If GeoGuessr lets you guess a place from a photo, EthnoGuessr throws you into an entirely different maze—guessing a person’s ethnic group from just their face, based on anthropological data and phenotype.

Each photo carries a deep historical and cultural dimension—where political borders become blurred, giving way to original ethnic identities that have existed for thousands of years.

How to play EthnoGuessr

• Each round, you will see a photo of a person (usually a simple portrait, with little context).
• The task: guess where they are from—not a country, but an ethnic region identified on a world map.
• After each choice, the game reveals detailed anthropological information: ethnic group, geographical distribution, history of existence...
• Scores depend on how accurate your chosen geographic location is.

Why is EthnoGuessr different?

• It’s not just about facial recognition: you have to dig deeper—into regional characteristics, migration contexts, ethnic mixes, and even ethnographic knowledge.
• Don’t play into simple stereotypes: the images in the game are often of indigenous or little-known groups—from the Ainu in Japan and the Comm in Tibet to the Paleolithic group in Siberia.
• The margin of error is easy to question: guessing wrong by a few thousand kilometers is normal. But that feeling makes each correct guess worth it.

Some ethnic groups in the game

• The Ainu, an ancient indigenous people in Japan, differ significantly from the contemporary Japanese.
• Aboriginal Sri Lankans—few people know that this island nation has an ethnic group that has existed since ancient times and is gradually disappearing.
• Saharan people—although located in North Africa—have a phenotype that few people think of when looking at them.
• Sami in Northern Europe—an indigenous people of Scandinavia, distinctly different from the common Nordic stereotype.
• Groups in Bolivia or Southeast Asia prove that ethnic composition in these regions is much more complex than it appears on the surface.

The game is not only for entertainment but also to help players learn about ethnic identity. And to learn that there are communities that have existed for thousands of years but have been forgotten by the modern world. If you love food, don't forget to check out the Scrandle game.

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