Our flag quiz tests how well you know the flags of the world. In every game you play 10 timed rounds: name the country from its flag, or pick the right flag for a named country. Choose World or a single region, such as Africa, Asia or Europe, and play on Explorer to learn or Expert to face look-alike flags side by side. Flags keep their true proportions, a fact card follows every answer, and your best score for each region is saved. It is a free, quick way to learn country flags and remember them for good.
Every game has 10 rounds, and there are two kinds of question. Half the rounds show a flag and ask which country it belongs to, with four country names to choose from. The other half name a country and ask you to find its flag among four. The two kinds are shuffled, so you never get the same type more than twice in a row.
Each question has a 15-second timer. It starts only once the flag is fully on screen, so a slow connection never costs you time. Answer with a tap, a click or the keys 1 to 4. After each answer a fact card shows the flag, the country's outline, its capital, its official languages and its region. Press Next when you're ready; the clock is stopped while you read.
Every flag keeps its real proportions. Switzerland and Vatican City are square, Qatar is long and narrow, and Nepal isn't a rectangle at all. Shape is often the first clue, so it's worth noticing. Pick a region to focus on one part of the world, or World to draw from every country and from flags of places such as Greenland, Hong Kong and Puerto Rico.
A right answer earns 500 points, plus a speed bonus of up to 500 more. Answer within one second for the full bonus; after that it falls steadily and reaches zero at 15 seconds. A right answer after eight seconds, for example, is worth about 750. A wrong answer, or running out of time, scores nothing.
Ten rounds make a perfect game of 10,000. Your answer streak counts right answers in a row and resets on a miss, and your best score for each region and difficulty is kept in this browser so you can try to beat it.
On Explorer, the wrong answers are random countries from the region you picked. You'll still need to know your flags, but the options are usually quite different from one another, which makes it a good place to start or to learn a new region.
On Expert, the wrong answers are chosen to trip you up. First come flags that look almost the same, then countries with similar names, then neighbours and countries from the same part of the region. Chad and Romania are the classic trap: both use blue, yellow and red vertical stripes, and the only difference is that Chad's blue is a little darker. Expert will put them side by side. You'll also meet Indonesia and Poland, Ireland and Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Mali, and the Nordic crosses of Norway and Iceland.
Learn the colour families first, then the exceptions. Many flags in West Africa use red, gold and green; much of the Arab world uses red, white, black and green; most of Northern Europe uses a sideways cross. Once you know the family, you only need to tell its members apart.
Then look for the one detail that settles it: an emblem in the centre, a star in the corner, the order of the stripes or the flag's shape. Read the fact card after a miss, even a lucky one. Playing one region at a time on Explorer before moving to Expert is the quickest way to build up a mental map.
- Are the flags shown at their real shapes?
- Yes. Every flag keeps its official proportions, so some are square, some are long and Nepal's has its own shape.
- Why do Chad and Romania look the same?
- Both use blue, yellow and red vertical stripes. Chad's blue is slightly darker. Expert mode often puts them together.
- Which flags are included?
- All 193 UN member states, Vatican City and Palestine, plus about 20 territories with their own flags, such as Greenland and Hong Kong.
- Does the timer start before the flag loads?
- No. The 15 seconds start only once the flag is fully on screen.
- Do I need an account to play?
- No. Every region and difficulty is free to play without signing up.