WhichWMATA rules and information
WhichWMATA is a contest from Greater Greater Washington where you can test your knowledge of the architecture and design of the Washington Metro.
Information
Twice a month, we post five images taken in the Metro system and give you the chance to guess the answers.
Contests usually run during the second and fourth weeks of each month. The quiz post runs on the second and fourth Tuesday (generally around 3:00 pm), and the answers on the following Thursday (generally around 3:00 pm).
This page serves as a portal to the current contest, past contests, tips and hints, contest rules, and submission guidelines. Thanks for playing, and good luck!
We are on twitter at @whichwmata. You can suggest changes or ask questions by tweeting at us (though we don't promise to give you any hints).
Find the latest quizzes and answers at ggwash.org/whichwmata.
Rules
- To play, go to the quiz post and enter your answers in the comment field.
- The quiz is open from the time the quiz post goes live (generally around 2:00 pm on Tuesdays) until noon on the following Thursday.
- Due to variation in the editorial schedule, this deadline may be moved up without notice, however we will make every effort to collect and score answers received up until noon on Thursday.
- When playing, you may submit one set of answers per week. If you wish to revise your answers, post another comment under the same name indicating the change you wish to make.
- If you play each week, please use a consistent handle. It does not need to be a real name, nor does it need to be the same handle you use when commenting elsewhere on Greater Greater Washington (though it certainly can be). Please pick a somewhat unique name to decrease the chance someone else will use that name. For example, “Tom” is probably not unique enough, but “Tom from Arlington” would be fine.
- In the official scoring, any answer that includes more than one station will be counted as a wrong answer. For example, “Number 2 is either Clarendon or Ballston” would not be counted, even if one of those answers is right.
- You can identify a station using any portion of its official name. As long as we know which station you're talking about, it will count. So, “Gallery Place” or “Chinatown” would be acceptable forms of “Gallery Pl-Chinatown.”
Tips and hints
If you find yourself having a little trouble figuring out the answer, there are some tools that can help you.
Before you submit your guess, we recommend you take stock of everything you can tell from the picture: Does the station have an island platform or side platforms? Is it above ground or underground? What style of vault or canopy does it have?
Those pieces of information can help you narrow down the choices. And in case you can't keep all that information in your head, here are some helpful links:
- Metro's 11 types of station architecture (interactive map).
- Sand Box John's track schematic.
- NYCSubway.org photo pages on Metro.
- Google or Bing aerial imagery and street view.
- The past whichWMATA quizzes.
Submission guidelines
If you have pictures you'd like to submit for the contest, we'd love to have them! To submit a photo or photos, please follow these steps:
- Please attach your photo(s) to an email addressed to whichwmata@ggwash.org.
- Please do NOT include the name of the station(s) in this email. Do NOT name the photo attachment(s) with the station name.
- If you are able, photos should be cropped square. If you are not able to do so, we will crop your photo(s) for you.
- You can send as few or as many photos as you like. However, if you are sending multiple photos at the same time, please attach several to the same email. Groupings of five are preferred, however, you may submit between one (1) and ten (10) photos in an email. Please do not send ten individual emails each with one photo attached.
- Please note in the text of your email how you would like to be credited (your name, a handle, etc) and if you would like to have your name link to something (a blog, a Flickr page, a twitter, etc), include that as well.
- Upon receipt of the photos, Matt' will contact you and will make his own guesses as to which stations you have submitted. Once you have received that email, please respond with confirmation or the correct answer.
- Thank you for submitting photos! We generally hold these guest submissions for periods when Matt' is away, so they may not run immediately.
- If you have any questions about submitting photos, please let us know by emailing whichwmata@ggwash.org.