About this quiz
Could you recognise a country with nothing around it? Each round shows a single outline, drawn without neighbours, seas or labels, and four country names to choose from. You have twenty-five seconds per round, with a speed bonus of up to 50 points and an extra bonus for every streak of correct answers.
Some shapes are famous, like the boot of Italy or the long ribbon of Chile. Others are much harder once the familiar map around them disappears. Every outline is drawn with a projection fitted to that country, and countries that cross the 180th meridian, such as Fiji and Russia, are turned so they appear in one piece. Distant overseas territories are left off so the main shape stays readable.
Hard mode picks wrong answers from neighbouring countries and the same subregion, so the options often share a coastline or a border. Very small states whose outline cannot be read at this scale, such as Vatican City, Monaco or Tuvalu, are not included. A fact card after each answer gives the name in Arabic and English, the capital and the currency.