Pin the country on the map

How a round goes

A round asks for ten countries; in the setup you can make it twenty or thirty. Drag to move the map, pinch or turn the mouse wheel to zoom, and tap when you are sure. Dragging and pinching never count as an answer, so you can look around freely.

Everything outside the chosen region is greyed out and does not react, so an Africa round only takes African answers. The 29 states too small to draw as outlines, from Andorra to Tuvalu, are round markers you can tap directly.

Points, streaks and the hint

Every correct tap scores 100. Up to 50 more come for speed: all of it inside two seconds, none after twelve. The hint circles the part of the map where the country lies and zooms in; the circle sits a little off-centre, so it narrows the search without giving the answer away, and that question then counts half.

The counter in the header grows with every right answer in a row. The best score for each mode, region and level is kept as your record in this browser.

What the levels change

Easy asks about the larger and better-known countries of the region. Medium adds most of the others. Hard leaves out the easiest quarter, so small, remote and landlocked countries come up much more often. The map itself stays the same on every level.

Pencil notes

• Move from what you know: once Kenya is placed, Uganda, Tanzania and Somalia are only a step away.
• Coasts are easier than borders. Learn the landlocked countries of a region as a group, in the order they sit on the map.
• Zoom in before tapping in Europe, the Caribbean or West Africa. At the world view a fingertip covers several countries.
• After a miss, glance at the dashed line. A short line means you mixed up neighbours; a long one means the whole region needs another look.