FAQ

1. The outline of a mystery country is shown on the globe - try to guess which country it is!
2. Type your guess in the search box and select a country.
3. After each guess, you'll see the distance and direction to the target country.
4. Use the hints to narrow down your next guess.
5. You have 6 guesses to find the correct country.
6. A new puzzle is available every day at midnight.

After each guess you see the distance from your guess to the target country and a direction arrow pointing toward it. Use these together to triangulate the target's location.

The silhouette shown is the country's shape as rendered from Natural Earth data on a globe projection. Some countries may look different from how they appear on flat maps (especially near the poles) due to projection differences.

1. Each day a limited regional set of countries is drawn (at least 20, anchored on a mystery region) — the same set and order for all players.
2. Press Start and the clock begins. A country is shown one at a time — type your guess and submit.
3. Each correct guess adds to your run and reveals the next country.
4. A wrong guess reveals the answer and uses one of your 5 strikes.
5. The run ends at 5 wrong (or when you identify every country).
6. You're ranked by how many you identify — ties broken by the fastest time.

Survival is a variation of Mystery — press Start and the clock begins. Each day a shuffled list of every country is generated — the same order for every player. You're shown one outline at a time and make a single guess for each.

You can make up to 5 wrong guesses. Your score is how many countries you correctly identify before that 5th miss. A brand-new list arrives every day.

1. Find the shortest land route between a start and an end country — the route that crosses the fewest countries.
2. The start and end are marked on the globe. Guess the countries in between.
3. Each guess fills a coloured box; its colour tells you how that country relates to the route (see the key below).
4. Tap any box to fly the globe to that guess and see its name.
5. With multiple shortest routes, choose carefully — once a country turns green you can't go backwards.
6. Complete the journey in as few guesses as possible!

Your goal is to travel between two countries using the fewest number of intermediate countries. The game measures the shortest route by number of border crossings, not physical distance.

Because the shortest path is a different length every day, Journey is scored on wasted guesses rather than a raw guess count. A “wasted” guess is any guess beyond the number of countries on the shortest route.

• P (Perfect) — you used no wasted guesses and named every country in order (each guess was the next step on the path).
• 0 — no wasted guesses, but a few were out of order (you found path countries before reaching them).
• +1, +2, … — the number of guesses you spent beyond the shortest route.

Your Stats page shows the spread of your past results across these buckets, so a shorter bar on +2/+3 over time means you're routing more efficiently.

Yes, enclaves and small territories (like Vatican City, San Marino, or Monaco) can appear as start or end points. However, they typically don't help as intermediate steps since they usually only border one country.

You can travel between different parts of the same country freely, even across water. For example, you can travel from peninsular Malaysia to Malaysian Borneo as a single step. However, you cannot cross water between different countries unless there is a bridge or tunnel connecting them.

This means island nations without bridges or tunnels to other countries (like Japan, Iceland, or Madagascar) are not part of Journey mode.

Two major fixed-link connections are treated as land borders:

• France – United Kingdom (Channel Tunnel / Eurotunnel)
• Denmark – Sweden (Oresund Bridge)

Borders involving disconnected land regions (exclaves) are excluded because you cannot physically walk from the exclave to the main territory of the same country. These are:

• Russia – Lithuania and Russia – Poland (Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave separated from mainland Russia)
• Turkiye – Azerbaijan (Nakhchivan is an Azerbaijani exclave separated from mainland Azerbaijan by Armenia)
• Palestine – Egypt (Gaza borders Egypt but is geographically separated from the West Bank)
• Angola – Republic of the Congo (Cabinda is an Angolan exclave separated from mainland Angola by the DRC)

Puzzles are deterministic — every player sees the same puzzle each day. Path lengths range from 6–10 countries, with shorter routes appearing more frequently.

Periodically, puzzles include an “avoid” constraint: a well-connected hub country (such as Russia, China, or Germany) that you must route around. This forces more creative paths through less-traveled regions.

Start and end countries are rotated so the same ones don't repeat within several days.

Practice mode occasionally features avoid constraints and draws from the full country pool without repetition rules.

A few connections in Worldly Games may be unexpected:

• Spain – Morocco (Spain has the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the African coast)
• Canada – Greenland (via Hans Island, now shared between Canada and Denmark/Greenland)
• France – United Kingdom (Channel Tunnel)
• Denmark – Sweden (Oresund Bridge)
• Indonesia – Papua New Guinea (share the island of New Guinea)
• Indonesia – Timor-Leste (share the island of Timor)

1. Match each country to its flag. The country names stay fixed — arrange the flags beside them.
2. Drag a flag up or down to move it, or tap two flags to swap their positions.
3. Press Submit guess when you think every flag is matched.
4. The guess boxes at the top show how many you placed correctly — the greener the box, the closer you were.
5. You can't submit the same arrangement twice. Re-arrange and try again until you get all 6 correct, in 6 guesses or fewer.
6. Tap any previous guess box to bring that arrangement back — even after the game ends, to review what you tried.

The country names stay fixed; you arrange the flags beside them in two ways:

• Drag a flag up or down to slide it into a new spot.
• Tap to swap: tap one flag, then tap another, and the two trade places.

You can't submit the same arrangement twice — the board shakes and the matching guess box flashes. Tap any previous guess box to bring that arrangement back, even after the game ends.

After submitting, the number shown is how many flags are in the correct position. The guess boxes run from near-white (few correct) to full green (all correct), so you can see your best attempts at a glance.

Every country and territory shows its own distinct flag. Territories that have a real flag of their own use it — for example Martinique, New Caledonia, Réunion, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Wallis & Futuna and Saint Helena — rather than their sovereign country's flag.

A few territories genuinely have no flag of their own and officially fly their sovereign's flag: Heard & McDonald Islands (Australia), the Caribbean Netherlands (Netherlands), Bouvet Island and Svalbard & Jan Mayen (Norway), and the US Minor Outlying Islands (United States). Their flag is identical to the sovereign's, so only one of each pair ever appears in a puzzle to keep answers unambiguous.

You can browse every flag on the Countries & Flags page.

1. Each day a limited regional set of countries is drawn (at least 20, anchored on a mystery region) — the same set and order for all players.
2. Press Start and the clock begins — one flag at a time, six countries to choose from.
3. Tap the country you think the flag belongs to.
4. Each correct pick adds to your run and reveals the next flag.
5. A wrong pick reveals the answer and uses one of your 5 strikes.
6. The run ends at 5 wrong. You're ranked by how many you identify — ties broken by the fastest time.

Survival is a variation of Flags — press Start and the clock begins. Each day a shuffled list of country flags is generated — the same order for every player. One flag is shown at a time with six countries to choose from.

You can make up to 5 wrong guesses. Your score is how many flags you correctly identify before that 5th miss. A brand-new list arrives every day.

Because this mode has a single correct answer, the handful of territories that fly their sovereign's flag unchanged (Heard & McDonald Islands, the Caribbean Netherlands, Bouvet Island, Svalbard & Jan Mayen, and the US Minor Outlying Islands) are excluded — their flag is identical to another country's, which would make the answer ambiguous. Every territory with its own distinct flag is included.

1. Match each country to its capital city. The country names stay fixed — arrange the capitals beside them.
2. Drag a capital up or down to move it, or tap two capitals to swap their positions.
3. Press Submit guess when you think every capital is matched.
4. The guess boxes at the top show how many you placed correctly — the more amber the box, the closer you were.
5. You can't submit the same arrangement twice. Re-arrange and try again until you get all 6 correct, in 6 guesses or fewer.
6. Tap any previous guess box to bring that arrangement back — even after the game ends, to review what you tried.
7. Note: Some countries have multiple capitals. When this occurs, one is randomly selected for the puzzle.

Some countries have more than one capital (e.g. South Africa, Malaysia). When this occurs, one capital is randomly selected for the puzzle. You only need to match the capital that is shown.

The country names stay fixed; you arrange the capitals beside them in two ways:

• Drag a capital up or down to slide it into a new spot.
• Tap to swap: tap one capital, then tap another, and the two trade places.

You can't submit the same arrangement twice — the board shakes and the matching guess box flashes. Tap any previous guess box to bring that arrangement back, even after the game ends.

1. Each day a limited regional set of countries is drawn (at least 20, anchored on a mystery region) — the same set and order for all players.
2. Press Start and the clock begins — one capital at a time, six countries to choose from.
3. Tap the country you think the capital belongs to.
4. Each correct pick adds to your run and reveals the next capital.
5. A wrong pick reveals the answer and uses one of your 5 strikes.
6. The run ends at 5 wrong. You're ranked by how many you identify — ties broken by the fastest time.

Survival is a variation of Capitals — press Start and the clock begins. Each day a shuffled list of capital cities is generated — the same order for every player. One capital is shown at a time with six countries to choose from.

You can make up to 5 wrong guesses. Your score is how many capitals you correctly identify before that 5th miss. A brand-new list arrives every day.

Yes, two groups are excluded. Territories without a capital city of their own (Antarctica, Bouvet Island, Heard & McDonald Islands, and Macao) can't be asked about at all.

Countries whose capital shares its name with the country are also left out — the answer would give itself away: Andorra, Djibouti, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Panama, San Marino, São Tomé & Príncipe, Singapore, Tunisia, and Vatican City. The same rule applies to the daily Capitals puzzle.

1. Rank 6 countries by a given criteria (population, area, GDP, northernmost point, etc.).
2. Drag a country up or down to slide it into a new position.
3. Or tap a country and then tap another to swap their two positions.
4. Press Submit guess when you think you have the correct order.
5. The guess boxes at the top show how many you placed correctly — the more cyan the box, the closer you were.
6. You can't submit the same arrangement twice. Re-arrange and try again until you get all 6 correct, in 6 guesses or fewer.
7. Tap any previous guess box to bring that arrangement back — even after the game ends, to review what you tried.

There are two ways to reorder the tiles:

• Drag a country up or down to slide it into a new spot — the others shift to make room.
• Tap to swap: tap one country, then tap another, and the two trade places.

When you submit, each box at the top fills in with how many countries you placed correctly. The boxes run from near-white (few correct) to full cyan (all correct), so you can see your best attempts at a glance.

You can't submit the exact same order twice — if you try, the board shakes and the matching guess box flashes, and the guess isn't used up.

Tap any previous guess box to bring that arrangement back onto the board. This works even after the game is over, so you can flip through everything you tried.

Rankings puzzles use six criteria: population, area, GDP per capita, population density, northernmost point, and westernmost point. The specific criterion is shown at the top of each puzzle.

The ranking direction depends on the criterion:

• Population, area, GDP per capita, population density: highest to lowest
• Northernmost point: north to south
• Westernmost point: west to east

The score shows how many countries are in the correct position after each guess.

Northernmost Point ranks countries by their northernmost extent (not their center), and Westernmost Point ranks by the westernmost extent, from west to east.

Some countries are left out of these geographic rankings when a single extreme point would be misleading:

• Distant overseas territories — France, the United States, Russia, and Spain are excluded from both geographic rankings, and Chile and Portugal from the westernmost ranking, because territory far from the mainland (Easter Island, the Azores, Hawaii, and the like) distorts the result.
• Countries that cross the international date line — Fiji, New Zealand, Kiribati, and the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands are excluded from the westernmost ranking, since their territory spans both sides of the date line.
• Antarctica is excluded from the westernmost ranking because it encircles the South Pole and spans every longitude. It still appears in the northernmost ranking — as the southernmost place on Earth.

Countries whose extreme points are within 5° of each other won't appear in the same puzzle, ensuring each ranking choice is meaningful.

1. Fill a 3x3 grid with countries that match both row and column country categories.
2. Each cell must satisfy TWO conditions: the row category AND the column category.
3. Click on a cell to select a country from the dropdown.
4. Each country can only be used once per puzzle.
5. Fill all 9 cells, then press Submit to check your answers.
6. You have 9 attempts to get all 9 cells correct.
7. Click on any previous guess to review what you guessed.

Each row and column has a category such as a continent, a first letter, a bordering country, or a statistic range. Each cell in the grid must satisfy both its row and column category at the same time.

No. Each country can only be used once per puzzle. If multiple cells could accept the same country, you need to find alternatives for the others.

Flag categories — colours (red, blue, green, yellow, white, light blue, orange and black) and features (stripes, stars, a sun or moon, animals, plants, a union jack and more) — are judged from the exact flag shown for that country, including its territory flags. Gold counts as yellow — a gold charge such as Kosovo's map or Kiribati's frigatebird falls under “Has Yellow in Flag”.

A country can satisfy several at once: a star-and-crescent flag counts for both Stars and Moon, for instance. To see every category a country belongs to, open it on the Countries & Flags page.

1. A natural satellite globe fills the screen and a target city is named.
2. Swipe to rotate the globe and pinch or scroll to zoom in.
3. Tap the globe to drop your pin as close to the city as you can.
4. Tap again to move your pin, then press Submit guess.
5. You score up to 200 points per city — the closer your pin, the more points.
6. After each guess the real location is revealed with the distance you were off.
7. Locate all 5 cities. A fresh set of cities arrives every day at midnight.

Each city is worth up to 200 points. A pin within about 50 km earns full points; beyond that, points fall off with distance. Your daily total is the sum across all 5 cities (max 1,000).

You’re aiming for the city itself, not an exact street. Use the natural satellite imagery — coastlines, rivers, and terrain — to place your pin as close as you can, then zoom in to fine-tune before submitting.

Cities are drawn from a large pool with a weighting that favours a good mix: bigger cities and national capitals appear more often, and the pool is balanced across world regions so no single country floods it. Famous and iconic cities get an extra boost, while less well-known (but still sizeable) cities can still turn up — so the set stays varied.

In Practice, you can drill down by continent, region, and country. Regions use the United Nations M49 standard subregions (e.g. Western Europe, Western Asia, Eastern Africa).

A city counts as iconic if it appears in any of three independent sources: the GaWC world-cities roster (weighted the most), the Organization of World Heritage Cities, or a UNESCO World Heritage cultural site located in the city.

1. A fresh ordered list of cities is generated each day — the same for all players.
2. Press Start, then a 3-2-1 countdown begins.
3. You have 60 seconds to pin as many cities as you can.
4. One tap is your guess — there is no submit button, so aim carefully.
5. You score up to 200 points per city based on how close your pin lands.
6. After each tap the globe zooms out and the next city appears.
7. Collect as many points as possible before time runs out. Come back tomorrow for a new list!

It’s a race: after a 3-2-1 countdown you have 60 seconds to pin as many cities as you can from the day’s list. There’s no submit button — one tap is your guess — and the globe zooms out to the next city right away.

Yes. The clock is real time, so leaving and coming back doesn’t pause your run. Everyone gets the same list of cities each day.

1. A satellite image of a city is shown — figure out which city you're looking at.
2. Pick the city from the 6 options below the image.
3. The wrong options are nearby cities, so look for clues: coastlines, rivers, street patterns, landmarks.
4. Pinch, scroll, or double-tap the image to zoom in for a closer look.
5. After each pick the correct city is revealed, then the next image appears.
6. Identify all 5 cities. Your score is how many you get right.
7. A new set of cities is available every day at midnight.

The wrong options are drawn from cities geographically near the answer — usually the same part of the world — so you can't just rule out by region. The draw is varied, so in practice the same city won't always come with the same options.

A curated pool of around 300 cities chosen to be recognisable from orbit: world cities, national capitals, World Heritage cities, and places with distinctive coastlines, rivers, or street plans. In Practice you can narrow the pool by continent and region — regions use the United Nations M49 standard subregions.

Satellite imagery © Mapbox © Maxar. Globe imagery courtesy NASA Earth Observatory (Blue Marble) and NASA GIBS.

1. A starting city is pinned on the globe and a destination city is named — navigate from one to the other by dead reckoning.
2. Drag the compass (bottom right) to set your direction. The bearing is measured from true north, no matter how the globe is rotated.
3. Routes follow great-circle arcs — the shortest path over the curved Earth, like a flight path. Your bearing is only your starting heading: long routes curve as they go instead of holding a straight compass line.
4. Set how far away you think the destination is with the distance slider (bottom left) — every route is between 100 and 5,000 km.
5. Press Submit to lock in your heading. Your guess lands wherever that direction and distance take you.
6. The real destination is then revealed alongside where you landed. The closer you land, the more points — up to 200 per route.
7. Navigate all 5 routes. A fresh set arrives every day at midnight.

Your route is a great-circle arc: the shortest path over the surface of the Earth, the same curve an airline flies. It is not a straight line on a flat map. The bearing you set on the compass is your initial heading — the direction you leave the starting city — and on a long route the path keeps curving relative to the compass as it follows the globe.

For example, heading due east (90°) from Paris for 5,000 km doesn't keep you at Paris's latitude — the great circle drifts steadily toward the equator, landing you well south of where a flat map would suggest.

• Short hops (a few hundred km) behave just like you'd expect — aim straight at the destination.
• Due north or south is always safe: meridians are great circles, so a 0° or 180° heading holds its line.
• Long east–west routes are where the curve bites: aim a touch poleward of the flat-map direction (north of it in the northern hemisphere, south of it in the southern) and let the arc bend down to the target.
• Picture the route on the globe itself — spin it and imagine the string pulled taut between the two cities.

Navigator draws from the same city pool as PinPoint's daily — bigger cities, national capitals, and iconic places, balanced across world regions. In Practice you narrow where the destinations are; the starting city can be anywhere within range. Regions use the United Nations M49 standard subregions.

Each route is worth up to 200 points, based on how far your landing point is from the true destination — the closer you land, the more points. Your daily total is the sum across all 5 routes (max 1,000).