These are the 5 rounds every player got on June 26, 2026, with the answers and the history behind them. This day is finished, so nothing here spoils a puzzle you can still play — today’s Daily Challenge is a different five events.
Not enough completed runs on this day to report an average without singling out an individual player’s score — we publish one from 5 finishers up.
Round 1
Battle of Khaybar
Battle of Khaybar · 628 · Medieval
Why there: Khaybar was a fertile, fortified date-palm oasis on the trade route north of Medina, and its wealthy inhabitants had backed earlier hostile coalitions, making it a strategic threat to the young Muslim community's northern flank.
Why then: Following the 628 truce of Hudaybiyyah that neutralized the Meccans, the rising movement was suddenly free to redirect its consolidated military strength northward, seizing the moment before its foes could regroup.
- The Battle of Khaybar (628 CE) was fought against the Jewish community of the Khaybar oasis.
- Ali ibn Abi Talib is famously associated with the capture of its fortress.
- Khaybar lies north of Medina in the Hejaz region of western Arabia.
Round 2
Withheld from the archive
This round was played, but the event belongs to one of our paid content modules, so we do not republish it on the free archive. It is still available in the app to anyone who owns that module.
Round 3
Withheld from the archive
This round was played, but we do not republish it here. Recent events involving mass civilian casualties are excluded from our public archive under our content policy, whatever their place in the day’s puzzle.
Round 4
Battles of Saratoga
Battles of Saratoga · 1777 · Early Modern
Why there: The battles unfolded along the Hudson River in upstate New York because that waterway was the strategic corridor Britain hoped to seize to split New England from the other colonies, forcing armies to fight through its wooded, easily fortified hills.
Why then: By 1777 the American Revolution was two years old and Britain's ambitious three-pronged invasion from Canada had overextended its supply lines, while France waited for proof the rebels could win before committing its fleet and army.
- The Battles of Saratoga (1777) ended with the surrender of British General John Burgoyne.
- The American victory convinced France to enter the war as an ally.
- It is widely considered the turning point of the American Revolutionary War.
Round 5
Battle of Ain Jalut
Battle of Ain Jalut · 1260 · Medieval
Why there: The spring of Ain Jalut in the hills of Galilee lay on the natural land corridor between Mongol-held Syria and Mamluk Egypt, making it the frontier where the Nile-based sultanate had to make its stand before the invaders reached the Nile valley.
Why then: The moment came when the death of the Great Khan Möngke had drawn the main Mongol army eastward, leaving only a reduced force in Syria just as the newly consolidated Mamluk state—slave-soldiers hardened into disciplined cavalry—was strong enough to strike back.
- The Battle of Ain Jalut (1260) saw the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt defeat the Mongol Ilkhanate, the first major check to Mongol expansion.
- The Mamluk commander Baibars used feigned retreat tactics and soon seized the sultanate himself.
- The site's name means 'Spring of Goliath' in Arabic.
Every Daily Challenge is five real events, one from each of five different eras, identical for every player, scored up to 10,000 points a round on how close you land in space and in time. Read how to play, see where the events come from, or play today’s.