Outline

Outline puts three tracings of the same country on a light table. Two have been quietly redrawn. Pick the real one, five countries a day.

How it works

Each round names a country and shows three sheets. Tap a sheet to see it large, then pick the one you think is the real border.

After you choose, every fake is marked with what was changed, and the real outline is drawn over it in red so you can see the difference.

How the fakes are made

The whole country stretched or squashed by 8 to 15% along one axis.
A stretch of the border flipped end to end.
An island added or taken away (only for countries that have islands).
Part of a coastline made wavier or smoothed out.
A peninsula or corner pulled a little further out.

Difficulty

The first two countries come from a list of well-known shapes and get the strongest changes. The last three can be anywhere, and the final round's changes are only a percent or two of the shape's size.

Example

Italy's boot has a long heel and a toe that points toward Sicily. If one sheet's heel looks too long, or Sicily is missing, it's a fake.

Tips

1Check the overall proportions first. A stretched country is often obvious once you look for it.
2Then look at the most distinctive bits: peninsulas, islands and sharp corners.
3All three sheets share the same simplified borders, so blocky lines aren't a clue.