how to play hot or cold
Hot or Cold is a free daily geography game. A country is picked in secret and you guess any UN member state. Every guess is painted on a globe you can spin, colored by the shortest distance between the two borders. Neighbors read 0 km. The farther the guess, the paler the color. You guess until you find it, and fewer guesses is a better score.
- Type a country, or browse the full list of countries. Small typos are fine: frnace still finds France. Tap a name once to fill it in, then again (or press guess) to send it.
- The globe colors that country by how close its border is to the mystery country. The list sorts nearest first, with the distance in kilometers.
- Drag the globe, or use the arrow keys when you are not moving through suggestions, to look around. After each guess the globe turns to face the country you picked.
- Keep guessing until you land on the answer. There is no limit.
Keyboard: Type on your keyboard. Arrow keys spin the globe, unless suggestions are open, in which case they move through the list. Enter guesses, Backspace deletes, and Esc goes back to the menu. You can also drag or swipe the globe.
tips
- A big country in the middle of a continent tells you which way the heat is coming from.
- 0 km means the two countries touch, even if the map makes the border look thin.
- Tiny countries are drawn too. Drag the globe if the one you guessed is on the far side.
faq
Is there a new country every day?
Yes, at midnight in your time zone. The daily list goes through all 193 UN member states before one comes back. Practice never deals a country that's coming up as a daily in the next month.
Which countries can I guess?
Any of the 193 UN member states. The answer is one of them too.
Where does the map come from?
Country shapes are Natural Earth 1:50m admin-0 countries (public domain). The globe is drawn with d3-geo (ISC license).
How is the distance measured?
It is the shortest distance between the two countries' borders, in kilometers. A shared border is 0 km. Far-off islands are left out, so a speck in another ocean does not count as next door.
How is it scored?
By how many guesses it took. The share shows how close each guess was and never names a country.