worldguessergame

The story of WorldGuessr begins with a simple frustration shared by many geography enthusiasts: the paywalling of the beloved game GeoGuessr. In early 2024, Gautam Anand, a high school student and developer based in Rochester, Minnesota, decided to take matters into his own hands. Driven by a passion for coding and a desire to keep geography exploration accessible to everyone, he embarked on a mission to build a free, open-source alternative that would capture the spirit of the original game without the subscription fees.

What started as a personal side project quickly evolved into a global phenomenon. Launching WorldGuessr (accessible via worldguesser.io and worldguessr.com), Anand utilized modern web technologies like React and Next.js to create a seamless and immersive experience. The game drops players into random Google Street View locations around the world, challenging them to deduce their whereabouts using clues from the environment—such as road signs, architecture, and vegetation. The project struck a chord with the community, rapidly amassing millions of users and earning a spot on popular gaming platforms like Coolmath Games. Today, WorldGuessr stands as a testament to the power of open-source development, offering a robust, feature-rich platform with multiplayer modes and community challenges, all while remaining true to its founder's vision of free education and entertainment.