Originally unveiled in April 2017 as an April Fool's Day experience, Reddit users have since been asking the company to bring the subreddit r/Place back every year.
Fortunately, Reddit made these wishes come true in 2022 and 2023. If you're new to r/Place, here's what to know about how it works and how you can also be part of it when it goes live.
What Is r/Place?
In a nutshell, r/Place is a dedicated subreddit with a blank canvas made up of tiny white pixel grids. On the blank canvas, Reddit users can place colored pixels once every few minutes, forming a giant collaborative piece of art.
The subreddit was Reddit's April Fool's Day experience in 2017, and it was wildly popular, which is why it came back in 2022 and 2023. In fact, the company says it was one of its most popular April Fool’s Day experiences.
According to the company, more than one million Redditors participated in creating the collaborative digital art piece in 2017 by placing over 16 million pixels. The concept behind r/Place is to demonstrate the power of online communities working towards a common goal.
What's even more interesting about r/Place is it was created by Josh Wardle, the same developer behind the viral word game Wordle.
How r/Place Works
The concept behind r/Place is pretty simple. Reddit provides a giant blank canvas with tiny empty pixels, and any logged-in user can place a tile or pixel of their choice. You have all the liberty to use a pixel or tile of whichever color. The only limitation is you can only place a tile or pixel once every few minutes.
Since it allows every logged-in Reddit user to participate, the canvas grows in real-time. And you can watch how things unfold even if you don't use Reddit or are logged out of the platform. The only limitation is that you'll not be able to participate—you'll simply be watching from the sidelines.
Many subreddits collaborate to create artwork on the canvas, such as country flags, banners, and other icons.
How to Contribute to Reddit's Art Experiment
If you wish to contribute to Reddit's r/Place experience, you'll need a Reddit account. If you don't have one or you just deleted yours, don't panic; you can create an account and be up in a few minutes. Check out our guide on how to get started with Reddit if you need step-by-step instructions.
Once you log in to Reddit, tap or click the new "P" widget icon at the top of the home feed in the top right to access r/Place. Alternatively, you can open the community drawer in the Android or iOS app and tap on the "P" widget icon. Of course, to participate, you'll need to visit the subreddit at the right time. Reddit's r/Place subreddit is usually open for a short time and closed most of the time, so you must be ready when it goes live.
In 2022, Reddit's r/Place experience went live starting April 1 at 9am ET across the platform's mobile and web apps. The canvas was available until April 5 at midnight ET, so you had plenty of time to participate in Reddit's art experiment. In 2023, r/Place was opened by Reddit on July 20 after several delays, partly caused by the platform's API pricing changes and user pushback that led to some many subreddits going dark. The 2023 experience ended on July 25.
It's not clear if r/Place will come back in the future, and Reddit's "Until we meet again" closing message doesn't help. The uncertainty is even greater following the use of 2023's canvas to protest Reddit's API changes. Despite that, we'll see what happens come 2024.
Don't Miss Out on Reddit's Next Art Experiment
If you felt bad for missing out on Reddit's first r/Place April Fools' Day experience, the social media platform may have another chance for you. Reddit's r/Place communal art experiment may be back in the future. And if it does, you don't have an excuse not to take part.
Even better, participation requirements are pretty low—all you need is a Reddit account. You'll be set to participate in the experiment using the steps highlighted above. So, ensure you don't miss out.