The Country Path Game gives you a starting country and a destination — your job is to connect them by naming the countries you would travel through, using land borders only. Get from Norway to Greece, or from Canada to Panama, in as few guesses as you can. It is trickier than it looks: one wrong turn and you are burning guesses in the wrong corner of the map.
Every day at midnight UTC a new route goes live, and everyone in the world gets the same start and destination. Solve it, then share your spoiler-free emoji result and compare routes with friends — did you find the shortest path, or take the scenic detour? A practice mode with unlimited random routes lets you keep playing as long as you like.
Country Path is free, works beautifully on your phone, and needs no sign-up. Your streak and stats are saved on your device. It joins our growing collection of geography games — if you enjoy border trivia, try Border Countries next.
How to play
- Look at the start and destination countries highlighted on the world map.
- Type a country you think lies on the land route between them. You can name the countries in any order.
- Watch the colour of each guess: green means it sits on a shortest route, yellow means it is just one border off one, and red means it is off route.
- Connect the two countries before you run out of guesses. Your budget is the shortest route plus four extra guesses.
- Win and the route draws itself across the map — then share your emoji result and come back tomorrow to keep your streak alive.
Game modes
Daily route. One puzzle per day, seeded from the UTC date, identical for every player on Earth. The daily is where your streak, win rate and guess distribution are tracked — and the result card is built for sharing.
Practice. Unlimited random routes in three lengths: Short hop (2–3 countries in between), Road trip (4–5) and Expedition (6–8). Perfect for warming up before tomorrow’s daily or settling an argument about whether you can walk from Portugal to Vietnam. (You can — it takes a while.)
The geography behind the game
Country Path runs on a land-border network of 152 countries computed from Natural Earth map data — two countries are connected when their borders actually touch. The world splits into two giant playable networks: Afro-Eurasia, where 122 countries link Portugal to Singapore and Cape Town to Norway, and the Americas, where the Panama–Colombia border joins two continents into one 22-country chain.
Some countries are worth learning by heart because so many routes run through them. Russia and China each border 14 countries, and Turkey and Egypt carry almost every route between Europe and Africa or the Middle East. Panama is the ultimate chokepoint: every land route between North and South America crosses it. Island nations such as Japan, Madagascar and the Philippines have no land borders at all — they can never be part of a route, so guessing them is always a red square.
If this kind of border trivia is your thing, you will also enjoy Closest Country, Find the Country on the Map and Name All the Countries — or browse all our free map tools and apps.
Frequently asked questions
Is it the same route for everyone today?
Yes. The daily route is generated from the UTC date, so every player worldwide gets the same start and destination on the same day. A new route appears at midnight UTC. That is what makes shared results comparable — everyone is solving the same puzzle.
Which borders count?
Land borders between sovereign countries, as drawn in the public-domain Natural Earth dataset (via world-atlas). Overseas territories don’t create connections — France counts as European mainland only, so there is no sneaky France–Brazil border via French Guiana. Tiny microstates like Monaco and Vatican City are left out, and they are never required for a route.
Why are island countries always wrong?
Islands such as Japan, Iceland, Madagascar or Sri Lanka have no land borders, so no land route can pass through them. They stay in the game as guessable countries — knowing they can’t help is part of the geography.
What do the colours mean?
Green: this country lies on a shortest possible route between today’s start and destination. Yellow: close — it is exactly one border away from a shortest route. Red: off route (or an island). The colours are calculated from the real border network, so they double as a geography lesson.
Is Country Path free? Where does the data come from?
Completely free, no account needed, and your stats live only in your browser. Country borders and geometry come from Natural Earth (public domain) via the open-source world-atlas project; the border network is computed directly from that map data.
