Now targetting: Lisbon

January 20, 2005 4:27 AM

One of those geography quizzes that we all know and love. This one involves throwing darts at a map of Europe.
posted by jacquilynne (42 comments total)

One of those geography quizzes in German that we all know and love and can make out most of the city names...
posted by davebushe at 4:41 AM on January 20, 2005

Du leigst insegesamnt: 15925 km daneben NOTE: 6

Did I win? I was 17km from London and 41km from Brussels, but on the other hand, 2860km from Lisbon and 2083km from whatever "Helsinki" is in English...
posted by Orange Goblin at 4:45 AM on January 20, 2005

It's all in foreign!

I'm actually doing quite well... Warsaw was the first one I missed by more than 150km.

Orange, Helsinki is Helsinki in English...
posted by twine42 at 4:48 AM on January 20, 2005

1st attempt: 3237 km daneben.
2nd attempt: 1829 km daneben.

It helps to know what you're doing, and seeing where the right answers are doesn't hurt either.
posted by skoosh at 4:51 AM on January 20, 2005

And then it all went wrong... 5000km inaccuracy in total, and that's mainly because I had no idea where the Turkish one was, and stuck it in Solvakia... oops.
posted by twine42 at 4:53 AM on January 20, 2005

For what it's worth, a Note (grade) of 6 would be a failing grade in a German high school -- they grade on a scale of 1 to 6.
posted by zztzed at 5:07 AM on January 20, 2005

Helsinki? Helsinki in English, too.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:08 AM on January 20, 2005

I am mostly getting the right countries, mostly. Generally by guess work. I was most pleased with getting within 300km of Ankara, which I am now going to have to investigate which country that is.

7346 out.
posted by asok at 5:10 AM on January 20, 2005

Whoo hoo! 5158, and I'm American!
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:14 AM on January 20, 2005

a Note (grade) of 6 would be a failing grade in a German high school

They've gotta grade on a curve though. You know, for the short-bus Americans. :)
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:15 AM on January 20, 2005

You get a lot better with practice, as long as you're paying attention to where the capitals really are.

Attempt 3: 783 km.

Here's a list of the German spellings of the city names, and their English equivalents, for those who feel they need it (hover over each name):

Moskau
Lissabon
Brüssel
Den Haag
Rom
Wien
Prag
Warschau
Kopenhagen
Belgrad
Athen
Kiew
Bukarest
posted by skoosh at 5:20 AM on January 20, 2005

Man. I got a 6, too. Total out: 4080 km. Even the ones I thought I knew I didn't hit dead on. London 41 km, Lisbon 47km, all the way up to Moscow 322 km, Prague 342 km, Belgrade 362 km, and Ankara 412 km.

I just got lucky with Belgrade. I can't even remember what country it's in. The only German city name I had trouble with was Wien (Vienna), and that I figured out after saying it out loud a couple of times.

Fun stuff.
posted by blacklite at 5:22 AM on January 20, 2005

Helsinki is the capitol of Soumi, that is Finland in English. ;)

Dang this is hard, I keep aiming just a wee bit too high for each city.
posted by dabitch at 5:23 AM on January 20, 2005

I got the countries all right (well, mostly, ahem) but was wildly off on the locations of their capitals.

They should let you throw random darts at the end in frustration.
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:26 AM on January 20, 2005

1600 off--i got a 6 too tho. I was close on all the cities i've been to, but Eastern Europe/Scandanavia killed me. I just picked the rivers and hoped.
posted by amberglow at 5:32 AM on January 20, 2005

2nd try: 3230 km, still a 6 (did really well on a lot, but still 350-400 off on some)
3rd: 2338 km, a 5! I guess I do actually learn. It seems to be the 3 Bs that give me the most trouble (Budapest, Bucharest, Belgrade) but I think I've got them now..
4th: 1011 km, a 2. I finally pass. Done now.
posted by blacklite at 5:33 AM on January 20, 2005

Only got one country wrong (I put Kiev in Belarus instead of Ukraine), but got exceedingly close on a few cities. Still only got a 6.

Very fun! Much tougher than it seems.
posted by briank at 5:37 AM on January 20, 2005

For what it's worth, a Note (grade) of 6 would be a failing grade in a German high school

Maybe, but it looks like the average wacky "test yourself" online quiz slapped together by game-makers, not teachers. Is it (or is it even similar in difficulty to) an actual test for German high school students, or did the designer of the test just borrow that familiar grade structure? Is it designed to test the abilities of normal German students, and would they get many ones and twos, or would German kids also get lots of fives and sixes like the people messing around with it here?
posted by pracowity at 5:42 AM on January 20, 2005

2658 km on my only attempt, a 5, but I was more than 500k off on Ankara and a couple of hundred k off on some of the capitals I haven't been to. Also, why do I always get Rothskilde and Cobenhagen mixed up?
posted by bonehead at 5:45 AM on January 20, 2005

I just picked the rivers and hoped

That's what I did! And it totally failed!
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:48 AM on January 20, 2005

3300 km off, the closest i got was 6km to Brussels.
posted by Stynxno at 6:32 AM on January 20, 2005

No Bratislava? No Tirana? No Vilnius? Shame on this quiz.

(I dispute my '5' on that basis)
posted by loquax at 6:34 AM on January 20, 2005

I guess I fail. I'm too stupid to figure out how to remove the bottom banner ad or adjust the map so that I can actually see countries like Spain and Italy before I attempt to throw the darts. A little help?
posted by Possum at 7:05 AM on January 20, 2005

This is embarrassing. I was within 3 km on one, but a few were off by over 1,000 km.

(Possum - try F11 to go full screen)
posted by caddis at 7:09 AM on January 20, 2005

Does anyone remember where the similar game was (it was in English tho...) Same thing, unlabeled map and hair pulling...
posted by mrs.pants at 7:12 AM on January 20, 2005

And "Dublin" is apparently German (and English) for the Capital of Ireland, Baile Atha Cliath.

Averaged about 60k from each capital (much closer for the really westerly ones) and then came Belgrade, which blew the whole shennanigans for me.
posted by Sk4n at 7:30 AM on January 20, 2005

Possum, if you use mozilla, you might try adblock.
posted by Jigsaw at 7:32 AM on January 20, 2005

Hey, my country got split into four parts, but only one bit got its capital mentioned! How do they work that out?
posted by alasdair at 7:34 AM on January 20, 2005

Did anyone else have an advertisement in the way of all of Southern Europe?

Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Athens. . .I was unable to shoot the dart through this ad. . .
posted by Danf at 7:43 AM on January 20, 2005

I thought I did pretty well, but I totally bombed on three.
posted by rushmc at 7:45 AM on January 20, 2005

I think I could hear screaming as I threw the giant darts at the populous cities.
I do love these quizzes. It helps my addled American brain pick up some geography from the comforts of work.
posted by fnord at 7:48 AM on January 20, 2005

2488. Note 5.
posted by chasing at 8:38 AM on January 20, 2005

Third time through and I'm up to Note 3, but I still can't remember for the life of me where Bucharest is...
posted by flashboy at 8:50 AM on January 20, 2005

1st try 3202 with a couple of brain farts
posted by mr.marx at 8:57 AM on January 20, 2005

As a domestic U.S. wanderer, I've only been to three of those places. Mostly got the right countries (and yes, used the rivers heavily), but still ended up with a Note: 6. (Thanks for the explanation, zztzed.) Missed by 9km (London) to 583km (Kiew), 4139 total.

At least I didn't stick one of the darts in my foot. Will study hard and do better next time. Fun link indeed.
posted by LeLiLo at 10:48 AM on January 20, 2005

I wasn't off by more than 200km on any of them, which is good.
posted by u.n. owen at 11:31 AM on January 20, 2005

Mrs. Pants, are you talking about this?
posted by scazza at 11:47 AM on January 20, 2005

I was off no more the 500km. Only had the wrong country once. mostly within 150km. I'm feeling proud of myself.
posted by eperker at 12:38 PM on January 20, 2005

closest: Rom with 3km
Furthest: Kiew with 340km
posted by chaz at 1:07 PM on January 20, 2005

I feel so like Hitler! That was fun.

I was closest with London, which would have my Irish ancestors keeeling me. Gotta check my car for bombs in the morning.
posted by Eideteker at 7:56 PM on January 20, 2005

2819 km first try. American. I knew all the countries that the cities belonged in (both name and position) except for Belgrade. Damn Balkanization. I also have a slight (only slight) advantage because I'm fluent in German, so things like "Kiew" and "Lissabon" didn't throw me like I suppose they might others.

Having been to Bern in 1981 does not help you find it on a map in 2005. But I nailed Vienna (1998) and Berlin (1990).

I couldn't see the score at the end due to the banner ad (1024x768 screen, Mozilla, fullscreen). Some of you are complaining about not seeing southern Europe. Collapse the toolbars at the top using the little clicky thing on the left end or the app menu. Then you'll see more.
posted by intermod at 9:26 PM on January 20, 2005

I was right on the money with the Eastern capitals (I was in Bratislava for an opening last night), but for an American who's fluent in German and lives in Vienna, my score of 4062 is pretty embarrassing. I only mixed up two countries, though - Belgium and Luxembourg...
posted by syzygy at 7:22 PM on January 21, 2005