How to Play: Rules for Every Mode

ddontti studio · Reviewed 2026-11-01

Flag Master needs no sign-up, and every mode is free. This page sets out, mode by mode, how much time you get, what counts as your score, and what happens when you miss.

The basics

Most modes show a flag and ask you to pick the country from four options. The wrong options are drawn from look-alike flags and from countries in the same subregion or continent, so knowing the continent is rarely enough. Flags with exactly the same design are never offered against each other: France and Saint Martin, Norway with Bouvet Island and with Svalbard and Jan Mayen, the United States and the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, Australia and Heard and McDonald Islands.

Four modes run against a clock: Live Ranked, Survival, Time Attack and Flag Route. Blank Atlas limits only the eight seconds you get to memorize. Elsewhere you can take as long as you like.

In Levels, each run ends with stars based on the share you got right. Other modes don't award stars.

Correct	Stars
95% or more	3
80% or more	2
50% or more	1
Under 50%	0

Modes on the home screen

Live Ranked

You get two minutes. Your score is the number you get right, and a wrong answer costs nothing except time: the next question appears about a second after you answer. Equal scores share a rank number, and on the board the run with fewer wrong answers sits higher.

The question order is set by the day, so everyone faces the same sequence. The options change every run, so memorizing positions doesn't help. Three killer questions sit within the first 25 or so. They show a regional flag or a historic coat of arms instead of a national flag, and each one you get right adds two seconds to your clock.

You need a connection and a nickname.

Daily Challenge

Ten questions a day, with no time limit, and you can replay as often as you like. The ten countries stay the same all day, but their order and options change every run. Score 70% or more, which means seven out of ten, and the day counts as complete. The date follows your device's time zone.

Survival

One life, five seconds per question. A wrong answer or a timeout ends the run on the spot. Your score is your streak. The question order is set by the day and is the same for everyone. Runs are graded on the server, so you need a connection.

Flag Route

Travel from a start country to a destination by stepping only through countries that share a border. Four flags appear; pick one that borders the country you are in.

A race is five routes. Their shortest paths are fixed at 3, 4, 4, 5 and 5 steps, so every day's course is equally long. The course is set by the day and is the same for everyone.

Pick a flag that doesn't border your country and you stay put and lose 3 seconds.
Pick one that does and you move. A detour carries no penalty, but it costs real time.
Your score is the time of your final arrival plus 3 seconds for each wrong pick. Lower is better.
If you give up, the run isn't recorded.

You need a connection and a nickname to post a time to the rankings. Borders here come from simplified outlines, so they can differ from the real ones.

Blank Atlas

Three maps, one after another. Each shows six countries with their names for eight seconds. Then the names disappear and a ring points at a country; pick its name from four options. A full run is 18 questions. The mode uses the 3D map, so your browser needs WebGL. The harder Caribbean map appears only after you have finished ten runs.

Modes on the Practice tab

Levels

Pick a continent and work through its stages from easiest to hardest. Earning at least one star on a stage unlocks the next.

Review

A flag you miss goes on your review list automatically. Get it right in Review and it leaves the list at once. Get it right in another mode and it stays on the list while its next review moves out to 1, 3, 7, 16 and then 35 days; one more correct answer after that takes it off. That way a lucky guess among four options can't wipe it. A flag you have missed twice or more is marked "Often missed".

Look-alikes

Pick one of twelve families to drill: Nordic crosses, Pan-Arab colors, Pan-African colors, Slavic tricolors, horizontal tricolors, vertical tricolors, star and crescent, the Union Jack family, blue and white, red and white, Miranda tricolors, and suns and circles. All the options come from the same family. The 20-question full mix draws across all the families using the normal option rules. The guide to telling look-alike flags apart covers what to look for.

Map mode

Two variants, ten questions each.

Location → Flag: see a highlighted place and pick its flag.
Flag → Find the country: see a flag and tap that country on the 3D globe. A wrong tap shows the answer and moves on. You get up to two hints: the first gives the country's name, the second its continent.

Islands & Territories, Organizations, Favorites quiz

Islands & Territories asks about small island nations and territories, ocean by ocean. Organizations lets you pick a body and asks for its members' flags. The Favorites quiz uses only the flags you starred.

Time Attack

Sixty seconds to get as many as you can. Your score is the number you get right, and a wrong answer costs nothing except time: the next question appears about a second after you answer. There is no ranking, only your personal best.

World Cup 48

All 48 teams of the 2026 World Cup in one run, with options drawn from the same 48. England and Scotland appear under the flags of England and Scotland, not the Union Jack.

Study, Mania and Symbols in History

The Study tab lets you browse country cards by continent. The Mania tab covers 409 state and regional flags from 15 countries, such as U.S. states, Japanese prefectures and Swiss cantons. The Symbols in History tab holds 141 historic coats of arms and emblems, plus the bonus game Crest of Fate, where you swipe cards to rule a kingdom. If any of the four meters empties or overflows, your reign ends. The game is a historical fantasy inspired by real coats of arms, not a historical record.

Sets of 30 or more items let you choose between a random run of 20 and the whole set. Smaller sets are played in full.

Rankings

There are three boards: Live Ranked, Survival and Flag Route.

Question orders and courses change at midnight UTC.
Boards run by the week. A new week starts at midnight UTC on Monday.
Your best score of the week is the one that counts; matching your best score with fewer wrong answers or in less time updates your entry.
Scores aren't taken from your device on trust. The server replays your answers and their timing against the same sequence and grades the run itself.

Where your progress is kept

Your progress and settings stay in your browser. There are no accounts, so clearing your browser data can erase them. In Flag Route, when you finish or give up, an anonymous summary of the run's taps (elapsed time, steps and wrong-pick counts) is sent to help us tune the routes. When you take part in the rankings, the server receives an anonymous ID, your nickname, a country flag taken from your browser's language setting, that run's answers with their timing, and a Google reCAPTCHA token. The Privacy Policy has the details.

Play the flag quiz