How to Play the Flag Game

The Rules in 3 Steps

1. Look at the flag. A country flag is hidden behind 9 tiles and 3 of them start open. Study the colours, stripes and symbols you can see.
2. Guess a country. Type a country name and pick it from the list. Every wrong guess opens 3 more tiles and unlocks a hint: first the continent and main colours, then the first letter.
3. Solve in 3 tries and share. Name the flag within 3 guesses to win. Then share your result, keep your daily streak going or switch to unlimited practice.

What the Tiles and Hints Tell You

• Tiles: 3 of the 9 tiles start open. Each wrong guess opens 3 more, so on your last try you see 9 of 9 — the whole flag.
• Continent chip: a ✓ means your guess is on the same continent as the answer; a ✗ shows the continent you guessed.
• Colour chip: how many of the answer’s main colours your guess also has, for example “2/3 colours”.
• Hints: after one miss you see the continent and the main colours; after two, the first letter and the length of the name.

Daily Challenge vs Unlimited Practice

Daily Challenge has one flag per day, the same for everyone, changing at midnight UTC. Solving it extends your streak; missing a day resets it.

Unlimited Practice deals flags one after another until you stop. Every flag in the deck appears once before it reshuffles, and your best run of correct answers is saved. Practice is also available by region: Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, Oceania, the Middle East and US states.

Tips From Experienced Players

1. Read the layout first. Vertical stripes, horizontal stripes, a Nordic cross or a triangle at the hoist each narrow the field to a few dozen countries before you even look at the colours.
2. Central symbols point to a region. A sun often means South America (Argentina, Uruguay), a cedar tree is Lebanon, and a crescent and star usually mark a Muslim-majority country such as Turkey, Pakistan or Malaysia.
3. Colour families halve the search. Green, yellow and red are the Pan-African colours; red, white, black and green are the Pan-Arab colours. Spot one and you can ignore most of the world.
4. Torn between neighbours? Guess the famous one. If two countries fit, guess the better-known flag first. A miss costs one try but opens three tiles — often exactly the detail that settles it.
5. Know the near-identical pairs. Chad and Romania differ only in the shade of blue. Monaco and Indonesia only in proportions. Ireland and Ivory Coast are mirror images. New Zealand has four red stars, Australia six white ones.

Common Questions