28 October 2026

Where does it belong?

Xuanzang Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar

1000 BC010002000

Stretched by how much of it anyone can name

1,205 years

1,361 years

XuanzangYour guess500

Tarantofounded 706 BC

the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyfounded 1861

Arrows nudge. Page Up and Page Down move in jumps. Home and End go to either end.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Taranto Italian comune

Move the tag to where you think it belongs, then drop it.

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How to read this

Two dates are already on the line. A third is on the tag. Drag it to where you think it goes, then drop it.

The true date appears where it belongs, and a band opens between the two: its width is how far out you were. Every mark says what its date measures, because they are not all alike: a person is a lifespan, a mission is a launch, a town is when it was settled.

Once enough people have played, the crowd’s marker joins them, showing where most people put it. Those are people who chose to play a game about time, so read it as what history enthusiasts think rather than as what everyone thinks.

Most people place things too recently. The further back something is, the more it collapses toward everything else back there. It is called the telescoping effect, and it is what this is about.

Where does it belong?

What these are

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Taranto

Xuanzang