A free browser game · no ads · no account
The world starts dark. Drag each country to where it belongs, and the map wakes where you put it. One action, repeated, until the whole atlas is lit and you know it by heart.
Works on phones, tablets, laptops, and school Chromebooks.
Dormant
Not met yet. An invitation, never a failure.
Traced
Shown to you once. Placed with help.
Inked
Placed from memory. Permanent colour.
Gilded
Name, flag, capital, fact: all mastered.
I.
The game hands you a country, and you drag it to where it belongs. Get it right and that country lights up, and stays lit. Later, each time you place it again from memory, its colour deepens, until it turns gold. The atlas on your screen becomes a record of what you actually know.
That is the whole game: one action, repeated, with the prompt getting harder as you get better.
II.
Each country climbs a ladder. The game never asks for something it has not already shown you, so the first time you meet a country is a lesson, not a test.
The atlas holds 198 countries: the 193 member states of the United Nations, plus Kosovo, Palestine, Taiwan, Vatican City, and Western Sahara. See the full list of countries and capitals →
III.
Pace
Relaxed has no clock. Timed gives you one, three, or five minutes, with a score and a best streak to beat. Both teach the same way. The clock only changes how it feels.
Guidance
In Learning, a new country arrives with its answer shown and a compass to the right spot. In Challenge, that help is off. You can still ask for a hint, but an unaided placement is what counts as knowing it.
IV.
Mapwake keeps no count of mistakes. A miss shows you where the country goes, and you place it correctly before moving on. Nothing is lost. There is no game over, no percent score, and no list of what you got wrong. The dark parts of the map are not failures. They are the countries you have not met yet.
V.
The world is split into six continents and eighteen regions, each between four and twenty countries. That is a size you can learn in one sitting. Finish a region and you earn its medallion. A Mixed expedition grows the whole atlas; or practice just Locations, Flags, or Capitals.
VI.
Your atlas progress is stored in your browser's local storage. You can export it to a file you keep, and restore it later or on another device. Mapwake has no accounts, no ads, and no payments. The About & privacy page says exactly what the site does and does not do.
VII.
Anyone who wants to know the world map: students meeting world geography for the first time, adults who always meant to learn it, and anyone who likes a calm game that leaves something behind. It plays well on a phone, better on a tablet or laptop, and runs on a Chromebook. If you want a plan for the whole world, read how to memorize the countries of the world.
How to start
Choose Mixed expedition, Relaxed, and Learning. Press Begin. The first three are Brazil, India, and Egypt, and the map starts to wake.
Mapwake · free · no ads · no accounts · About & privacy