Kinuk in Poland linked to a fun little web page game about a month ago: in ten minutes, see how many of the 50 states in the U.S. you can list, or how many of the 192 U.N.-recognized nations you can type. As you can see from the image below, I got all 50 states with 1:12 to go–but in all fairness, (a) I am an American, and (b) this is a game I’ve done before whenever I’m bored an it occurs to me–maybe I do it once every few years. But this web page offers a much more organized way of playing the game than pen and paper.

The web page is well done; you don’t have to capitalize correctly, but you do have to spell exactly (so Massachusetts might waste some time for you). You don’t even have to hit a button or type “Enter”; when you complete the name, it’s automatically added to the list and the text box is cleared for the next one. You can type the states in any order you like, and they will appear on the page alphabetically.

The 192-nations list is harder, and is not as much a test of memory as it is a typing- and spelling-skills test. With the U.S. game, I got 45 in 5 minutes, and so could take my time with the remaining few. With the U.N. game, I was still typing away when time ran out. Twenty minutes for the U.N. game would be a much better challenge.

Another problem with the U.N. game is that it is not just unforgiving with spelling (you try spelling “Herzegovina” or “Kyrgyzstan”!) but also with the exact full naming of nations, like the “Democratic Republic of the Congo,” “Saint Vincent and the Grenadines” (not, as commonly thought, a 50’s singing group), or “Antigua and Barbuda.” You lose a lot of time trying to name the more difficult ones (it must be “Bosnia and Herzegovina,” not hyphenated, and not given separately), or remembering how their names have changed since you last studied Geography in high school or college.

So I wound up with an unrespectable 78 out of 192. Among the names I left out but shouldn’t have were Belgium, Angola, El Salvador, Haiti, Iceland, Kenya, Nepal, Singapore, Turkey, Portugal, and Ireland (though I was typing that last one when I got cut off by the clock). I did get Tuvalu, Djibouti, Mauritania, and Kazakhstan, so I’m not a complete loser. Given 20 minutes, I probably would have gotten more like 120 to 130, I am guessing. Not stellar, but then, I am guessing that it would be a better score than your average American would get. The average international citizen, I’m not so sure.

Since you’re not going to get all the 192 nations anyway, it’s also a matter of strategy. Had I been more prepared for the exact-spelling and democratic-republic-of-the-one-state-and-the-other stuff, I could have done much better. Focus on the easy-to-spell nations and leave the others off your list. If you’re not 100% sure you know how to spell it, then forget it. That should help a lot.

In any case, a fun and educational diversion when you have some free time.