Gamer uses GeoGuessr skills to help stranger locate birth mother based on background in a picture

Social media is known for heated debates, weird trends and even actions that overstep boundaries of privacy. But at the same time positive stories of the internet coming together to connect people and reunite families have also been reported. Similarly, American influencer and popular GeoGuessr player Trevor Rainbolt also known as @georainbolt on TikTok, put his gaming skills to good use and helped someone looking for clues of find their birth mother. For those unfamiliar with GeoGuessr, it is a game that tests a person's proficiency and knowledge of Google Maps.

Players are virtually dropped at any random location in the world with panoramic street view and their mission is to find clues and guess their location on the world map. In the popular video shared by Rainbolt, he revealed a message that was sent to him by an unnamed person who wrote, "This is the only photo I have of my mother. Would it be possible to figure out the location? I was adopted back in 1995 and only had this photo before my mother passed away. Would be a miracle to know anything about her and where she went."

The anonymous user also attached a black and white grainy picture of their mother with another woman posing in front of guard rails with mountains and a lake behind them. Rainbolt worked his magic and used his skills to analyze and pinpoint the location, which was possibly a spot near Ritsa Lake located in Abkhazia, Georgia. "This one felt good," Rainbolt wrote in the caption to his video as the photo sent by the unnamed person was superimposed over the location on Google Maps.

The video accumulated more than 21 million views and fellow TikTok users were left in awe as they appreciated Rainbolt's GeoGuessr skills. Among them was also @oopshefell who wondered, "I don't know how true this is because the photo is old and the mother looks adult there. Being adopted in 1995 when pics were in color." @dollyqst2sz replied and explained, "They didn't say the photo was taken in 1995 — they were adopted in 1995. That is just the only picture they have of their mother. It was likely taken when photos were black and white."

@willneverposts asked, "Has National Geographic ever offered to do a segment on you?" @ry.finna.flame commented, "How bro, just how? I am decent at the game, but I don't get your accuracy." @tegui added, "These are super cool. But I would LOVE to see a YouTube video or even a TikTok of you going through the process for these, please."

This isn't the first time that Rainbolt has posted a jaw-dropping video of his GeoGuessr adventures on TikTok. Once he read an X post from a person who was on board a flight. 

It said, "Don't mind me, just high up in the clouds. Can you guess where am I going?" along with a picture of the wings and the partially clouded sky. Rainbolt took it as a challenge to figure out where the person was going. "Well, I don't need to guess because I know," Rainbolt said in his video before disclosing not only the person's flight number but also their departure and arrival times. Rainbolt miraculously figured out that the person was traveling from Orlando to Dallas. "You took this photo approximately 9 minutes into your flight right above Ridge Manor, Florida, at approximately 23,050 feet elevation while sitting in seat 18F," he stated, leaving viewers startled.

You can follow Trevor Rainbolt (@georainbolt) on TikTok for more GeoGuessr videos.