🌍 World Capitals Game
Test yourself with the capitals of 200 countries. Choose your mode and region.
Game modeRegionHow the game works
Pick a mode and a region, and the game shows you one country at a time. You type the capital from memory — there are no multiple-choice options to narrow it down, so what you know is what you score.
Flag mode shows the country's flag alongside its name, which helps if you think visually. No-flag mode strips that away and tests pure recall. Every country appears exactly once per round, so a full world round is 200 questions and nothing repeats.
You can narrow a round to Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa or Oceania. Drilling one continent at a time is how most people actually get better — the whole world at once is satisfying but a poor way to learn.
The capitals people miss most
Some of these are genuinely obscure and some are just counter-intuitive. If you want a shortcut to a better score, this is where the points are hiding.
| Country | Capital | Why it catches people |
|---|---|---|
| PALAU | NGERULMUD | Purpose-built in 2006 and home to a few hundred people. Almost nobody guesses it. |
| BURUNDI | GITEGA | Changed in 2019: Bujumbura was the capital for decades, and most sources still say so. |
| TURKMENISTAN | ASHGABAT | Central Asian capitals are the single weakest region for most players. |
| BHUTAN | THIMPHU | Widely known country, rarely known capital — and it is spelled several ways. |
| LIECHTENSTEIN | VADUZ | European microstates get skipped: people jump from Switzerland to Austria. |
| NAURU | YAREN DISTRICT | One of the few countries with no official capital; this district serves as its seat. |
| COMOROS | MORONI | Island nations off Africa are consistently the hardest block of all. |
| TUVALU | FUNAFUTI | Pacific micronations: nine atolls, a capital almost nobody has read aloud. |
Based on how the game classifies difficulty today. We are starting to record anonymous round results, and this list will be replaced by the measured one.
How to actually learn them
Go continent by continent. Oceania has 14 countries and Africa has 54. Finishing a small region gives you a real win and a reason to come back for the next one.
Learn the exceptions first. The capitals that are not the largest city — Canberra, Ottawa, Brasília, Bern — are the ones quizzes love and the ones people miss. Knowing the exceptions is worth more than knowing ten easy ones.
Say them out loud. Ouagadougou, Ljubljana, Nur-Sultan. Capitals you have never pronounced are capitals you will not recall under a timer.
Use the daily challenge. One round a day, same countries for everyone, ordered from easy to hard. Spaced repetition without having to plan it.
Questions
How many capital cities are there in the world?
It depends what you count. There are 193 United Nations member states, and this game covers 200 countries and territories. A few countries have more than one capital — South Africa has three — so the number of capital cities is slightly higher than the number of countries.
Is the world capitals game free?
Completely. No sign-up, no account, no paywall and no limit on how many rounds you play.
Can I play the capitals game by continent?
Yes. Choose Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa or Oceania before you start and the round will only use countries from that region. Oceania has 14 countries and Africa has 54, so the regions vary a lot in length.
What is the hardest capital to remember?
The ones players miss most are the Pacific micronations and the recently changed seats: Ngerulmud in Palau, built in 2006, and Gitega in Burundi, which only replaced Bujumbura in 2019. Central Asia is the weakest region for most players overall.
What is the difference between flag mode and no-flag mode?
Flag mode shows the country's flag next to its name, which helps if you think visually. No-flag mode removes it and tests pure recall. Neither mode gives you options to choose from — you type the capital yourself in both.