Five-clue country quiz

Pin Point: how to play

Name the mystery country from as few clues as possible. Five hints are revealed one at a time: a statistic, area, population, outline and flag.

Play Pin Point

What is Pin Point?

Pin Point hides a country behind five clues and shows you only the first. You type a guess whenever you think you know the answer. The aim is to name the country at the lowest level you can, ideally from the opening statistic alone.

The clues get easier as you go. Level 1 is a single fact, such as a count of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a sporting record or an average monthly salary. Level 2 gives the area in square kilometres, level 3 the population, level 4 the outline and level 5 the flag.

Clues per country: 5
Clue order: Statistic, area, population, outline, flag
Countries included: 24
Time limit: None
Guesses: Unlimited

How to play

1Read the level 1 statistic and decide whether it is enough to name a country.
2Type a country name in the box and press Guess.
3If the guess is wrong, read the next clue, which is revealed automatically. You can also press Next hint to see it without guessing.
4Keep guessing after the flag appears at level 5, because there is no limit on attempts. If you are stuck, press Reveal answer to see the country.
5When you have found the country or revealed it, press New country to start another round.

Scoring

Pin Point has no points, lives or timer. Your result for each round is the level you solved it at, shown as the number of clues you needed. Fewer is better.

Each wrong guess opens the next clue until all five are showing. After that, wrong guesses change nothing and you can keep trying until you get it. Reveal answer replaces Next hint at this point. A revealed round does not count as solved.

Solving a country from the first clue alone is marked with gold confetti. If you are signed in, each one-clue solve also adds a mystery pack to your player profile.

Tips

Always type a guess rather than pressing Next hint. A wrong guess and Next hint both reveal exactly one clue, so guessing gives you a free chance.
Learn the short list. The answer is always one of Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Norway, France, Sweden, Denmark, India, Australia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, China, Cyprus, Russia, Japan, Egypt, South Africa, Iceland, Nigeria or Mexico.
Use the area clue to sort by size. Russia is by far the largest at about 17.1 million sq km, the United States and China are both between 9 and 10 million, and Cyprus is the smallest at 9,251 sq km.
Population settles most rounds. Only India and China are above one billion, and Iceland is the only country on the list below one million.
Area and population together split the look-alikes. Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal and Greece all have between 5 and 11 million people, but Denmark is the smallest of the five in area (43,094 sq km) and Sweden the largest (450,295 sq km).
Spell the name correctly. Capital letters do not matter, but a typo counts as a wrong guess and uses up a clue.

What you learn

Pin Point builds a sense of scale. After a few rounds you start to connect countries with their rough area and population, which helps you compare places you have never seen side by side on a map.

The later clues practise outline and flag recognition, and the opening facts add general knowledge about sport, heritage sites and living standards in each country.

Questions and answers

Is there a time limit?: No. You can take as long as you like over each clue and each guess.
Is the first clue always the same for a country?: No. Each country has three possible opening facts and one is picked at random each round, so you can meet the same country with a different first clue.
Which names are accepted?: The English name of the country, plus a few common alternatives such as USA, UK, Great Britain, Deutschland, Brasil and Türkiye.
Can I get the same country twice in a row?: No. A new round never repeats the country you have just had, though it can return later.