How to play Farflung

To play Farflung, read each of the five daily geography prompts, pin one country on the world map that fits it, and collect kilometres for every correct answer. The twist: rarer correct answers travel further, so the best players look past the obvious country to the one few others would think of.

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Play today’s expedition

Step by step

How to play Farflung, step by step

  1. 1

    Open today’s expedition

    Start the daily game. Everyone gets the same five prompts, and a new set starts at midnight in your time zone.

  2. 2

    Read the prompt and its fine print

    A prompt such as “Pin a country with a Red Sea coast” names a rule. A small note under it may say what counts.

  3. 3

    Select one country

    Tap it on the map or type its name. Zoom in for microstates and small islands; the hover label tells you what you are pointing at.

  4. 4

    Drop the pin before time runs out

    On the Classic clock you have 60 seconds. If the clock reaches zero, the round scores nothing.

  5. 5

    Read the reveal

    Every valid country is coloured by rarity. Your pin is outlined, and the km you earned are added to your total.

  6. 6

    Repeat four more times and share

    After the fifth prompt you get a score out of 500 km, an emoji grid to share and a place on the leaderboard.

The goal

The goal: travel as far as you can

The aim of Farflung is to travel the greatest distance over five prompts. Each prompt is a small puzzle with many correct answers, and every correct pin moves you along. How far depends on rarity: the more players who pick the same country, the less it is worth.

That turns each prompt into a choice between a safe answer you know is right and a rarer one that scores more. A wrong pin costs you that whole round, so rarity is only worth chasing when you are sure — a common right answer always beats a rare wrong one.

An example round of Farflung

Example prompt

Pin a country whose flag has a crescent

  • Postcard · 20Turkey — the flag most people picture first
  • Detour · 40Pakistan — well known, a little less obvious
  • Backroad · 60Malaysia — the crescent sits in the blue canton
  • Farflung · 100Comoros — an island nation few players recall
  • Miss · 0Saudi Arabia — a sword and an inscription, but no crescent

Tiers shown are illustrative; real tiers depend on the prompt.

Scoring

Farflung scoring explained

Farflung scores each correct answer by tier. On this site the five tiers run from 20 to 100 km, so a perfect expedition is 500 km.

The official game at farflung.game uses the same idea with its own names and values. In both, the tier depends on how often an answer is picked, not on how hard the country is to find on the map.

Official Common · 40 kmOfficial Uncommon · 55 kmOfficial Rare · 70 kmOfficial Elusive · 85 kmOfficial Farflung · 100 km
Postcard
20 km

The answer on everyone’s lips.

Detour
40 km

A step off the obvious path.

Backroad
60 km

Most players drive straight past it.

Wilderness
80 km

Few people think of this one.

Farflung
100 km

The answer almost nobody finds.

The map

Using the Farflung map well

The Farflung map has every country, including microstates only a few pixels wide. You can always type a name instead of clicking.

Zoom and pan

Mouse wheel, pinch, or the + and − buttons. Drag to pan; the reset button returns to the whole world.

Tiny countries are dots

Vatican City, Nauru or Tuvalu are drawn as dots so you can click them without zooming.

Search by name

Common and official names both work — “Czechia” or “Czech Republic”. Enter selects the top match and the map flies to it.

Grey land is a territory

Places such as Greenland or Western Sahara are territories, not countries, and cannot be picked here.
The Farflung map after a pin, with valid countries coloured by rarity and tiny countries drawn as dots
Tiny countries appear as dots; after a pin, valid answers light up by tier.

Modes

Daily, Unlimited and the two clocks

The daily expedition is one game a day, the same for everyone, and it counts towards your streak and the leaderboard. Farflung Unlimited deals a new game whenever you want and does not affect your stats. Either can be played on the Classic clock (60 seconds a prompt) or in Wander mode with no timer.

Questions

How to play Farflung: FAQ

How do you play Farflung?

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Farflung gives you five geography prompts. For each one you pin a single country on a world map. A correct country earns distance, and the less popular your correct answer, the more distance it earns. A wrong country earns nothing. Your goal is the longest total journey.

How many guesses do you get in Farflung?

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One per prompt. Once you drop a pin, that answer is locked in and the game shows every country that would have counted. There are five prompts per expedition, so five pins in total.

What does “farflung” mean?

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Far-flung means distant or remote, or spread over a wide area. In the game it describes the answers that are far from most players’ minds: correct, but rarely chosen.

What is a good Farflung score?

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Five correct but common answers already make a decent day. On this site that is 100 km; in the official game, where tiers start at 40 km, it is 200 km. Reaching half the 500 km maximum takes a few rare answers, and a perfect 500 needs the rarest tier on all five prompts.

Are territories allowed in Farflung?

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Only when the prompt says so. Prompts that say “country or territory” accept places such as Greenland or Puerto Rico; plain “country” prompts accept sovereign states only. On this site, every prompt asks for countries.