Free geography games for the classroom
Read the World makes three short, free daily geography games built from real data. They work well as a five-minute warm-up, a whole-class challenge on the projector, or a quick game at the end of a lesson. Students don't need to sign up.
The three games
- Read the World: guess the country from the five Wikipedia articles it read most yesterday, in six tries.
- Yesterday on Earth: pin five real events from yesterday on a world map, for up to 5,000 points.
- Country Clues: find the mystery country in eight guesses from blacked-out lines of its Wikipedia article.
Each game has one new puzzle a day for everyone, so a whole class, or a whole school, plays exactly the same puzzle and can compare results.
Why they work in class
- Real data, not made-up trivia. The clues come from Wikipedia reading statistics, earthquake and weather feeds and the news, so every puzzle starts a conversation about a real place.
- Short and repeatable. A round takes three to ten minutes, which fits a lesson starter or a bell-ringer.
- Reasoning, not memorising. Players use distance, compass direction, borders, population and area to narrow down the answer. That practises map skills and estimation, not just recall.
- Nothing to install. The games run in a browser on Chromebooks, iPads, laptops, phones and interactive whiteboards.
Ideas for lessons
- Whole-class guessing. Put today's Country Clues on the board. Teams agree on each guess and must explain it using the clues before it is entered.
- Bell-ringer streak. Play one game at the start of every lesson for a week and keep a class tally of guesses or points.
- Current events on the map. After a round of Yesterday on Earth, ask students to find out one fact about each place they pinned and why the event happened there.
- Culture and media literacy. In Read the World, discuss why a country was reading about a footballer, a holiday or a film yesterday, and what that says about local news compared with global news.
- Estimation practice. Before revealing a pin, ask the class to estimate how far off it will be in kilometres, then check.
Skills students practise
Locating countries and continents on a world map; using compass directions and distances; comparing population and area; reading and summarising short non-fiction texts; and connecting places with current events, plate tectonics, climate and culture.
Privacy for students
Students can play everything without an account, and progress stays in their browser. There are no tracking cookies. Visits are counted anonymously. See the privacy page for the full details.
Frequently asked questions
Is it free for schools?
Yes. All three games are free to play, for classes and for individual students.
Do students need accounts or email addresses?
No. Students can play without signing up, and their progress is saved in their own browser. Accounts are optional and only add leaderboards, friend groups and syncing. If your class wants a shared leaderboard, check your school's rules for student accounts first.
What age group is it for?
The games are made for a general audience. Most classes from about age 11 up can play them, and younger students do well in teams with an adult reading the clues. Adult and graphic article titles are filtered out of Read the World when the puzzle is built.
Does it work on Chromebooks, iPads and interactive whiteboards?
Yes. The games run in any modern web browser, with nothing to install. They work on a projector or whiteboard for whole-class play and on students' own devices.
Can we play a puzzle from an earlier day?
Yes. Read the World and Yesterday on Earth both have an archive of past puzzles, so you can replay an earlier edition if a lesson falls on a day when today's puzzle doesn't suit it.