Frequently asked questions

Geography Gym is a learning game for building practical knowledge of U.S. states, countries, capitals, regions, landmarks, waterways, directions, and relative location.

Build a workout in two steps. First select one or more subjects: U.S. Geography, World Geography, Landmarks, or Waterways. Selecting multiple subjects creates a custom mixed workout from those choices. Then choose how to study. Each practice style uses the compatible questions from the selected subjects and is unavailable only when none apply. Finally, choose the workout length and optional timer.

U.S. Geography covers the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the five inhabited U.S. territories: Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. The app identifies D.C. as a federal district and the other five as territories rather than states. Activities include abbreviations, capitals, regions, flags, major islands and rivers, nearby places, clues, matching, ordering, and map placement. World Geography covers countries and places outside the United States.

Yes. Select U.S. Geography with Landmarks or Waterways to use only U.S.-scoped landmarks or waterways. Select World Geography instead to use the non-U.S. collections. The filter applies to questions, incorrect choices, matching and ordering items, clues, distance comparisons, and Map Pinpoint targets. Selecting both U.S. and World uses the full Landmark or Waterways collection.

The public homepage introduces Geography Gym as a full website. Open app and installed shortcuts begin on a welcoming app home with options to start, resume, or review. Start an exercise opens the compact builder, which keeps both setup steps together: choose what to study, then choose how to study.

Open Settings with the gear button. The Geography Gym website section includes links to the website home, FAQ, Help Center, and Privacy Policy. These links open in the browser so your place in the app remains available.

Geography Gym contains 1,293 unique questions and activities: 189 core U.S. questions and activities, 120 core world questions, 136 core landmark questions, 114 core waterway questions and activities, 198 Clue Ladder activities, 346 Neighbor Challenge activities, 92 Which Is Closer? comparisons, and 98 Map Pinpoint challenges. Standard exercises offer 10-, 25-, or 50-question workouts.

Waterways includes 42 major oceans, seas, gulfs, rivers, straits, lakes, waterfalls, and canals. You can identify their type and location, match and order them, solve clues, compare distances, and place them on the world map.

Geography Gym uses Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario as their primary learner-facing names. Explanations neutrally note that the U.S. federal government currently calls them the Gulf of America and Lake America. The alternate names are not used as trick answers.

For a state, first choose the map section containing it. The app then zooms into that section without showing state lines, and you tap the state's approximate location. After a correct answer or second miss, state boundaries appear and the correct state is highlighted. The geometry comes from U.S. Census Bureau boundaries dated January 1, 2026; Alaska and Hawaii appear in their actual relative geographic positions on the national view. Washington, D.C. and the inhabited territories use world-map placement questions instead.

Drag with a mouse or swipe with a finger to rotate the globe. The left and right Rotate buttons make smaller turns, and Reset returns to the starting view. Keyboard users can Tab to the globe and use the arrow keys. Numbered-question keyboard choices and the Map Pinpoint center marker appear only during keyboard use.

After your first incorrect multiple-choice or map answer, that answer turns red and the correct answer stays hidden. A second miss reveals the answer and explanation. A correct answer on either try counts toward your score.

Choose related items from the two columns, such as a territory and its capital or a landmark or waterway and its location. Correct pairs turn green and dim; incorrect pairs turn red, shake, and return to play.

Clue Ladder asks you to identify a U.S. state or jurisdiction, country, landmark, or waterway. It begins with one clue, and you can reveal progressively more specific clues before choosing an answer.

Neighbor Challenge asks which U.S. states, Washington, D.C., or countries share a land border. It is designed to strengthen your mental map of what touches what.

The app compares approximate straight-line distances between representative landmark or waterway coordinates. These are not driving, walking, sailing, or flight-route distances. Open Settings to display the explanations in miles or kilometers.

Rotate the globe, then tap or click it to place the requested U.S. jurisdiction, landmark, or waterway. A marker within approximately 466 miles (750 kilometers) counts as correct. After a first miss, the app reports the distance and moves to a larger, closer view of the correct region while keeping the exact target hidden. A second miss reveals the target and explanation. Keyboard users can rotate with the arrow keys and press Enter or Space to place the center marker.

During any workout, select Flag this question for review. The flag is saved only in the active profile. Start Flagged Review from the home page to mix all flagged questions, or turn on Only use flagged questions when setting up a particular activity.

Yes. If you exit a workout, close the app, refresh the page, or switch profiles, Geography Gym saves that profile's question order, current position, score, streak, workout choices, and paused timer. Return to the profile and choose Resume workout on the home page. Choose Dismiss if you no longer need the saved workout.

Yes. Select Previous during a workout to review an earlier question, its correct answer, and its explanation. Previous questions are review-only, so returning to one cannot change your score or streak. Select Next question to move forward again.

No. The optional timer is a stopwatch that records elapsed workout time. It never ends a question or forces you to hurry.

Yes. Open Settings with the gear button and turn off Answer sounds.

Yes. Open Settings and choose Miles or Kilometers under Distance units. The choice belongs to the active profile and applies immediately to Which Is Closer? explanations and Map Pinpoint feedback.

Yes. Open Settings to choose Small, Default, Large, or XL font size, and use Appearance to choose Standard or High contrast. These choices belong to the active profile and also apply to the FAQ, Help Center, and Privacy pages.

Yes. Clear Show tips at startup from a quick-tip window, the full Tips window, or Settings.

After the app has loaded and cached its files, the installed PWA can continue working without a network connection. Links to outside websites, such as Wikipedia and maps in the Mapdle Learn more pop-up, still need a connection.

Select the profile initial at the right side of the toolbar to add, switch, rename, or delete local profiles. Each profile keeps separate progress, theme, contrast, font size, accent color, sounds, timer, startup tips, distance units, and default workout length. Profiles do not use accounts or passwords.

Profile names, workout totals, accuracy, streaks, flagged-question lists, and preferences are stored locally in this browser on this device. They are not synchronized to other devices.

Open Settings and choose Create Backup to download a JSON file containing every profile, preference, progress total, flagged question, and unfinished workout. On another device or after reinstalling, open Settings, choose Restore Backup, review the summary, and select Replace everything. Keep the backup file somewhere safe; Geography Gym does not upload or synchronize it.

Yes. Choose Reset beside the home-page lifetime counters, then confirm Reset progress. This clears the active profile's Workouts completed, Lifetime accuracy, and Best streak without changing its settings or any other profile.

Use the Install button when your browser offers it. On iPhone or iPad, open the app in Safari, use Share, and choose Add to Home Screen.

When a new version has downloaded, Geography Gym displays an update notice. Choose Update and Restart to apply it immediately, or Later to continue with the current version. Your progress and settings remain saved.

Use Send Feedback to open the feedback form. Choose what it is about, such as Mapdle feedback, new countries, landmarks, or waterways, or a bug, then describe it. No account is needed.