Frequently asked questions
Everything you might want to know about MapDash. Still stuck? Get in touch.
What is MapDash?
MapDash is a free daily geography puzzle. Each day a country is hidden. You see one clue at a time (continent, then population, then neighbors, then capital, then famous-for) and have 5 guesses to identify the country.
How is MapDash different from Worldle?
Worldle shows you a country outline and asks you to identify it from shape + distance hints to your guesses. MapDash uses text clues — geography, demographics, neighbors, capital, culture. It rewards factual familiarity rather than visual map memory.
How is MapDash different from Geoguessr?
Geoguessr drops you into Street View and asks you to guess where you are. MapDash is a shorter daily puzzle (1-3 minutes) with a single hidden country per day. Both reward geography knowledge but the format is different.
When does the daily puzzle reset?
Every day at 00:00 UTC. In US Pacific that's 4:00 PM the previous day; in Eastern, 7:00 PM the previous day; in London, midnight.
How many countries are in the rotation?
197. We focus on well-known countries from every continent — no obscure micro-states.
Can I type "USA" or "Holland" or "UK"?
Yes. Common aliases are accepted: USA / US / America / United States all match. So do UK / Britain / Great Britain, Holland / Netherlands, Czechia / Czech Republic, Korea / South Korea, UAE / United Arab Emirates, Türkiye / Turkey.
Why only 5 guesses?
The clue sequence is designed to halve the candidate set each step. A player with general world knowledge should solve most puzzles in 3-4 guesses with 5 clues maximum. We may tune the budget after seeing real player performance.
Can I play past puzzles?
Yes. The archive includes every past puzzle since launch. Archive plays count toward your win-rate and play count but do not affect your streak.
How do streaks work?
Your streak goes up by 1 each day you solve today's puzzle. Skip a day or fail to solve, and your streak resets. Your best-ever streak is tracked separately.
Where are my stats stored?
In your browser's localStorage only. We have no accounts, no server-side storage, and no third-party tracking other than Google Analytics for aggregate traffic.
How do I share my result?
Tap Share on the result screen. MapDash copies a Wordle-style emoji grid to your clipboard — one square per guess.
Is MapDash free?
Yes, completely free — no ads, no paywall, and no signup wall. MapDash is supported by an optional free email newsletter and the occasional clearly-disclosed affiliate link to a related product.
Where does the country data come from?
Our country dataset is hand-curated based on public sources: World Bank for population, official government sources for capitals, and CIA World Factbook / Wikipedia for geographic facts. Populations are rounded to nearest million and are 2022-2024 figures.
Does MapDash work on mobile?
Yes. The autocomplete input works on touch devices and the layout adapts to phone screens.
Who built MapDash?
MapDash is part of a small network of independent daily-puzzle games. We build games we want to play and keep them free, with no ads — supported instead by an optional email newsletter and clearly-disclosed affiliate links.