How to play
- Press Start. You have 5 minutes for all 50 states.
- Type the name of a state. It counts as soon as it matches, with no need to press Enter, and turns green on the map.
- A few names are the start of a longer one. Keep typing for the longer name; for the shorter one, stop for half a second or press Enter.
- Pause whenever you like. The map and your list are hidden while the clock is stopped.
- When the time is up, the map and the lists below it show the states you named and missed, by Census region.
About the 50 states
The United States has had 50 states since 1959. Thirteen of them are the former colonies that ratified the Constitution between 1787 and 1790; the other 37 joined one by one over the next 170 years, most of them in the 19th century as the country spread west. The last two to join are the two that sit apart from the rest, which is why the map shows them in boxes.
The usual way to remember them all is to work the map region by region instead of the alphabet: the small, crowded Northeast, the Midwest around the Great Lakes and the plains, the South from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico, and the West with its big, square mountain states. The results at the end use the same four Census regions, so you can see which part of the country you know least. A handful of states come in pairs that share a name with a direction, and those are easy to half-remember.
Show the facts behind this (gives some answers away)
The first state was Delaware, which ratified the Constitution on 7 December 1787. The last two were Alaska (3 January 1959) and Hawaii (21 August 1959). The pairs are North and South Carolina, North and South Dakota, and Virginia and West Virginia. Four states call themselves commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
What counts
The 50 states only. The District of Columbia and the territories are not states, and two-letter postal codes don’t count. Capitals, accents, spaces and punctuation don’t matter.
The accepted alternative names appear here when your quiz ends, so they don’t give any answers away.
| Country | Also accepted |
|---|---|
| Washington | Washington State |
Questions
Is the District of Columbia a state?
No. It is a federal district, the seat of the national government, and not part of any state. Typing it tells you so and costs nothing.
Why is the largest state so small on the map?
To fit it in. It is shown in a box in the lower left at a reduced scale; in reality it is more than twice the size of the second largest. The island state sits in the box next to it, and the map’s two boxes are the only parts not drawn in place.
How do I find the tiny states?
The two smallest on the map are marked with a small circle that turns green when you name them.
Where are my scores kept?
Your scores, best and history are kept only in this browser, and clearing your browser’s site data removes them. When time runs out or you name them all, the score, time and the states you missed are also added to El Trivia’s anonymous site stats; a game you stop sends nothing. Nothing that identifies you goes with them, and you can turn this off under any result.
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