About the World Map Quiz
The World Map Quiz turns the classic "point at the map" test into a game. A country is named, and you find it on a blank world map with no labels. Find it and the next one comes up. Every wrong pick turns red and stays marked until you find the country, so each miss shrinks the search.
You have three lives, so reason like a geographer: continent first, then region, then neighbors. Click Kazakhstan when the answer is Kyrgyzstan and the red mark has still taught you something, because now you know roughly where you are. That process of elimination is how map knowledge sticks.
Any of the 197 countries can come up. A run starts with big, well-known countries and ends with tiny islands, so microstates like Monaco and Vatican City do appear, but only late in a run. If you enjoy this, try naming all 197 from memory in the Countries of the World Quiz, or every country of one continent in the Europe Countries Game, or read How Many Countries Are There in the World? in our Learn section.
How to play
- 1Press Play. The bar at the top names a country: find it on the blank map.
- 2Look around for free. Drag, pinch, zoom or use the region buttons; only a guess counts.
- 3On a phone or tablet, tap a country to pick it, then press Guess this country. With a mouse, one click guesses.
- 4A wrong guess costs one of your three lives and marks that country red. Find five in a row on the first guess to win a life back. The run ends when the last life goes.
Tips for finding any country
- Continent first. Even a rough idea ("somewhere in West Africa") cuts the map from nearly 200 countries to a dozen. Never guess before you have picked a region.
- Use the red marks as sonar. A miss costs a life, but it also tells you where the target isn't, and usually which way to move.
- Learn the confusable pairs. Niger and Nigeria, Slovakia and Slovenia, Iran and Iraq, Sweden and Switzerland. Most lost lives come from a handful of lookalike names.
- Zoom before you guess. Only a guess costs anything, so on crowded regions like the Balkans or Central America, zoom in first. A wrong pick on a neighbor still costs a life.
- Anchor on coastlines. Distinctive shapes like Italy's boot, the Horn of Africa or the Malay Peninsula make reliable landmarks on a map with no labels.
- Use the region buttons. The buttons along the top of the map jump straight to Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas or Oceania. World takes you back out.
- Tiny islands have a circle. Countries too small to tap, like Tuvalu or Monaco, sit inside a circle. Tap inside it to pick the country. The circle stays until the country itself is big enough to tap.
World Map Quiz FAQ
How many lives do I get?
Three. Every wrong guess costs one, and the run ends when the last one goes. Zooming, dragging and the region buttons never cost anything.
How do I win a life back?
Find five countries in a row with your first guess. The five dots at the top fill as you go, and a wrong guess empties them. When the fifth fills and you have lost a life, you get it back. With all three lives, the dots simply start again.
Can tiny countries come up?
Yes, but only later in a run. Every run starts with big, well-known countries, and none of the 47 smallest comes up before your 25th country. On the map each tiny country sits inside a circle, so you can tap it without zooming all the way in.
What counts as a country?
The 197 in our Countries of the World Quiz: the 193 members of the United Nations, plus Vatican City, Palestine, Kosovo and Taiwan. Territories like Greenland or French Guiana are not countries here, so they never come up.
Is it free?
Yes. Free, as many runs as you like, in the browser, with no sign-up or download. Your best score is kept in this browser.