The Snap It! game – designed for kids ages 7 and up – lets players help out the Traveler, an enthusiastic character who loves to explore the universe. The Traveler has previously learned about black holes and is now visiting Earth to learn about eclipses.

Through taking photos of the Sun and decorating postcards, players learn about eclipses and objects that transit, or pass in front of, the Sun, sparking curiosity about these celestial events. The game is hosted on NASA’s Space Place website, a resource for kids to have fun while learning about the universe, and can be played on any computer using an internet browser.

During the 3-minute gameplay, players snap photos of objects that pass in front of the Sun. Each time the game is played, players experience either a partial eclipse, an annular eclipse, or if they’re lucky, time slows down and they get to see the Sun’s atmosphere around a total solar eclipse. The game shows real imagery of the Sun taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, and a real total solar eclipse image.

During gameplay, other objects also transit across the Sun, including NASA spacecraft, planets, hot air balloons, birds, butterflies, and more. These transiting objects are roughly accurate in size to what you would see with your eyes, challenging players to zoom in to see tiny, distant satellites streaking across the sky, and to zoom out to capture the Sun in all its glory.

Players build a photo album across multiple sessions of gameplay and can assemble postcards using those photos and fun stickers that they can send to the Traveler’s home world. They can also download the postcard to share with friends.

Players can also flip through various filters, just like a phone camera app, but these filters are the ones actually used by SDO. Players learn the science of lightwaves while also choosing colorful backgrounds for their photos.

NASA launched Snap It! with a social media campaign on March 8, 2024, one month ahead of the total solar eclipse. It quickly received media attention and articles about the game were shared by news outlets like Space.com and Fox News.

With its fun and educational message, Snap It! also became a featured activity for libraries around America, including the Austin Central Library. The game was also featured at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s visitor center during the Sunday Experiment day on March 17, 2024. 

From March 1 to September 30, 2024, the game boomed in popularity, accruing over one million engaged minutes played. The game had 430,000 views with an average engagement time per user of 3 minutes and 51 seconds. In April 2024, it was the most-played game on NASA Space Place as well as the website’s most-viewed page on the day of the total solar eclipse, April 8, 2024.  

Snap It! also received praise from media outlets and users on social media.