TheDarth23]

This is because there is an exception for city names where the suffix becomes -er

[@northof-62]

@@TheDarth23 Kieler sounds better too

[@imienazwisko4109]

The Storror colab is insanely cool. So happy it happened, and great job to both teams!

[@mloxard]

Yes! It's the combination of the two

[@afterburn2600]

The pic of the WW1 soldier killed me. The uniform was so obviously WW1. The man was so obviously older than 75 (my dad is around 75 and he looks way younger than this man). You were spot on in thinking the camera was '80s and not '70s, but otherwise your math (or maths to you I suppose) was (were?)...lacking.

[@MartinvonBargen]

I used to work in a restaurant just over the road from where that Kieler Weinfest pic was taken. Pretty easy round that was. 🍷🍷🍷

[@boudewijnkerkwijk4695]

As a map nerd and trained historian who went on to do something completely different in life I really appreciate this game as a pasttime.

[@LHyoutube]

First photo: Aha an easy one...Call of Duty! 😂

[@BodywiseMustard]

That man just have been the only man from USA to be in WW1

[@daz222]

They were more than 2 thirds of the way up that building in the last round....... They were at the very top! Love the head cam positioning on this video lol, and love the game, well done creator!!!

[@alexanderf8451]

I've never gotten a photo location faster than GeoWizard before. Waving the flag above the Reichstag to signal Soviet victory in Berlin.

[@Naturalhighz]

I love how you didn't deduct that the Kieler Weinfest was in Kiel

[@alexanderpedersen1401]

I get the vertigo just looking at that photo.... djizes.

[@alexfusneica2624]

Imo the veterans hat gave it away. Ww1 helmets were a lot simpler and have that distinct shape

[@renerpho]

If Tom thought of himself as a "history buff" then I'd be really annoyed if he didn't know Kiel. It played such a big role in German naval warfare. But since he's explicitly *not* that, I can forgive this gap in his education.

[@WeAreThePeople1690]

10:25 He was just back from Turkey with his new gnashers 😂😂

[@henningklaveness7082]

6:00 The quality of cameras in general use has been receding, moving from 8x10 and 4x5 through 120mm to 35mm, until it hit a sort of low at the dawn of the digital age. A 4x5" negative from the turn of the last century has many gigapixels of data, and prosumer grade scanners are technically capable of capturing all the detail. The limiting factor is working with such enormous files and figuring out how to present them.

[@connormoriarty]

This is much better than the other game you played. I always was left wishing we knew the location and had a description of the photo.

[@Sirmenonottwo]

This game is lit, its so much fun for a genaral knowledge guy like myself.

[@spanzotab]

2:33 Yep, liberating, you had it right the first time

[@Dashersacct]

I made a comment on an educational youtube video involving the history of the earth or something(i cannot for the life of me remember what video it was. Trust me ive searched through my hundreds of comments and cant find it) several years ago which basically said something along the lines of "imagine a game like geoguessr, but instead of trying to find out where you are in the world you are you figure out what time period in human history you are". That comment got a few thousand likes and about a dozen or so replies at the time. One of the replies was from someone who said they would try to make it, and then someone asked if they had done it in a later reply, for which they answered that they had given up because it was too much effort to code or something. Long story short, i find it so cool that someone, completely unrelated, finally brought this idea i had to reality years later. I kinda feel like a proud father, even though i had nothing to do with it xD

[@olliesings9488]

Honestly we just appreciate any content from you, I couldn't care less if there was no editing at all. Cant wait for the upcoming content Tom :)

[@hanswoast7]

11:05 Kiel (population ~250.000) is one of the big cities in Northern Germany. The word "Kieler" just means "of Kiel". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel

[@nicolasbertin8552]

The Empire State Building was completed in 1931.

[@LHyoutube]

8:06 - Tom, your webcam window is covering the answers.

[@HMurphy47]

For the second round, that type of helmet was worn primarily in WWI. The soldiers were called ‘doughboys’, due to dust and clay on their uniforms making them look supposedly doughy.

[@poltem1]

I like how you got 1932 right while they werent even on the empire state building

[@leoholder7839]

didn't see you down there love, he said that so casually

[@mr.monkeypaws4019]

Good lord I cannot wait for the next straight line mission

[@nipaigrat]

Liberating is the right word

[@aligindahouse7777]

Capturing but it's very interesting that you said liberating, because that's how it's taught in Germany. That the allies liberated Germany from the Nazis

[@kylevandeusen]

A Rick Beato reference. I was not expecting that.

[@George_Bland]

I don’t know if you’d have known but that veteran had a WWI style helmet.

[@gusn4652]

wow that first photo is quite beautiful

[@Tacomaguy458]

Mentioning Rick Beatto, I assume you are very into music Tom? That caught me off guard a bit

[@kjdude8765]

He does the music for the straight line and How not to travel specials.

[@vaenii5056]

@@kjdude8765 I think he may play guitar as well? Not entirely sure though.

[@GumbootZone]

The veteran was clearly WW1, because his uniform had large knobby buttons and a high-neck ring collar. Also, that helmet is WW1, although USA did continue to use them right at the start of WW2 when the Japanese attacked. They changed them very soon after.

[@kyal]

Not relevant to the video but your collab with storror is actually so sick 😁

[@motoXjake]

ok now we have chronological and location Tom... im on board fooooorrrrrrrr suuuuuuurrrreeee

[@itessellate4440]

Just watched the Storror (or storer lol) colab on their channel, awesome stuff! Does this mean we’re gonna get a video of you doing some Storror content?

[@John-793]

Your camera is on top of the information of the pictures in the top right

[@skakdosmer]

I knew at once that just like "Londoner" means a person from London, "Kieler" means something pertaining to Kiel, a town which has ferries going to my country, so I knew exactly where it was. I've never heard of Ken Dodd, but in the picture I think he looks exactly like the comedian Henning Wehn, who's originally German although he performs in Britain. But Henning was born in 1974, so of course it can't be him.

[@krns1695]

Tomothy these challenges are so fun

[@BowmanMars]

I definitely want more of this content

[@w0033944]

Like the Rick reference.

[@stormx2827]

Raising the Flag over the Reichstag is literally one of the most famous photographs of all time, Tom :D

[@cdw2468]

cannot think of a more iconic one lol, it signaled the beginning of our modern world as we know it really

[@MadaraUchiha289]

Really? I’ve never the photo seen it in my life, nor heard of Reichstag.

[@teliots]

It's also a well known example of soviet photo manipulation. In subsequent printings they edited out the second watch that the man in the bottom right is wearing, because having two watches is an indication of looting.

[@leob4403]

​@@MadaraUchiha289 well it doesnt apply to americans obviously, you dont learn stuff like that over there

[@Emil-yd1ge]

​@@leob4403 I didn't know the photo either and I'm german. I don't think we're currently in a spot to criticise other countries for their bad education. Now, 8 years after my Abitur I'm realizing more and more how lackluster my education was..

[@skakdosmer]

Regarding the men having lunch on the steel beam above New York: I saw a drawing of two men in a similar spot, and one of them says, "I used to be a school teacher, but my nerves couldn't take it".

[@vampiresquid74]

Little did you know that ww1 vet was only 40 years old the war just took a toll on him

[@boarbot7829]

The first photo is potentially the most famous photo ever taken. I mean, it’s really up there.

[@abraham_stones]

The Ken Dodd part cracked me up lol

[@BodywiseMustard]

Tom, I loved your Storror crossover! Please please go and learn some parkour

[@zwatotem]

I don't know how much that could help, but the veteran on the second picture had a watch visible, so you could try to guess on that.

[@_f355]

a rule of thumb for distinguishing Scandinavian countries by the street names: "street" is "gata" in Swedish, "gate" in Norwegian, and "gade" in Danish.

[@_f355]

Swedes have äöå, so if you see dots and circles - it's Sweden most likely. Danes and Norwegians use æøå, and they're somewhat more rare than in Swedish.

[@sivens6209]

If I remember it correctly, the first image appeared in a soviet magazine and they got in to a lot of trouble for it. The soldier was wearing multiple stolen watches on both of his hands.

[@lulzdragon7339]

Missed opportunity to call it Spacetimeguessr.