Which country is today’s outline?
One country outline a day, the same for every player. Type a country to guess: every miss tells you how far away the answer is, in which direction, and how close you are as a percentage. You have 6 guesses and no timer.
How to play
- Study the outline on the board. North is up, and the shape is resized to fit, so it is not to scale with other countries. Distant territories and tiny islands may be left out.
- Type a country in the box at the bottom. Suggestions appear as you type; tap one, or use the arrow keys and Enter. Common alternative names such as UK, USA or Czech Republic work, and capital letters, accents and punctuation do not matter.
- A wrong guess shows the distance between the centres of the two countries, an arrow pointing from your guess toward the answer, and a proximity score: 100% is the answer itself and 0% the far side of the Earth.
- You have 6 guesses. Name the country to win; after the sixth miss the answer is revealed. A name that is not on the country list, or a country you already tried, does not use up a guess.
- Your progress is saved as you play, so you can leave and come back to the same puzzle. When it ends, share your result as squares and arrows that never name the country, and check your statistics and streak.
- A new puzzle starts at midnight in your own time zone, and everyone playing on the same date gets the same one. No country repeats until all 197 have appeared.
Tips for playing
Use the first two guesses to triangulate: a country on each side of the world narrows the region quickly, and the arrows point the way. Each percentage point of proximity is about 200 km, so 95% means roughly 1,000 km away.
Frequently asked questions
When does the Daily Country Shape change?
At midnight in your own time zone. Everyone who plays on the same calendar date gets the same country; puzzle #1 was October 1, 2026.
How is the distance measured?
Along the Earth’s surface, between the centres of the two countries’ main landmasses, from public-domain Natural Earth outlines. Far-off islands and territories do not count, so the United States is measured from the lower 48 states and France from its mainland.
What does the proximity percentage mean?
How close your guess is on a scale where 100% is the answer and 0% the opposite side of the world, about 20,015 km away. In the shared result, each 20% fills a green square and a remainder of 10% or more adds a yellow one.
Which countries can be the answer?
Any of the 197 countries on the site’s list, including Kosovo, Taiwan, Palestine and Vatican City. The order is shuffled, and none comes up twice until all 197 have appeared.
Do I need an account to keep my streak?
No. Your progress, statistics and streak are kept only in this browser; there is no account to create. Your streak counts the days in a row you solved the puzzle; a miss or a skipped day starts it again.
Practise without waiting for tomorrow
Country Shapes is the endless version: outlines one after another until your first mistake. 6 more quizzes narrow the outlines to one part of the world.
Which countries count?
The puzzle uses the same 197 entries as the world map quiz, including Kosovo, Taiwan, Palestine and Vatican City. Dependent territories are not separate answers. This is a game-specific list rather than a statement about recognition or borders.
Sources
Source: Natural Earth / world-atlas · Natural Earth 4.1.0 via world-atlas 2.0.2
Public-domain outlines, simplified for display, with higher-precision Natural Earth outlines for small islands and microstates. Distances and directions are measured between the spherical centroids of each country’s largest landmass, computed from the same geometry. The 197-answer list is an editorial choice, not a statement about recognition or borders. No original collection date is recorded for these bundled map files.
Found an incorrect answer or a source that needs updating? Send a correction with the game name and a reference.