How to guess world capitals
The capitals quiz deals five countries a day, and you have ten guesses for all five. Two things decide most rounds: knowing which capitals are not the famous city, and turning a wrong guess into a map reading.
How a round is built
A round is not five random countries. The game ranks its 170 countries by population and deals two from the 50 largest, two from the next 60 and one from the other 60. So the first four are mostly countries you have heard of, and the fifth is where your spare guesses will go.
10 guesses for five answers leaves five to spare. Spend none of them on the first four if you can, and keep them for the last country.
Capitals that are not the biggest city
Most misses are the famous city typed instead of the capital. These countries are governed from a planned capital or a smaller seat of government, and all of them are in the game's pool.
Several moved within living memory: Brazil to Brasília in 1960, Nigeria from Lagos to Abuja in 1991, Kazakhstan from Almaty to Astana in 1997, and Myanmar from Yangon to Naypyidaw in 2006.
| Country | Capital | Not the capital |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Canberra | Sydney, Melbourne |
| Canada | Ottawa | Toronto, Montreal |
| Turkey | Ankara | Istanbul |
| Brazil | Brasília | São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro |
| Nigeria | Abuja | Lagos |
| Pakistan | Islamabad | Karachi, Lahore |
| United States | Washington, D.C. | New York |
| Switzerland | Bern | Zurich, Geneva |
| New Zealand | Wellington | Auckland |
| Morocco | Rabat | Casablanca |
| Vietnam | Hanoi | Ho Chi Minh City |
| China | Beijing | Shanghai |
| Kazakhstan | Astana | Almaty |
| Tanzania | Dodoma | Dar es Salaam |
| Myanmar | Naypyidaw | Yangon |
| United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | Dubai |
Turn a miss into a direction
A wrong capital is not wasted. The game answers with the distance from your guess to the right capital and an arrow pointing at it. Type a capital you know near the country, then look along the arrow at that distance: usually only a few capitals fit.
- 239 km ↘Tegucigalpa
- Managua
Learn them by region, around the ones you know
A list of nearly 200 capitals is hard to keep; neighbours are easier, and the arrow rewards knowing where things are. Take one region at a time and hang it on the capitals you already know: in West Africa, Dakar, Accra and Abuja; in Central Asia, Tashkent, Bishkek and Dushanbe; in the Caribbean, Havana, Kingston and Santo Domingo. Each capital you know becomes a first guess for its neighbours.
Questions
- Is this like Globle Capitals?
- It is a different game. Here five countries are named a day and you type each capital, in your own language; every miss shows how far away the right one is and which way it lies. We are not affiliated with Globle.
- Which countries have a capital that is not their largest city?
- Among the best known: Australia (Canberra, not Sydney), Canada (Ottawa), Turkey (Ankara), Brazil (Brasília), Nigeria (Abuja), Pakistan (Islamabad), Switzerland (Bern), New Zealand (Wellington) and the United States (Washington, D.C.).