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HistoryTrivia

What Year Was It? (TIME)

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Guess the year of five real TIME covers a day with a slider.

Play What Year Was It? (TIME)

on time.com

What Year Was It? for October 18, 2026, round 1 of 5: a TIME cover of the Dalai Lama with its year hidden, his clue, and a year slider at 1975 with a Lock In button

What Year Was It? shows five real TIME magazine covers each day, from the 1920s to today. For each one you read a clue, study the cover and drag a slider to the year you think it ran; an exact year scores 1,000 points and each year off costs 50.

About What Year Was It? (TIME)

What Year Was It? is TIME's daily history quiz. Each day it shows five real TIME magazine covers spanning a century, the same five for every player, and you guess the year each one ran.

A round shows the cover with its date hidden, a name and a short clue about the moment (a president's first months in office, say), and sometimes a label such as Person of the Year. You drag a slider along a timeline from 1923 to the present and press Lock In. An exact year scores 1,000 points and each year off costs 50, so the best day is 5,000. A panel below tracks the five rounds, plots your guesses on a timeline and gives you a result to share.

TIME launched TIME Games on TIME.com in May 2026, a free hub of daily games that also includes Linked, a TIME Cover Jigsaw, Word Flower, Sudoku, Word Search and the prediction game Market Movers.

It suits TIME readers and anyone who likes dating photos and events, and wants a few minutes of history each day.

How to play What Year Was It? (TIME)

  1. Open the day's game and press Play Now.
  2. Look at the TIME cover and read the name and clue beside it.
  3. Drag the slider to the year you think the cover ran, then press Lock In.
  4. Repeat for all five covers.
  5. See your score out of 5,000 and share the result.

Screenshots

What Year Was It? on a phone, October 18, 2026: the day's first TIME cover, the Dalai Lama, with Guess the Year Published under it, below a display ad
What Year Was It? for October 3, 2026, round 1 of 5: a TIME Man of the Year cover of John F. Kennedy beside its clue, a year slider set to 1975 with a Lock In button, and the score, rounds and timelin

Tips

  • Read the cover's design as well as the clue: the logo, type and photo style change by decade.
  • A guess a few years off still scores well, so aim for the right decade first.
  • The clue often names a moment in someone's life, such as a first term or a comeback, which narrows the year.

Questions

Is What Year Was It? free?

Yes. It plays free on TIME.com with no sign-in; the page carries display ads.

How is it scored?

Each round scores 1,000 points for the exact year and 50 fewer for each year off, so a full day is worth 5,000.

When did it start?

TIME launched it with TIME Games on TIME.com in May 2026.

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