Emoji word puzzle

Emoji Rebus: how to play

Say the emoji out loud to hear a country name, then type it. Ten puzzles per game, 15 seconds each, and quicker answers earn more points.

Play Emoji Rebus

What is Emoji Rebus?

Emoji Rebus turns country names into picture puzzles. Each round shows a short row of emoji, and the sounds of the pictures spell out a country when you read them in order. For example, 🚫 🛣️ is "no" plus "way", which gives Norway.

Some puzzles are a single picture, such as 🦃 for Turkey. Others chain three or four sounds together, like 🐈 🅰️ ®️ for "cat", "A", "R", which is Qatar. The pool holds 38 countries and each game deals ten of them at random. You type your answer, so there is no list to pick from.

Players: 1
Rounds: 10 per game
Time per round: 15 seconds
Puzzles in the pool: 38 countries
Guesses per puzzle: 1
Maximum score: 5,000 points

How to play

1Look at the emoji on the card and say each one aloud in English, left to right. The 15 second timer starts at once.
2Type the country name in the box under the card and press Enter or the Guess button.
3Read the reveal panel, which shows the right country and the wordplay behind it (for example "Bell + gym" for Belgium).
4Let the next puzzle load by itself after a couple of seconds.
5After ten puzzles, check your total and correct count, then choose Play again for a fresh set.

Scoring

A correct answer earns 100 points plus a speed bonus of up to 400, scaled by the time left when you submit. An instant answer is worth 500, and each second that passes takes off roughly 27 points.

You get one guess per puzzle. A wrong guess ends the round with 0 points, and so does running out of time.

The ten round scores are added together for a maximum of 5,000.

Tips

Think in sounds, not spellings. 🧊 🅰️ is "cube" plus "A" for Cuba, and 🐄 ⏳ is "cow" plus "wait" for Kuwait.
A landscape emoji at the end almost always stands for "land". 🐟 🏞️ is Finland, 😡 🏞️ is Ireland (ire) and 👔 🏞️ is Thailand (tie).
You only get one guess, so check the spelling of tricky names such as Seychelles, Kiribati and Uruguay before pressing Guess.
If one picture makes no sense, solve the others first. In 🦠 🅰️ 🦵 the germ and the A already point to Germany before you work out that the leg means "knee".

What you learn

The game trains recall and spelling of country names. Typing the answer from memory is good practice for names people often get wrong. The pool mixes well known countries with smaller ones such as Andorra, Bahrain, Kiribati and Seychelles.

Questions and answers

Is there a hint button?: No. The explanation of the wordplay only appears after you have guessed or the time is up.
Does spelling have to be exact?: Yes, apart from capitals, accents, spaces and punctuation. A misspelled name counts as wrong. Common alternative names are accepted, such as Türkiye for Turkey and DPRK for North Korea.
Is my best score saved?: No. Your score is shown at the end of each game but is not stored.