You can test your geography knowledge with some nice quizzes

Jul 2, 2014 09:54 GMT  ·  By

Google is challenging you to a Geography competition with a cute new trivia game called Smarty Pins.

The game takes a bit from regular quiz games, but adds a few twists of its own. First of all, Smarty Pins is based on Google Maps and is testing out your knowledge of geography over a number of categories.

For instance, you can choose between “Arts & Culture,” “Science & Geography,” “Sports & Games,” “Entertainment,” and “History & Current Events.” There’s also a section for featured topics where you’ll find plenty of questions about the players in the World Cup.

When you start a game, you get a number of kilometers or miles, depending on where you live and your default settings on the Google platform. The bunch you have when you start will decrease if you miss your mark. If you choose, let’s say, Liverpool instead of Scarborough, you’ll lose 195 kilometers or its equivalent in miles. If you correctly answer a question before the bonus time runs out, you’ll earn a few extra km to keep you going.

When you get the answer right, Google praises you
When you get the answer right, Google praises you

The purpose of the game is to go as far as possible without losing all your kilometers, because that’s when the game ends. As you progress, you’ll earn various colored pins. For instance, 5 correct answers will get you a Bronze Pin, while 10 will give you a silver one.

Each time you give an answer, the game will return a snarky comment. If you miss, you may even get “Incorrect. But A for effort. Or is that F for fail? Either way, keep trying!” or perhaps it will tell you that at least you got the planet right.

After ten answers, you'll get a silver pin
After ten answers, you'll get a silver pin

On the other hand, if you get it right, you could get “Amazing! You could lead people anywhere. Lead on, great leader!” or it may give you the completely random indication to put on a banana suit and celebrate.

Thankfully for those who don’t want to just smash their computers out of frustration, the map will get zoomed in in the general region or country where you should put the pin, which means you can even take a chance and just place it anywhere you want hoping to at least be close enough to not lose too many kilometers or miles.

When you’re done, you can share your score with the world over Google+, Facebook and Twitter, or do what everyone else does and just play again or close the tab.

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Google launches Smarty Pins
When you get the answer right, Google praises youAfter ten answers, you'll get a silver pin
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