Traveling broadens your mind, heightens your senses and gives you an all around larger scope of reality. The more you travel the more that you learn. The memories and experiences from your travels live inside of your mind, body and soul and no one can ever take that away from you, but it’s still nice to have a visual way to track your globetrotting.

The I Was Here Scratch Off World Map 2.0 offers the perfect answer; this interactive piece of art provides a fun way to track your travels and decorate your home. Russian-based Art Lebedev Studio is the mastermind behind this awesome scratch-off world map which allows you to literally scratch off locations you travel to, just like you’d scratch off a lottery ticket, revealing a beautiful color background underneath.

The latest updated version of the map was made under the studio’s number one philosophy, “The only principle we follow is just two words: No nonsense.” According to the designers the purpose of the map was to create a, “tourist’s personal diary that makes every trip unforgettable.”

While the original scratch-off map was produced in Russian there is a similar English version available for purchase here.

Scratch card technology isn’t new; in fact it was first invented in the United States in 1974. Over 10 years later the first patent for scratch card lottery tickets was granted in 1987. Most of us have experienced the thrill of scratching off a lottery ticket with a coin, but the idea of scratching off travel destinations is entirely new, and really exciting.

The original version of the map was missing a few borders of countries and territories, all of which were updated and added in version 2.0. The map is one solid color until you start scratching off your travels and brilliant displays of color are revealed. This makes it very easy to pick out your next travel destination, just point to a country that hasn’t been scratched off to reveal color yet.

Photo Credits: artlebedev