Trevor Rainbolt

Trevor Rainbolt
Born (1998-11-07) November 7, 1998 (age 25)
Longview, Texas, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Colorado Colorado Springs (dropped out)
Occupations
YouTube information
Channels
LocationBangkok, Thailand
Years active2020–present
Subscribers
  • 734 thousand (RAINBOLT)
  • 1.71 million (RAINBOLT TWO)
Total views
  • 62.3 million (RAINBOLT)
  • 736 million (RAINBOLT TWO)
Associated actsLudwig Ahgren
100,000 subscribers2022
Last updated: October 7, 2024
TikTok information
Page
Followers2.9 million
Likes83 million
Last updated: October 7, 2024
Websitegeorainbolt.com Edit this at Wikidata

Trevor Rainbolt (born November 7, 1998), known mononymously as Rainbolt, is an American social media personality and player of GeoGuessr, an online geography game. He initially gained popularity through posting videos on TikTok, which showed GeoGuessr gameplay in his characteristic high-intensity style and often involved challenges or self-imposed limitations. He posts videos on YouTube about the game and other geography-related topics.

Personal life

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Born in Longview, Texas, Rainbolt grew up in Arkansas and attended university for one year at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs before dropping out to work in Los Angeles as a social media strategist.[1] His first employer ran sports entertainment accounts on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.[2]

He had only left the United States once briefly until November 2022, when he announced on Twitter that he would be living in a different country each month, starting in Germany, Spain, and Portugal.[1][2][3][4] As of January 2023, he was living in Bangkok, Thailand.[5][needs update]

Career

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Rainbolt started honing his GeoGuessr skills during the COVID-19 pandemic by playing for four to five hours every day, studying landmarks like signs and telephone poles, and watching others livestream.[3][6][7] At some points, he was playing up to 12-hour days, even dreaming in Street View.[8] Rainbolt posts on TikTok under the username "georainbolt", an account he started in October 2021.[9] He has also hosted pro GeoGuessr tournament live streams on Twitch, where the top-ranking players compete in 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4 brackets for a cash prize.

He became viral for adding challenge by creating limitations: he guesses the location by seeing a Street View image for only a tenth of a second,[3][10] with half the image blurred, two photos at once,[2] upside down, and in black and white, or pixelated. In some videos, he identifies the location while blindfolded, with someone else describing the scene to him.[3][11] He has identified countries based only on viewing the dirt or the sky.[12]

"Once you see the countries and their soil colors [...] it's just human intuition [...] can I describe to you why I think that it looked like it was Nigerian soil? Probably not, but it does. It's just part of that sixth sense you pick up on when you play the game so much."

—Rainbolt to The Washington Post[2]

He revealed the 2023 New York Jets schedule using street view to determine the home cities of the Jets' opponents, in collaboration with the Jets' social media.[13] In June 2023, after seeing a TikTok video of an egg sandwich, Rainbolt spent nearly 100 hours tracking down the bagel shop. The restaurant, Bagel Market in Manhattan, then named the sandwich after Rainbolt.[14] In April 2023, Rainbolt privately rented a billboard in Boston, Massachusetts, with his logo and face.[15] Local news stories began reporting after several social media accounts shared images of the billboard.[16] The billboard read, "this is boston. nice."

On September 12, 2023, Rainbolt became the first person to play a GeoGuessr game while skydiving, in a stunt with Red Bull athlete and skydiving expert Sean MacCormac over Lake Elsinore, California. He achieved a score of 21,047 out of 25,000 in the classic game.[17][18] In October 2023, Rainbolt served as a commentator for the inaugural GeoGuessr World Cup, which drew over 70,000 viewers.[19] He also commentated for the 2024 edition.

References

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  1. ^ a b Ellingham, Miles (1 March 2023). "GeoGuessr trailblazer hits the ground running". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 18 January 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d Amenabar, Teddy (11 July 2022). "The hot game on TikTok: Guessing locations on Google Maps". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Browning, Kellen (7 July 2022). "Siberia or Japan? Expert Google Maps Players Can Tell at a Glimpse". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  4. ^ rainbolt [@georainbolt] (2 November 2022). "life update: i sold everything i owned and am living in a different country every month indefinitely…first month: germany. where i spotted my first ever google car…" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 25 July 2023 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ a video. RAINBOLT. 14 January 2024 – via YouTube.
  6. ^ Strachan, Maxwell (9 September 2022). "The Guy Who Memorized Google Maps Says You Can Too". VICE. Archived from the original on 5 March 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  7. ^ Williams, Austin (21 June 2022). "This Google Street View genius can accurately identify any location around the world in seconds". FOX6 News Milwaukee. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  8. ^ Gorton, Thomas (9 November 2022). "Trevor Rainbolt interview: the man who saw the world". The Face. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  9. ^ Brown, Hannah (20 May 2022). "This influencer can name any country in under a second - using only Google street view". Euronews. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023.
  10. ^ "How This Guy Can Guess Where He Is In 0.1 Seconds". Cheddar News. 19 August 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2024. Also available on YouTube. Archived from the original on 7 January 2024.
  11. ^ Klee, Miles (16 June 2022). "There's Nowhere to Hide From This Google Street View Genius". MEL Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  12. ^ Davis, Susan (25 June 2022). "Google Maps has become a game with Geoguessr — and Trevor Rainbolt has mastered it". NPR Illinois. Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  13. ^ Treacy, Dan (12 May 2023). "Best and worst NFL schedule release videos, from Titans' 'Chester Cheeto' hit to 49ers & Cardinals flops". Sporting News. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  14. ^ Notopoulos, Katie (13 June 2023). "If You Post a Delicious Bagel Sandwich on the Internet, Do You Have to Say Where You Got It?". GQ. Archived from the original on 27 March 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  15. ^ RAINBOLT (3 April 2023). rawcruz (ed.). "i bought a billboard to help geoguessr players" (Video) – via YouTube.
  16. ^ Thorpe, Lindsey (23 February 2023). "'This is Boston. Nice.' The story behind Boston's newest billboard". Boston 25 News. Archived from the original on 8 March 2024.
  17. ^ RAINBOLT (30 September 2023), sixpointos (ed.), playing geoguessr while skydiving (Video), retrieved 29 September 2023 – via YouTube.
  18. ^ Red Bull LFG (9 September 2023), Rainbolt Played GeoGuessr While SKYDIVING (Video), retrieved 29 September 2023 – via YouTube.
  19. ^ Huge Success for Historic World Championship in GeoGuessr (a press), Stockholm, Sweden: GeoGuessr, 14 October 2023, retrieved 7 May 2024.
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