About Desert Atlas
Explore 24 photographed deserts in a practice preview: recognize landscapes, choose continents, order and estimate reviewed areas, compare dated station air records, and match names to photographs.
Facts qualify separately. This opening has six area estimates and three station air observations. Heat rounds compare the named station and date, rather than an unsurveyed maximum across the whole desert. More content is in development; worldwide submissions are disabled in this preview.
How to play
- Goal
- Recognize deserts and compare their area, continents and sourced air-temperature records.
- How it ends
- Area Line ends on the third mistake or when its collection runs out; other competitions end after up to ten questions, placements or pairs, as shown by the qualified pool.
- Record
- Most correct answers, then fastest answering time; Area Reserve and Heat Reserve keep the most reserve, and Matching the fastest time with penalties, separately for each competition and collection.
- Area Line: choose a gap, then Place here or press the same gap again. Keep the largest area at the top. Three mistakes end Line; Area Order finishes its displayed placement count. Overlapping accepted ranges tie.
- Continents: choose any continent containing the desert. Photo: identify a landscape from eight names. Matching Table: pair ten names and photographs; each wrong pair adds three seconds.
- Heat Order: arrange the named air observations, hottest at the top. Read the station and date: surface temperatures and typical summer averages are different measurements.
- Area Reserve and Heat Reserve: estimate from 1,000 points. Inside a sourced range costs nothing; misses cost according to distance from the nearest edge. The game displays this run’s exact number of questions.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Tap / click | Choose an answer, pair or insertion gap; confirm with Place here |
| 1–8 | Choose an answer |
| Arrow keys · Enter | Move between gaps and confirm |
| H · R · Escape | How to play, restart, return |
Tips
- Read the measurement Area estimates refer to the named desert and source definition. A heat observation names its station and date.
Good to know
Every photograph retains its creator, licence and source links in the game. Backdrop photograph: Fiontain, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons; resized and cropped for the page.
Questions
Is this the full game?
This is a practice preview. Content expansion and worldwide rankings are still in development.
Why do competitions use different deserts?
Photographs, areas and recorded air temperatures qualify independently. Only facts supported by their separate reviews enter that competition.
Does record heat mean hot ground?
These rounds use air measurements. Satellite land-surface temperatures are a different quantity and do not enter the air bank.
