CountriesHow to get better
- Play one region at a time. Flags of neighbours often share colours, so learning them together helps you tell them apart.
- Look for one detail to remember: the wheel on India's flag, the maple leaf on Canada's, the cedar tree on Lebanon's.
- For capitals, say the pair aloud: "Kenya, Nairobi". After a wrong answer, open the country page and read about it.
The quiz uses the 193 member states of the United Nations.
How the quiz works
Choose flags or capitals, then the whole world or a single region. In the flag quiz you are shown a flag and pick the country from four names. In the capital quiz you are shown a country and pick its capital from four cities. Each round has ten questions chosen at random, and you see the right answer at once. Your best score for each kind of quiz and each region is kept in this browser only.
Flags that are easy to mix up
- Indonesia and Monaco: both are red over white. Poland is the same two colours the other way up.
- Chad and Romania: blue, yellow and red upright stripes, almost identical.
- Ireland and Côte d'Ivoire: green, white and orange, in opposite order.
- Australia and New Zealand: both carry the Union Jack and the Southern Cross. New Zealand's stars are red and there are four of them.
- The Netherlands and Luxembourg: red, white and blue bands. Luxembourg's blue is lighter.
Capitals that catch people out
The trap is nearly always a famous city that is not the capital. The capital of Australia is Canberra, not Sydney. Of Canada, Ottawa, not Toronto. Of Brazil, Brasília, not Rio de Janeiro. Of Turkey, Ankara, not Istanbul. Of Switzerland, Bern, not Zurich or Geneva. Of Nigeria, Abuja, not Lagos. The capitals page lists every country where the largest city and the capital differ.