# Name 50 US States in 10 Minutes **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 29, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084 "2008-10-29T14:51:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/41 "2008-10-29T18:08:35Z")
It took me a little over ten minutes, as I rattled off 46 states in about 2 minutes and then sat there thinking of which 4 I had overlooked. I figured out 2 of the missing 4 in another 3 minutes, then realized how I should have done this list in the first place: to mentally zip through each two-letter combo AA through ZZ and pick out the two-letter state abbreviations I recognized. (I spent one summer typing form letters and stuffing envelopes for an organization with chapters in all 50 states, and know them all by sight.) By the time I used this method to ID my last two missing states I was up to 12 minutes, because the last state I had missed was Utah (UT). But had I done this from the get-go I’d have been done in about 5 minutes. The last 4 I had trouble remembering were: Oklahoma, Nebraska, Minnesota and Utah. In my mental picture of the states I knew all the states I was missing were West of the Rockies, North of Texas and East of California but that was it. I remembered Oklahoma and Nebraska in short order by trying to think of Western state nicknames used by college sports teams (“Sooners” and “Cornhuskers”), but totally blanked on Minnie and Utah until I did my list. I really should have thought of Minnesota as they have a Major League Baseball team, AND I just visited the Twin Cities area last year for a wedding, even picking up a tuxedo at the Mall of America. I’ve also been to Utah in my life, driving through it between the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/42 "2008-10-29T18:35:11Z")
I used the same system as **Pleonast** , and got 46 of them in the first two minutes. I then spent the rest of the time trying to figure out the others; one embarrassment was leaving out Texas, especially so given I live there. In the end, time ran out with one state omitted: Vermont. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/43 "2008-10-29T18:56:29Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > If it’s no too much trouble, could you post the ones you missed? I want to see which states are missed the most. Colorado Connecticut Louisiana Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Oklahoma Wyoming ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/44 "2008-10-29T19:13:12Z")
1: Maine 2: Massachusetts 3: Vermont 4: New Hampshire 5: Connecticut 6: Rhode Island 7: New York 8: New Jersey 9: Maryland 10: Delaware 11: District of Columbus (if that counts) 12: Virginia 13: North Carolina 14: South Carolina 15: Georgia 16: Florida 17: Alabama 18: Mississippi 19: Louisiana 20: Texas 21: Oklahoma 22: Arkansas 23: Missouri 24: Tennessee 25: Kentucky 26: West Virginia 27: Pennsylvania 28: Ohio 29: Indiana 30: Michigan 31: Illinois 32: Iowa 33: Minnesota 34: Wisconsin 35: North Dakota 36: South Dakota 37: Nebraska 38: Kansas 39: Montana 40: Idaho 41: Wyoming 42: Utah 43: Alaska 44: Colorado 45: New Mexico 46: Arizona 47: Nevada 48: California 49: Oregon 50: Washington 51: Hawaii And of course it’s pure coincidence that they’re listed in roughly the same order as on a page I’ve been refreshing five times a day for the past month. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/45 "2008-10-29T19:20:23Z")
I went geographically, starting in Maine and going down the coast and back up again from east to west. Nailed them all in about 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/46 "2008-10-29T19:45:48Z")
49 for me. I was sure I could get all 50, but I forgot Louisiana. (With apologies to anyone in or from Louisiana.) ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/47 "2008-10-29T19:45:52Z")
I’m a moron: 1. Delaware (it’s tiny!) 2. Indiana (how’d I forget that one?) 3. Massachusetts ( I kept thinking D.C.) 4. Arkansas (yeah, I’m dumb) 5. Kansas (that one too?!??!) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/48 "2008-10-29T19:59:36Z")
Got 49 in 7 minutes, the exception being poor neglected Maryland. For some reason it just wouldn’t come to me. I even thought of Washington D.C. and then said “that’s not a state”… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/49 "2008-10-29T20:15:47Z")
Yes, around 8 minutes, but i was having a “senior moment” for a while on Mississippi and Rhode Island. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/50 "2008-10-29T20:15:57Z")
Thanks to a USA map puzzle I treasured during my childhood, I memorized the names of the states and their capitals at an early age. Alabama – Montgomery Alaska – Juneau Arizona – Phoenix Arkansas – Little Rock California – Sacramento Colorado – Denver Connecticut – Hartford Delaware – Dover Florida – Tallahassee Georgia – Atlanta Hawaii – Honolulu Idaho – Boise Illinois – Springfield Indiana – Indianapolis Iowa – Des Moines Kansas – Topeka Kentucky – Frankfort Louisiana – Baton Rouge Maine – Augusta Maryland – Annapolis Massachusetts – Boston Michigan – Lansing Minnesota – St. Paul Mississippi – Jackson Missouri – Jefferson City Montana – Helena Nebraska – Lincoln Nevada – Carson City New Hampshire – Concord New Jersey – Trenton New Mexico – Santa Fe New York – Albany North Carolina – Raleigh North Dakota – Bismarck Ohio – Columbus Oklahoma – Oklahoma City Oregon – Salem Pennsylvania – Harrisburg Rhode Island – Providence South Carolina – Columbia South Dakota – Pierre Tennessee – Nashville Texas – Austin Utah – Salt Lake City Vermont – Montpelier Virginia – Richmond Washington – Olympia West Virginia – Charleston Wisconsin – Madison Wyoming – Cheyenne ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/51 "2008-10-29T20:33:57Z")
The map of the US is in my head, it took me 2 minutes and I didn’t need to write anything down, I just counted with my fingers. It’s too bad I can’t use that part of my brain for anything useful. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/52 "2008-10-29T22:04:00Z")
I got 48 missing New Hampshire and Delaware. My problem is that I just went off a mental map of the US going north to south and west to east but I become foggy once I get into New England and I can’t put the names to the right states any more, too damn small. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/53 "2008-10-29T22:17:56Z")
It took me three and a half minutes, but the last 45 seconds or so was spent trying to come up with Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/54 "2008-10-29T22:33:17Z")
I got the first 49 in three minutes, and spent the next three trying to remember Michigan. Usually it’s Utah I forget. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/55 "2008-10-30T00:04:57Z")
About four minutes, fifty states. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/56 "2008-10-30T00:31:06Z")
I got 45 in the first five minutes, helped my son with homework for the next five, and got four more in the third five. I missed Delaware. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/57 "2008-10-30T00:32:35Z")
Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine 3 minutes, plus a few seconds to get Nevada. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/58 "2008-10-30T00:40:42Z")
Got 45 in 2 minutes, got the remaining 5 (Rhode Island was last) in another 2.5 minutes. So all 50 in under 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/59 "2008-10-30T02:53:07Z")
My first thought was “This is _ **easy** _!” So I decided to make it a bit more difficult my doing it in alphabetical order. My first pass, I got 37 (in about 4 minutes). Then I went geographically, from west to east, and was able to fill in the remaining 13 in a total of 9 minutes and change. Stupid Indiana almost did me in… Alabama Alaska Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Massachusetts Michigan Missouri Montana Nebraska New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Virginia Vermont West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Oregon Washington Nevada Utah New Mexico Oklahoma Texas Arkansas Minnesota Mississippi Maine Maryland Indiana ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084/60 "2008-10-30T11:38:11Z")
I got them in 7:52 seconds. 🙂 To be fair, the election has me up on my state geography. My strategy is to start with Hawaii and Alaska, then go geographically through the regions… The West, The Plains States, Texas, The Chef (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana), the Mid West, the South, New England, East Coast… When I’m done I usually have about 47 and I gotta fill in the stragglers. It’s always a different state. In this case- I stalled at Delaware and needed to brainstorm Georgia, Wisconsin, New Jersey and lastly Nebraska. (Don’t ask me how I forgot georgia and New Jersey… working fast I guess) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-50-us-states-in-10-minutes/470084.md?page=4)