# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/41 "2008-08-12T23:02:21Z")
59 on the first try and 63 on the second. I just hit a wall at that point and can’t think of any more. Of course, there are a bunch more that I remember that I have no idea how to spell. Damn you Luxemborg (which is not how you spell it)! ---
**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, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/42 "2008-08-12T23:15:55Z")
For something a little more geographically accurate and giving more time to type, try [this one](http://xn13.com/countries/). I got them all with 6:21 left to spare, which means it took me only 8:39 to name all 193 sovoreign nations. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/43 "2008-08-12T23:16:31Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] It’s a bit of a typing skill test to some extent. [/QUOTE] To a very large extent. The rest of the challenge being “how do you spell it in English?” ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/44 "2008-08-12T23:38:49Z")
[QUOTE=cmkeller] I got them all with 6:21 left to spare, which means it took me only 8:39 to name all 193 sovoreign nations. [/QUOTE] Better. Amongst the ones I forgot (along with 60 or so others) : China, and my own, France :smack: . ---
**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, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/45 "2008-08-12T23:56:04Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] …I just hit a wall at that point and can’t think of any more… [/QUOTE] I found it useful to go by region or even by continent, staying with each until I just couldn’t think of another country there. It was also useful to think of which countries have had wars with each other. ☹ ---
**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 14, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/46 "2008-08-14T13:56:58Z")
I like the 15 minute one better. I got 155, and I forgot: ```auto Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Cambodia, Chile, Comoros, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Grenada, Guatemala, Jamaica, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, ``` Not too many I feel really bad about forgetting; I need to work some more on Africa and I feel studid I didn’t get the Philippines, Chile, Jamaica and Cambodia. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/47 "2008-08-14T14:00:49Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] I found it useful to go by region or even by continent, staying with each until I just couldn’t think of another country there. It was also useful to think of which countries have had wars with each other. ☹ [/QUOTE] Germans have it easy. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/48 "2008-08-14T14:57:42Z")
I got 65 on the first try. For some reason I kept getting nervous. I don’t do well under time pressure. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/49 "2008-08-14T15:12:05Z")
I’m surprised no one has posted a link to sporcle yet. They have tons of great games like this: > **[Quizzes by Day](https://www.sporcle.com/quizzes/)** > > Test your knowledge with the best free online trivia quizzes about geography, movies, science and more. Unfortunately their ‘countries’ test is by continent only. However it DOES give you map to look at. > **[Countries of Europe](https://www.sporcle.com/games/g/europe)** > > Can you name the countries of Europe? ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/50 "2008-08-14T20:54:58Z")
100! Great fun. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/51 "2008-08-14T21:03:07Z")
I put in usa. no go I put in america .no go, Then united states . I restart later. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/52 "2008-08-14T22:09:14Z")
1. Ran out of typing time. Also, need to remember to do the easy to spell countries first. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/53 "2008-08-14T22:24:38Z")
1. I might have done better if my dad hadn’t been talking at me about some Olympics thing that was going on at the moment. I did this once before and I missed several countries that I’ve actually been too. Yeah, that was dumb. This time I typed in those first. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/54 "2008-08-14T22:43:51Z")
I got 137 on the 15 minute one, and once again forgot a country I have been to (Albania). Gah! ---
**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 14, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/55 "2008-08-14T23:27:10Z")
Not bad – I got all but four of them on the 15-minute one, and I _did_ remember one of those four (the country formerly known as Zaire), I just didn’t know what they were calling it now. I, too, missed a country that I’d been to (Hungary). That sort of thing makes one feel really stupid… ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/56 "2008-08-14T23:38:53Z")
[QUOTE=cmkeller] 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. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I tried Congo, Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo and none of them worked (that should have been _two_ countries, by the way). I got 83. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/57 "2008-08-15T03:02:17Z")
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool] It didn’t accept either “Holland” or “The Netherlands” so I gave it up as a pointless exercise. [/QUOTE] It also doesn’t accept England, Britain, or Great Britain, so I said “screw it” as well. Maybe I was supposed to say United Kingdom? ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/58 "2008-08-15T07:35:27Z")
On the 15 minute test, I forgot: Bahamas, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Grenada, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Namibia, Nauru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Vanuatu. Sad, as I have been to the Bahamas. And I remembered St. Kitts and Nevis but I failed to think to actually spell out the first word. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/59 "2008-08-15T08:21:06Z")
No El Savador? After trying to get it to accept this for about a full minute, I gave up. And I can sing the entire animaniacs song, so nhaaaa! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660/60 "2008-08-15T09:12:18Z")
[QUOTE=Captain\_C] No El Savador? After trying to get it to accept this for about a full minute, I gave up. And I can sing the entire animaniacs song, so nhaaaa! 😃 [/QUOTE] I believe you mean El Sa **l** vador? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-countries/459660.md?page=4)