Everything you need to know about the GeoGuessr World Championships 2025

One moment you’re squinting at a dusty petrol station in rural Argentina; the next, you’re stranded on a snow-swept track somewhere in Siberia. Armed with nothing but the visual clues around you, you're tasked with placing your best guess as to where you are on a map of the world.

This addictive blend of digital travel and detective work has transformed GeoGuessr, an online browser-based game, into a global obsession, and in recent times, a competitive esport.

This weekend, the best players on the planet are gathering in Copenhagen at the K.B. Hallen arena for the 2025 World Championships, where their geography knowledge and lighting fast reflexes will be put to the ultimate test.

But what exactly is GeoGuessr? How did this humble, and deceptively simple, online game evolve into a competitive and social media phenomenon watched by millions around the globe? Read on dear reader, read on...

What is GeoGuessr?

Created in 2013 by Swedish developer Anton Wallén, GeoGuessr is built on Google Street View. “Was fiddling around with backbone and Google maps API v3 and decided to make a small application,” Wallén wrote on Reddit at the time. “Would appreciate your feedback/suggestions?”

The game drops players in a random 360° panorama anywhere in the world. Players can pan, zoom and move around the scene, and using only visual clues - architecture, vegetation, road markings, number plates, even the angle of the sun – they must pinpoint their location on a world map.

In the classic version, each game consists of five rounds, with a maximum of 5,000 points per round (depending on how close you guess is to the actual location) and a perfect total of 25,000.

Over the years, GeoGuessr has added modes beyond the classic five-round score chase, such as head-to-head Duels and last-person-standing Battle Royale-style showdowns.

From lockdown hobby to streaming phenomenon

For years GeoGuessr had a modest following. Then came the pandemic. Travel bans drove people online and watching others sleuth their way through Mongolia or rural America became a Twitch and TikTok craze.

By 2022, GeoGuessr boasted tens of millions of players worldwide. Videos began racking up billions of views on TikTok. Influencers such as Trevor Rainbolt (“Rainbolt”) built huge audiences (2.5 million followers on Instagram and 3.2 million on TikTok) from their other-worldly abilities to pinpoint the exact location in seconds - sometimes even from a blurred image or a single frame.

“When COVID hit, I was really itching to experience different cultures and see the world a bit so I looked to GeoGuessr and I guess the rest is history,” Trevor told Euronews Travel.

“I never started posting for any other reason than because I wanted people to see my passion. I never expected it to get that big,” he said.

Even mainstream streamers and YouTubers, including PewDiePie, xQc, Pokimane and the Sidemen, have jumped on the GeoGuessr bandwagon.

And the game doesn't just provide a source of entertainment. Many players proudly report that it has sharpened their real-world geography skills: distinguishing Cyrillic from Greek lettering, identifying which countries drive on the left or spotting the unique colours of Colombian road signs.

A whole online ecosystem exists around these subtle clues, where enthusiasts share tips and strategies. For instance, if your Street View perspective is being trailed by a police car, you’re probably in Nigeria. A vertical crossbeam on the back of a road sign? Most likely Colombia. And a red stripe down the left side of a licence plate points to Kyrgyzstan, or in the case of older plates, Albania.

Becoming a competitive esport

GeoGuessr’s rise to esports legitimacy has been surprisingly quick. In 2023 the first official GeoGuessr World Cup was staged. The following year the competition's Grand Final drew nearly 300,000 live viewers online, with the entire tournament logging 1.6 million hours watched.

This year, the stakes are higher than ever. 16 of the world’s best are set to face off at Copenhagen’s K.B. Hallen arena for a whopping $100,000 prize pool.

Each match will consist of ten rounds, with players racing against a 60-second clock to pin their location as accurately as possible. Every misstep translates into “damage” against their opponent’s health bar - a tiny slip can swing the match in an instant.

Among the contenders are Mathieu “Blinky” Huet, the 2024 champion from France; Patrick “Consus” Noordijk, the 2023 title-holder from the Netherlands; and American professional Robert “MK” Falconio, last year’s runner-up.

When does it start and how to watch it?

The entire championship will be streamed live on GeoGuessr’s official Twitch and YouTube channels, with watch parties likely across the streaming world.

The round of 16 competition started on Friday and the Grand Final match is being held at 10PM (CET) on Saturday 30 August.