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Countries by Borders, Bordering Sea, Capital Proximity, Official Language or Currency in 30 Seconds

Name each country by guessing either its name, capital, currency, official language, any country it borders, any capital within 1000 km of its capital, or any OCEAN or sea it DIRECTLY borders. You have 30 seconds.
For this quiz only, it has to DIRECTLY border an ocean or sea, not a marginal sea or sub-sea
Quiz by scambigol
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Last updated: April 19, 2023
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First submittedFebruary 20, 2018
Times taken168,754
Average score58.2%
Rating4.91
0:30
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0
 / 196 guessed
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Country
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Costa Rica
Ivory Coast
Country
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
D. R. Congo
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
F. S. Micronesia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Country
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
North Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Country
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Republic of the Congo
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
São Tomé and Príncipe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Country
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
South Sudan
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Eswatini
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vatican City
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
72 Comments
+9
Level 67
Feb 20, 2018
Fun quiz!
+1
Level 71
Apr 2, 2018
I got 175 :D
+9
Level 83
Dec 13, 2018
183 beats 99.7% of people. How do you complete this?!!!! Aaargh!!!! I will not be defeated.
+3
Level 71
Jun 16, 2020
I checked the countries I missed initially. In most cases, their currency names are shorter than country names or language names. If you're missing Botswana, Ethiopia, South Korea, Cambodia - this is the trick. I now can complete this 6 out of 10 times.
+1
Level 61
Apr 15, 2023
You can also use Sudan for Ethiopia (one letter longer), Laos for Cambodia (same length), and ROK for South Korea (same length).
+3
Level 28
Jan 15, 2019
Aral Sea not included
+1
Level 49
Sep 26, 2024
It shouldn't at this point, the poor lake has been destroyed. (Yes, I know this comment is 5 years late)
+2
Level 77
Feb 5, 2020
Typing in Czechia doesn't highlight any of its neighbors
+5
Level 34
Oct 12, 2023
It probably took Czech (the language) instead
+5
Level 19
Sep 16, 2020
Hint: It's easiest to do it by official language.
+1
Level 69
Mar 6, 2023
thanks for the hint--this helped a lot
+26
Level 67
Dec 9, 2020
Finally got all 196 countries! (0:26) Here are my type ins

English

French

Spanish

Portugese (u need it for Sao Tomé and East Timor)

Arabic

Atlantic

India

Indian

South China (For Malaysia and Taiwan)

Baltic

Roma

Kiev (Roma+Kiev covers pretty much rest europe)

Euro (For Netherlands, Greece and Cyprus)

Birr (Ethiopia)

Pula (Botswana)

Iran (For Turkey, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Afghanistan)

Japan (For Korea and Japan)

Russia (For Norway, Mongolia, Georgia, Azerbaijan)

Bangkok (For Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia)

Bishkek (For Kyrgyzstan, Tajikiztan and Uzbekistan)

Probably not the shortest way but it works with fast typing. :)

+5
Level 58
Oct 22, 2021
legend
+1
Level 70
Mar 12, 2022
Great method! I found that Belgrade gets all the countries that Rome and Kiev do. It's the same number of letters, but I prefer typing one word.
+1
Level 96
Mar 6, 2023
You rock, thanks!
+7
Level 90
Mar 7, 2023
5/5 indeed but its 195/196 because Israel is missing
+5
Level 36
Apr 16, 2023
This is the list but its faster and includes israel:

English

French

Spanish

Portugese

Arabic

Atlantic

India

Indian

South China

Baltic

Belgrade

Euro

Birr

Pula

Iran

Japan

Russia

Bangkok

Bishkek

Shekel

+1
Level 77
Dec 7, 2023
there we go! this one nails it
+1
Level 49
Jan 21, 2022
nominated
+1
Level 60
Mar 12, 2022
USA should be accepted for Caribbean as of Puerto Rico. Or else you should ad a caveat about overseas territories.

Super amazing quiz and concept, can’t imagine how much work it took. Nominated

+3
Level 35
Apr 27, 2022
I think there were a couple limitations on this (Atlantic not counting for Panama but counting for Mexico), but overall I enjoyed it. I ran a program to find the lowest number of letters needed to complete the challenge and got 112 letters with 20 words. On lowest number of words, I found 19 words (113 letters).

Here's my list with the shortest characters:

China

India

Atlantic

Indian

Japan

SouthChina

Euro

Franc

Som

Pula

English

Spanish

Portugese (misspelled but still works :P)

Arabic

Riga

Bangkok

Baku

Juba

Sofia

Bern

Let me know if you find anything shorter! (I initially found a smaller # but it contained words like Thailand and Indian which require Thai and India to also be typed)

+1
Level 35
Apr 27, 2022
The shorter word list (but one more character) is here:

China

India

Brunei

Atlantic

Indian

Euro

Franc

Som

Birr

Pula

English

Spanish

Portugese

Arabic

EastChina

Bangkok

Baku

Berlin

Chisinau

+3
Level 77
Apr 28, 2022
wow, impressive work!

you could type NDIAN then go back to the start, add I so that by typing 6 characters (plus home to go to the start of the word would make it 7 I guess) you get all India and Indian answers.

Typing them separately requires 11 characters.

+1
Level 61
Jun 12, 2022
Yes! I always use tricks like this but no one else ever does.
+1
Level 57
Mar 9, 2023
PRC works for China
+1
Level 54
Jul 28, 2023
This list worked for me, but I had to add Israel.
+1
Level 77
Dec 7, 2023
are you forgetting israel on purpose? several other comment lists also forgot israel. Strange
+1
Level 77
Dec 8, 2023
it's because previously Arabic was considered an official language of Israel in the Official Languages of the World quiz
+1
Level 61
Jun 12, 2022
Great quiz! Can you accept KSA? It would be great and shouldn't be too hard.
+1
Level 62
Jul 5, 2022
I did it with 19 words :D

English

Spanish

Arabic

French

Portuguese

Som

Euro

Pula

China

Kenya

Baku

Bangkok

Bucharest

Copenhagen

South China

Atlantic

Bengal

Japan

Indian

+4
Level 66
Jul 12, 2022
I didn't do it the smartest way, but I did it. 4 seconds left. Literally spent an hour on this because I am too stubborn to change my method majorly
+1
Level 74
Jul 20, 2022
While far from perfect, the list I formulated was:

English

Spanish

French

Portuguese

Dutch

Arabic

Malay

Euro

Budapest

Bangkok

Russia

USA

India

East China

Uzbek

Uzbekistan

Turkey

Baltic

Iceland

Ethiopia

Tswana

Mauritius

Maldives

Australia

+1
Level 37
Jul 23, 2022
193!!!
+1
Level 26
Aug 13, 2022
Some answers that will help you:

English

French

Brazil

Spanish

Spain

China

Russia

Dollar

Lao

Arabic

+1
Level 39
Sep 14, 2022
BTW - DPRK doesn't mark off South Korea

also, 196 as the counter was turning to 30 :D i now hate botswana

+1
Level 57
Mar 9, 2023
DPRK Is North Korea.

ROK is South Korea

+1
Level 59
Sep 14, 2024
but they border
+1
Level 53
Oct 22, 2022
SO FUN!! 5 stars + nominated :D
+1
Level 53
Oct 31, 2022
JUST got 100% with 2 seconds left!! :D
+3
Level 64
Dec 13, 2022
Could you accept KSA for Saudi Arabia?
+1
Level 49
Jan 9, 2023
I wasted at least 4 seconds being puzzled by why usa and Australia weren't highlighted when I typed 'English'... This is really hard.
+2
Level 85
Mar 6, 2023
USA has no official language. Not sure about Australia.
+1
Level 48
May 21, 2023
Aus doesn’t either
+1
Level 59
Feb 9, 2023
I've been looking for this quiz for so long!
+1
Level 75
Mar 6, 2023
Holy Hell!
+2
Level 59
Mar 6, 2023
Why was this featured 3x?
+1
Level 48
May 21, 2023
It deserves to be
+3
Level 77
Mar 6, 2023
Red Sea doesn't work for Egypt
+1
Level 71
Apr 15, 2023
Nor does Mediterranean.
+1
Level 79
Mar 6, 2023
AWESOME Quiz!
+3
Level 89
Mar 7, 2023
Really needs a 'show missing countries' button. Countries such as Andorra are invisible on the map
+1
Level 60
Mar 7, 2023
Name every ocean = approximately half your score, plus Russia, Arabic, and euro.
+1
Level 75
Mar 20, 2023
Got it in 19 seconds! Spent way too much time figuring out how to optimize my type-ins.

English

Dollar

Spanish

Franc

Euro

Russia

China

India

Indian

Atlantic

Sofia

Baltic

Rome

Laos

Indonesia

Iran

Red

Uzbek

Tswana

Guinea

Birr

Japan

+1
Level 75
Mar 22, 2023
you need to say china before Laos, otherwise it will fill in Lao before you can finish typing Laos
+1
Level 61
Mar 21, 2023
Not a fast typer, the best I could manage was 157/196 using official languages.
+1
Level 43
Apr 15, 2023
Why does Egypt not highlight when red or Mediterranean are entered? It lies on both
+1
Level 77
Apr 19, 2023
should be fixed now, thanks
+1
Level 72
Apr 15, 2023
Why does West Africa not border the Atlantic Ocean?
+1
Level 53
Apr 15, 2023
most of west africa doesn't enter when you type "atlantic"

taiwan and china don't work when you type "pacific"

yemen, oman don't appear with "indian"

norway doesn't appear with "arctic"

"mediterranean" doesn't trigger italy, france, albania, turkey, egypt, etc.

"bay of bengal" doesn't trigger thailand or malaysia

"south china sea" doesn't trigger...china??

"southern ocean" doesn't trigger anything

+1
Level 59
Apr 15, 2023
Gulf of Guinea. Arabian Sea. North Sea.
+1
Level 77
Apr 19, 2023
This is the quiz used as reference for sea borders: https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/134157/countries-of-the-world-by-bordering-sea-in-90-seconds

So except south china-china and mediterranean-egypt that should now be fixed, the others aren't considered borders.

Thanks

+2
Level 68
Apr 15, 2023
I didn't understand this from the instruction. I thought we had to guess a single specific country by narrowing it down.
+1
Level 63
Apr 16, 2023
Exactly! The quiz instructions clearly say "Guess a country", not "give me all 196 countries". Perhaps the instructions should be edited?
+2
Level 68
Apr 15, 2023
This is a fun and challenging quiz, well done. I want to keep playing it, trying different combinations to see what works best.
+2
Level 79
May 1, 2023
finally got 196 after 103 attempts! breathing helps! perhaps my favorite JetPunk Quiz!
+1
Level 32
May 15, 2023
Me and @puzzlerusher spent hours on this and came up with a 120-character solution. Then, assisted by the comments here we got:

-1 from Portuguese --> Portugese

-3 from Lao, Laos, Malay, Dollar --> South China, Dutch

down to 116. Our solution is:

English

Spanish

Portugese

French

Arabic

Dutch

Japan

Russia

India

Iran

Krona

Rupee

Birr

Pula

Som

Euro

Vienna

Ankara

Male

Kabul

SouthChina

+1
Level 66
Sep 22, 2023
185/196
+1
Level 58
Apr 6, 2024
Zimbabwe is changing its currency to the "Gold": https://apnews.com/article/zimbabwe-new-currency-inflation-us-dollar-06a656260462d9651112e394e125c5e6
+1
Level 37
Jun 26, 2024
Can someone explain how Japan gets me N and S Korea? I just typed the name so I figure it's due to a 'border' but I'm not sure how that's possible. I'm not being persnickity, I'm genuinely wondering where my ignorance lies.
+1
Level 63
Jul 4, 2024
must be from the sea of japan, i also used this one in my method
+1
Level 63
Jul 4, 2024
definitely not as good as some other word lists here but after like 50 attempts and many method changes i finallyyy got it with

english

spanish

china

south china

atlantic

indian

brussels

mediterran (don't know why this works)

riga

budapest

guinea

chad

mali

dili

bangkok

japan

iran

ksa

uzbek

georgia

rwanda

botswana

ethiopia

bahrain

+1
Level 17
Oct 1, 2024
mine

Red

India

Indian

China

Russia

Atlantic

Pacific

Dollar

Euro

Mali

English

Spanish

French

Bangkok

Persian

Roma

Romania

Brunei

Syria

Germany

Iran

Libya

easttimor

Sudan

Sweden

Uzbek

Japan

Sao tome

Zambia