Five rounds anywhere in the world
Classic is the base mode of Geogessr: five rounds, five random points anywhere in the world, with no limits on panning, zooming or walking down the street. It is the sensible place to start — every other mode is classic with one rule changed.
Classic has no timer and no restrictions: you can spin the camera a full circle, zoom in until a sign is readable, and walk hundreds of metres down the street looking for a road sign. That is why it stays the most precise mode — the 25,000 ceiling is genuinely reachable if you bother to look around.
Make the first full turn without moving. Traffic side, the alphabet on shopfronts, the shape of poles and the road markings are usually visible from the drop point and already narrow the world to one or two countries.
Any writing beats any architecture. A street name, an advert, a route number at a stop, a domain on the side of a van — each converts into a specific city in one step.
If you are boxed in by fences, follow the road. Signs with place names turn up more often than you would think, and one of them closes the round outright.
Do not stab at the middle of a country just to have something. The gap between a random pin and a considered one is usually fifteen hundred to two thousand points.
The first things to look for are which side traffic drives on and the language on shopfronts: together they rule out more than half the planet. Then come road markings, the shape of poles and signs, the vegetation and the car makes. If the panorama is empty, walk along the road: a sign to the nearest town beats any amount of guessing.
Classic plays well in two passes. The first is quick: fifteen seconds to settle the hemisphere and continent, then a provisional pin so the round cannot score zero. The second is the refinement — only then do you start reading signs and walking.
A useful habit is to confirm with a second cue rather than trusting the first. Palm trees occur in Spain, California and Australia alike; combined with left-hand traffic and yellow diamond signs they mean Australia outright, but on their own they mean almost nothing.
| Rounds per game | 5 |
| Time limit | none |
| Camera restrictions | none |
| Anchor points | 147 |
| Available in duels | yes |
| Hints | yes |
A direct hit is worth 5000 points per round, and the score falls off exponentially with distance. A five-round game is worth up to 25,000. Distances are measured on the server against its own copy of the locations, so a result cannot be forged from the browser.
| Miss | Points per round |
|---|---|
| direct hit | 5,000 |
| 1 km | 4,998 |
| 10 km | 4,975 |
| 50 km | 4,877 |
| 200 km | 4,524 |
| 500 km | 3,894 |
| 1,000 km | 3,033 |
| 2,000 km | 1,839 |
| 5,000 km | 410 |
| other hemisphere | 34 |
What the pool for this mode is made of:
| Europe | 29 |
| Asia and Oceania | 26 |
| The Americas | 20 |
| Africa and the Middle East | 10 |
| Russia and the CIS | 62 |
No timer at all in classic. You can walk and look around for as long as you like.
Yes, through a challenge link: after a game you can copy a link with the same five locations.
Usually five to fifteen minutes. There is no timer, so there is no reason to rush.
Yes, both the panorama and the map are built for touch: the map expands on tap and the pin moves with your finger.
The round closes at zero. That is why a provisional pin early on is worth it — you refine it afterwards.