About Outlines

Pick the world or a continent, then name every country from its silhouette.

Name every country from its silhouette alone, for the whole world or one continent. Without borders, labels or neighbours for context, you have to know the shape itself: the boot of Italy is easy, the outline of Paraguay less so. If you've done a country shapes quiz on Sporcle or JetPunk, it's the same format. (Geographys isn't affiliated with Sporcle or JetPunk.)

How it works

1. 1One outline is shown at a time. Type the country it belongs to.
2. 2Use the arrows or tap a thumbnail to skip to a different one. Nothing is lost by skipping around.
3. 3Name as many as you can before the clock runs out. Hint gives you a head start on one, but costs time.

Tips

• Look for one feature you recognise: a peninsula, a bay, a long coast or a jagged border is usually enough.
• Learn neighbours together. A country's outline often mirrors the edge of the country next to it.
• Skip around. Coming back to a hard outline after a few others often helps.

Questions

How long do I get?

Five seconds an outline, with at least ten minutes. The daily is a quick five in two minutes.

What do the outlines show?

Each country's land, with lake shorelines kept, so big lakes show as holes. The credits page lists the map sources.

Reading a country's shape

A country's shape comes from history as much as geography. Rivers and ridges make wiggly edges, while straight lines usually mean a border agreed on a map. Coasts give the most away: Italy's boot, Norway's fjords, and Chile, more than 4,000 km long and rarely more than a few hundred wide.

Some shapes only make sense next to a neighbour. The Gambia is a strip along the Gambia River, surrounded by Senegal except at the coast, and Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa. The outlines show land only, so big lakes show as gaps: Lake Victoria takes a bite out of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

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