How to play
- Press Start. You have 5 minutes, and the portraits appear in a new order every game.
- One portrait is selected, and a larger copy sits next to the answer field. Type that president’s name: it counts as soon as it matches, and the next portrait you haven’t named is selected.
- Only the selected portrait counts. If you type another president’s name, you’re told it isn’t that one and the field clears. Wrong answers cost nothing but time.
- Tap any portrait to switch to it. On a keyboard, Tab or Enter on an empty field moves to the next portrait and Shift+Tab to the previous one. Esc leaves the answer field.
- Pause whenever you like; the portraits are hidden while the clock is stopped. If you close or reload the page mid-game, the game waits, paused, until you come back.
- When the time is up, every portrait is labeled. Tap one to see its president’s number and years, then practice the ones you missed in an untimed round.
Why 45 faces and not 47
Presidencies are numbered, and a president who leaves office and later returns starts a new number. It has happened twice, so the list of presidencies is two longer than the list of people. This quiz has one portrait per person, so each of those two appears once; for a president with two terms, it is the most recent official portrait. The US Presidents list quiz counts all 47 presidencies instead.
Names that count
The full name counts, and so does the surname on its own, with the same spellings, initials and nicknames as the list quiz. The exception is a surname two presidents share. In the list quiz it names both, but here the portrait shows which one you mean, so the quiz asks you to add a first name or initials. A few well-known initials count on their own.
The portraits
Every image is an official or historical portrait in the public domain: a photograph by a government photographer, a portrait published before 1931, or a faithful photograph of a public-domain painting. Each is cropped to the same head-and-shoulders frame and otherwise left as it is, so the paintings of the early presidents and the black-and-white photographs of the 19th century look their age. Sources and credits for each one are on the image credits page.
Questions
Why isn’t a surname enough?
For most presidents it is. Where two presidents share a surname, typing it alone doesn’t say which one you mean, and the portrait in front of you is only one of them. Add a first name or initials.
How up to date are the portraits?
They were last checked on 30 September 2026. A new president joins the list quiz on the day they take office, and this one once an official portrait is published.
Can I play without seeing the pictures?
No: recognizing faces is the quiz, so each portrait is only labeled with its number until it is named. The controls, the answer field and the announcements work with a keyboard and a screen reader, and the US Presidents list quiz can be played without seeing the screen.
Where are my scores kept?
Only in this browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, and clearing your browser’s site data removes them.
More about the United States
- US Presidents: all 47 presidencies, by name
- US States and US State Capitals
- All quizzes
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