Fifty states, Washington D.C. and five U.S. territories — 56 plates in the rotation, each with its own artwork, palette and typography. A different one turns up every day.
56
Plates
56
Landmark scenes
0
Real plate designs copied
25+
Days between repeats
About the artwork
Every plate here is original artwork drawn in code. Each state and territory gets one specific, recognisable place — the Maroon Bells, Chimney Rock, the New River Gorge, Haystack Rock, a Charleston waterfront — rendered as a layered scene that sits behind the day's three letters. Nothing is traced from or copied out of any real license plate.
That's a deliberate constraint. Actual plate designs are government property, several states license their imagery, and some landmarks carry trademarks of their own. So every subject is either a natural feature or public, historic architecture, and where a state's best-known image is protected we went elsewhere: Wyoming gets the Tetons rather than its trademarked bucking horse, New Mexico gets an adobe mission and balloons rather than the protected Zia sun, Washington gets its volcano rather than a trademarked tower, and South Dakota gets the Black Hills Needles without carving anyone's face into them.
Which plate appears on a given day is fixed in advance and identical for every player in the world, and the rotation cycles through all 56 so the same design never turns up twice within about a month. The state has nothing to do with the day's letters — it's the wrapping, the letters are the puzzle.
All 56 plates
ALABAMA · AL
"Heart of Dixie"
Black Belt farm country: a white tin-roofed farmhouse under tall longleaf pines, cotton rows on red clay, camellias — the state flower — in the corners.
ALASKA · AK
"The Last Frontier"
The night plate: Denali's broad snow massif under green aurora curtains, with spindly black spruce on the tundra.
ARIZONA · AZ
"Grand Canyon State"
The Grand Canyon as stacked buttes, each with a lit face and a shadowed one, a saguaro on the near rim and an ocotillo in bloom.
ARKANSAS · AR
"The Natural State"
A towering limestone bluff over the Buffalo River, its face streaked with water stains, the Ozark hills behind in fall colour.
CALIFORNIA · CA
"Golden State"
The Big Sur coast stepping away into the haze, the Santa Lucia range behind and a windswept Monterey cypress on the near bluff.
COLORADO · CO
"Colorful"
The Maroon Bells: twin snowy summits above a spruce treeline flecked with gold aspen, mirrored in the lake below.
CONNECTICUT · CT
"Constitution State"
A harbour village: white meetinghouse steeple on the left, a three-masted square-rigger tied up at the wharf.
DELAWARE · DE
"The First State"
Delaware Bay at dawn: a red caisson lighthouse offshore, dunes and beach grass, and horseshoe crabs on the sand.
FLORIDA · FL
"Sunshine State"
A central Florida orange grove — glossy trees heavy with fruit, a sandy lane, and sabal palms on the flat horizon.
GEORGIA · GA
"Peach State"
Peach orchard rows on red clay running toward a hazy city skyline.
HAWAII · HI
"Aloha State"
A ribbed volcanic crater headland over a turquoise reef, framed by two coconut palms.
IDAHO · ID
"Gem State"
A handful of the Sawtooths' sharpest summits above a forest band, with irrigated potato fields and a wheel-line sprinkler.
ILLINOIS · IL
"Prairie State"
A lakefront skyline across the water, seen from a tallgrass prairie shore dotted with purple coneflowers.
INDIANA · IN
"Crossroads of America"
A red covered bridge across a creek, in the style of Parke County's dozens, with fall woods behind.
IOWA · IA
"Hawkeye State"
Rolling contour-strip farmland, a gravel road over the rise, and a red barn, silo and white farmhouse.
KANSAS · KS
"Sunflower State"
Golden wheat to the horizon under a towering storm cloud, with sunflowers in the foreground corners.
KENTUCKY · KY
"Bluegrass State"
Bluegrass horse country: rolling pasture, black four-plank fences and a black barn with a cupola.
LOUISIANA · LA
"Bayou Country"
Dusk on the river: a paddlewheel steamboat, and a live oak hung with Spanish moss leaning in from the left.
MAINE · ME
"Vacationland"
A white lighthouse and keeper's house on pink granite ledges, spruce behind, lobster buoys bobbing in the cove.
MARYLAND · MD
"Chesapeake Country"
The Chesapeake: a hexagonal screwpile lighthouse on iron legs, a skipjack under sail, crab-pot floats and marsh grass.
MASSACHUSETTS · MA
"The Bay State"
Cape Cod: a grey-shingled cottage on the dunes, beach roses along a split-rail fence, sailboats beyond.
MICHIGAN · MI
"Great Lakes State"
The long suspension bridge across the Straits, its towers rising above the letters, with pine shore on both sides.
MINNESOTA · MN
"Land of 10,000 Lakes"
A Northwoods lake at sunset: white pines, a lit log cabin and a wooden dock reaching into still water.
MISSISSIPPI · MS
"Magnolia State"
The wide river at sunset with a long truss bridge, framed by magnolia boughs in bloom.
MISSOURI · MO
"Show-Me State"
The Gateway Arch over the riverfront — the plate's three letters sit inside it.
MONTANA · MT
"Big Sky Country"
Big Sky: towering clouds over endless grassland, the Rocky Mountain Front low on the horizon, a buck-and-rail fence.
NEBRASKA · NE
"Cornhusker State"
Chimney Rock's slender spire above shortgrass prairie, with a windmill and a grain elevator under big clouds.
NEVADA · NV
"Silver State"
Valley of Fire at dusk: swirled red sandstone, Joshua trees and the first stars.
NEW HAMPSHIRE · NH
"Granite State"
The Presidential Range with snowy summits above a valley in peak foliage, a dry-stone wall and birches.
NEW JERSEY · NJ
"The Garden State"
The Shore: a Ferris wheel on the pier, a boardwalk on pilings, a lifeguard stand and striped umbrellas.
NEW MEXICO · NM
"Land of Enchantment"
An adobe mission church with vigas and a red chile ristra, a volcanic peak, and hot-air balloons overhead.
NEW YORK · NY
"The Empire State"
A harbour at night: generic skyline on the waterfront, suspension-bridge towers and a ferry crossing.
NORTH CAROLINA · NC
"First in Flight"
First in Flight: layered Blue Ridge ridgelines with an early biplane glider overhead, sea oats on the dunes.
NORTH DAKOTA · ND
"Peace Garden State"
The Badlands: banded buttes of grey clay, tan sand and red scoria, with cottonwoods along the river.
OHIO · OH
"Buckeye State"
Hocking Hills: a sandstone recess cave with a ribbon waterfall, hemlocks on the rim, a pool below.
OKLAHOMA · OK
"Sooner State"
Red-dirt plains at sunset, a wooden oil derrick from the boom years and Indian blanket wildflowers.
OREGON · OR
"Pacific Wonderland"
Haystack Rock and the Needles rising from a misty beach, Douglas firs on the headland.
PENNSYLVANIA · PA
"Keystone State"
Pennsylvania Dutch country: a red bank barn with hex signs, a stone farmhouse and silo, quilt-patch fields.
RHODE ISLAND · RI
"The Ocean State"
A regatta of spinnakers on the bay below a stone cliffside mansion.
SOUTH CAROLINA · SC
"The Palmetto State"
Charleston at dusk: pastel row houses on the Battery, palmettos and a crescent moon — the two symbols on the state flag.
SOUTH DAKOTA · SD
"Land of Great Faces"
The Black Hills Needles: knobby granite spires above ponderosa pine and mixed-grass prairie.
TENNESSEE · TN
"The Volunteer State"
Cades Cove: blue Smoky Mountain ridges with mist in the hollows, a log cabin and a zig-zag split-rail fence.
TEXAS · TX
"Lone Star State"
Hill Country in spring: bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush, a spreading live oak and a ranch gate with a lone star.
UTAH · UT
"Life Elevated"
A free-standing sandstone arch on slickrock with the snowy La Sal peaks behind.
VERMONT · VT
"Green Mountain State"
A sugarhouse venting steam, sugar maples in full colour hung with sap buckets, a red barn and green ridges.
VIRGINIA · VA
"Old Dominion"
The Shenandoah Valley from a Skyline Drive overlook, a stone wall and flowering dogwood — the state flower.
WASHINGTON · WA
"Evergreen State"
A great glaciated volcano above dark evergreen forest, with a car ferry crossing Puget Sound.
WEST VIRGINIA · WV
"Mountain State"
The New River Gorge in autumn with the long steel arch bridge high above the river.
WISCONSIN · WI
"America's Dairyland"
America's Dairyland: a red gambrel barn with tall blue silos, drumlin pasture and a kettle pond.
WYOMING · WY
"Forever West"
The Tetons rising straight from the valley floor, a weathered homestead barn on the sagebrush flats.
WASHINGTON D.C. · DC
"The Nation's Capital"
The Tidal Basin in spring: cherry blossoms, the Washington Monument and a domed memorial on the far shore.
PUERTO RICO · PR
"La Isla del Encanto"
A 16th-century headland fortress with its domed sentry box on the corner, surf below and a flamboyán in bloom.
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS · VI
"American Paradise"
A turquoise bay ringed by steep green hills, a stone sugar-mill tower on the ridge and a palm on a small cay.
GUAM · GU
"Where America's Day Begins"
Sheer limestone cliffs over a cobalt sea, Tumon Bay's turquoise lagoon inside the reef, coconut palms and bougainvillea — the island flower.
AMERICAN SAMOA · AS
"Motu O Fiafiaga"
Emerald peaks rising straight from the sea, a sea-stack island and an open-sided fale with a thatched roof.
NORTHERN MARIANAS · MP
"Marianas"
Saipan sunset: a limestone islet with a sea arch, the reef line and a calm turquoise lagoon.