How to play

Old Borders gives you two countries on a historical map. Your job is to find the shortest way between them over land, crossing only the borders that existed in that year.

The goal

Each round shows a year in large type, a start country in blue and a destination in purple. Somewhere between them is a chain of neighbouring countries that links the two by land. Name the countries in that chain. You win the round as soon as the countries you have guessed join the start to the destination without a gap.

The tricky part is that the map is not today's map. In 1868 there is no single Germany, in 1910 there is no Poland, and in 1950 there are two Germanys. A route that is obvious on a modern atlas can be impossible on an old one, and the reverse.

How a round works

Read the route: “Travel from start to destination”, with the year shown above it.
Type a country in the box under the map and pick it from the list. Only countries that exist on that year's map are accepted.
The country is coloured on the map and added to your past guesses, so you can see how close it is.
Keep going until your guesses connect the two countries. The line above the guess box tells you how many countries the shortest route needs.
You get the shortest route plus four extra guesses. If you run out, or press Give up, the map shows the shortest route.
When a round ends, the next route loads on a random year's map after a few seconds. Press Stay here to keep looking at the map, or Next route to move on at once.

What the colours mean

Every guess is coloured by how far it is from a shortest route between the two countries:

Green: the country lies on a shortest route. Yellow: going through it adds one country to the trip. Orange: going through it adds two countries. Red: far off the route, or not linked to it by land at all.

You do not have to guess only green countries. A yellow country can still be part of a winning chain; it just makes your route longer than the shortest one.

Country names

Countries are shown with their official names for that year, for example the Weimar Republic in 1925 or the Qing Empire in 1890. You do not have to type the full historical name. Modern and common names work too: “Germany” finds the Weimar Republic, “Turkey” finds the Ottoman Empire, “China” finds the Qing Empire, and “Iran” finds Qajar Persia.

Examples

1910: Kingdom of Portugal to Swiss Confederation. Portugal only borders Spain, and Spain only reaches the rest of Europe through France, which borders Switzerland. The shortest route needs two countries: Spain and France.

1925: Weimar Republic to Kingdom of Romania. Today you would cross several countries. In 1925 Czechoslovakia reached all the way east to Romania, and Poland bordered Romania too, so one country is enough: either Czechoslovakia or Poland.

1890: German Empire to Kingdom of Joseon (Korea). It sounds like a long trip, but the Russian Empire bordered both, from East Prussia to the Tumen River. One country does it.

Islands and seas

Only land borders count. You cannot cross the Channel, the Baltic or any other sea, so the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland and, in 1890, Japan, Ceylon and the Philippines cannot be part of an overland route. Routes are always picked so that a land route exists.

Tips for shorter routes

Look for the big empires first. Austria-Hungary, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire touch many neighbours and often make a route much shorter.
Small states matter. In 1868 the German states, in 1925 the Free City of Danzig and in 1950 Andorra can block or open a path.
Use the zoom buttons on the map. The ⤢ button fits the whole route on screen.
Read the notes for each year under the map. They explain which borders changed and why.
Check the fun fact that appears at the start of each round. It is about one of the countries in play.

Play with a friend

Above the map there is a link: Send this route to a friend. It copies a link to the exact route you are playing (on a phone it opens your share menu). Your friend opens it and gets the same two countries on the same year's map, so you can compare who found the shorter way. After that round, both of you go back to random routes.

When you finish a round, Copy result copies a small coloured summary of your guesses that you can paste into a chat without giving away the answer.

Score and streak

At the top of the page, Routes counts the routes you have completed and Streak counts how many you have won in a row. Giving up, running out of guesses or skipping a route resets the streak.

Start playing

Want to know where the borders come from? Read About the maps.