Country Showdown
Which country ranks higher? Compare and conquer!
How to Play
- - Two countries appear side by side
- - Guess which one ranks higher for the given stat
- - Stats include population, area, and bordering countries
- - Answer 10 questions to complete the game
Pick your level
Learn the material
About Country Showdown
Two outlines, one question
Two countries are drawn side by side as outlines and you pick which one ranks higher: which has the larger population, the larger area or more bordering countries. The real figures are shown once you answer. A game is ten rounds, and the game remembers the pairs you have already seen so repeat rounds bring new ones.
The pool grows with the level
Easy compares the 49 best-known countries with each other. Medium draws from 98, Hard from 146 and Extreme from 177, so the later levels pit countries you may never have thought about against each other: Moldova against Lesotho, or Suriname against Bhutan.
Where instinct goes wrong
Population is the category that catches people out. Nigeria has around 240 million people to Russia’s 143 million, and Ethiopia has more than Egypt. Mexico outnumbers the Philippines, and Japan outnumbers Vietnam, but not by as much as most people guess. Borders are easier to reason about: China and Russia each touch 14 countries, Germany nine, while Canada touches only one. Area has its own traps: Algeria is larger than any country in Africa, Kazakhstan larger than any in Europe apart from Russia, and Mongolia larger than Peru.