Frequently asked questions
About the game, scoring, and data.
What is Drop The Pin?
Drop The Pin is a daily map-based trivia game. Every day there's one pack of five questions; you drop pins on a world map to answer, and your score depends on how close each pin lands to the target.
Does it cost anything?
No. The site is free to play. We show ads through Google AdSense to cover hosting, and there's no subscription or paid tier.
Do I need an account?
No — accounts are optional. By default your progress, streak, and leaderboard entries are tied to an anonymous device id stored in your browser. If you want your runs to follow you to another device, you can sign in with your email (one magic link, no password) and the data on your current device gets linked to the new account. You can also set a display name that shows on the public leaderboard.
When does a new pack drop?
A new pack publishes once a day at midnight Eastern. The home page shows today's pack as soon as it's live, and yesterday's pack moves into the public archive at /packs the following day with the answers exposed for practice.
Can I play past packs?
Yes. Once a pack is 24 hours old it moves into the public archive at /packs with the answers exposed. You can browse the geography or replay any pack in practice mode (practice runs don't change your streak or the leaderboard).
How is my score calculated?
Each section has a max point value and a distance cap. Land inside the cap and you earn points on a curve from full at the bullseye to zero at the cap. Past the cap you earn nothing for that section. Hints, if you use them, subtract from the section's score. Your pack total is the sum of section scores.
What happens if I quit mid-run?
Your run is saved as-is. You can come back and resume from where you left off, but you can't restart for a better score — once a section is submitted, the answer's locked.
Why does my streak reset?
Streaks count consecutive days where you finished a pack. Miss a day and the counter goes back to zero. Practice mode doesn't count toward streaks (or against them).
Is this GeoGuessr?
No. GeoGuessr drops you into a Street View panorama and you guess where the photo was taken. Drop The Pin is structured trivia — text prompts, sometimes an image, with a map for answering. Different feel, different scoring, different game.
Where does the game data come from?
Pack content (titles, prompts, hints, target coordinates) is authored in Sanity by the site's editors. Scores and leaderboards are stored in a Postgres database hosted on Neon. The full data flow is documented in the privacy policy.
Is my data sold?
No. We don't sell or rent your information. Analytics traffic goes through Google (Analytics and Tag Manager) and ads are served by Google AdSense; both are gated through Google's consent management platform for users in the EEA / UK / Switzerland. Details are in the privacy policy.
How do I contact you?
Email the address on the privacy or terms page for corrections, take-down requests, or anything else.
Anything else?
Read the full how-to-play guide, the privacy policy, or the terms.