How to play
- Press Start. You have 2 minutes, and the flags come in a new order every game.
- Type the country of the highlighted flag. It counts as soon as the name matches, and the next flag lights up.
- Only the highlighted flag counts: type another country and you’re told it isn’t that one. Tap a flag, or press Tab, to switch.
- When time is up, the missed flags turn red, and you can practice them.
About the flags of South America
South America’s twelve flags fall into a few families. Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela fly the yellow, blue and red of Gran Colombia, the republic Simón Bolívar led until it broke apart in 1831, and they are the hardest three to tell apart.
Argentina and Uruguay share light blue and white and a golden Sun of May with a face, the sun of the 1810 revolution in Buenos Aires: in the middle of Argentina’s flag, in the corner of Uruguay’s nine stripes. Brazil’s flag is unlike any other, a yellow diamond on green around a blue globe that shows the night sky over Rio de Janeiro on 15 November 1889, the day the republic was proclaimed, with a star for every state and the Federal District.
The rest are simpler. Peru’s is red, white and red, running down. Bolivia’s is red, yellow and green, running across. Chile’s has a single white star on a blue square. Guyana’s yellow arrowhead and Suriname’s yellow star on green, white and red belong to the two small countries on the north-east coast, next to French Guiana.
Which flags are in the quiz
South America follows the UN’s grouping of countries, as in Countries of South America: the twelve sovereign states of the continent. French Guiana is part of France and the Falkland Islands are a British territory, so their flags aren’t in it.
Spelling and alternative names
Capitals, accents and punctuation don’t matter, but the spelling has to be right. Well-known alternative names count too:
| Country | Also accepted |
|---|
Look-alike flags
One set of near-twins decides most games here. The list shows each flag with its name, so it starts closed.
Show the look-alike flags
Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela
Yellow above blue above red. On Colombia’s and Ecuador’s flags the yellow fills the top half, and Ecuador adds its coat of arms in the middle, a condor above a snowy mountain. Venezuela’s three stripes are equal, with an arc of eight white stars on the blue.
Questions
Which flag is different on the back?
Paraguay’s. The front, shown in the quiz, carries the national coat of arms, and the back the seal of the treasury, a lion under a red cap of liberty. It is the only national flag with a different emblem on each side.
More geography
- Countries of South America: the same countries, named from memory on the map
- Capitals of South America: the same countries, naming their capitals
- Flags of the World: all 197 at once
- Other continents: Flags of Africa, Flags of Asia, Flags of Europe, Flags of North America, Flags of Oceania
More to play
- Countries of the World: Type every country you can before the clock runs out.
- Capitals of the World: Name the capital of every country before the clock runs out.
- Periodic Table: Name every chemical element before the clock runs out.
- Element Symbols: Name the chemical element behind every symbol.
- Flags of the World: Name the country from its flag.
- All quizzes
- El Trivia home