PlayGeography is a website featuring online geography games. Created by TeachMe, it’s one of the best ways to test your knowledge of geography, regardless of your current skill level.
There are geography games for every continent (except Antarctica – understandable), ranging from identifying flags and countries to games that require more in-depth and advanced knowledge of specific countries.
For example, if the easier games like identifying countries and flags are not challenging enough for you, you can delve deeper and play games that require you to identify states, districts, federal territories, or regions in countries like Germany, Portugal, Vietnam, or Pakistan.
Some games also have different levels, allowing you to progress and increase the challenge.
In this article, I’ll be thoroughly reviewing PlayGeography. I’ll be talking about gameplay mechanics, the different types of games and questions available, pricing, pros and cons, and a lot more!
Continue reading for the full scoop on PlayGeography.
Gameplay Mechanics
In this section, I’ll be exploring the various games available on PlayGeography, as well as how the games work – the types of questions, levels of difficulty, and the scoring scheme. Before we get into how the games work, let’s look at the types of games you can play.
PlayGeography Games
PlayGeography is divided into seven categories of games.
- World
- North America
- South America
- Europe
- Asia
- Africa
- Australia
Most people start out with the world games, which have three types:
Furthermore, each of these three game types is divided into three levels of difficulty. Only the world games have three difficulty levels; the rest don’t.
The games are pretty self-explanatory:
- In the Countries of the World game, you will be presented with a world map. You will then be given random country names, and you will be asked to select the correct country on the map.
- The Flags of the World game is a bit more challenging. Instead of being given a country name, you’ll be given its flag, and you will then have to identify the country on the map. This requires not only knowing which country has which flag but also where it is located on the map.
- Finally, in the Capitals of the World game, you’ll be given names of capitals. You will have to identify which countries they are in and then select the corresponding countries on the map.
The three games have three levels of difficulty. The difference is how many countries are included in the game.
Each game has only 30 questions. However, in the lower levels, these 30 questions will be chosen from a smaller pool of countries – easier countries that more people know about.
You can also play these games with versions that focus on only a certain continent. For example:
- Countries of Europe
- Flags of Europe
- Capitals of Europe
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What if you already have a good grasp of countries, flags, and capitals? These are all pretty basic geography games, but PlayGeography has more advanced games that will challenge even the biggest geography nerds.
In country-specific games, you will have to identify:
- Districts
- Regions
- States
- Governorates
- Provinces
- Parishes
- Federal districts
These are dependent on the specific country in question, as each one has a different system for dividing the country into different regions.
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For example, Malaysia has states and federal territories, Russia has federal districts and federal subjects, South Korea has administrative districts, Japan has prefectures, Norway has countries, Switzerland has cantons, Ukraine has oblasts, and Colombia has departments.
Some countries have more than one type of division system. For example, Greece has one game for administrative regions and another for provinces.
These country-specific games work very similarly to the world games. For example, if you choose the Mexico States game, you will be shown a map of Mexico; you will then be given the names of Mexican states and have to choose the correct ones on the map.
There are also three US-specific games if US geography is your thing:
Not all countries in the world are represented, but there is a pretty good selection. Europe and Asia have the most country games, but Africa and South America have a few good ones too.
In addition, PlayGeography is constantly adding new games, according to its about page.
Scoring System
PlayGeography has an interesting scoring system. In each game, you start out with 100 points.
If you answer a question wrong, you will lose a certain number of points. The more questions you get wrong, the more points you lose.
However, you can’t actually lose a game. The lowest score you can get is one point – even if you get answers wrong after that, your score will still be one point.
Your goal, therefore, is to complete the game with the highest score possible. The fewer answers you get wrong, the closer to 100 your final score will be.
There is also a timer for each game. The faster you can complete the game, the better!
When you select the correct country (or state, province, etc.), it will be marked in green, and you will proceed to the next question.
If you select the incorrect country, the map will tell you the true name of the country you selected. You will then get two more tries – after three tries, the map will highlight the correct answer; select it and move on to the next question.
With each incorrect try, your score will go down.
Here is a screenshot of the Countries of South America game. I got every country correct, so my final score was 100, and I completed the game in less than 30 seconds.
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However, there was a bug in the South America game, and it didn’t include the Falkland Islands – I couldn’t proceed to the last question.
At the end of most games, though, you will be given your final score along with the total time spent on the game. Here was my score for the Countries of North America game (which includes Central America and Caribbean countries):
I got one country wrong, which lowered my score from 100 to 94.4. You can always click on “try one more time” to repeat the game.
My Thoughts on the Gameplay
Overall, the games themselves are good. There is a nice selection of games that will keep you busy for quite a while and enrich your knowledge of world geography, including country-specific geography.
At a certain point, you will run out of games, but at that point, you will already have a great knowledge of the different provinces, regions, states, etc. of different countries.
The scoring system is good as well, although you are only competing with yourself. I would have liked the ability to share your final score once you complete the game as well as keep track of your past scores to see how you progressed.
One other thing that I would have liked would be the ability to choose more questions per game. Each game is limited to 30 questions – even the world country games or the US States game.
Some games have fewer questions. For example, the Countries of South America game has only 14 questions, as there are only 14 countries in South America.
However, for a game like US States, I would like the ability to guess all 50 states in one game instead of only 30 randomly chosen states.
User Interface and Design
The user interface and design of PlayGeography is pretty good. Despite the bug in the Countries of South America game, most of the site works pretty well.
It’s easy to navigate and find the specific game you’re interested in. The UX is good – it’s simple, without too many bells and whistles.
There are quite a few ads on the site. There is a banner at the bottom of the page and sometimes an ad on the right or left side, depending on which page you’re visiting.
However, remember that PlayGeography is a free site, and it doesn’t charge its visitors anything for playing. You can play as many games as you like an unlimited number of times without ever having to pay, so seeing ads is fair.
Overall, I give the design of PlayGeography an 8/10, considering it is a free site. The blue and white scheme is easy on the eyes, but I would have liked some additional features.
For example, while I like that registration is not required to play, I would like the ability to register and create an account as an optional feature. That would allow you to keep track of which games you played and what your prior scores were.
A leaderboard in which the top-performing players and their scores are featured would be a niche addition too, but perhaps it’s too much to expect from a free site.
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Educational Value
PlayGeography has a lot of educational value. Playing games is one of the best ways to learn and test yourself – it allows you to get an education and expand your knowledge without getting bored.
So, how does PlayGeography offer educational value to its readers? Here is what it can help you with:
- Learn about different countries and where they are situated
- Learn about different flags and to which countries they belong
- Learn the capital cities of different countries
- Learn the provinces, states, and regions of different countries
The more you play PlayGeography, the more you will learn. Repetition is critical in learning, and playing a game a few times can help cement the knowledge you learn in your mind.
The tiered system is also helpful for slowly building up your geography knowledge. Start with Level 1 world games, and then go up until you get good scores at Level 3.
Continent-specific games (like Countries of Europe) can be helpful in preparing you for Level 2 and Level 3 of the world games.
Once you are good at Level 3 of the world games, move on to country-specific games. Test your knowledge of different countries!
PlayGeography is best for practicing your knowledge of world and country maps and flags. It doesn’t have a Google Street View game, so it’s not as great if your learning objective is to get better at recognizing road signs and markings, building types, languages, local fashion, etc.
There are other geography games that will help you with that.
Google Classroom Integration
PlayGeography integrates with Google Classroom, a Learning Management System available to individuals and teachers.
Google Classroom is free. You can create a class by simply signing in to Google Classroom with your existing Gmail address.
While not a full-powered LMS like Moodle, it does offer a wide range of features that are helpful for both learners and educators.
On Google Classroom, you can upload announcements, assignments, quizzes, and more. Since almost everyone has a Gmail account, it’s easy to add people to your classroom by just searching for their Gmail address and adding them.
You can also add teachers or students from your contact list or send out an invite link for them to join.
Google Classroom integrates with other Google tools, like Google Calendar and Drive. You can set up a Class Drive with documents that everyone in the classroom can access.
When viewing a game, you will see a small green button at the top of the screen or next to the Start button. Click on it to share the game to Google Classroom.
You can share it as an assignment, question, or material. You can then add some information about how students should complete the game and select which students the assignment will be given to.
Pricing and Accessibility
PlayGeography is entirely free to use. That’s one of the advantages of PlayGeography over other geography games.
Free to use is just that – free to use. You don’t have to upgrade to a higher tier, no matter how much time you spend on the site and how many games you play a day.
You don’t even need to register for an account to use PlayGeography. Just visit the site, choose a game, and start playing right away.
PlayGeography is available on desktop and mobile via your browser. Unfortunately, there is no mobile app at the moment, likely due to cost issues – it’s not free to create and list an app in the app stores.
However, you can play it on your phone by simply visiting the site with your mobile browser. However, for the best experience, I recommend using the desktop version, as the games are better optimized for desktop use.
If you do play on mobile, you may need to zoom into the map to select the right country or state. You can use the zoom buttons (shown above) to zoom in and out and your finger to move the map in any direction.
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Pros and Cons
In this section, I will explore the pros and cons of PlayGeography. No game is perfect, so is PlayGeography the right one for you?
Pros
First, let’s start with the advantages of PlayGeography.
In short, the pros are:
- Free to use
- Easy to use
- Simple design
- Many games available
- Works for any level
The fact that it’s free is, of course, one of the biggest pros of PlayGeography. There are a lot of geography games – the Google Street View games, in particular – that require you to pay to access the game.
GeoGuessr is a great example. While it used to be free to use, it now has a very limited free version, due to Google Street View API limitations.
Another advantage is the simplicity of the site. It is incredibly easy to navigate, and the games are easy to grasp and play.
There are various games available, so you won’t get bored easily. Whether you want to test your knowledge of countries, flags, or regions of a specific country, you can do so.
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It doesn’t matter whether you are new to geography games or are a bit more advanced at geography. I am sure you will find a game to play on PlayGeography that will challenge you and force you to go beyond your limits.
Cons
On the other hand, there are some things I didn’t like about PlayGeography, so let me list them here.
- While there are many games available, they all have the same format.
- No Google Street View game is available.
- The ads can sometimes be annoying and cover important content.
- There can be bugs at times.
- There is no ability to share your game results.
- There is no leaderboard.
- You can’t track your prior game history and scores.
All of the games, whether it’s a country, state/region, or flag game, has the same format. You will be presented with a map, whether of the world, a continent, or country.
You will then be presented with some information (a name or flag) and have to choose the correct country or region on the map. There are up to 30 questions each game, and your score always starts from 100 and goes down with every incorrect answer.
This type of game format is very efficient, but it gets boring after a while. If there were different game types, things could get a bit more interesting.
For example, a simple way to switch things up would have been to show you a country on the map and then ask you to type in the name of the country. It’s basically the same game, but in reverse.
Or, you could be given a country name and be asked to select the correct flag in a multiple choice question format.
A more exciting game format might be to give you some facts about a country and ask you to guess the right country based on that information. For example, if you were asked about the most populous country that speaks Portuguese, the answer would be Brazil (Angola and Mozambique come next).
Another disadvantage is the ads. I understand that the site is free, but the location of the bottom banner ad is a bit annoying, as it covers my screen while playing.
An adblocker should fix that problem, though.
Another disadvantage is the inability to create an account to track your history. While not having to create an account is a plus, an optional account creation feature would be nice.
It could allow you to see your past scores and compete against yourself. It would also make a leaderboard possible, which would add a competitive aspect to the game, making it more fun.
Instead of simply playing the same game again and again, for example, you might try to do it quicker than the others on the leaderboard while getting an equivalent score or higher.
Even if adding an account creation option would be too much work and cost too much, I would like the ability to share my results after a game. That would at least give me some motivation to beat my prior scores.
As of now, the only way to share your results is to take a screenshot of the results page. A small “share to Twitter” button would be nice.
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My Verdict on PlayGeography
Overall, the pros significantly outweigh the cons. There’s only so much you can complain about a free site, so keep that in mind when considering the pros and cons of PlayGeography.
PlayGeography is an awesome game that will help you practice your geography while having fun. Sure, it would be enjoyable if there would be game formats, but nobody is saying that PlayGeography should be the only geography game you use – there are plenty of other free ones online.
PlayGeography.com Recap
PlayGeography.com is one of my favorite free geography games. Start out with the world and continent-specific country games, and then go up to higher levels and try out the flag and capital games.
Once you tire of those, move on to the country-specific games. That should keep you busy for some time – you can find all PlayGeography games here.
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