geoplonk.

GEOGRAPHY GUESSING FOR CHROME

Explore the
world.

geoplonk is a Chrome extension that turns exploring Google Maps into a geography guessing game. Use the landscape, road signs and buildings around you to work out where you are, then place your guess on the map.

Play geoplonk Download for ChromeMultiplayer ↗About the project

The current development build is free to play and does not require a geoplonk account.

An illustrated country road winding between green hills toward distant mountains
geoplonk.ROUND 1 / 5
GUESS YOUR LOCATIONWhere are you?
Illustrated game preview

HOW IT WORKS

Play directly in
Google Maps

Each round starts at a curated Street View location. Explore as much as your chosen rules allow before deciding where you think you are.

  1. 01

    Explore a Street View location

    Start a singleplayer game and drop into a curated Street View location on the original Google Maps website.

  2. 02

    Choose how you want to play

    Explore the road, scan the landscape, and collect clues. Want a challenge? Try No Move or lock panning and zooming too.

  3. 03

    Submit your guess

    Place a guess on the map. The closer you get, the more you score—up to 5,000 points a round. Then see where you really were.

FEATURES

Game modes and
interface controls

Customise your game

Choose between 1 and 10 rounds, with five as the default, and set a time limit or play without one.

Explore without a score

Random Explorer takes you somewhere new without a score to chase. Clean View gives the scenery more room.

Keep your progress locally

Singleplayer settings, progress and statistics stay in your browser. Multiplayer sends room names, guesses and results to its game server; no geoplonk account is required.

WHY THIS EXISTS

Why build
geoplonk?

geoplonk began with the idea of making geography guessing more accessible while giving players more control over their Google Maps experience.

Recognising a language, noticing the shape of a road sign or finding a familiar landscape can turn an unknown location into a solvable puzzle. The aim is to make that experience easy to enjoy, whether you want to improve your geography knowledge or simply explore somewhere new.

Building geoplonk as an extension keeps exploration on the original Google Maps website while adding interface customisation, movement restrictions and an optional guessing game. Those controls also make the extension useful when you want to explore without playing.

Singleplayer and Random Explorer are available in the main build. A separate multiplayer development preview lets friends test shared rounds through private room codes.

Download the current source code

DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL

Download geoplonk

The current build installs manually in Chrome. Download the ZIP and follow the instructions below.

EARLY DEVELOPMENT BUILD

geoplonk for Chrome

Free, unlimited singleplayer and Google Maps interface controls.

v0.3.14ZIP downloadMIT-licensed code

Install manually using Chrome’s Developer mode. This build is experimental and may need updates as Google Maps changes.

Download extensionDownload source code

How to install
  1. 1

    Download & unzip

    Download the extension ZIP above and extract it. Keep the geoplonk folder somewhere you won’t delete it.

  2. 2

    Load it in Chrome

    Open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, then choose Load unpacked and select the extracted geoplonk folder.

  3. 3

    Start playing

    Return to the Play page in Chrome to choose your rules and start a game. You can also open Guess Mode from Chrome’s Extensions menu.

An internet connection is required. Google Maps runs on its own website and receives your normal Maps browsing requests.

Frequently asked questions

Is the current build free?

The current development build is free to download and play, with no gameplay limits. Funding options for future development are still being considered.

Can I play with friends?

Yes. Open the Multiplayer page for the Classic development preview and its required extension download.

What does the extension store?

Singleplayer settings, game progress and personal statistics stay locally in Chrome. Multiplayer guest names, guesses and results go to its room server. There are no geoplonk accounts or analytics. Maps and map tiles make network requests to Google.

How do I update or remove it?

For an update, replace the files in the same geoplonk folder with the new download, then click Reload on its card at chrome://extensions. To uninstall, choose Remove on that card. Local extension data is removed with the extension.