How to play
Each round has ten different flags. For each flag you get four country names; exactly one is right. There is no timer and no speed bonus.
Answering
Tap or click a name, or press 1, 2, 3 or 4. Your first answer is final: the choices lock, Atlas Play marks your answer and the right one with a tick or a cross and a label, and explains how to recognise the flag. Press Next flag (or Enter) when you’re ready. Nothing moves on by itself.
Not sure at all? Reveal answer shows the country straight away. A revealed flag scores zero and is counted as revealed, separately from misses.
The daily round
Everyone gets the same ten flags each day. The day changes at midnight UTC. Finish today’s round on its own day to add a day to your streak; your score doesn’t matter. If you start before midnight UTC, you have until 2:00 AM UTC to finish and still count it. After that it becomes an archive replay.
The week has a difficulty curve. Monday mixes mostly well-known flags with a few new ones; each day after adds harder flags, and the ten flags of a day run from the easiest to the hardest. Saturday is a look-alike round: the choices are as many look-alikes as the flag has, like Ireland next to Côte d’Ivoire. Every flag comes round again in time, and a flag never appears two days running. Flags that are practically the same picture at this size, like Chad and Romania or Indonesia and Monaco, are never asked in the same question.
Past days are in the archive. Archive replays, pack rounds, mixed rounds and reviews are practice: they never change your streak. Future days open at midnight UTC on their own day.
Packs and practice
Six starter packs of ten hold the 60 best-known flags; 11 explorer packs of 10 to 15 hold the other 133 by region, and 4 look-alike packs put the flags that are easiest to mix up side by side. A pack round takes ten flags of the pack in a new order, with choices from the same pack. A mixed round takes ten flags from all over the world. Practise with descriptions shows a written description of each flag before you answer; those rounds are counted separately.
Learning the ones you missed
At the end of a round you see all ten flags with your result and a link to each country page. Flags you missed or revealed go on the Needs practice list until you answer them correctly; a review round practises up to ten of them.
Stamp Desk
On Stamp Desk you see a real historical postage stamp and choose which country issued it. The same rules apply: four choices, one final answer, reveal scores zero, nothing moves on by itself. The answer explains the inscription, shows where it is on the stamp, and gives the year and one fact. Zoom (or the Z key) magnifies the stamp so you can read small print; it is allowed and not counted as help. Stamp rounds are practice: they are counted separately from flags and never change your streak. There is no daily stamp round yet.
Capitals
On Capitals most questions ask “What is the capital of …?” and some turn it round: “… is the capital of which country?”. The same rules apply: four choices, one final answer, reveal scores zero, nothing moves on by itself. Countries with several capitals (Bolivia, South Africa, the Netherlands and a few more) are asked as “Which of these is a capital of …?”; only one of their capitals is among the choices and the answer explains every one. Packs marked hard choices may offer a bigger city or a former capital of the same country, like Sydney for Australia. After each answer a small map shows the capital, with the population and a line about where the capital lies.
Outlines
On Outlines you see the filled-in outline of a country and choose its name. Every outline is drawn the same size, so they are not to scale; the map after the answer shows the country among its neighbours. Before answering you can press Flag colours (or H) to see the main colours of the country’s flag. That counts as help: a right answer after it is scored “with a hint”, not first try. Island countries scattered over the ocean and the smallest states only appear in the hard packs.
Capitals and Outlines rounds are practice: they are counted separately from flags and stamps, never change your streak, and have no daily round yet. Results can be shared as a line of ✅, 💡, 👁️ and ❌ without naming any country. Big screen makes the picture and the choices larger, with a local 10-second “chat, vote now” countdown for streams.
Saving
Your round is saved in this browser after every answer. Close the tab, come back later and you continue at the same flag with the same choices. Nothing is sent to a server.