Geoguessr is an online geography game platform. It uses gamified learning to help you learn more about the world..
The platform features multiple games in different categories.
Both single and multiplayer games are available on GeoGuessr. In general, though, if you want to play with friends, you need to upgrade to the premium version of GeoGuessr.
Is there any way to play GeoGuessr with friends for free? That’s what we will be exploring in this article.
The short version: To play GeoGuessr with friends for free, at least one of your friends needs a Pro account, after which they can invite free members to play with them. Otherwise, there isn’t really any way to play with your friends for free.
Let’s get into the full details!
What Is GeoGuessr?
GeoGuessr is a gamified learning platform that focuses on geography games.
The general theme is as follows: You will be shown random locations from Google Street View, and you have to guess the correct location on a Google Maps widget.
There are numerous games on the platform, each focusing on different themes. For example, one game might focus on famous landmarks, another might show you spots from major cities around the world, while others will show you football/soccer stadiums in a certain country or continent.
There is a game for everyone, regardless of what your interests are. In addition to the games released by GeoGuessr itself, there are many user-generated games that you can play.
On GeoGuessr, games have five rounds – in other words, you will be shown five locations per game.
For each round, you get a score. The score is determined by how close to the correct location your guess was.
For example, if you didn’t guess the exact spot but guessed a spot in the same city, you will earn a higher score than if you guessed a spot in a different city but in the same country.
As I mentioned, there are both single player and multiplayer games. Multiplayer games give you a chance to play with random strangers online.
To play with friends, you’ll need to use challenge mode when playing a game. The way it works is pretty straightforward.
You can host up to 100 people in a challenge game. The goal is to get the highest score of all your participating friends.
To do that, you’ll simply need to make better guesses than them. If your guesses are closer to the correct location than your friends’ guesses, you will earn the highest score and win the challenge.
There is also Battle Royale, which is an elimination game in which you have to try to be the last gamer standing. For example, in Battle Royale Distance mode, all the players have to guess a location, and the player who guesses the furthest gets eliminated from the game.
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How to Play GeoGuessr With Friends for Free?
To play GeoGuessr challenges with friends for free, at least someone in your friend group will need to have GeoGuessr Pro. Otherwise, you won’t be able to access challenge mode.
The person who has a Pro account can host up to 100 people in a game, and none of the other people need to have Pro. The host, however, must have Pro.
Unfortunately, there is no way to get around this. GeoGuessr doesn’t offer free members the ability to host a challenge game.
Fortunately, GeoGuessr is relatively affordable. That means that if you have a friend group, and you all want to play together, you can pool together your resources and all contribute towards GeoGuessr Pro.
Just divide the cost between yourselves and use a peer-to-peer payment app, such as PayPal or Venmo, to send money to the designated Pro account holder. This designated Pro account holder can then be the one to host challenge games as necessary.
Alternatively, they can share the password with your friend group. That way, someone else can always log in and host the challenge games when the designated Pro account holder is not available to do so.
If you already have a friend who has GeoGuessr Pro, you can play for free as long as they are the one hosting the challenge game.
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Do “Play GeoGuessr Pro for Free” Hacks Work?
No. There are quite a few YouTube videos and Reddit posts claiming to offer secret hacks and tricks that let you play GeoGuessr Pro for free.
Unfortunately, it’s all clickbait, so don’t bother watching them. You won’t learn anything that you aren’t learning here.
The only way to play GeoGuessr challenges for free is to have a friend who does have access to GeoGuessr Pro send you a challenge link. There is literally no other way (other than nefarious methods like hacking someone’s account).
If there was some bug that would allow people to play GeoGuessr Pro for free, it would significantly reduce GeoGuessr’s revenue. You can be sure that GeoGuessr’s developers would be aware of this bug and fix it.
Another method you may see mentioned – which does work – is in regard to removing ads without signing up for GeoGuessr Pro. You can usually do that by simply installing an ad blocker.
Ad blockers are software – typically browser add-ons – that hide ads from websites. They’re very effective, and there are plenty of awesome free ones.
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How to Host a Challenge With Friends?
Hosting a challenge with friends is relatively straightforward. Challenge mode is available for most games – including single player games.
While multiplayer games give you the ability to play with random people online, single player games can be played solo or with friends.
When you click on a game, you will be given two options: single player or challenge. To start a challenge, simply select challenge mode.
If you are not yet a Pro member, you will be prompted to upgrade to a Pro membership so you can continue. If you are already a Pro member, you will be able to start inviting friends.
You can invite friends by sending them a URL. However, if you already added them as friends on GeoGuessr, you can simply select them from your friends list.
I recommend adding your friends on GeoGuessr, as it will make it significantly easier to host challenge modes. Otherwise, you will have to send everyone a link individually, which can take quite a bit of time if you are hosting a large game with close to 100 players.
As I mentioned, another option is using the Battle Royale game mode. The process is pretty similar.
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How to Play Multiplayer Games for Free on GeoGuessr?
Although you will need a Pro account (or at least someone in your friend group will need it) to play GeoGuessr against friends, it’s still possible to play limited multiplayer games against random strangers online on GeoGuessr for free.
To get started, head to the multiplayer section on Geoguessr. You can also access it from the main menu.
Once there, you can select one of the multiplayer game modes, such as Battle Royale, Battle Royale Distance, and Duels.
I did mention that you can play Battle Royale against friends, but you can also play it online with random strangers. Click on any game and then just click on the start button.
You may need to wait until additional players join. The exact number of players needed for each game depends on the game.
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In Battle Royale, unlike in regular GeoGuessr games, you get multiple guesses. Your guesses will be displayed for everyone in the “Already Made Guesses” section, so they don’t make the same wrong guesses.
Battle Royale is a fun way to play against other people when nobody in your friend group has access to GeoGuessr Pro.
The good thing about GeoGuessr Pro is that it overrides the usual five-minute limit for free games.
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Pros and Cons of Upgrading to GeoGuessr Pro
Are you wondering whether GeoGuessr Pro is worth it? Let’s go over some pros and cons of GeoGuessr Pro.
Pros
- No time limits: When you play GeoGuessr for free, you can only enjoy five minutes of playtime every quarter-hour. That gets incredibly frustrating, because what are you supposed to do with yourself while waiting for the time to reset? With Pro, you get unlimited playtime.
- Play with friends: If you have GeoGuessr Pro, you can host a challenge and invite your friends to play.
- No ads: The ads on GeoGuessr can get annoying, and while many people live with them, you can also easily remove them by just signing up for GeoGuessr Pro.
- Create quizzes and maps: With GeoGuessr Pro, you can also create your own quizzes and even maps.
Cons
Here are the downsides of GeoGuessr Pro.
- Limited game types: While you have multiple game modes, most GeoGuessr games operate in the same way. You are shown a street view and have to guess the location, with some slight variations depending on the game and game mode.
- It may not be necessary: If someone in your friend group has Pro, there is no need for you to sign up for Pro yourself.
- No free trial: At the moment, there is unfortunately no free trial to give you a chance to try Pro out.
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Is GeoGuessr Pro Worth It?
Yes. If you can afford it, and if you want to play challenge games, it’s absolutely worth it.
The free plan works for most people, but it does limit your amount of playtime, which gets frustrating quickly.
Does GeoGuessr Offer a Free Trial?
No. At the moment, GeoGuessr doesn’t offer a free trial.
It offers a free account option, which allows you to play games – with limitations.
You get five minutes of free playtime per 15 minutes. That means that if you play for five minutes, you will have to wait 10 minutes after finishing the game for the 15-minute period to start again, at which point you can start a new five-minute period of playtime.
There seems to have been a time during which GeoGuessr did offer a free trial, but it isn’t currently available, unfortunately. That makes sense, after all – the forever free account option already gives you a chance to see what GeoGuessr is like, so there’s no need for a free trial.
Also Read: Best Geography Learning Apps
How Much Does GeoGuessr Pro Cost?
The good news is that GeoGuessr Pro is not particularly expensive. Let’s talk about pricing in this section.
When you sign up for a Pro account, you have two options: paying monthly and paying yearly.
If you pay monthly, it will cost $3.49/month, but if you pay yearly, it will cost $23.88/year, which comes out to $1.99/month.
Group plans are also available. Pricing for group plans is as follows:
- For 15 members, it’s $39.99/month
- For 30 members, it’s $69.99/month
- For 100 members, it’s $199/month
These group plans are billed monthly, not annually.
Do you need a group plan? Not really.
Like I already explained, you only need one person in your friend group to have GeoGuessr Pro to host a challenge game that others can join. So, if you’re just playing amongst your friends, you don’t really need a group plan.
A group plan is more suitable if you are a teacher and want to give all of your students access to GeoGuessr Pro for educational purposes.
For Pro, GeoGuessr accepts two payment methods. You can use a debit/credit card or PayPal.
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Wrapping It Up
To play GeoGuessr with friends for free, you or someone in your friend group will need GeoGuessr Pro. The person who has a Pro account can create a challenge room for any game.
Once they do so, they can invite friends who are on their friend list or send an invite link to people who aren’t. They can host up to 100 people in a challenge, and only the host must have GeoGuessr Pro.
However, limited multiplayer game options (with strangers on the internet, not friends you know) are available to free account holders as well.
