Dabbous

Try it free

Play a real puzzle — no sign-in, no score kept.

The rules

1. 01Each day gives you five Lebanese towns, one at a time; for each, tap the map to drop your dabbous where you think that named town is, then lock it in to reveal the real location, your distance, and your points.
2. 02You have ten seconds per town, so commit to a spot — if the timer runs out with no pin placed, that town scores zero.
3. 03Scoring is by distance: a pin right on the town earns near the top of the scale and the score fades the farther off you land, with your day's total being the sum across all five towns.
4. 04Stuck on a name you can't place? Spend a region hint to reveal that town's caza (district) — one per town, and each one trims a little off your score.

Why play

Most of us carry Lebanon as a feeling, not a grid. A town's name lights up a vague sense of "somewhere up the coast" or "back in the valley," but ask for the exact spot and the picture goes soft. Dabbous turns that fuzzy recognition into something you can sharpen. Five towns make a quick run, each reveal corrects your mental map a little, and a fresh set every day at Beirut midnight keeps it honest. Sign in free with Google to bank a streak, climb the weekly board, and quietly become the friend who can actually place every town by name.

Tips & strategy

• The name is your only clue, so mine it: a town whose name you have heard in the news, in a song, or from family is one you can usually place with confidence, while a name that draws a total blank is the one to hold a hint for.
• Reason from neighbors — if the day's town sits next to a place you know cold, picture them as a pair and drop your pin beside that anchor rather than guessing at the name in isolation.
• When a name only rings a faint bell, place a rough pin in your best-guess area immediately, then spend the rest of the ten seconds nudging it; an approximate pin always beats an unplaced one when the timer dies.
• Treat the caza hint as a name-decoder, not a crutch: spend it on the genuinely unfamiliar name where knowing the district collapses the whole map to one area, and save it on towns you would have placed close from the name alone.
• Watch the reveal line each round — the direction and distance from your pin to the truth quietly teach you which town names you systematically push too far north, too coastal, or too inland, and tomorrow's set rewards that correction.

FAQ

What is Dabbous and how do you play it?

Dabbous is a daily Lebanese geography game where you are given only a town's name and drop a pin on the map where you think it is. You place five towns each day and score on how close each pin lands to the real spot.

How is Dabbous scored?

Each town is scored by the distance between your pin and the real location — a pin on the spot earns near the top of the scale and the score falls off the farther away you land. Your daily total is the sum across the five towns, and each region hint you spend trims a little off.

Do I need to know Lebanon or read Arabic to play?

Knowing Lebanon helps, since every round is a real town's name, but you can play entirely in English and learn as you go. Each reveal shows you the true spot, so your sense of where things sit improves every day.

What is the difference between Dabbous and Wein on nakze?

Both ask you to drop a pin on the map, but Dabbous gives you a town's name to place from memory, while Wein shows you a landmark photo to recognize first. Dabbous is the name-and-mental-map game; Wein is the photo game.

Is Dabbous free, and can I play past days?

Dabbous is free with a Google sign-in, which saves your streak and weekly leaderboard spot. You can also play yesterday's set as a catch-up, though it is worth half points.

Four little Lebanese games, the same for everyone, with a weekly leaderboard.