Can you name all 14 countries of Oceania from their outlines?
Each round shows the outline of one of the 14 countries of Oceania, with north up. Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau and Tuvalu are made of small islands and atolls spread across the ocean, so their outlines are scattered specks. All but Papua New Guinea have no land border with another country on the site’s list; Papua New Guinea borders Indonesia. One wrong answer ends the run, there is no timer, and naming all 14 completes it.
How to play
- A country’s outline fills the board. North is up, but every outline is resized to fit, so sizes are not comparable. Type the country’s name in the box below. Capital letters, accents and punctuation do not matter, and common alternative names are accepted.
- A correct answer is accepted by itself after a short pause and the next round begins. Pressing Enter submits whatever you typed.
- One wrong answer ends the run, so check before you press Enter. There is no timer.
- Press Finish to end a run early; your score is saved.
- The 14 outlines of Oceania come in shuffled order, each once. Your score counts up to 14 at the top of the board, and naming the last one completes the run. The answer review below the board lists every round.
- Your result is saved in this browser. Once enough people have played a game, the results also show how your score ranks, and you can copy or share an image of your result, or replay.
Tips for playing
Decide first whether the shape is a compact block, a long strip, a peninsula or a scatter of islands, then look for one distinctive corner. As drawn in the quiz, Tonga’s outline is the tallest for its width (3.1 times as tall as it is wide) and Micronesia’s the widest (2.8 times as wide as it is tall).
All 14 countries of Oceania
Show all 14 answers
| Outline | Country | Land neighbours |
|---|---|---|
 | Australia | None |
 | Fiji | None |
 | Kiribati | None |
 | Marshall Islands | None |
 | Micronesia | None |
 | Nauru | None |
 | New Zealand | None |
 | Palau | None |
 | Papua New Guinea | Indonesia |
 | Samoa | None |
 | Solomon Islands | None |
 | Tonga | None |
 | Tuvalu | None |
 | Vanuatu | None |
Land neighbours among the 197 countries of the site’s list, from the mledoze/countries border data (ODbL 1.0). Common alternative country names are accepted too.
Frequently asked questions
How many outlines are in the Oceania Country Shapes quiz?
14, one for each country of Oceania in the site’s 197-country list. The Cook Islands, Niue and dependent territories are not separate answers; Indonesia and Timor-Leste are counted in Asia.
Which countries of Oceania are islands or have no land border?
All but Papua New Guinea have no land border with another country on the site’s list; Papua New Guinea borders Indonesia. Their outlines are coastlines all round, which is a clue in itself.
What happens if I get one wrong?
The run ends and the correct country is shown. Your score is the number of outlines you named before the mistake, out of 14; name all 14 to complete the run.
Why are some islands missing?
Outlines show a country’s main land area and nearby islands; distant territories and very small islands may be left out. Very small island countries are drawn with higher-precision outlines so they stay visible.
Are the outlines drawn to scale?
No. Every outline is resized to fill the same frame, so Australia, the largest country of Oceania by total area (World Bank, 2023), looks no bigger than Nauru, one of the smallest. North is always up, and the land-neighbours column of the answer list below helps place each shape.
Oceania outlines worth a second look
- Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau and Tuvalu are made of small islands and atolls spread across the ocean, so their outlines are scattered specks.
- Nauru is a single small island, drawn as one rounded shape.
- Samoa is two large islands side by side.
- New Zealand is two long main islands running from northeast to southwest.
- Papua New Guinea is the eastern half of New Guinea plus a string of islands to the east.
- As drawn in the quiz, Tonga’s outline is the tallest for its width (3.1 times as tall as it is wide) and Micronesia’s the widest (2.8 times as wide as it is tall).
Which countries count?
The quiz uses the 14 countries of Oceania from the site’s 197-country list, the same list as the Countries of Oceania map quiz. The Cook Islands, Niue and dependent territories are not separate answers; Indonesia and Timor-Leste are counted in Asia. Outlines come from Natural Earth’s public-domain map data; land borders come from the mledoze/countries dataset (Open Database License 1.0).
Sources
Source: Natural Earth / world-atlas · Natural Earth 4.1.0 via world-atlas 2.0.2
Public domain map geometry, simplified for display. Country outlines also use higher-precision Natural Earth overrides for small islands and microstates. The 197-answer list and continent groups are editorial choices, not a live geopolitical feed. 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.