🌎 GEOCHAIN 🔗

What is GeoChain?

GeoChain is a free geography chain game you play in your browser. You start on one country, then name a country that shares a land border with it. Every correct answer extends your chain across the map. The game covers 197 countries, rarer ones score more, and the clock gets shorter the longer you survive. Chain yourself into a dead end and the run is over.

How to play

1. Type a name and hit Play. No account, no signup, nothing to install.
2. Name any country that borders the current one. Start typing and pick from the list, or press Enter to take the top suggestion.
3. You get three lives. A country that doesn't border the current one costs a life, and so does running out of time.
4. You can't reuse a country, so think a few moves ahead before you paint yourself into a corner.

Tips for a longer chain

• Head for the well-connected countries. Russia and China each border 14 countries, Brazil borders 10, and Germany and the Democratic Republic of the Congo border 9. They keep your options open.
• Watch out for dead ends. Countries with a single neighbour end runs: Portugal only touches Spain, Denmark only Germany, Canada only the United States, and Lesotho is surrounded entirely by South Africa.
• Answer fast. A quick answer is worth up to 1.5× the points, and the timer gets shorter as your chain grows.
• Take the scenic route. Harder, less familiar countries score more, so a detour through Central Asia or the Balkans beats looping around Western Europe.
• Learn the five ocean jumps. A handful of overseas territories create land borders between countries on different sides of the water, and they are the only way a chain can leave a continent without a land bridge. See below.

Questions people ask

Which country borders the most countries?

China and Russia are tied, with 14 land neighbours each. Brazil has the most in South America with 10, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo leads Africa with 9.

Which countries have no land borders at all?

Island nations like Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Cuba and Madagascar share no land border with anyone. There are 35 of them in GeoChain, and they can never appear in a chain.

Which countries have only one neighbour?

Nineteen countries in the game touch exactly one other country. Portugal, Denmark, Canada, Qatar, South Korea, The Gambia, Lesotho, Vatican City, Monaco and San Marino are all one-way streets, so landing on one ends your run.

How is GeoChain different from other border games?

Most country border games ask you to find the shortest route between two fixed countries. GeoChain has no destination: you keep going until you run out of borders, lives or time. It rewards range rather than route-finding, and every run starts somewhere different.

How can a chain cross an ocean?

Through overseas territories. A land border counts wherever in the world it happens to be, not just next to the home country, and five pairs in GeoChain work this way:

• Spain and the United Kingdom meet at Gibraltar, on Spain's southern tip.
• Spain and Morocco meet at Ceuta and Melilla, two Spanish cities on the North African coast. This is the only land crossing between Europe and Africa.
• The United Kingdom and Cyprus meet at Akrotiri and Dhekelia, British base areas on the island.
• France and the Netherlands share the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, split between French Saint-Martin and Dutch Sint Maarten.
• Canada and Greenland share Hans Island in the Arctic, divided between them in 2022.

These are worth memorising. They are usually the difference between a chain that dies in western Europe and one that reaches another continent.

Is GeoChain free?

Yes. It is completely free, there is nothing to download, and you don't need an account. Just type a name and play.

Can kids play it?

Yes, it's family friendly and a genuinely good way to learn the world map. Younger players might prefer CityBerry, a capital cities game that teaches one country at a time.