Guess the State
Guess the State quizzes you on all 50 U.S. states across five different question formats. It is the most learnable of our seven games: the material is finite, the facts do not change, and a couple of minutes a day for a month will genuinely move you from guessing to knowing.
Almost every mistake comes from one shortcut, which is assuming a state's biggest or most famous city must be its capital. Usually that is wrong. The exceptions are precisely what a quiz is built from.
How to play
The Daily Challenge is five questions, the same five for every player, resetting at local midnight. Free Play is unlimited and never affects your streak, and the archive keeps the last 30 days playable. Every answer reveals the correct answer immediately.
What is in the deck
250 questions covering all 50 states, five formats per state. One format names a capital and asks which state it belongs to. Another gives a state nickname, like the Sunshine State or the Lone Star State, and asks you to name the state. A third names a state and asks for its capital. A fourth gives a postal abbreviation such as TX or WA. The fifth places a famous landmark, from the Statue of Liberty to Mount Rushmore, in its home state.
Five traps worth knowing
- The famous city decoy. New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Miami are all large, famous and not capitals. Albany, Sacramento, Springfield, Austin and Tallahassee are.
- The tiny capital. Montpelier, Vermont is the smallest state capital by population, and Pierre, South Dakota is not far behind. An unfamiliar small town name is often the answer.
- The abbreviation twins. MS and MO, AL and AR, AK and AZ, MS and MN. Read the letters twice before you tap.
- The nickname switch. The Grand Canyon State and the Copper State are both Arizona; the Show-Me State is Missouri, not Mississippi.
- Learn by region. Memory stores places spatially, so working through the Northeast, the Midwest, the South and the West in runs makes neighbouring states reinforce each other.
Frequently asked questions
How many states are in the game?
All 50 U.S. states, each appearing in five different question formats, for 250 questions in total.
Which capital counts as the correct answer?
The capital as officially designated by the state itself, cross checked against state government sources.
What kinds of questions does the game ask?
Five formats: match a capital to its state, match a state nickname to its state, name the capital of a state, match a postal abbreviation to its state, and place a famous landmark in its home state.
Is Guess the State free?
Yes. No account, no login, and your statistics stay on your own device.
Play next: Guess the Year and Who Said It All guides How we verify questions All seven games