Name Every Country
Type countries in any order, from memory, before the clock reaches zero. Each name fills in on the map as soon as it is complete, with no need to press Enter. Whatever is still empty at the end turns red.
What counts, and what does not
Which names does the game accept?
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Which names does the game accept?
›The usual English name and the short forms people really use: USA, UK, UAE, DRC, Bosnia, Trinidad. Older names that are still common count too, so Ivory Coast, Cape Verde, Burma, Swaziland, Holland, East Timor and Czech Republic all fill the right country. Capital letters, accents, hyphens and a leading The are ignored. Names in other languages do not count.
Why did Niger not go in when I typed it?
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Why did Niger not go in when I typed it?
›Because it is also how Nigeria starts. While Nigeria is still open the game waits, and pressing Enter tells it you meant Niger. The same goes for Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, Dominica and the Dominican Republic, and Congo and its longer forms. Every other name counts the moment its last letter is typed.
Are spelling mistakes forgiven?
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Are spelling mistakes forgiven?
›Yes, when you press Enter. One slip is forgiven in names of five to eight letters and two in longer ones, as long as the result can only mean one country. Kyrgistan fills Kyrgyzstan, but Nambia is rejected, because it is one letter from Namibia, Gambia and Zambia. Names of four letters or fewer have to be exact, because Iran and Iraq are one letter apart.
Why does Scotland or Taiwan not count?
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Why does Scotland or Taiwan not count?
›The game counts 195 countries: the 193 members of the United Nations, plus Vatican City and Palestine, its two permanent observers. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are covered by the United Kingdom. Taiwan, Kosovo and Western Sahara are outside the list, which is a statement about UN membership and nothing else. Type one of them and press Enter, and the game tells you why it is not counted.
How long do I get?
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How long do I get?
›Fifteen minutes for the whole world, which leaves about four and a half seconds a country. The continents get less: five minutes for Africa, four and a half for Asia, four for Europe, two and a half for North America, one and three quarters for Oceania and a minute and a quarter for South America. When the clock reaches zero, the map shows what you missed in red.
Where a list of 195 goes wrong
Naming countries from memory is a different task from recognising them, because nothing on the screen reminds you what is missing. These are the groups that are easy to overlook, and the reasons a name you are sure of may not fill anything.
How the 195 split by continent
Africa alone is more than a quarter of the list, so a weak Africa costs more than any other gap. Oceania and South America are close in size and nothing alike: South America is a handful of large neighbours, while most of Oceania is small Pacific island states spread over a huge area of map.
- Africa
- 54
- Asia
- 48
- Europe
- 44
- North America
- 23
- Oceania
- 14
- South America
- 12
Going through the alphabet
When nothing else is coming, the alphabet is the standard fallback. The letters to spend time on are S, with 26 countries, then M with 18 and B with 17. Saint and South each account for three of the S names on their own. No country on the list starts with W or X, so you can skip those.
Names that come in sets
Some names only give you credit for half of what you know. There are two Koreas, two Sudans and two Congos, and each of them is a separate entry. Guinea is the largest family: Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and Papua New Guinea are four countries on two continents, and the last of them is nowhere near the other three.
Others are near twins that have nothing to do with each other. Niger and Nigeria are at least neighbours, but Dominica is a Caribbean island of about 70,000 people and the Dominican Republic shares a different island with Haiti. Slovakia and Slovenia do not share a border. Having typed one of a pair is a good reason to try the other straight away.
Countries that changed their names
A map learned at school can be out of date. Swaziland became Eswatini in 2018 and Macedonia became North Macedonia in 2019, after a long dispute with Greece. Czechia was registered as the short form of the Czech Republic in 2016, and Burma has been Myanmar officially since 1989. Older forms still in common use are accepted, so all of those fill the right country. Names that have left everyday use do not: Zaire has been the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1997, Upper Volta has been Burkina Faso since 1984, and Dahomey has been Benin since 1975.
The newest entries
South Sudan is the youngest country on the list, independent since July 2011. Before it came Montenegro in 2006 and Timor-Leste in 2002. Anything you learned before those dates will leave a gap, and South Sudan is easy to lose because typing Sudan feels as if it covers both.
Where 195 comes from
There is no single official count of the world's countries. This game uses the most common one: the 193 members of the United Nations, plus its two permanent observer states, the Holy See and Palestine. It leaves out Taiwan, which governs itself but lost its UN seat in 1971, and Kosovo, recognised by around half of the UN's members. Switzerland, which feels like it should have been on the list for ever, only joined the UN in 2002.