Maggie Marystone · May 5, 2022 · 6 min read A great way to increase your geographic knowledge is to play online geography and map games. You can learn a lot by playing games that highlight various places around the world.
From multiple choice geography quizzes to more interactive world map games featuring Google Street View, we’ve come up with a list of excellent online geography games that will quickly turn you into a geography expert.
1. Worldle
The release of the viral word game, Wordle, spawned an avalanche of other games inspired by the daily puzzle, including Worldle. In this game, you’ve got six tries to guess the correct country or territory based on its shape. For each attempt, Worldle will tell you how far away your guess is from the target country in kilometers and in a proximity percentage that gets higher the closer you are to the correct answer.
Just like Wordle, a new game is available every day, and there’s no need to install an app. Access Worldle in any web browser.
2. Globle
Globle will really test your geography knowledge. Guess a new mystery country every day. You don’t get any clues to start with, but each incorrect guess will appear on the globe. “The hotter the color, the closer you are to the answer.”
Similar to Worldle, it’ll tell you how far away your best guess is to the border of the mystery country. Play it every day, and soon you’ll be familiar with all the countries of the world.
3. Citydle
Sasha Slutsker created Citydle. She says, “This is a daily city-guessing game similar to Wordle.” You’ll notice the similarities immediately. First, guess a city. If your guess turns gray, that means your answer is in the wrong country and continent. If your guess turns orange, you’ll know you got the continent right, but the country is wrong. If your answer turns yellow, the country is correct, but the city you guessed is wrong. A guess that turns green is correct.
For each attempt, Citydle will also tell you how far away your answer is from the correct answer. We found this one to be one of the more difficult world geography games.
4. Maphio
Entrepreneur Siimon Sander came up with Maphio after playing—you guessed, it—Wordle. When we asked what prompted him to create Maphio, he said he asked himself, “What if we take inspiration from Wordle and plug in images across the world, and instead of people guessing the words, they would guess the locations?” Soon the interactive game, Maphio, was born.
The correct answer could be anywhere on the world map. You find clues by moving around. You don’t have to know the country name—just click on the map to choose a location to guess. A different game is available each day.
5. GeoGuessr
With over 30 million users worldwide, GeoGuessr is one of the most popular free online geography games available. You’ll be dropped into a street view panorama. Pan around the scene or take a walk to find clues to help you figure out where you are, and then guess your location on the map. You could be anywhere from South America to Oceania!
One nice feature is that you can choose a category like North America or Famous Places. Geoguessr’s interface is sleek and polished, and in addition to the browser-based version, it’s available for iPhone and Android. Or check out GeoGuess, an open source alternative that you can host yourself.
6. Sporcle
Sporcle is a trivia and quiz website that has tons of geography quiz games. If you like map quizzes, try their Find the Countries of the World quiz. If you’re into world flags, see if you can match the old flag of a country to its new one.
Sporcle organizes quizzes into categories, and you can search for exactly the kind of quiz you want—from U.S. state capitals to currencies to bodies of water.
7. RubyCave
RubyCave’s game Flags is all about flag identification. You’ve got 30 seconds to guess which country the flag represents. If you opt to create an account, you can upload your score and win medals.
8. Degree Confluence Point
According to Wikipedia, “The Degree Confluence Project is a World Wide Web-based, all-volunteer project which aims to have people visit each of the integer degree intersections of latitude and longitude on Earth, posting photographs and a narrative of each visit online.”
In this associated game, you have to guess the location of a Degree Confluence Point based on the physical features you see in its photo. To guess, enter a latitude and longitude.
9. Carmen Sandiego Games
Kids and adults have been wondering, “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?” for decades. The character has starred in TV shows and video games since the original video game was launched in 1985. These days, Carmen can be found in several Google Earth geography games, Google Expeditions, and Roblox games.
The website has a great Resources section with perfect activities for homeschoolers. Moreover, for teachers, the Google Expeditions allow the teacher to be the guide for students exploring an area via VR.
10. JetPunk Quizzes
JetPunk is another quiz site that has tons of geography quizzes. We especially liked the Countries of the World with an Empty Map quiz where you have to name all the countries of the world. When you name a country, it appears on the map and in a list. You’ve only got fifteen minutes to think of 196 countries.
11. Posio
Posio is a multiplayer geography game where you must locate cities on a map. After you make your guess, you’ll see your answer, the correct answer, and the closest answer anyone guessed.
Build Bridges with Geography
A little bit of geography knowledge can go a long way toward creating connections with people across the globe. As Siimon Sander, creator of Maphio, said, “It’s a great conversation starter if you know a couple other cities from a tiny country rather than just a capital!”
