# How many countries... **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 11, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660 "2008-08-11T21:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/21 "2008-08-12T05:49:08Z")
83 for me. This being Olympic time really helped. I also love how “Taiwan” is listed. I wonder when this site will get banned on the mainland. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/22 "2008-08-12T06:12:23Z")
I got 124. My fingers are inaccurate today; lots of spelling errors. When I noticed that there were something close to 300 “countries” I started typing in non-states like Tristan da Cunha, Ascension, Canada and Puerto Rico. Apparently Transnistria is not a country, though “Trinidad” is. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/23 "2008-08-12T08:10:35Z")
Got 110. Would have scored higher except I wasted half a minute trying to spell Paupa…Paupau…Papau…Puapa…Papua New Guinea. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/24 "2008-08-12T08:32:16Z")
Nice one. I got 82, but mostly because I type too slow. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/25 "2008-08-12T08:33:22Z")
[QUOTE=Baffle] I got 124. My fingers are inaccurate today; lots of spelling errors. When I noticed that there were something close to 300 “countries” I started typing in non-states like Tristan da Cunha, Ascension, Canada and Puerto Rico. Apparently Transnistria is not a country, though “Trinidad” is. [/QUOTE] Transnistria _is_ a country (according to the test), but it is called _Pridnestrovie_. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/26 "2008-08-12T08:43:18Z")
Just 62. I forgot such heavies as Germany and India. “Palestine” is a country? Won’t they be glad to hear that. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/27 "2008-08-12T10:37:37Z")
87 on the first try - but it took me quite awhile to remember such big ones as Spain and Portugal :smack: I did however get most of the Caucasus region. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/28 "2008-08-12T14:42:48Z")
I got 72, but it wasn’t a flat-out sprint, and I got hung up on a few misspellings, like Kazakhstan. It helps that I have most of [this song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDtdQ8bTvRc) memorized. “United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru…” ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/29 "2008-08-12T15:24:40Z")
Does anybody else have a problem with the countdown freezing during the last minute? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/30 "2008-08-12T15:41:44Z")
1. I also noticed Taiwan. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/31 "2008-08-12T17:03:00Z")
83, but I agree it’s more of a typing test than a memory test - give me ten minutes and I reckon I could near-double my score. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/32 "2008-08-12T17:35:32Z")
I can touch-type just fine, but the spelling killed me. 47 whole correctly-spelled countries. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/33 "2008-08-12T18:03:18Z")
1. That was fun. I can’t think or type as fast as I thought. ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/34 "2008-08-12T18:35:04Z")
1. If accurate typing weren’t an issue, I could probably have gotten 130. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/35 "2008-08-12T18:49:31Z")
1. I tried as “South Ossetia” worked, I tried “North Cyprus,” but it wanted North **ern**. Australian Antarctic Territory? What the fuck? They should have stats on the most commonly and least commonly recalled places. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/36 "2008-08-12T19:26:46Z")
I tried it again, and got 108. Also, after looking over their list of countries and “countries” that I did or didn’t type, they completely left out the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), a genuinely sovoreign nation. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/37 "2008-08-12T19:41:47Z")
1. I couldn’t picture Central Africa or Eastern Europe too well. And I tripped up on some of the smaller South American countries. I also flubbed trying to spell Kazakhstan. I thought it had more H’s and an I. 😛 But I did get Uzbekistan at least. It sounds like you guys go by names only, interesting. With me, it’s more me trying to visualize the globe I keep in the back of my head for geography and then zoom into the countries to read the names. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/38 "2008-08-12T21:55:15Z")
I could only get 55 typing as fast as I could. I had plenty more, but I just can’t type that fast. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/39 "2008-08-12T22:10:39Z")
70 - I can type faster than I can think, it would appear. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/40 "2008-08-12T22:20:42Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] I could only get 55 typing as fast as I could. I had plenty more, but I just can’t type that fast. [/QUOTE] Ditto, but I had 80. That was fun! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660.md?page=3)