# Place the United States **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171 "2004-12-10T18:10:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/1 "2004-12-10T18:10:37Z")
This is cute: [http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/states\_experiment\_drag-drop\_Intermed\_State15s\_500.html](http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/states_experiment_drag-drop_Intermed_State15s_500.html) I did OK until I lost my mind and put Wyoming where Colorado should be 🙂 I hope this hasn’t been done; didn’t find it on search ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/2 "2004-12-10T18:16:31Z")
Bah. 92%, avg. error 10 miles. Those map guys are picky. ---
**Author:** ![milquetoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/3 "2004-12-10T18:23:25Z")
1 mistake–I placed Maryland too far down the Atlantic seabord (but it was my third state, and I didn’t have any good points of reference yet). 98%, avg error 5 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/4 "2004-12-10T18:24:51Z")
This was posted not so long ago. Let’s see how well I can do this time. Btw if you cut out the url part and browse to it you can find some similar games (for europe asia etc…) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/5 "2004-12-10T18:31:30Z")
The order in which the states are placed is everything here. I would hate to start with, say Nebraska. I was off by an ave. of 3 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Jammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@Jammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jammer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/6 "2004-12-10T18:32:47Z")
92% with 8 miles avg. Frankly, I’m ashamed, but I guess it won’t kill me. Jammer ---
**Author:** ![Standup\_Karmic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Standup\_Karmic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Standup_Karmic)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/7 "2004-12-10T18:33:06Z")
74% Avg error: 69 miles Time: 429 secs. 37 perfect out of 50 I s’pose its _ok_ considering I’m Canadian, but I feel I shoulda done way, way better. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/8 "2004-12-10T18:37:04Z")
Did pretty well–94%–, but my third state was Colorado: a rectagle to be placed somewhere in the trackless West with no point of reference. That one was off a bit. 🙂 Most of the time I could lock a state’s location down by a bit of coastline or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/9 "2004-12-10T18:43:09Z")
47 perfect out of 50, 94%, avg error of 9 miles. I had to start with Colorado, and new the general area, but was off by about 22 miles. After that, the rest were pretty easy (I got Rhode Island wrong by about 10 miles or so, and I forget what the other one “imperfect” state was). ---
**Author:** ![Stainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/10 "2004-12-10T18:49:46Z")
70% … but I’m Canadian … Good Lord I feel dumb now … 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/11 "2004-12-10T18:50:45Z")
49 perfect out of 50. 98%. 1 mile. It’s all dependent upon state order. Try this one, it’s MUCH harder (same format, just doesn’t lock in your previous states). [http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/states\_experiment\_drag-drop\_oneState15s\_500.html](http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/states_experiment_drag-drop_oneState15s_500.html) On that I got: 42 perfect out of 50, 84%, 21 miles. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/12 "2004-12-10T18:51:22Z")
94%, average error 6 miles, 295 sec, 47/50 perfect ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/13 "2004-12-10T19:00:34Z")
I got 94% with 47 out of 50 right, 4 mile error. I got started with Tennessee and Utah and while I was close, not close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/14 "2004-12-10T19:21:46Z")
> [@Captain Lance Murdoch](#): > > The order in which the states are placed is everything here. I would hate to start with, say Nebraska. > > I was off by an ave. of 3 miles. Yeah, guess which state I got first. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/15 "2004-12-10T19:54:53Z")
46 out of 50 with an average error of 8 miles. I actually started out okay with Nebraska, but parking Erie, PA on Lake Ontario was my undoing. ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/16 "2004-12-10T20:11:41Z")
I was doing pretty well- then I accidentally dropped Delaware and couldn’t find it again to put it in the right spot and proceed. I actually _lost_ Delaware! ---
**Author:** ![Phelan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Phelan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phelan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/17 "2004-12-10T20:14:19Z")
I got 35 out of 50. Another 70% by a Canadian. 148 miles as avg error. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/18 "2004-12-10T20:17:47Z")
Man, I did the European one. Talk about tough! They make you put the itty-bitty countries like Andorra on there. I got one wrong for an average of 8 miles off. Stupid Monaco. I guess I need to be more of a jet-setter. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/19 "2004-12-10T20:32:54Z")
47 out 50 and an average error of 8 miles. Not bad for a Canadian - I guess all these evenings of moving my Prez and VP candidates around while playing Campaign Trail have paid off. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171/20 "2004-12-10T22:36:07Z")
88% by another Canadian. Average error 19 miles. Has Colorado always been that for south? And Rhode Island could fit anywhere, it’s so tiny. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/place-the-united-states/279171.md?page=2)